The World in Film
Little Miss Sunshine: Life as a contest or a dance?

-- Leah Otto Johnson

Little Miss Sunshine has been nominated for 21 awards over the last year, including two Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy; Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy, Toni Collette.

Though not based on true events and not focused on a single event in world history, what Little Miss Sunshine allows is an outside look into the rewards of failed successes.

"[The film] really embraces allowing yourself to be who you really are; being brave enough to just live honestly," said Collette (About a Boy).

In their ramshackle of a Volkswagen bus, the fractured Hoover family journey to sunny California where seven-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin, Signs) hopes to be crowned the Little Miss Sunshine beauty queen.

Breslin was only nine years old when Little Miss Sunshine was filmed.

"She is innately solid at what she does," said Collette. "She created this complete, whole, realistic character, and was so emotionally available—and so much fun to hang out with."

In addition to Collette and Breslin, the film features Greg Kinnear (As Good as It Gets) as a desperately hopeful—and bankrupt—motivational speaker consumed by his nine-step program on success.

Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin), a gay Proust scholar fresh from the psychiatric ward and a suicide attempt, adds sanity to this motley of a crew.

"This is a film that compares two value systems," said Codirector Jonathan Dayton. "[It’s about] looking at life as a contest versus looking at life as a dance."

Not only was Little Miss Sunshine the first-named pick on MTV’s "Overdrive" as a movie to be most thankful for; but, YouTube fans have uploaded over 150 short films honoring the film as well.

Prior to Little Miss Sunshine, husband-and-wife team, Dayton and Valerie Faris, worked predominantly on music-related projects, including music videos and documentaries for such bands as REM, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction.

They’ve now been nominated for the Independent Spirit Award-Best Director for Little Miss Sunshine—their first feature film.

And in addition to being nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, Screenwriter Michael Arndt has already won three awards for his screenplay. Like Dayton and Faris, Little Miss Sunshine is his first professionally produced script.

"The story allows you to enter these very different experiences in different people," said Faris. "I always felt completely drawn into them; it wasn’t like you were watching them from a distance."

This film has an R-rating for language, some sex and drug content. Available on DVD Dec. 19. For further information about the film, visit http://www.foxsearchlight.com/littlemisssunshine.