Gift of Gabby

>> It's great that Oprah Winfrey is behind "Precious." What's more powerful: That, or having a law requiring everyone to see the film?
People often break laws, but nobody breaks Oprah. [Laughs] I think maybe Oprah wins.

>> As if people are afraid of what happens if they don't listen to her?
[Laughs] Yeah, people can do 30 days in government jail, but what will happen if you upset Oprah?

>> Nobody knows.
Nobody knows, and nobody wants to find out. That's for sure.

>> On a scale of 1 to 10, how heavy are this movie's issues?
I don't know if I can rate it on a scale. I'd have to say 5, right down the middle.

>> Why?
There are some people [for whom] it'd be a 1 or a 3 or something because they know this person, and so it might be close enough to home that it's not very emotionally jarring. Or too close to home, so that it's 10.

>> You didn't want to get into acting, but you take a part that puts you completely out there.
I know! I've been running, running from this business for a long time. My mom used to take me to Huggies [commercial auditions]. I was such a goofy, goofy gremlin child. I was, like, way too creative; nobody got it ... I wanted to be a comedienne when I was about 8 or 9 years old and my mom was saying, "You need to do this. You need to go on 'Star Search.'" And I'd be like, "Whoa. You're too invested." And I'd walk out and leave it alone. So I've been running away from it, but I think it's a lesson that you can't run from what you're supposed to be.

>> So they weren't looking for that much personality in a Huggies commercial?
They certainly weren't looking for a child screaming and crying to leave.

>> Some say it was brave to cast someone who actually looked the part of Precious, rather than getting someone thin to put on a fat suit.
That's stupid. ... Part of the reason why she's so ignored and so beaten upon is because of the way she looks. And it's terribly disrespectful to girls who do look like that, to girls like me, if they had gotten any other actress and padded her up and put prosthetics on her face. I would have been picketing. ... It says that actual girls like that have no self-worth and are not worth watching on the screen and can't carry a film, which I think we disproved.

>> What do you think when people throw the word "Oscar" around?
It makes me nervous. Because I don't know what an Oscar-winning film is ... I can't see it because it's too close to me. I haven't been in this business very long and I don't know what it looks like.

>> If I interview you again in two years, will you be saying, "Oh, well, now that I have a couple ..."
A couple what, Oscars? ... [Laughs] If you interview me in two years and I have a couple of Oscars, I probably knocked someone out for [them].

>> When people mention Chicago, what do you think about--other than Oprah?
I think about Kanye West a lot. A lot. Because all his songs are about the Chi. All of them.

>> Are you a fan, or are you getting tired of him?
Are you getting tired of him, Matt?

>> I asked you first.
I asked you second.

>> He could tone down his attitude.
He's so conceited. He's got opinions that are stronger than everybody else's opinions, and they need to be heard right now! That whole thing with Taylor Swift, "Oh, 'Ye, I wish you hadn't done that to her." ... I just think it's rude to do that to anyone. That's her first MTV Award, 'Ye! That's what I call him, " 'Ye." But I do like his music, yes.

For full Q&A visit metromix.com

More about Gabby

» Just filmed "Yelling to the Sky"
» Wants to do comedy and be a romantic lead: "I want to do things that are outside of the box that people try to put me in."
» She has a "newscaster crush" on Stephen Colbert
» What she wants to do in Chicago: Go to Rainforest Cafe
» She celebrated landing her role with a Torrid shopping spree
» She likes playing it loose on the red carpet: "I think it's funnier to make a goofy face than to smile at a camera." MP