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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 40 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Little Miss Sunshine .
| As the film begins we are introduced to the Hoover family. What state do the Hoovers call home? | Little Miss Sunshine
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New Mexico. Richard and Sheryl's home is in Albuquerque. Throughout most of the movie they are traveling from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach, California.
| Sheryl's brother, Frank, comes to live with the Hoovers during the opening sequence. Why has he been hospitalized? | Little Miss Sunshine
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He slit his wrists.. Frank attempted suicide as a result of losing both his lover and his "genius grant" to his rival.
| Until being surpassed by his rival, Frank is considered the foremost American scholar of which author? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Marcel Proust. Dwayne appears to be a fan of Friedrich Nietzsche, but his uncle Frank teaches Proust. Towards the end of the movie, Frank sees an advertisement for a book written by his rival, Larry Sugarman, where Larry claims to be the nation's foremost Proust authority.
| Dwayne has taken a vow of silence until he achieves a certain goal. His goal is to be admitted into which institution? | Little Miss Sunshine
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US Air Force Academy. It's Dwayne's dream to be a fighter pilot. However, after Olive gives him a sample test in the bus, we learn that he is color-blind and therefore won't be allowed to be an Air Force pilot.
| Grandpa has recently been evicted from his retirement home. What is the primary reason for his eviction? | Little Miss Sunshine
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He used illegal drugs.. Grandpa was evicted for using heroin. Despite his drug abuse, he is extremely close to Olive and even choreographs the dance routine that she performs at the pageant. Grandpa also offers advice to Dwayne, and although it appears he may not fully embrace Frank's gay lifestyle they seem to share some degree of friendship.
They shove him through the window.. They do in fact shove him through the window and place his body in the back of the van. This leads Olive to declare on stage that her grandfather is "...in the trunk of our car". The pageant officials don't think much of it, but Richard and Sheryl can't believe she says it.
| When they finally reach the pageant of whom does Olive ask, "Do you eat ice cream?" | Little Miss Sunshine
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Miss California. Earlier at the diner, Richard makes Olive self conscious about eating ice cream. Miss California tells Olive that she enjoys ice cream (at least frozen yogurt). This is just one example of how the film exposes some of the flaws in the child beauty pageant system.
| Frank and Dwayne go to the beach. While they're there Dwayne complains that he'd like to just "sleep until [he] was eighteen". If he were to do this what does Frank argue that he would miss out on? | Little Miss Sunshine
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suffering. Frank says that Proust looked back on his years of suffering and realized that they made him who he was. Frank then says, "So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school - those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that." After this, the two decide to head back and watch Olive at the pageant.
| At the end of the film, while performing her dance routine, what song does Olive dance to on stage? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Super Freak. Olive dances in a striptease-like fashion to Rick James' classic. The audience and the pageant co-ordinators are clearly appalled by the dance, so as a sign of solidarity and to protect Olive from embarrassment, the other members of the family join her on stage and dance as well.
| "Little Miss Sunshine" was well received by critics and the Academy. One of the top performances was that of Olive. Who played Olive? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Abigail Breslin. Abigail Breslin received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In addition the film was nominated for Best Picture. Alan Arkin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and the film's screenplay was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
Olive. You first see Olive watching a tape of a women being crowned Miss America. Olive is a seven year old girl who is always very cheerful and happy. When she gets the chance to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, she jumps right at it. After that, you see Dad giving his nine step winner program.
Sunset Manor. Grandpa gets kicked out of Sunset Manor for using illegal drugs. At their first dinner he complains about having chicken every night. This happens right before Olive finds out she can go California.
| What is the name of Sheryl and Frank's sister who says Olive can go to California to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Cindy. Cindy cannot take her because she is taking her two horses. Dwayne wouldn't have gone if Sheryl didn't give him permission for flight school.
Nobody has heard of Richard.. Stan says it won't sell because nobody has heard of Richard. Richards’s program is called "Refuse to Lose". It is a program that tries to inspire people to reach their full potential. Richard thinks it is Stan's fault but it isn't.
Magazines. The police officer looks in their trunk because Richard tells him not to, but he does. He is distracted by the magazines and doesn't notice the body. The dead body is in the trunk because Grandpa died and the only way to make it to the pageant on time is to take the body with them.
