The Daily News enlisted Naomi Sacks, the 12-year-old daughter of film editor Ethan Sacks, to interview Ruby Barnhill, the 12-year-old star of “The BFG.”
Ruby proved to be a real diamond in the rough.
Even though Ruby Barnhill had no previous movie experience, the British girl shined the brightest to director Steven Spielberg out of thousands of others for the role of Sophie in “The BFG.”
“Well, the first thing I noticed when I saw Ruby’s audition watching her performing, it sounded like she was making it up, not like it had been written by a writer,” Spielberg told me.
Spielberg was so excited he asked that Ruby travel to the Berlin set of “Bridge of Spies” the very next day to meet him in person.
The English actress came from a small town called Knutsford, Cheshire, in England. Her father, Paul, is also an actor and has a cameo in his daughter’s film. Ruby wanted to be a director when she started on “The BFG,” bringing her own camera and shooting mini-movies with the crew. But she has since reconsidered, despite getting advice from one of the all-time greats.
“Well, I have said that I want to be a director when I grow up,” Barnhill said. “But I’m changing my mind every day. One minute I want to be a journalist, then the next minute I want to be an animator … I was like, ‘Oh mom, I don’t know what I’m going to be, this is really bad.’
“And she said, ‘Ruby, you’re only 12. You don’t need to decide right now.'”
Right now, she has to get used to being a celebrity.
“It just kind of feels like normal now because I did the film a year ago now, so it feels more normal,” Ruby said. “It feels like I’m looking at a random movie poster really.”
Of course, it’s not just any poster.
“(It’s) one that you just happen to be on,” Spielberg joked.
