At the Grammy Awards last night, my friend Jen pointed to presenter Miley Ray Cyrus and said, “You know she was in Big Fish, right?”
I insisted that was impossible, and immediately tried to pull up IMDb on my iPhone in order to prove her wrong. But the network inside Staples Center was massively overwhelmed, likely with other iPhone users trying to distract themselves from Aretha Franklin’s dress. Well, not so much her dress as her shoulders, which weren’t adequately contained within said dress. The fact that the two acts I was most eager to see — Foo Fighters and Amy Winehouse — were performing from other locations added an extra level of frustration. I got to see Amy Winehouse! On a TV! With a few thousand other folks! I would have live-blogged it, except there was no connection.
Checking later, it turns out my friend was absolutely right: Miley played Ruthie in Big Fish, one of the kids who spies on the witch. Only her credited name was Destiny, which seems an appropriate beginning to her later career as Hannah Montana, #1 movie star in America.
You know who else made her American debut in Big Fish? Marion Cotillard, who’s nominated for an Oscar this year for Ma La Vie En Rose.
So, my advice to a young actress? Be in Big Fish.