The Hollywood Reporter – August 14, 2019

HOLLYWOOD

ail-biting parents are routinely seen on
the soccer sidelines or in the audience
of ballet recitals. And occasionally they
turn up in Hollywood pitch meetings.
Crystal Grace found herself in a stretch
of such meetings early this spring, sweat-
ing as she watched her 12-year-old daughter,
Captain Marvel star Mckenna Grace, parry
queries from film executives four times her
age. The young actress was trying to set up an
adaptation of Annie Hartnett’s Rabbit Cake, a
coming-of-age novel that struck a chord when
she read it two years ago.
“They asked some tough questions and I
didn’t think she knew the answers,” recalls
Crystal. Adds her daughter: “Every single
day, we went into meetings after meetings.

It was nerve-wracking. I really hoped they

liked the characters as much as I did.” In the

end, Mckenna did have the answers; Amazon

Studios bought the package, making her one

of the youngest producers ever

in Holly wood. “She knew exactly

what she was talking about,

more than I would have,” says

Crystal. “She shocked me.”

Grace isn’t the only member

of the under-18 set taking the

producer reins, as more and more child actors

are making decisions and deals to determine

their career fate. Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby

Brown, 15, is heading into production on

Legendary Entertainment’s Enola Holmes, a

movie about the little sister of famed detective

THE RISE OF THE KID PRODUCER

From Black-ish star Marsai Martin’s first-look deal at Universal to Millie Bobby Brown’s girl-detective feature at Legendary,

young stars ‘aren’t just waiting for the phone to ring for another acting job’ By Mia Galuppo and Borys Kit

Sherlock based on a young-adult fiction series;

Brown is producing and will star alongside

Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter.

Black-ish star Marsai Martin, meanwhile, has

at 14 become the youngest producer ever to

sign a first-look deal — inking with Universal

after the production of April comedy release

Little, which she executive produced.

“It takes a little bit of getting used to, but

after a while, you forget you are talking to a

teen,” says Will Packer Productions’ James

Lopez, who worked with Martin on Little. She

pitched the idea for the alternative take on

Tom Hanks starrer Big when she was just 10;

development started when she was 11, with

Martin offering script notes on early drafts,

especially on dialogue between the younger

JACK
DYLAN GRAZE R 15
Known for It

After roles in It and Beautiful
Boy, L.A. native Grazer (yes,
his uncle is producer Brian),
who’d long dreamed of star-
ring in a superhero movie,
got his wish playing the
eponymous hero’s boyhood
pal in Warner Bros.’ Shazam!
He’ll return for It: Chapter
Tw o (Sept. 6) and appear as
a “weird, internal character”
on Luca Guadagnino’s HBO
limited series We Are Who
We Are.
The movie I’d love to star
in “The Indiana Jones fran-
chise, if they ever reboot it.”

ARIANA
GREENBLATT 11
Known for
Avengers: Infinity War

This Florida-raised dancer
has parlayed a role on
Disney’s Stuck in the Middle
into a budding film career,
including her turn in 2018’s
Avengers: Infinity War,
where she and co-star Josh
Brolin (whom she nicknamed
“Sesame” because of the
dots on his motion capture

PINT-SIZE POWER

Lopez

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 76 AUGUST 14, 2019