Abigail Breslin and the Tribeca Film Festival Invade Westfield

Westfield became Hollywood as The Rialto Theater welcomed The Tribeca Film Festival. Celebrities in attendance included many of Hollywood’s best including the one and only Abigail Breslin. Breslin who most notably played Olive Hoover in the award winning, Little Miss Sunshine, welcomed her new film, Janie Jones, to the festival in what many considered the highlight of a fun filled weekend.

Arriving in a cream-colored dress the 15-year-old exuded beauty and composure of a woman far beyond her years. After just minutes talking, it became obvious that this wasn’t Breslin’s first time in the Westfield area.

“My mom’s family is from here so Summit is like my second home,” Breslin explained. “I come out to the Summit area every week or two and every Christmas eve and for a lot of Halloweens. Growing up close by, I’ve been to Westfield a bunch of times.”

Abigail soon went on to talk about taking Janie Jones on the road and how her and her family are so excited about it.

“As a New Yorker, it is so exciting for me to be a part of the Tribeca Film Festival, but I think that it is really great to bring Tribeca to an area that doesn’t have their own festival. This is a movie I am really proud of. I have a lot of family here tonight so I am really excited.”

When asked about the film Breslin explained the relationship between her character and her father and the bond that grows between the two throughout.

“I play Janie and she’s a girl who meets her dad for the first time when she’s a teenager. She meets him because her mom is a drug addict and wants to get cleaned up and abandons her at a bar that her dad is performing at. He is this burnt out rocker guy and she has to go on tour with him and they kind of bond through the fact that they are both singer/songwriters. That’s kind of what the movie is about. My songs were written by a girl named Gemma Hayes. So yea, it has been really fun.”

Breslin’s musical talents have been on display previously in Little Miss Sunshine when she gave her memorable dancing performance of “Super Freak”, but fans are eager to find if she has always wanted to be a signer as well as an actress and what the future holds musically?

“It’s not anything that I really ever thought of except I have done singing at the church Christmas party and stuff like that. Other then that this is my first experience with it. It kind of inspired me to learn more guitar. I taught myself guitar and then took more vocal lessons and now I have a band called Cabb with my best friend Cassidy.”

Before the start of the film, David Rosenthal, the director and writer of Janie Jones revealed his inspiration for this uplifting film.

“I met my daughter for the first time when I was 30 and she was 11. When I saw my daughter for the first time, my heart was racing. She walked out of her classroom, our eyes met and she just ran into my arms. From that moment to this moment right now we have been best friends. She changed my life, she changed the way I experience love. It was just so clear that I had to tell a version of this story that had been burning inside me for so long.”

From beginning to end the Tribeca Film Festival was a huge success and had an opening night for the ages with Abigail and others associated with Janie Jones arriving with their film. The rest of the weekend included Q and A’s with actors such as Dennis Farina & Vincent D’Onofrio. Westfield and the rest of New Jersey sure hope that this is the start of a beautiful relationship with Tribeca.

Check out the interview with Abigail here-


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