Pair share screen in new film ‘Nims’

It can be strange, watching Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin work a room.

Despite a 34-year age difference, the two share a subdued style, from the way they respond to fans to their taste in films to their guarded view of the press.

Both are polite but low-key with moviegoers who want an autograph or a poster signed. Both have quick-but-careful answers to media queries.

And both have worn the label of Hollywood child prodigy, having begun acting careers by age 6 and earning Oscar nominations before they could drive.

But don’t try slapping them with the Jodie and mini-Jodie label.

“We have parallel lives,” Foster says. “The lifestyle is similar. You’re traveling with your family, traveling to strange places. You want to be a kid and run around, yet you have real adult responsibilities.”

But, she’s quick to add, “We’re very different people. If anything, Abigail has skills I wish I had when I was her age.”

Both skill sets go on display today, when “Nim’s Island” hits screens.

Based on the Wendy Orr novel, the family adventure is something of a stretch for both actors.

Though she is only 11, Breslin began her career playing Mel Gibson’s daughter in 2002’s “Signs” and gravitates to adult-oriented movies such as “Little Miss Sunshine” (for which she earned her Oscar nomination), “No Reservations” and “Definitely, Maybe.”

And Foster hasn’t done anything geared for kids since her stint doing 1970s Disney movies, including “Freaky Friday” and “One Little Indian.”

For Foster, “Nim’s Island” was a chance to see a book she loved brought to screen and allow her children, Charles, 9, and Kit, 6, to finally see their mother in theaters.

But getting the part was a lot harder for the two-time Oscar winner than it was for Breslin.

“I’ve knocked down every door trying to get this,” Foster says. “The studio didn’t want me. And I can’t really blame them.

“Who would want me for this? It’s not like I’d be the obvious person. I’m known more for dramas.”

She glances at Breslin. “Maybe Abigail put in a good word for me.”

If she did vouch for her co-star, it wouldn’t be the first time Breslin has surprised filmmakers and co-stars. Her demeanor seems to flow, sometimes suddenly, from playful kid to sober actress.

“In some ways, Abigail is a younger version of Jodie,” says Gerard Butler, who co-stars in the story of a girl who is deserted on a Pacific island and needs the help of an agoraphobic New York adventure writer, played by Foster.

“The cameras roll, and suddenly she’s this professional veteran,” Butler says. “Then the next minute, she’s playing with kids her age, running around the set” on the Gold Coast in Australia.”

The mix, Butler says, could help Breslin avoid the pitfalls of childhood stardom.

“Sometimes you watch a performance from someone like Dakota Fanning that’s so grown-up, it’s tremendous,” he says. “But they don’t remind you of children.

“I’d watch Abigail playing with friends, and she never pulled rank, never acted older or important. I think that’s what makes her genuine on screen.”

Foster, who began in TV, is surprised by Breslin’s ease in films, where the youngster began her career. Breslin was born into a New York acting family; her 15-year-old brother, Spencer, has been acting since he was 5.

“I was not born to be an actress,” Foster says. “Abigail was born to be an actress. She has an intuitive access to an emotional side of herself that I did not have.

“I was sort of a stoic kid. I still am stoic. It’s not really easy to admit I have emotion or that I need people. I’ve always had protected layers, and Abigail can let her emotions flow through them.”

Foster also made career choices that she doesn’t necessarily prescribe for Breslin or other child actors. At 13, she played a prostitute opposite Robert De Niro in 1976’s “Taxi Driver,” a role that earned her an Oscar nomination but also forever changed her career and public perception.

“Adolescence is hard in high school, hard anywhere in the world, and it’s especially hard in the public eye,” Foster says. “Your body is changing, you don’t know where you’re headed, you wonder whether you’ll be liked.

“And it’s really hard in today’s industry, where they have those really long (camera) lenses that watch everything you do.”

Breslin says she hasn’t yet noticed the intrusion of paparazzi and doesn’t see herself following Foster’s career footsteps – though she has caught at least one of her films.

“I liked you in ‘Flightplan,’ ” Breslin says of the dark PG-13 film about a mother whose child goes missing during a flight.

“You saw that?” Foster says, a little surprised.

“Oh yeah, awhile ago,” Breslin says. “I really believed your character.”

But don’t expect to see Breslin playing a drug-addled streetwalker anytime soon.

“The hardest thing about acting is doing sad scenes,” she says. “I’m just not a sad person. That’s not easy for me.”

Neither is running, apparently. During one of the scenes of “Nim’s Island,” Breslin was supposed to sprint through the jungle. After the first take, directors Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin yelled cut and told her that her running needed some work.

“They said it looked like I was running to a sale at Barneys,” Breslin says. “I thought, ‘What else would you be running for?’ “

Flackett says it didn’t take long for Breslin to get it down, though.

“One of the things I remember is that Abigail would ask us what we thought her character was feeling,” says Flackett.

“If you think about it, that’s a very evolved question,” he says. “I don’t know many adult actors who ask that. They analyze their parts and don’t seek much input.”

Patricia Rozema, director of Breslin’s next film, “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” (set for a July 2 opening), calls Breslin “an old soul in many ways.”

“She can be impish and grave and funny and heartbroken,” Rozema says. “And I have no idea where it comes from.

“But she’s very careful and capable of differentiating between a film and her real life. She isn’t going to let go of her childhood.”

Particularly when she visits places like Australia, where one of her “Nim’s” co-stars was a 500-pound trained sea lion that she used as an underwater taxi.

“It made me better at swimming,” she says. “I have a friend who was better at diving than I was. Now, I’m not saying anything, but when I get home, I may have a surprise for her.”

Foster laughs and puts a hand on Breslin’s chair.

“I haven’t had one in a long time,” Foster says. “But I may hire Abby as my mentor.”