Christa Campbell Lights Up 'Hall Pass'
When Christa Campbell met Owen Wilson for the first time, she was shocked. The 7-year-old wasn't exactly starstruck. Wilson is a movie star, it’s true, but the elementary schooler from Lawrenceville, GA, had never seen any of his "grown-up" movies. She did, however, see him play the role of Jebediah, a 2-inch-tall cowboy figurine who came to life in Night at the Museum. It had her in disbelief. "She asked him how he got so big," laughed her mother, Hope Campbell.
Christa didn't meet Wilson as a fan, but as a coworker. A budding star, Christa landed a role in the Farrelly brothers new movie Hall Pass, in theaters now, where she plays the daughter of Wilson and Jenna Fischer. It's the first film role for the mile-a-minute girl, who has been featured in commercials and TV pilots since age 4. Shot near Atlanta area between February and April of last year, Hall Pass was Christa's pass to the big screen.
"It's fun and you get to go on set and meet lots of people," the absurdly energetic youngster said recently, barely taking a breath between words or, for that matter, sentences.
Christa's brother got her started in the business initially. Ryan Campbell, two years her elder, decided he wanted to give acting a try a few years ago. With both parents being teachers, it was easier for them to take the next two summers and temporarily move to New York City so he could audition and work. One day, Ryan's manager asked his mother if Christa, then 4-years-old, could audition too. She said no. "I thought she was too shy," Hope Campbell said. "I didn't think it would be something she would want to do." But she was wrong.
Christa whined and asked why not, and her mother relented. Soon she was booked for and starred in a Disney Channel commercial. Much to her chagrin, Hannah Montana did not make an appearance on set. Hope says she was surprised at how well her daughter took to the camera because once upon a time, Christa was shy.
The little girl soon had representation in both New York and Atlanta, and was quickly booked for Hall Pass. Aside from the hair and makeup trailer - the default favorite of any 7-year-old girl - Christa raves about how fun directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly and her co-stars were.
"I got to play with Owen Wilson's hair and he gave me a piggyback ride," Christa said. "And when he was giving me a piggyback ride he didn't hear them say cut and kept going." Said Hope Campbell: "We had heard different things, but everybody is very considerate of kids and very well-behaved around kids. Even though Hall Pass is an adult movie, we would have never known on the days we were there."
Since wrapping Hall Pass, Christa has also been featured in a Georgia Lottery commercial and recently did work in Wilmington, NC, on a CBS pilot called "Gimme Shelter." During filming, she got a friendship bracelet from Janeane Garofolo and "wanted to adopt Skeet Ulrich as her second dad."
Because of the R-rated content of Hall Pass (the basic premise is a wife giving her husband a week off from marital fidelity), Christa won't attend her the premiere, and it'll be many years before she even sees her first movie. But she hopes there will be more premieres to come. "I wanna do this for a long time," Christa said.