Michelle Trachtenberg Remembered by ‘Harriet the Spy’ Director: “She Had the ‘It’ Factor” (Exclusive)
Michelle Trachtenberg made an impact on the industry as far back as her first leading role in the 1996 comedy movie Harriet the Spy.
The actress, known for later roles on popular television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl, was found dead Wednesday at age 39. After gigs as a child actress on such shows as All My Children and The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Trachtenberg landed her feature film debut in Harriet the Spy, which Paramount released on July 10, 1996, when she was 10 years old.
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Bronwen Hughes, who directed Harriet the Spy, tells THR that the project was a special one for both herself and her young star, given that the movie was also Hughes’ feature directorial debut. Rosie O’Donnell, J. Smith-Cameron and Gregory Smith rounded out the cast for the film that adapted author Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 children’s novel of the same name.
“Michelle was like a lightning bolt of a casting discovery,” Hughes recalls. “She had fire, she had spark, she had truth, and she had Harriet’s conviction, like her sense of self. No one else came in the room like that. So she had that acting gene that you can’t really teach. It’s innate, which is not something you find very often.”
The director remembers Trachtenberg being eager to do whatever was needed to help the film. “In the shoot, we would ask her to climb or fight or cajole or make us laugh or tease or throw herself face down into a vat of blue paint, and she could do it all,” Hughes says. “She did it all with total immersion and total conviction. She was everything that Harriet needed to be, and she never had a false note, and you couldn’t really take your eyes off her. That was magical casting for us.”
Among other notable industry figures to have reacted publicly to Trachtenberg’s death is O’Donnell, who said in a statement that the news was “heartbreaking” and added, “I loved her very much.”
Hughes, who has more recently directed episodes of The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul and The Good Doctor, says it has been meaningful to her that she often hears from Harriet the Spy fans who remain passionate about the movie’s impact on them. The director has also felt proud that Trachtenberg went on to a successful career, including roles in such features as Inspector Gadget, EuroTrip, Ice Princess, 17 Again and Cop Out.
As Hughes notes, “She had the ‘it’ factor, for sure.”
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