Youngest ever Oscar Best Actress nominee plays Annie

MANILA, Philippines - Who’s that girl who moves with the rhythm of a busy New York City? Who’s the foster kid who sees the good in everybody — even her foster mom, the queen of mean, Miss Hannigan? Who hearts New York — and finds out that New York hearts her right back? Just one kid — it’s Annie!

The youngest person ever nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) stars as Annie, a young, happy foster kid who’s also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they’d be back for her someday, it’s been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). But everything’s about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) — advised by his brilliant VP, Grace (Rose Byrne) and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) — makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he’s her guardian angel, but Annie’s self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it’s the other way around.

“What is cool about Annie is that she teaches the adults what matters in life,” says Wallis of the plucky heroine. “I think all kids feel like we have something to teach grown-ups.”

Wallis says she’s a fan of the original movie. “It’s my favorite,” she says. “I like to sing and dance along with it. So I love that I got to sing and dance in the movie for real this time.”

“Annie is very kind and serious, and worries about the other girls — she makes sure they’re okay,” says Wallis. “She just has a dream of finding her parents. That’s the No. 1 thing on her list. Miss Hannigan is always in her way, but she also has the other four girls by her side.”

Of course, Wallis formed a special bond with those four other girls. “I felt like I had four sisters on the set,” she says. “They were so fun — I made such good friends. And also Cameron Diaz — she’s so nice in real life. Miss Hannigan is supposed to be mean, but not Cameron!”

A Broadway classic that has delighted audiences for generations comes to the big screen with a new, contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures’ comedy Annie. Director-producer-screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Caleeb Pinkett and Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Laurence “Jay” Brown and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards. Celia Costas and Alicia Emmrich serve as executive producers. The screenplay is by Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna, based on the musical stage play Annie, book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and on Little Orphan Annie, and Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

(Opening on Jan. 21, Annie is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.)