Young Actors Made Beasts Of The Southern Wild An Unforgettable Experience
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” is the little film that could. It has received high level acclaim working with less than $2 million dollars. That is a tiny part of the whopping $65 million budget for fellow Best Picture nominee “Lincoln.”
The low-budget film set was full of novices including costume designer Stephani Lewis. But she wasn’t the only one learning as she went.
Stephani points out, ” It was hard because I think there were maybe [only]10 people on a crew that have been on a professional movie set before.”
She fondly compares her time on the film as “adult summer camp” and describes the filmmaking process as extremely unconventional, “the Beasts of the Southern Wild” way.
A typical day for the “Beasts of the Southern Wild” crew included waking up before the sun came up to drive an hour to the shoot on unbearably hot Louisiana summer days. The small team would sleep wherever they could trailers, tents, cars, trucks etc. However, the presence of 9 year old breakout star and youngest Best Actress in a Leading Role nominee Quvenzhané Wallis and other young actors kept the crew inspired.
Stephani says, “All the little girls were great, You know children have this energy that keeps us going and it keeps you happy and smiling because there were kids around that were filled with joy.”