She’s sitting atop the call sheet. She’s tackling an iconic character. She’s plastered across billboards in Hollywood. Oh, did we mention she’s only 11 years old?
Alice Halsey is taking on the Laura Ingalls mantle in Netflix’s new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie, which premiered July 9. “There’s never really been a billboard of me before, so this is insane,” the 11-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s mind-blowing.”
Halsey had the Little House books in her house growing up, but she didn’t read them until she got the audition for Laura. “They’re so good,” she says. “I feel like Laura has this power to pull people in with all the details and the descriptions and everything. She definitely has a lot of power with her words.”
The actress took preparing for Laura seriously. She read the script a lot, listened to podcasts and read books related to late 19th century era in which the show is set. “I just wanted to get a sense of who the character was, how I would play her,” Halsey says. She’s impressively earnest and focused for such a young star.
Being on set and in costume helped immerse herself in the world. Halsey says was happy the whole day getting to be Laura. “The prairie can be really wild,” she says, recalling her time shooting. “It feels like it’s all alive when the breeze goes through and everything moves. It’s really magical. But it’s also really unpredictable.”
