SAG nominations: Hailee Steinfeld on 'True Grit'

 
For 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld, being cast in her first film was exciting. To know she would be working with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon in "True Grit" was beyond exciting. To learn that she'd received a SAG nomination, well, you get the idea. Here, Hailee shares her thoughts:

How long have you been awake?

"Probably like 30 minutes. Yes, actually when I woke up, my mom heard me upstairs, and she was like, ‘People are calling, they want to congratulate you!’ So I’ve been talking to all my friends and family. It’s great."

You were saying it feels like yesterday you were cast in the film.

"It’s funny, because it wasn’t too long ago. Obviously, it was a few months ago, but it does feel longer than that. I came in at the very end of the whole audition process and I went in, I was put on tape the first week of January, and read with the casting director, and they told us it would be a month. And five weeks later, I went in to read for the Coen brothers."

What have the last few months been like promoting the film?

"It’s definitely fun, mostly because of the people I’m doing it with. Jeff is so much fun to be around and the Coen brothers are so easygoing. There’s never a minute I spend with them that I don’t want to be there."

Did you ever imagine your first role would be nominated for awards?

"Honestly, no. I immediately think back to the day I was sitting in my room waiting for the call for ‘True Grit,’ and I thought, whoever gets this job – it’s like winning the lottery, because it’s such an incredible cast and film."

Did it bother you that the Golden Globes overlooked "True Grit"?

"Honestly, I didn’t even know it was going on. I was in New York with all my family and my best friend. I had a countdown since 200 days ago for the premiere, so when the premiere came around, I was just looking forward to that."

How was the premiere?

"It was so much fun, oh, my goodness. Everyone was telling me, ‘It’s gonna be a lot of fun, and it’s going to be crowded,’  but it was 10 times more fun than I thought it was going to be."

Had you been to a premiere before?

"One or two. I’d done a couple red carpets so I would get used to it so I would know what the drill is. I was doing an interview, and someone asked me, ‘How does it feel?’ and it hit me that I was on the red carpet."

Lots of people think you're going to get an Oscar nomination. Is that exciting to think about?

"Sure. Again, I don’t think about it too much. I have so many things going on. It’s so crazy, because I’m so stuck in the moment. My birthday was last week. Christmas is in nine days. That’s kind of the last thing I’m thinking about."

-- Amy Kaufman

Photo: Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit." Credit: Paramount Pictures