Daddy's little girl now director's leading lady.

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Author: Deziel, Shanda

Film

When Vancouver director Guy Bennett wrote a script about a single father and his teenage daughter, he gave it to his own 18-year-old daughter, Sonja, to read. Although Sonja was an aspiring actress, Guy told her: "If this gets made, I really want Sarah Polley -- maybe I can get you in as an extra."

But time was on Sonja's side. The film, Punch, about an unhealthily close and bordering-on-creepy father-daughter relationship, took years to make. All the while, Sonja was taking theatre gigs in Vancouver. "By the time we were ready to cast," says Guy, "I was a fan of her work." Sonja, now 23, is electrifying in Punch as the violent and manipulative, yet ultimately sympathetic, daughter. Her performance drew the attention of executives at Fox Broadcasting Co., who are currently auditioning her for TV pilots.

With Punch opening in Canada this week, Guy, 43, and Sonja are fielding questions about their relationship. Guy says that until Sonja was 10, she was the only woman in his life and they were too attached. But he considers the film a worst-case scenario -- what could have happened had he not recognized he was "using her as an antidote for his loneliness." Sonja insists Punch is very much her dad's view and she would have projected something completely different. But since it got her a ticket to Hollywood, she doesn't really mind.

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By Shanda Deziel