Brie Larson is still a Hollywood starlet. Yet, the 24-year old actress is in the same place as Jennifer Lawrence was. She might tread the same path, just faster.

The film "Short Term 12" is not on too many people's radar like the Superhero sequels or even the Oscar candidates. However, critics have it as a darkhorse, the film that everyone will talk about after-instead of before-the awards have been given.

She's probably familiar to youth comedy followers: ex girlfriend of Scott Pilgrim, Jonah Hill's flame in  21 JumpStreet. It's time for her to be considered as a serious actress. She interviews with The Guardian.

On the Oscar buzz and getting noticed: "Suddenly there's this weird spotlight on you and it's a vomit of gold coins," she says. "It's wonderful, but it doesn't feel real. The first time I heard that(Oscar buzz) I laughed and said, 'That doesn't happen to real people! This is so grand: if we were talking about a multi-million-dollar movie, if I was in Les Mis, I'd know what I was signing up for. But I'm a frickin' child just knocking around, tripping as I get out of bed. So it's strange. It's," long pause, "generous."

On her financial status: "I have no problem talking about how hard it's been, how broke I've been and how broke I was not even that long ago. I was freaking out around this time last year because I thought, 'This is it. I've really screwed myself because I did three independent films. I didn't do anything for money and now I don't have anything.' I was eBaying stuff for Christmas presents."

On taking the project (Short Term 12): "It was the best script I ever read. Most people think at least half of it is improvised or documentary. They don't realise that every word is exactly as it's written."

On her strange, quirky hobby of creating fonts: "I made three or four different fonts during Short Term 12 - it was how I'd calm my mind between scenes," she says. "I have graph paper and gel pens and I would do the alphabet: just do 'a' over and over again until I got it perfect and then go to 'b' and then 'c'. I definitely look like a weirdo with scraps of paper everywhere and the alphabet over and over again. But I can't read a book and then jump into this character, so it ends up being the perfect thing for me: it's creative, it keeps my mind active and you get something at the end."