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Before I walked into the room, it occurred to me that I’ve never interviewed young teenagers before. The youngest person I’ve ever interviewed wit Hillary Duff and I was in a roundtable that time. I have no idea what to talk about it. I mean of course the movie, but what else? I have no idea. I’m conscious of the fact that I can become the boring old lady very quickly. I’m not sure when that happened, by the way. I thought I was pretty cool, personally.

Then you know, these kids make more per picture than I will in my lifetime they work hard and deserve to not be patronized. I will speak to them like I would any adult – minus the cuss words – and we’ll see what happens. When it was all said and done, I really enjoyed myself. These are to great people. Young enough to be my kids, but nonetheless just a joy to be around. I can’t wait to see the adults they grow into. And maybe if I’m lucky, they’ll remember and look back fondly at our conversation. And when they are super famous and having accolades showered upon them, they’ll grant me an interview.

The Diva:
How old are you both?

Josh:
14

AnnaSophia:
13

The Diva:
And how old were you when you filmed the movie.

Josh:
13 I was 12

The Diva:
My 8 year old niece loves the movie. Of course it went right over my 4 year old daughters head.- as expected. There are some mature topics in there

Josh:
yeah

The Diva:
And I’d never read the book so I was unprepared for the “death talk”

Josh and AnnaSophia:
Yeah

Josh:
A lot of people weren’t prepared for it.

The Diva:
Yeah so we had the death talk and the heaven and hell talk. Had you read the book before you started?

AnnaSophia:
Yes

The Diva:
So you were ready?

AnnaSophia:
Yes. Actually I was home schooled in 5th grade and that’s when you usually read it. I heard it was being made into a script. And I read the book and then I read the script

Josh:
I read the book after I heard it was being made into a movie. So I read the book and then I read the script. So I saw what the script was like after I saw what the book was like and it translated very well into the script and into the movie. They kept a lot of the content. But they added some special effects – people got mad about this because in the book they said, “Oh there weren’t all those crazy creatures”, yeah well that’s because in the book, it was in the kid’s imagination. How stupid would it have looked if you had a kid swinging a stick at nothing?

The Diva:
You not having been 13 or 14 for a little while are the topics relevant to what’s going on now?

AnnaSophia:
Yes.

Josh:
The story is timeless

AnnaSophia:
I think so definitely. Yes. in middle school – kids are always going to be – people get insecure. The movie will show kids that they are better when they don’t bully and it will also show kids who are being bullied what the bullies are thinking in their mind. It also talks about boys and girls just being friends. It talks about family relationships. It just touches on all sorts of relevant topics.

Josh:
I totally agree.

The Diva:
What was the most rewarding part of making this movie for you?

Josh:
Oh Man. I think getting to be in New Zealand. That was the biggest reward because it was just amazing down there.

The Diva:
Isn’t it beautiful down there? So lush and green…

Josh:
It is very beautiful. We were actually living on the beach/ it was wonderful.

AnnaSophia:
Yes it was and the South Island is airid and mountainous- it’s where Lord of the Rings was filmed and the North Island is very tropical. I think the most rewarding part for me was getting to live in New Zealand and meeting all of the crew. and also being part of something that has touched a lot of people. My dad – his e-mail address got out there somehow and it changed one man’s career and another man thought there was only one way to show your kids that you love them. He was really stiff. And he didn’t think he was supposed to show love to his children. He didn’t realize that’s not normal and that’s not what kids want. So he changed how he was a parent and it was kinda cool for me to read about that.

The Diva:
It’s definitely a conversation starter which is lacking in a lot of movies now a days. It forced me to have conversations with my girls that I was putting off.

AnnaSophia:
Yeah it’s important stuff. Stuff they need to know about not just stupid shallow things. It’s something they need to learn.

The Diva:
You’ve got a lot of young people who are looking up to you. Ho are you dealing with being unintentional role models.

Josh:
You know, I don’t think about it all that much. Maybe I should think about more, but I kinda just live my life like I did before I even started acting. Of course I was a little bit younger then. I still live in Kentucky. I’m on a soccer team. I’m on a basketball team. I think that one of the things my parents have done good for me is that they haven’t made me move to California. Because I think so many people make that jump to California, first of all way too soon and also when you get out there you are so exposed to too many things. I mean I’m already exposed to a lot on a movie set. It’s nice to be able to go back home to Kentucky and be a normal 14 year old with my friends. That’s help me a lot. It keeps me leveled headed. I also have to do chores. I have to cut the grass and take out the trash. Asll that stuff. Besides the fact that I make movies, I’m just a normal kid.

AnnaSophia:
I still live in my home town of Denver Colorado. I love L.A. it’s nice to visit, but it is so packed with the industry and everything is about it. That’s all people talk about. It’s nice to just go home and be with all my friends and go to the pool and have fun. Being able to drive up to the mountains and and go camping…

The Diva:
And be yourself.

AnnaSophia:
Exactly!

Josh:
Yeah. The role model thing is a little bit weird. I try not to think about it. I am aware that I need to make good choices. I want that for myself and my parents help me with that and then have been really supportive, but the whole role model thing…. I kinda don’t think about it much. It’s kinda weird.

The Diva:
I think that’s because your parents have grounded you and give you as normal as a life as possible. You don’t believe your own hype.

Josh:
I don’t believe my own hype. What hype? *laughs*

The Diva:
Yeah I see that very clearly, you guys are great kids and believing your own hype means you end up passed out in the front seat of a car.

AnnaSophia:
Besides there is always stuff that brings you back down to earth. I was doing a music video for the song I did or the Disney channel and it was supposed to be all glamorous and my hair blowing in the wind and I have this lip gloss on and all my hair sprayed across my face and stuck to the lip gloss – so much for glamour. But it’s not real! It’s all just smoke and mirrors! It’s all fake and you just have laugh at it.

The Diva:
I think that is something very important to discuss for girls and women. One of my heroes is Jamie Lee Curtis for the simple fact that she appeared on a magazine cover without an ounce of make on. And in shorts and a tank top so you saw all her dimples and she said “this is me” No shame. No air brushing. Just a naturally beautiful woman.

AnnaSophia:
That is so cool!

Josh:
It’s insane how much make up people wear. Just insane. And then you see them without all the make up and you are like they are below average! I know like tons of people back home in Kentucky are prettier than 80% of Hollywood. Everyone in Hollywood is just done up in so much makeup and I have friends in Kentucky who are very pretty and they don’t wear make up and they certainly aren’t airbrushed. People don’t look like that and that’s what people need to realize. Even the people who look like that, don’t really look like that.

AnnaSophia:
They get help.

AnnaSophia:
You don’t look like you have on very much makeup. You are a very pretty girl naturally.

AnnaSophia:
Thank you. I don’t have much on. Just a little bit to cover up my zits.

The Diva:
Well there you go, you get zits like any normal 13 year old girl.

Josh:
I just let mine shine!

The Diva:
I think this is a very important discussion. I want my girls all girls to have a healthy outlook on life. One of my girls does do some modeling work and I won’t let them put anything on her but powder because of the –

Josh and AnnaSophia:
Shine.

Josh:
And it’s not fair because it is impossible to look like. You know how it’s portrayed in magazines.

AnnaSophia:
When I go to school I don’t wear any makeup

Josh:
Me either. I mean why bother if you want people to like you for how you are then you don’t need to cover yourself up. Then when you take it off, they don’t even know you because you look completely different.

The Diva:
Is there anything you want the public to know that they don’t already know?

Josh:
Oh Man. I get grounded. I get grounded all the time. I have a little brother and we fight all the time. You know that’s what big brothers and little brothers do. I get ground. And I think people overlook that we are just normal kids. I guess because there are some many kids in this business who aren’t normal kids, but they are totally fake. They are like 12 going on 40. So I think that there are some few sane young actors out there.

AnnaSophia:
Yeah were just normal kids with a really big hobby. I don’t get grounded.

Josh:
*rolls his eyes* That’s cuz she doesn’t do anything wrong….

AnnaSophia:
No. I do plenty of things wrong. *laughs*

The Diva:
What’s up next?

Josh:
I have a movie coming out this fall called Winged Creatures. It’s a smaller independent film that is geared to a much much older audience. It’s got some academy award winner’s in it. It’s was a great ensemble cast and it as a lot of fun. Next summer in 2008, I have a movie coming out Journey to the Center of the Earth and this summer, I’m just at home playing sports.

The Diva:
Is that a remake?

Josh:
Yeah with Brendan Fraser.

The Diva:
Oh cool I saw the original and loved it. Not in it’s theatrical release of course. I’m not that old.

Josh:
Oh good because I was like Whoa!

The Diva:
Laughs. You are so cute.

The Diva:
AnnaSophia?

AnnaSophia:
Well I’ve been working on a few Indie projects. Ferris Wheel which has been renamed Sleepwalking. And West Texas Children’s story and they’ve come up with a new name for that one, but I don’t know what it is. Those release dates are TBD. And a larger film that coming out next year – Jumper. That one is a small role though.

The Diva:
With Sam Jackson. I’ve asked him a few times about it, but he won’t tell me anything.

AnnaSophia:
Yeah, they were very quiet about it during filming. That movie went on *forever* and I’m in maybe 5 minutes of it. It took like 6 months. I shot a little bit and then when I came back they had shot all this different stuff. Then they brought me back in the middle and shot some more then they brought me back at the end. I met Sam once. He’s a nice guy. I actually walked past him and introduced myself

Josh:
I love “Snakes on a Plane”.

AnnaSophia:
I went into the snack room and I was making myself a sandwich and he was asleep on the couch. And I was like “oh my gosh I shouldn’t be in here!”

The Diva:
Wow 6 months. That’s a long shoot. It was the never-ending production .

The Diva:
Because of the exterior shots? Don’t you jump from country to country and state to state?

AnnaSophia:
Yes. They were in Mexico, London and Tokyo They might have gone to Egypt. They were all over the place! But I didn’t go all of those places.