He is color blind.. Dwane is color blind meaning he can't see in full color. You find this out when Olive is giving him an eye test soon after the police officer lets them go. Olive goes down a hill to comfort him and gets him to come back.
| What is the name of the person who puts Olive in the pageant even though she is late? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Kirby. The other person at the desk won't put Olive in the pageant because they are four minutes late. Kirby doesn't mind because it only takes him five minutes and he feels sorry for them coming all that way for nothing.
| "Little Miss Sunshine" was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor. The film didn't win Best Picture, but it did get the Best Supporting Actor award. Who earned this honor? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Alan Arkin. The award went to Alan Arkin for his hilarious performance as Grandpa Hoover, a heroin-snorting, foul-mouthed, yet very loveable, guy who teaches his granddaughter, Olive, her dance routine. He dies, however, before she can perform the routine at the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant.
| Paul Dano's character, Dwayne, took a vow of silence until he could go to flight school. Who inspired Dwayne to do this? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Friedrich Nietzsche. When Frank first arrives at the house, Sheryl tells him that Dwayne has stopped talking. When he asks Dwayne the reason for this, Dwayne points to a large drawing of Nietzsche on his bedroom wall.
| Olive does all of her pageant training behind closed doors with her grandpa. The rest of the family gets to see Olive's routine for the first time at the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. What song does she dance to? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Super Freak. This is the funniest scene in the whole movie! Olive comes out on stage and everyone is cautiously optimistic, when all of the sudden "Super Freak", by Rick James, comes blaring out of the speakers. She rips off her tuxedo shirt and pants, throws her hat at the judges and dances as hard as she can.
| Before reaching the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, Alan Arkin's character, Grandpa Hoover, dies tragically. How does he die? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Heroin overdose.. Grandpa Hoover dies overnight of a heroin overdose. After a touching scene between Olive and her grandpa, he tucks her in to bed and goes to the bathroom. The next morning Olive can't wake him up because he's OD'd on heroin. The family rushes him to the hospital, but it is too late.
Redondo Beach, CA. During a scene at the hospital, after Grandpa passes away, Richard explains to the grief counselor that they have to get to Redondo Beach in three hours. He asks if he can leave the body and come back for it after the contest, but that was against hospital policy. In order to make the pageant on time, the family sneaks the body out of a window and takes it with them.
He finds out he's colorblind.. Olive starts playing with some eye exam tests that she gets at the hospital and she asks Dwayne to take a test for colorblindness. When Dwayne can't see the letter A on one of the tests, he realizes that he's colorblind, which means that he can't join the Air Force Academy and he won't be able to fly airplanes. In a fit of rage, he starts screaming for Richard to pull the van over. When the van stops, he runs out into the desert and has a breakdown.
| What profession does Frank mention often throughout the movie that he's known for? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Proust scholar. Frank is the number one Proust scholar in America. When the van first breaks down, the family has to push it and run behind to get it started. While all that is going on, Frank casually mentions that he is America's best Proust scholar, as a joke. He mentions it a couple more times throughout the movie.
Her routine isn't rated.. When "Super Freak" starts playing and Olive rips off her tuxedo, the host tries to get her off the stage. Richard runs up on stage and tells the host that he'll get her off, but instead of taking Olive with him, he starts dancing too. Then the whole family runs up on stage and starts dancing. When the routine finally ends, Olive is told that she isn't allowed to enter another pageant in the state of California ever again.
The Nine Steps. Richard is trying to get his career started as a motivational speaker, pushing The Nine Steps. However, when he gets a call from his business partner, he's told that nobody is interested in turning his program into a book. Richard then takes a Moped over to his business partner's hotel and confronts him, but to no avail.
| When the family stops at a gas station on their way to California, they forget one of the passengers. Who do they forget? | Little Miss Sunshine
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Olive. Richard is fighting with Sheryl because he gets the bad news about the Nine Steps and Frank has an awkard moment when he runs into his ex-boyfriend at the gas station. So, nobody really notices that they have forgotten Olive. Finally, Dwayne writes a note and Frank reads aloud, "where is Olive?" They then rush back to get her.
Mazda Miata. Her little red Miata isn't big enough to take the family to the Little Miss Sunshine competition. Richard agrees to go on the trip and drive them all in his Volkswagen Bus, because Sheryl doesn't know how to drive a stick shift.
Prof. Sugarman. Prof. Larry Sugarman also wins the genius award which Frank (Steve Carell) so desperately wants. Frank's run of bad luck - losing the award, unrequited love, and getting fired from his teaching position - prompts him to attempt suicide, unsuccessfully. He goes to live with his sister Sheryl (Toni Collette), and her family of oddballs.
Yes. During dinner, Richard tells the family that they should all support Dwayne's difficult choice to not speak until he reaches his goal of acceptance in the the Air Force Academy. It is obvious that Sheryl doesn't agree with Richard, but according to him, only losers don't try, winners never give up.
Dwayne communicates mostly with written words on a pad he carries with him. My favorite is when the family drives away from the gas station and leaves Olive behind. He simply writes "Where's Olive?", which Frank reads out loud. It is laughable because even in crisis, Dwayne won't utter a word.
roaring and growling. In the hotel, the two hone her skills so that she'll be ready for the Little Miss Sunshine talent competition. We find out later that part of Olive's routine consists of crawling on the floor and roaring like a cat at the audience.
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