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Marsai Martin, 14, stars in “Little," a modern take on 1998’s “Big,” where a kid finds himself aged overnight to adulthood after wishing to be bigger, but learns that he can wait to grow up. “Little” flips the script on that, where Regina Hall’s leading character, a tyrannical tech mogul, offends a young girl, subsequently wakes up younger and presumably has to be nice to go back to herself.
It’s a take on bullying and female empowerment while also being whimsical and based on fantasy -- a crowd-pleaser for sure.
But she also created the entire film.
When she met producer Will Packer (“Girls Trip,” “Night School”), the introduction was more of a courtesy thanks to “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, but Martin’s plan (she was only 10 when she made the pitch) exceeded expectations and turned into “Little.”
“She comes in and she’s got this fully thought out, really coherent, cohesive narrative, with characters and themes. I was like, ‘She’s how old again?’” Packer said.
As the youngest executive producer in Hollywood history, Marsai Martin (who’s currently starring as the quirky Diane Johnson on “black-ish”) is a name you’re sure to be hearing a lot more of after “Little” makes it debut today.