Tattle | Abigail Breslin: 11-year-old whirlwind

SINCE TATTLE'S regulars have been keeping their noses clean this week, we've had time to talk to some of Hollywood's most popular young stars.

In the case of Abigail Breslin, real young. She's 11.

But the Oscar nominee for "Little Miss Sunshine," who'll be back in theaters next Friday in "No Reservations," is already a seasoned pro.

Before we could even get out a "Hello," Abigail was answering unasked questions.

"I was in Philadelphia once," she said, with the type of enthusiasm that disappears soon after one turns 12. "I stayed on the Rittenhouse Square and went to see Betsy Ross's House."

She was here to star in M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," her first role, shot when she was five.

"I don't know how I memorized my lines," she said. "I was so young. I can barely remember them now."

You know, now that she's so old.

In "No Reservations," Abigail is forced to live with her Type-A aunt (Catherine Zeta-Jones), one of New York's finest, and least socialized, chefs.

During filming, one of the sets was a giant kitchen and food was everywhere.

"It was a lot of fun," Abigail said. "But we'd eat so much that I'd go to lunch and not even be hungry."

One of her tasks in the movie's kitchen was to peel asparagus and Abigail said it was a challenge.

"I didn't even know they needed peeling," she said.

Since Tattle doesn't eat asparagus, neither did we.

Her best dish? Peanut butter and jelly. "The trick," she said, "is to put jelly on one side of the bread because it sogs the bread."

Abigail said two dream roles would be Helen Keller and Lady Jane Grey, but who has the time?

If you think your 11-year-old has a busy schedule, last week Abigail wrapped shooting on "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery" on Monday, traveled to New York for a few days of press for "No Reservations," spoke to Tattle by phone on Friday (the preparation for that alone would be daunting to most children) and then flew to Australia on Saturday for a three-month shoot on "Nim's Island," where she'll star with Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler.

"There are a lot of animals in the movie," she said, implying that was a good thing.

She added with a laugh, "I was telling everyone I was going to Bris-bayne, but it's really Bris-bin. . . . I'm so excited," she said.

And with that, she was off.

A spritz of 'Hairspray'

* Yesterday, we were in NYC speaking with some of the younger stars of "Hairspray," along with director Adam Shankman and producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan. More on that later this week, but a few tidbits:

* What a nice bunch of actors Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes, Brittany Snow, Elijah Kelley and Nikki Blonsky are. No wonder the movie has such a fun vibe.

* As the elder statesman of this group, James Marsden (Cyclops in the "X-Men" movies) was asked if he gave his young co-stars any tips during filming.

"I never felt compelled to pass on any kind of wisdom," he said.

"I asked," said Snow plaintively, "but he said, 'No, the secret stays with me.' "

When we had time on the set, Marsden added, instead of talking about acting we made "fart sounds" with our shoes on the dance floor.

* In a cast filled with smiling, fun-loving characters, Snow's Amber Von Tussle is a bit of a sourpuss, stage-managed by her overbearing mother.

"Amber is not a good dancer," Snow said, "because her heart's not in it."

But according to Marsden, Snow is a good dancer.

"Everyone else got to have so much fun," she said, " but Adam just wanted me to do the steps. Very technical."

She joked that there was one scene where she got to cut loose a bit, but it got cut from the film.

"Adam didn't want me to have any fun," she said.

* In between gushes about "Hairspray," producers Zadan and Meron ("Chicago") raved about their production of "A Raisin in the Sun," to air on ABC in January, and are also excited about their next film, "The Bucket List," a road-trip movie directed by Rob Reiner and starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. That will be out this winter.

Their next musical will be a TV-version of "Peter Pan" to star a woman in the role made famous by Mary Martin.

Zadan and Meron also hinted at another musical but Kelley may have let it slip when he said he was working with the pair on a biopic of Sammy Davis Jr.

It's in the very, very early stages.

* A question comparing the jubilant "Hairspray" with the Eminem rap movie "8 Mile" got some quizzical looks from Kelley and Bynes, but Bynes, ever the pro, jumped in:

"Well, Nikki worked in a Stone Cold Creamery," she said with a smile, "so she probably put M&Ms in her ice cream." *

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

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