“It’s a love letter to all little girls,” Brittany Murphy says of this $20 million “comedy with dramatic undertones,” in which she plays Molly Gunn, a free-spirited Manhattanite whose parents (including her rock-star dad) died in a plane crash when she was a child. Directed by Boaz Yakin (Remember the Titans) and shot by famed cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (Gangs of New York), the movie catches up with Molly as a twentysomething. When her business manager steals her inheritance, she supports herself by becoming the nanny of a precocious, angst-ridden eight-year-old named Ray (I Am Sam’s Dakota Fanning), the daughter of a career-driven exec (Heather Locklear). Although they clash at first, “Molly slowly teaches Ray to release control of her life and enjoy her childhood, and Ray teaches Molly to gain some control,” Murphy explains.

Small Wonder: Upon first reading the script, Murphy felt as if it had “fairy dust sprinkled all over it.” She seems to have similar feelings about her costar: “Dakota Fanning is a force of nature. I’ve learned so much from her. She’s a very little person, and little people can make very large imprints on our lives.”