Chris O’Neil, 11, and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn, 6, stars of the family science-fiction yarn “The Last Mimzy,” are happy to sit for an interview. Well, they’re just happy to sit.
Seated beside one another on a sofa at the Four Seasons Hotel, they quickly wrest control of the proceedings from their inquisitor.
“Can I tell you a joke?” Wryn interrupts herself after briefly discussing her character, Emma, who with her brother Noah (O’Neil) amasses strange powers after discovering an otherworldly treasure trove of toys.
The joke is more of a brain teaser, involving a bus, scads upon scads of passengers and ending with the question “What color are the bus driver’s eyes?”
Wryn frowns when the correct answer is given, but spurs O’Neil to a somewhat related topic: “My eyes change color. Are my eyes blue or green right now?”
Wryn offers, “Sometimes at night, my eyes turn bright red.”
“Mimzy” is the first big acting gig for both, and their director, Bob Shaye, enthuses, “The kids are such naturals – I now realize where good acting comes from; it comes from your soul. You can’t just pick up acting as something that’s fun to do or a way to make a lot of money.”
Shaye says he was astounded by how O’Neil and Wryn “were both completely able to disconnect who they are and their real life and become these characters. When (Chris teleports a) pop can, I saw it come over his face that he really did believe he could do this stuff.
“I think I had to bring him down a little bit, because I was afraid he was going to go home and try to move the kitchen table.”
O’Neil says, “I actually did convince myself: ‘I’m going to surprise Bob and I’m gonna actually move the can.’ I opened up a wormhole and sucked it in.”
Which reminds Wryn: “When I was on set, they took pictures of me with cockroaches climbing up my arms. It wasn’t hard, but one of the cockroaches went into my shirt.”
O’Neil: “The cockroach guy taught me how to put the cockroach in my mouth so that he can’t do anything. You hold him up against the roof of your mouth with your tongue. It was fun. It felt like I had a worm in there.”
Wryn: “Ewwww.”
O’Neil: “Just a squiggly thing trying to get out.”
Wryn: “Well, actually, one of my friends went on ‘How to Eat Fried Worms,’ except his mom thought that he would actually have to eat fried worms.”
Notice how no interviewing actually got accomplished there? A query is finally posed, about their co-star Rainn Wilson.
O’Neil: “We saw ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend,’ and I saw that for Rainn. I sat through it for Rainn.” Wryn: “You didn’t like it?”
O’Neil: Have you seen ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend?’ ”
Wryn: “I saw it on an airplane, like, 300 times.”
O’Neil: “You shouldn’t’ve seen it once! They talk about sex so much!”
Wryn: “Actually, I was playing the video games and my headphones didn’t work. Except one time I had to watch it because my computer died. But at least I had my Nintendo DS.”
O’Neil (to Wryn): “Remember our marshmallow war? That was so sweet! We had this huge bag of mini-marshmallows …”
Wryn: “We hid it in Bob’s trailer. Because Bob keeps a good secret.
Watch this – ” She then makes a sound effect as she fakes breaking her nose.
Wryn: “Can I tell you another joke?” O’Neil: “Oh! I’ve got a joke!” NYT-03-21-07 2008EDT
