Landry Bender
A Charming Little Package Of
Vintage Talent!
By Rych McCain, International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist
 |
| Landry Bender (Photo by Patrick rogers) |
Just when I think that I have met all of the
most seriously talented professional child actors in Hollywood, “whamo;” I meet
another one! We’re talking about eleven year-old. Landry Bender. With her
latest role in the 20TH Century Fox Pictures movie, “The Sitter,” Bender plays Blithe; the baby sister wanna-be
“celebutante” who was one-third of three misfit children that Noah (played by
Jonah Hill) had to baby sit for a night that turned into an evening of
“you-name-it---it happened!” Bender was born in Chicago but her sports caster
parents moved to Phoenix when she was two, then relocated to Los Angeles.
Bender is named after the late, legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. She
began acting at age five doing stage plays then moved into commercials and TV
roles.
At the beginning of this interview Bender greets me with a warm and
charming hello. The conversation that followed was relaxed and fun because
Bender’s sweet nature flowed with the moment which is something you can’t fake.
Her film character Blithe was way off the chain in terms of a nine-year-old
trying to act like a teen. What was bender’s first impression of Blithe when
she initially read the script? She lets a giggle out and says, “My mom read it
first and then she told me to read it and she let me do because of all that sad
stuff. I thought of her (Blithe) as a swearing maniac who wants to be 21. She’s
just crazy. She wants to go to clubs all night and party and really should be
in bed reading or watching little kid shows.” How much of Blithe was on script
and how much of herself did Bender put into this character? Bender explains, “I
put a lot of my own self I really think because I just kind of made her my own.
At first they made her into a sassy little chick. Some of it is myself a little
bit. The dancing is all me, the songs I made up, so there’s just a lot of stuff
I put in there.”
What was it like working with director David Gordon Green?
Bender lights up, “He’s the best. We pulled a bunch of pranks on him. What were
some of the things that Bender learned from Green that she can use in future
work? She reflects, “He taught me a lot of improve. I just love his style. He
would say now you can just do what ever you want and me and Jonah would just
scream at each other. We would just go crazy.” What did the children on set
learn about Jonah Hill that a lot of us don’t know? Bender is all smiles with
this one saying, “He loves bulldogs. I bought a bulldog when I was in New York
(where the film was shot).We brought it to the set when the maid would clean
our apartment and he would say I need to get one of these. He was like obsessed
with it and it was kind of creepy. He said he was going to get two of them.”
Bender even named her bulldog pup Blithe after her character.
Many people have
the perception that showbiz youth don’t have a normal childhood but in these
times what is normal? Living in the hood and getting shot at or living in
poverty around the world is not normal. So what is Bender’s opinion? “She
laughs, “I go to regular school in Beverly Hills and when I’m working I take my
school work with me on set with a tutor. Its normal for me just like a kid
going to soccer practice everyday is normal for him to. Everyone has their life
and its normal for them.” Bender will be shooting a pilot for the Disney
Channel in a couple of weeks so we can really not only expect to see more of
her but she may blow up into a super-star with the mighty Disney machine behind
her.
©
2012 Rych McCain
Media/Syndication TM
(You
DID
Hear It From Me)!
E-Mail:
feedbackrych@sbcglobal.net
