If this were Willy Wonka, 13-year-old Hillary Hindi would be the female Charlie Bucket. But rather than buying the golden ticket, Hillary made hers, in the form of a video of her red-carpet interview skills for an AOL contest. The prize: the chance to interview the director and cast of The Return of The King at the world premiere in New Zealand with all the trimmings (including a three-mile-long red carpet). Was that better than inheriting a chocolate factory? To Hillary, who's working on her own movie version of The Lord of The Rings, there's no question.
How did you come up with your red carpet questions?
I had this piece of paper, and then I put it away, and it was in my dad's pocket, and then all of a sudden, all these stars started coming in, so, you know, I was like praying, Let me say the right question, because I couldn't, you know, remember all them, so I just asked them, like, what I wanted to ask them. I was, like, "So how does it feel working with this person," and stuff. Or, like, "How does it feel wearing this costume?" Like it just kind of came to me.
As a presenter, did you have to do anything else?
No, I just had to ask them questions. I don't know.
And then go and see the movie?
Oh yeah, and then I went in and saw the movie, and then after that I went to a party from, I think, like 12:30 to, like, 4:30.
Wow! What's your regular bedtime?
My regular bedtime is how late my mommy lets me stay up. Otherwise, I'll stay up all night until I conk out by myself.
Were you conking out at around 4:30?
No. I was up and at 'em.
When you got off the plane, did you go straight to the premiere?
We went to our hotel room, and we just kind of laid on the bed and looked at the view. And then we went with my AOL host and he gave us all our passes and he found out that my sister and I really wanted to go together to watch the movie and stuff. And he's like, "Well, I can't let you go tomorrow to all the red-carpet events, but today there's a press screening at the theater and if you want, I can get your whole family to see it before even the stars see it." And so I was, like, "Yes!" And me and my sister and my dad and mom went to go see it and that was really fun. I have so much fun with my sister because me and her are so much alike.
You had the screening, and then ...
Well, the whole day, it was December 1 in New Zealand, and we had to wake up and go to a museum, and we ate breakfast there. And then they had Richard Taylor there, the person that's the head of Weta [Workshop] and he was showing everyone the armor and I got to hold, like, three swords and put on the wizard king's gloves. That was so much fun. 'Cause I was like, "Whoa!" except some of them were really heavy. And then I got to look at all the orc masks and, like, the armor that they used. And after that, we went to a press conference and I got to sit down in the middle of the aisle. And like I was so close to them, I don't know how to explain it, like, I was at least eight feet away from them, and so that was really neat.
With all this excitement, what's happened since you got back?
I did my interview with CNN [last] Monday.
How did that go?
Well, it was live, and so I was pretty nervous, you know. And then right when the camera went on, I was, like, "OK, you know, it's live and if I mess up, they can't edit it out." But I tried my best, and it went pretty good. And yesterday, Channel 8 came over and interviewed me. And today I got another phone call from, I think, I don't know, it was, like, Something Journal.
The Review-Journal?
Yeah, that, and I'm going to try out for The Chronicles of Narnia. They're going to film that in New Zealand. You have to send in an audition tape of yourself. You have to, like, read out of The Chronicles of Narnia with an English accent. And, you know, and just send it in and then they'll just look for the people they want. So I'm just going to try that out and see if anything might happen.
So instead of becoming a filmmaker, do you want to become an actress?
Well, anything that really goes, like, if they just asked me, "Do you want to go to directing school?" I'd be, like, "Oh sure." Or if they go, "Do you want to go to acting school?" I go, "Oh sure." If God wants me to do either one, it'll happen.
Well, that's about all the questions I have. Did I do a better job than CNN?
You did nice. You're good.