The most famous rule in all of filmmaking: Never work with kids or animals. But hell, I’m a maverick. And I can see Russia from my house.

The best thing about working with kids is that they don’t know the meaning of the word “pressure” -- it hasn’t come up in their vocabulary lessons yet. And let’s face it -- re-creating Truman Capote’s iconic interview of Marlon Brando is a lot of pressure. Adult actors, limited by what they’ve seen and what they know, would have broken out their best Brando impressions or tried their damnedest to rip off a Philip Seymour Hoffman performance. And nine out of ten of them would have collapsed under the weight of it all.

Welcome to the second installment of Icon Redux -- the video series from BlackBook and Two Penguins Productions that recasts famous (or infamous) moments in pop culture using contemporary performers and settings. Here, we re-create a seminal 1957 interview between twin eccentrics Marlon Brando and Truman Capote, where the rambling Brando refuses to let the normally loquacious Capote get a word in edgewise. The trick -- in our version, set in a penthouse suite at Manhattan's 6 Columbus hotel, Brando and Capote are portrayed by child actors Tyler Christopher Backer and Spencer Harrison Hall, respectively. Enjoy, and be sure to check out the screen tests for Capote and Brando (and the "Japanese girl") and the behind-the-scenes commentary, plus the first installment of Icon Redux: James Dean.

As promised by our screen test -- next week, we'll debut the second installment of Icon Redux, our original video series that recasts classic, iconic moments with breaking new talent. In this case, very new talent -- the charming young fellows pictured here will reincarnate a famous interview given by Marlon Brando to Truman Capote. Instead of a suite at Kyoto hotel in 1957, our version takes place in a New York hotel penthouse in 2008, as rendered by the artistes at Two Penguins Productions. Watch for it Wednesday.

For the next installment of Icon Redux by BlackBook and Two Penguins Productions, we'll be re-creating a famous interview between eccentric wordsmith Truman Capote and legendary actor Marlon Brando -- as portrayed by children. As a teaser, enjoy this collection of screen tests, where our aspiring junior thespians do Brando's famous "STELLLLLAAAAA!" yell from A Streetcar Named Desire.

New York legend Elaine Kaufman of Elaine’s gets inside a writer’s mind, grabs lunch with the New Yorker boys, and throws a bash for a Swedish dance troupe.

Point of Origin: I'm a New Yorker, born and bred. I was a frisky kid, you know? I was always game, always interested, you know, curious. Curiosity, that was it. I didn't like school. I thought it was dumb. Of course, I had a lot of cousins and all that stuff who were teachers and I had older brothers and sisters who were always involved in the literary world. My parents worked and used to drop me off at the library, so I was always brought up around a lot of books, and it fit in, because it was a part my particular character. I couldn't ask for better education. Books. I understood what they were talking about, and I was compassionate. It was more fun at the library than school. It was intelligence -- this person talked about this subject; the other person talked about that, and I put people together who were interested in the same things. Even as a child, I was gregarious, so it was a fit.