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July 2008

"Oh well I think she's just really imaginative, and she's really creative and uhm.. she's just very artistic in a way. So I just think she's.. I want to be like Phoebe! I think everyone should be more like Phoebe"
-Elle on her character in "Phoebe in Wonderland" (aged 9).

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DADDY DAY CARE

Stats

Elle plays: Jamie

Additional Cast: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Anjelica Huston

Director: Steve Carr

Written by: Geoff Rodkey

Release Date: 9 May 2003 (USA)

Genre: Family, Comedy

Rated: PG (USA)

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Synopsis

In the hilarious comedy Daddy Day Care, two fathers (Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin) lose their jobs in product development at a large food company and are forced to take their sons out of the exclusive Chapman Academy and become stay-at-home fathers. With no job possibilities on the horizon, the two dads open their own day care facility, "Daddy Day Care", and employ some fairly unconventional and sidesplitting methods of caring for children. As "Daddy Day Care" starts to catch on, it launches them into a highly comedic rivalry with Chapman Academy's tough-as-nails director (Anjelica Huston) ...who has driven all previous competitors out of business.

Elle's Character

Jamie is a four year blonde, with a big spirit ("Let's get ready to RUMBLE!") who is one of the founding charges of Daddy Day Care. On her first day she promises her young mother that she will call 911 in case of an emergency -- and true to her word, when an 'emergency' arises at the daycare, she calls 911, when daycare bully Crispin steals her dog and pulls off her head.

It is not only Jamie's cuteness, but also her cheeky intelligence that capture a person's heart, though. This girl knows the questions that she wants answered, and ask them she does -- "Where do babies come from?" -- questions deftly avoided by the adults in the situation, but perfectly natural to the children at the Daddy Day Care focus group, of which Jamie is a very vocal member. Her well thought out contribution - "Dolphins. Dolphins are good," is not only very cute, but also very sweetly reasoned. After all, aren't dolphins good? Don't most daycare centres lack them? This girl's got a point!

Like the other kids Jamie knows a fun daycare when she sees one, so when the children are forced to returned to the selective school run by Miss Harridan (despite wearing a very cute little uniform and two blonde pigtails) - it is much to Jamie's delight when Daddy Day Care reopens, so much so that she can't help jumping up and down in glee. Altogether now -- "Awwww!!". What else could be expect from such a cute little bundle of energy?

Trivia

. This was Elle's first movie independant from her big sister, Dakota. Previously she had only played Dakota at a young age.

. Elle has stayed close friends with actor Max Burkholder, who plays Max in the movie. Dakota is best friends with Max's older brother, James.

Notable Quotes

The old saying, "Never work with animals and children", has been broken twice over in this film with virtually half a cast comprised of children under five. Here's what the adult cast had to say about working alongside such young actors.

"They're a great group of kids, and I think it's remarkable how well they get along given the fact that most of them are four years old. The kids generally work a six hours a day, so that's hard for production particularly in a movie like this, where they're in practically every scene. Production has to work around them a lot of the time. It's actually astonishing how much a four year old can comprehend about the making of a movie...It's something they're interested in, they have tapes at home, they watch television...and they understand the process." - Angelica Huston ('Miss Harridan')

"What's kind of crazy is the logistical problem that [working with children] creates. I mean, when you shoot a movie usually you're here all day for 12 hours or you're just kind of rolling along...but with kids, you know they gotta take their nap, and drink milk. They have a Union! They have gameboy breaks for like 20 minutes...their Union is strong, man. Interestingly enough you think kids are somewhat confining, but they're not, not at all. I find it to be exhilerating. It's all about listening to kids. You gotta let them do what they're gonna do, and you look at them and don't react...and it's funny." - Steve Zahn ('Marvin')

"I feel for Eddie and Jeff and Steve, I mean they...got a lot on their plates. You gotta have patience and remember that they're children, they're not adults although this is an adult medium. They're children." - Regina King ('Kim Hinton')

"It would be really maudlin and contrived if I, or Eddie, or Steve tried to be nice to the kids, tried to be warm to the kids; we're nice guys, we just work with the kids and be normal. Not trying to be sweet and warm and cuddly. I'm always looking out for the welfare of the kids. In fact, I told them all, "If you're not having fun, at any point during filming, please come and tell me." A couple of them have reminded me, "I'm not having fun, I come tell you," and I think they're about to tell me and I say "Are you having fun?" "Yeah I'm having fun!" "Good." 'Cause they're a bunch of four years olds, they should be having fun. You know. That's the point of it - they don't care about filmmaking." - Jeff Garlin ('Phil')