VW MicroBus movie up for an Oscar

Click on the photo to see a gallery of high-res shots from the movie

The two biggest highlights of the movie Little Miss Sunshine are the fabulous performance of Alan Arkin as the heroin-addicted, porn-reading grandfather, and the seemingly immortal Volkswagen MicroBus. The yellow type 2 bus just kept soldiering on in spite of a smoked clutch, stuck horn and assorted other maladies. Now the movie is up for four Oscars this Sunday including Best Picture. So far there is no word on whether the bus will be on hand Sunday to haul away the actor's swag bags and trophies, but it sure would be fun to see the Bus run down Joan and Mellisa on the red carpet. Believe it or not, Volkswagen actually issued a press release about this, which you can read after the jump.

[Source: Volkswagen]

PRESS RELEASE:

Roadmovie "Little Miss Sunshine" with good chances at the Oscars™
Volkswagen-Bus excels at the movies

U.S. surprise blockbuster collects numerous nominations and awards

Wolfsburg, 22 February 2007 - It is crashing through barriers in a truly heroic manner, not even a broken clutch can stop it: The reliable Volkswagen bus T2 is the seventh member of the quirky yet heartwarming Hoover family of the successful comedy "Little Miss Sunshine" (Twentieth Century Fox). The independently made road movie has proven to be unstoppable itself: About one year after being presented to the public at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival "Little Miss Sunshine" has become stunningly successful at the most recent movie award ceremonies.

Touching emotions and an endearing kind of humor make this comedy about a bunch of losers a real winner: So far "Little Miss Sunshine" has been the surprise success of this year's Hollywood awards – and the prized journey isn't over yet with the Oscar™ ceremony just around the corner. "Little Miss Sunshine" has snagged up four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (for ten-year-old Abigail Breslin) and Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin). The Oscar™ ceremony will be held on February 25th.

Leading up to the most recognized movie award this wonderful comedy has already piled up an amazing number of nominations and awards from all over Hollywood. Two Golden Globe nominations from the "Hollywood Foreign Press Association" have been followed by the "Best Picture" Award of the "Producers Guild Of America" and the award for the best original screen play at the "Writers Guild Awards" on February 11th for Michael Arndt. Only recently the "Screen Actors Guild" awarded the "Hoover family" with the trophy for the "Best Cast". Actor Greg Kinnear took the opportunity to point out his appreciation of the automotive member of the cast: "I'd like to thank the engineers at Volkswagen for making a beautiful vehicle back in 1969 that was comfortable and so safe."

In the movie the six human Hoovers pile up in the almost 40-year-old Volkswagen bus to take the seven-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin), who is dreaming of winning the "Little Miss Sunshine" contest, from Albuquerque/New Mexico to Redondo Beach/California. During their two-day road trip full of nutty adventures the six strange individuals grow into one strong and supportive union. The Volkswagen bus has a major role in the family building process as its ongoing little problems require the family to stand together in order to move on.

In fact, Actor Steve Carrell ("Frank") has fallen for the brave family vehicle because of its almost human faults: "I think that the bus is actually a real actor in this movie", says Carrell. Five identical buses have been used during the production of "Little Miss Sunshine".

For the Volkswagen bus T2 "Little Miss Sunshine" hasn't been the first movie appearance. In fact, the T2 has summed up a variety of successful movie parts as the lovable vehicle to date has shown its unique moves in more than 80 movies. Among others the four-wheeled director's favorite has starred in: Back to the Future (1985), Free Willy (1993), Almost Famous (2000), Charlie's Angels (2000), Spy Game (2001), Hulk (2003), and Scary Movie 4 (2006).