David T. Friendly is an American film producer best known for co-producing the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Friendly at the 2016 ATX Television Festival presentation for Queen of the South
Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, all of whom play members of a dysfunctional family taking the youngest (Breslin) to compete in a child beauty pageant. It was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. Filming began on June 6, 2005, and took place over 30 days in Arizona and Southern California.
Theatrical release poster
A Volkswagen T2 Microbus, similar to the one in the film
Five modified vans were used during filming to capture various angles of the characters, including this one through the windshield.
To make Abigail Breslin's character (centre) appear larger than the other girls, she wore a padded suit. Much of the equipment and costumes exhibited during the pageant were provided by actual contestants' parents.