411mania Interviews: Hailey & Tatum McCann (The Time Traveler's Wife)

Posted by Al Norton on 08.13.2009

411's Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Hailey and Tatum McCann from The Time Traveler's Wife!

Hailey (13) and Tatum (10) McCann are sisters who appear in The Time Traveler's Wife, playing the same character (Alba) at different ages. Hailey was recently seen on The Cleaner and Tatum played Adam Sandler's daughter in Click as well as having roles on ER and Smith on her resume. This is one of their first interviews.



Al Norton: All of this excitement about being in a big movie must be new to you.

Hailey McCann: Oh yes, I am so excited to go to the premiere.

Al Norton: Have you spent time with your parents picking out what you will wear?

Hailey McCann: I got a dress. It's black with a blue ribbon around it. I really like it. I am excited.

Al Norton: How did you decide that you wanted to get into acting?

Hailey McCann: I was at my Uncle's birthday party and he is friends with an agent. I got up on stage sang him Happy Birthday and the agent came over to my parents and said, "she's cute. When she turns three you should send me her pictures." My Mom did and they called, and we had a few interviews with some agencies. KSR picked us up and that's how it all got started.

Al Norton: How does the audition process work for you?

Hailey McCann: The agent calls my Mom and tells us where we need to be and when, and if there is a script they email it over. We show up, read for the part, and then cross our fingers and hope we get something from it.

Al Norton: What do you like about acting the most?

Hailey McCann: Wow, everything. It's so much fun to express myself through acting. To pretend to be all these characters, it's a lot of fun.

Al Norton: How does filming affect you going to school?

Hailey McCann: There is always an on-set teacher who comes and makes sure we get all of our schooling done. We have to be in school for three hours a day. All of my teachers have been very nice and accepting about it and send me things via email. I go to them before I leave and double up on my work so I have it do on-set. The teachers are really great about it.

Al Norton: Is it hard to be away from your friends while working?

Hailey McCann: Most of the stuff I've done shoots locally, so it's not so hard. I talk to my friends, and we hang out. I love acting more than anything.

Al Norton: Are there certain acting jobs you've done that are harder than others? You played a girl with a bad heart on The Cleaner recently – was that tough?

Hailey McCann: It's more fun than it is anything else. Just getting to go and do the different characters. There is nothing that's been particularly hard; it's all just been awesome.

Al Norton: The Cleaner is a pretty serious show. Did your parents let you watch it before you did the episode?

Hailey McCann: I watched the show to get an understanding of what it was about. It's a very serious topic but it's real life - based on a true story - and it's really cool to see people doing good things.

Al Norton: How was Benjamin Bratt to work with?

Hailey McCann: He was so nice and genuine. He was really great to work with.

Al Norton: So how did you end up playing in the same movie with your sister?

Hailey McCann: The agent got us an audition. Originally I went it for Alba and Tatum went in for a couple of different parts. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best and we got a call back, both of us going in for Alba. We went in together so they could see us interact. They called us about a week later - we were camping actually - and told us we'd booked the part.

It was very exciting because this is my first part in a big movie, and it's with my sister, so it's like a double whammy.

Al Norton: Was it fun to work with her?

Hailey McCann: It was so great. We didn't shoot everything together but the scenes that we did were so much fun since we know each other so well. The only other thing we had done together was a music video, Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying.

Al Norton: Tell me about this charity event on Saturday.

Hailey McCann: We are raising money to keep the music program at our school going, to give the music teacher a little extra money to buy necessary instruments and hire an assistant. My whole family is so involved in music; my brother plays the saxophone and Tatum plays the violin. We love music and want to make sure it stays in the school as long as possible.

We are doing dinner and a movie, and tickets are $30 with all the proceeds going to the school. It's at a local theater and should be a lot of fun.

Al Norton: You've got a big career ahead of you but are there certain types of parts or types of movies you're really looking forward to doing?

Hailey McCann: My dream part is to play some type of murderer. I think that would be awesome, to portray a psycho person. It would be a fun part to do because you'd have to get so into it. The best, best thing would be if it were on CSI: Miami because that's my favorite show. That would be amazing.



Al Norton: Are you nervous doing interviews?

Tatum McCann: No. I figure I'll just talk.

Al Norton: How have you ended up playing so many girls named Emily (McCann has five Emily's to her credits)?

Tatum McCann: I think it's just my lucky name. I audition for a lot of roles named Emily and Samantha. It's very weird but awesome.

Al Norton: How did you decide you wanted to try acting?

Tatum McCann: I would watch my sister doing commercials and having fun so when I was 3 I asked my Mom if I could do it. We sent pictures to the agent Hailey was using – KSR – and then they took me in.

Al Norton: And you like it?

Tatum McCann: Yes, I am having so much fun. It's really awesome.

Al Norton: Is it hard to believe people get paid to do it?

Tatum McCann: You know, it really is. It's so much fun, I can't believe it.

Al Norton: What was it like to work with Adam Sandler on Click?

Tatum McCann: It was really cool to work with Adam Sandler; he was so nice and so funny. He wouldn't let anything inappropriate happen around me, it was really cool.

Al Norton: Were there times he was so funny that you would laugh during scenes when you weren't supposed to?

Tatum McCann: We had to do some scenes over and over again because everyone would be laughing.

Al Norton: What did you think when you found out you were going to work on a movie with your sister?

Tatum McCann: I was so excited I just jumped up and down. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

Al Norton: Even though you are so young, you've had to deal with one of the worst things an actor goes through, finding out your show has been cancelled (Smith).

Tatum McCann: My Mom got an email and we heard it on the news. I was sad but I was ok. It was really fun working with everyone.

Al Norton: So you've got this charity dinner coming up.

Tatum McCann: We're doing dinner and a movie as a fundraiser for our school's music department. I am really into music, I play violin and want to learn to play the keyboard.

Al Norton: What other projects do you have coming up?

Tatum McCann: I just auditioned for the Smurfs movie and I hoping to get a call back.

Al Norton: I am much older than you and the Smurfs were around when I was your age. Did you even know what the Smurfs were?

Tatum McCann: I watch the Boomerang channel and they have all those older shows. I watch the Smurfs all the time.

The Time Traveler's Wife is in theaters on Friday. The dinner and a movie screening takes place this Saturday at the Edwards Cinema in Long Beach Town Center (Long Beach, CA). Tickets are $30; dinner is at 5:45 pm, the movie begins at 7:30 pm.