QUESTION: In this film, you don’t have a lot of dialogue. Was it difficult to keep that intensity for so long?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: It was. It was a bit of a challenge but it was a fun challenge. I got to work a lot with my eyes and my face and my body movements. I talked to Stephen a lot about how I would portray my character. And it was fun to do. I’d never done a movie where I only had about three lines (laughs).

QUESTION: Plus you get to be in the middle of some pretty yucky stuff at times.

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Yeah (laughs). I kind of laughed at it. The locusts scene, not all of the locusts were there, so it was kind of funny too. I was wearing Speedo goggles to keep the dust out of my eyes. And, so, I’m standing there looking all scary and I have Speedo goggles on and all these people are acting like they’re getting attacked by locusts. (laughs) And nothing’s really there.

QUESTION: Did you have one or two locusts that you could look at?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Yes, there were about, oh, eight or 10 locusts around for reference points and couple were on my body and on the chimes.

QUESTION: Were you ever scared handling the locusts?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: I was a little bit scared of the locusts. I mean, they’re just about as big as both my thumbs put together. And they’re really nasty. But they became to be my friends. The locust wranglers helped me just kind of get used to them and they’d throw them on me, and I would have to not flinch. When they crawl up your arms, it makes your hair go up on your arms, so they have these sticky little spikes that they crawl up you with and now I’m all right. Now I can feel comfortable picking them up and just holding them and letting them crawl on me and I don’t get all freaked out. But I don’t like snakes that much. I’m kind of scared of snakes.

QUESTION: Did the wranglers actually give them names?

HILARY SWANK: I gave them names. I gave them names. Locusts don’t have that long of life. It’s about two months. That’s it. I gave the big ones names because those were the only ones that I could really identify, I guess. And I gave the smaller ones and the bigger ones names, but then they die off and I would think it was the same locusts so I’d give it the same name. But it was all right.

QUESTION: Were they Southern names, since the film is set in the South?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Some of them were, like Big Larry and Betsy and cute Southern names.

QUESTION: How many days did you work?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: We shot for about three and a half months and I was there, I think, for about two of the months. Yeah. I was there for a while.

QUESTION: What kind of things did you see in the swamp down in Louisiana?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: All kinds. The forest shot where I’m running through the trees, they had these big, huge banana spiders. They’re a little bit smaller than my palm. Their webs are about 10-to-12 feet. And you have to walk through the forest with a stick because they’re so big. They’re not poisonous, but they had these yellow bodies and they’re huge and they’re kind of creepy. There are just lots of little bugs and insects and big bugs and all sorts of things. You never really know what they’re going to find. They found a lot of snakes on the set, though, like copper snakes under logs that people were sitting on, but no one got bitten by anything, luckily.

QUESTION: How remote was the town where you shot the film?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: It’s about an hour and a half away from Baton Rouge. It’s pretty out there. It’s St. Francisville. It’s a very sweet little town. I had never really gotten to experience that small town where everybody knows everybody and you can walk to the very edge of the town in about 10 minutes. It was fun for me, though, because they had kids there that were my own age in the apartment building and you could walk down to the café in the morning and hang out there in the little tiny library. It was a really great summer experience. It was fun.

QUESTION: Was your work down when they had to evacuate for the storm?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: I was gone during both Hurricane Katrina and Rita. But I talked to my tutor who was down there, because she was still working, and I just heard how scared she was in her voice. And after both of both of the floods, the crew really came together. When you’re on a film set, everybody kind of becomes your family because you’re spending every day with them. But on this film, everyone really bonded and had someone to relate to who had lost their homes or maybe lost some of their family members. But the film really brought happiness to a lot of people because they had a job. And Herb Gains, the producer, he provided a place for them to live so they were all really thankful to be working on the film, that they had a job and a place to live.

QUESTION: Did you go back for any reshoots after the storms?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Yes, they came in the middle of shooting. So, it took longer to make the film because they had to give a lot of their generators up for the refugees. So, it was a little more difficult for everyone but they pulled through and it turned out really well, I think.

QUESTION: What was it like working opposite Hilary Swank?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Oh, working with Hilary was one of the major draws for me in doing the film. I loved watching her on set. She’s really funny and very personable and loves to eat popcorn and popcorn’s one of my favorite foods. I just watched her, how she got into her character.

QUESTION: When you work with someone like Hilary, who did start young, do you try to get a sense of where you might take your career?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: I never really thought of it. I just thought, what a great experience to work with her (laughs). I can learn so much. And I don’t know exactly if I want to do this for the rest of my life. I want to go to college. I want to help people because I know with this business comes a lot of recognition and people see you and if I can draw some attention to some of the tragedies that are going on in the world, that’s how I’d like to help.

QUESTION: How much do you like to help people?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Well, I’m involved with the Dalit Freedom Network and Save The Children in Darfur. So, I’ve been just donating to that and talking to my school about that. Ryan Reed is a photographer and he has an exhibit at my school right now, with all his pictures. So, my classmates can see what’s going on down there because I talk to them a little bit about it and they didn’t even know that was happening. They hadn’t even heard about it. And there’s an online program called Stand, where you can write to your senators and Congressmen and ask them to help with what’s going on around the world and you can change things. I think that’s really important for kids to know, that they can make a difference and save people people’s lives.

QUESTION: Do you think kids care?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Yeah, they do. Once they know they can make a difference, they totally care. Because they all of the sudden have power to change something and help something, and they can be a part of something great.

QUESTION: The film deals with good versus evil. Do you believe that good triumphs over evil?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: Yes, good always triumphs over evil, always, and I think that’s the way it is. That’s the way I see it.

QUESTION: How did you play a character whose intentions are so unknown throughout the film?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: I had to make it seem like I was really scary (laugh) and that’s kind of hard to do when you’re goofing around and being all happy and just being a kid, and then, you get into that place and stand there and look all scary and the wind’s blowing around, but they make it look good with all the eyes and the wind and everything. It was fun to try to do be someone completely different than myself.

QUESTION: What are we going to see you in next?

ANNASOPHIA ROBB: The Reaping, then, I think it should be probably Ferris Wheel, or possibly Doubting Thomas could be next.