Hailee Steinfeld certainly isn't the first teenage actress to have a shot at Oscar gold, but she's one of the few with little-to-no feature film acting experience under her belt. Considering she's one of our favorites to play Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming "Hunger Games" adaptation, we're thinking the high-profile kudos for her performance in "True Grit" can only bode well.
At least, that's how it worked for some of our favorite actresses who were in similar positions in the past. Anna Paquin was only 11 when she was nominated—and won—a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in "The Piano." Like Hailee, it was her first feature film role, and she went on to continued success (like "True Blood"!). For those of you who can remember this far back, Anna played in a series of well-received films like "Fly Away Home," "Amistad" and "She's All That." It wasn't until 2000's "X-Men"—released when she was 17—that she really blew up on the scene again.
A better comparison to Hailee, however, would probably be Saoirse Ronan, who was also nominated for an Oscar when she was 14 for her role in "Atonement." Though it wasn't Saorise's first film credit (she was Celia Hardwick in "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey"), "Atonement" was certainly her first major film. And, afterward, she went on to star in the young adult adaptation of "City of Ember."
"City of Ember" was never as big, either as a novel or movie, as "The Hunger Games" is likely to be, but it's hard to believe that the filmmakers behind "City of Ember" even thought about turning Saoirse down for the role. She went on to star in the adaptation of "The Lovely Bones," and is now turning to even darker material like Joe Wright's "Hanna" and the "Thelma and Louise"-style action flick "Violet and Daisy."
Abigail Breslin started off a bit younger than Hailee when she was nominated for her Oscar for "Little Miss Sunshine" (she was 10), but she's also managed to make a good career out of starring in fun, young adult-aged films. "Nim's Island" and "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" might be for a bit younger audience, while "My Sister's Keeper" and "Zombieland" might be for a bit older, but again she stars in films that allow her to show off her acting abilities without being taken too seriously.
In terms of talent, I think we can all agree that Hailee could definitely pull off the role of Katniss Everdeen. Though it's a young adult novel, the world of the Capitol and the 12 Districts certainly isn’t light and fluffy, and it will take an actress with a certain amount of gravitas to pull off Katniss. Perhaps the larger problem at hand is whether or not Hailee has the right look for Katniss, which from the comments sections of our earlier posts seems like it's up for discussion.
But an Oscar nomination (and potential win) on her resume should definitely bump Hailee up the ranks in potential castings for the film. She's already told us that it would "definitely be an honor" to be cast as Katniss, and we think the "Hunger Games" casting directors are taking note of the almost unanimous praise for Hailee's acting chops.
Are you convinced that Hailee will make a good Katniss, or do you still think she's not right for the part? Tell us in the comments section and on Twitter!
** Hollywood Crush Twitter