058: The Kid is All Right

From across time, Teenage Me approves of these shoes.

While the red-carpet commentators are critiquing Natalie Portman's maternity dress and the livebloggers are stretching their fingers in preparation for a long evening, I'll be keeping an eye on that young lady over there, Hailee Steinfeld. She's been getting a lot of attention this awards season for her performance as Mattie Ross in True Grit, and she's handled it remarkably well for any actress, let alone a fourteen-year-old. Among all the dour looks on the red carpet, she's been cheerful and well-dressed, not to mention age-appropriate.  Just look at that picture (from the cover of this week's Parade) -- she's just delightful, and she looks her age, which is impressive in itself when you look at the likes of Miley Cyrus.

She's a long shot to win the supporting-actress Oscar tonight (Melissa Leo being the presumed winner for The Fighter), but I'll still be rooting for her, not just because I thought she was fantastic in True Grit, but because she seems to have her head on straight -- a rarity for teen stars -- and seems to be taking the whole celebrity experience one step at a time (the Parade feature is a good read, by the by). My opinion is this: if more of the famous young folks in Hollywood were this down-to-earth, we wouldn't have to put up with thing like Lindsay Lohan's continual legal drama.

(Also? I'm joining the internet chorus championing Steinfeld for Katniss Everdeen in the inevitable Hunger Games movie. Cast a teenager to play a teenager, Hollywood, please!)