How Erika hit the bullseye --by Hallie Kate Eisenberg

A few weeks before we began filming How to Eat Fried Worms, I got a call from the production office telling me I was going to be taking archery lessons for the movie. I knew my character, Erika, was really good at archery, but I didn't realize I would actually be shooting the arrows myself. I guess I just thought it was all going to be done with computers or stunt people who actually knew what they were doing. I was very nervous... although I ride horses competitively, I'm really not the athletic type.

To my surprise, there was an archery club not far from where I live in New Jersey. My archery instructor, Pierre, was a retiree and an extraordinarily skilled archer. I was even more nervous now learning from a champion. I was expecting a mediocre teenage archer out of high school,and here I am with a world famous champion. They gave me a special glove to protect my wrist from the string hitting my arm when I fired the arrow, a beautiful hand carved bow, which was much heavier then I thought it would be, and a back quiver, which was like a backpack to hold the arrows in.

I started with targets about 10 or 15 feet away, and each time I got more comfortable with aiming at one close by, they moved it a little farther away, until I was shooting about 100 feet away! I was incredibly surprised that I caught on to this sport and was able to get a bulls eye (center of the target) pretty often.

A few days later I went back to have a second lesson. This time I was very excited and not nervous at all. Right away we started with the target far away, and I got some practice shooting just to become more comfortable with it. I was having a really great time and was surprised that my hour lesson sped by and soon it was time to go home.

In Texas, the producers had set up another lesson for me, which I was very eager to go to. At this point I was very into the sport and any time I had the chance to practice was great.

Movies are generally not shot in the order you see them in, and my first scene where I am practicing archery was shot the very first day of filming. Although I was pretty confident with how I did in my lessons, I was really nervous to be doing it in front of all these people I had never met, and on film! But everyone was really encouraging and supportive and so I relaxed and ended up having a great time.

One time, I got an arrow in the dead center of the target, and Luke (the boy who plays Billy and is in this scene with me) and I got so excited that we forgot to say our lines for a minute and just stared at the target. When Bob, the director said "Cut," all of the crew members applauded for me. It really made me feel comfortable and was a great start for me working on this movie.

--Hallie Kate Eisenberg ("Erika Tanzy")