Behind the Scenes of Charlie St. Cloud

Sitting on a sunny stretch of Marina del Rey on a recent Saturday afternoon, sipping a cup of tea while waiting my turn to speak with Burr Steers and Zac Efron, respectively the director and star of the new film, Charlie St. Cloud, I started to notice everyone who passed, joggers with strollers, speed walkers in Shape-Ups, tourists in Bermuda shorts, would look above me and get a bizarrely beatific, stupefied smile on their face as they strolled along the water front.

What’s inspiring those beaming faces?

Efron is sitting in a second story window, brightly lit by television cameras, being interviewed about his latest role. His trademark locks are pushed back to reveal a forehead rarely seen during his meteoric rise in the High School Musical trilogy, making his turquoise blue eyes even more striking, and his relaxed charm is palpable even gazing up at the newly minted movie deity from below. The beach cruisers are being treated to a fleeting glimpse of a movie-star-in-the-making and the mere proximity to glory has them drunk with wonder.

When I speak to Efron a short while later, I ask if he realizes he has that kind of effect on people.
“Ooff,” he grunts, shaking his head. “It’s not really tangible to me. I don’t really notice it. But I know my mom gets pissed off when she hangs out with me. She walks behind me and she says no one says anything until after I’ve walked past. After they look and [freak out]. But they never give it away, they’re always really good, so I never see it. I don’t really notice,” he shrugs.

Even if he doesn’t, Hollywood does, knighting Efron the heir apparent to the leading man throne. Although Charlie St. Cloud is only his third major leading role, Efron is already drawing weighty comparisons from Steers.

“All of our leading guys it seems started out as child stars,” Steers points out. “Ryan Gosling was a Mouseketeer, [Leonardo DiCaprio] did Growing Pains, Johnny Depp was on 21 Jump Street. They get those jobs because they’re charismatic and then build on that and understand that there is someplace to go from there, an evolution that has to happen.”

Part of that evolution is strategically chosen roles and the careful cultivation of working relationships. This most recent project has that in spades. The film, based on Ben Sherwood’s novel about a young man literally and figuratively haunted by the death of his younger brother and unable to move past the pain of that loss, reunites Efron and Steers who previously worked together on 17 Again.

Efron brought Steers into the project, feeling the director, who is perhaps best known for his debut, Igby Goes Down, would be able to help him reach the level of performance necessary for the role and he’s absolutely right. The great revelation of the film is that Zac Efron is quite talented and can handle emotionally demanding material beautifully. So how did the director lead his leading man through the performance?

“I don’t walk anyone through anything,” Steers insists. “I create a situation where actors feel safe.” He says he focused on the emotional stakes of the film and the made “[Zac] find it in himself. I don’t let him avoid anything.” Steers explains that one of the things that attracted the actor to the project was his own extremely close relationship with his younger brother, Dylan. Steers used that emotional bond to help Efron tap into his character’s pain. “I made him go there,” the director says. “This wasn’t an easy process for him.”

Though, according to Efron, one he loved, especially since it reunited him with Steers. “He’s very generous with the actors,” Efron says. “Every take, he’s running over to talk to us and he’s got so much to say; an opinion, a new point of view or something to think about, which is great for me. I enjoy that much attention from the director when they really care about your performance.” It was invaluable guidance the actor craved after deciding to step away from the musical genre that earned him legions of fans, even dropping out of the planned Footloose remake in favor of Charlie St. Cloud.

“There’s a style to High School Musical that I knew I didn’t want to stick with forever,” Efron admits. “It’s incredibly fun, it’s very addicting, those movies, I’m constantly chasing that dragon, so to speak, trying to bring that energy to everything I do, but I definitely want to make films with substance, move on, try new things and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Charlie St. Cloud opens July 30.

Adam Shankman’s "So You Think You Can Dance" Season Seven Predictions

Last night, before the absolutely epic Grease Sing-a-Long at the Hollywood Bowl, my seat mate and I passed the time celeb spotting from our super prime box in the Garden Section, a far cry from the X1 tickets I usually have.

Punky Brewster herself, Soleil Moon Frye, and her family were to my left, Uncle Jesse, John Stamos, in a fedora and blue glasses, sat two rows in front of me with his leggy brunette date, Gossip Girl villain Michelle Trachtenberg, rocking pink Ray-Ban aviators, slinky black leggings and a bouffant of highlighted blonde curls that woulda made Dolly Parton proud, was to my right, forcing his way through the sea of 18,000 attendees, newly cast Footloose lead, Kenny Wormald rudely shoved past me and my friend Ana, two rows behind me, I spied former N’ Snyc-er Lance Bass with director, choreographer and So You Think You Can Dance judge Adam Shankman who was working the crowd.

There are no words for how much I adore Adam. Last year, I had the chance to interview him for 17 Again and walked away wanting nothing more than to be friends with the guy. Funny, smart and intensely charismatic, one of the greatest pleasures of my week is getting to watch him on So You Think You Can Dance (how amazing was that Star Search footage, by the way?).

Given the proximity and his general ebullience, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to speak with him again, so Ana, who’s also a major fan, and I headed over to his box for a photo op and some SYTYCD gossip.

First things first, I demanded to know when they would kick off that Melinda tap dance chick who grates on my nerves like a sanding belt and has zero magnetism.

“Oh, it’s gonna happen,” he promised, saying he expected her to go “in the next week or two.”

“Please tell me Alex is going to win,” I begged, referring to Alex Wong, the stunning ballet dancer who left Miami City Ballet to compete on the show and brought me to tears in the first week of competition when he blew the judges away with Sonya Tayeh’s composition to Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah that Mia Michaels called the best routine in SYTYCD history.

Spoiler Alert:

Adam pursed his lips, cocked his head and said, “Kent’s got a lot of energy behind him,” referring to Kent Boyd, the adorable kid from Wompokinwhatsherface, Ohio.

Interesting.

While I’ve loved Kent since his Vegas audition, when he openly admitted his insecurities and made Lil’ C cry, I never saw him as the one to beat.

But, if Adam’s right, and he seemed fairly certain, despite Alex’s perfection, Kent is already poised to become this season’s champ.

Tune in to So You Think You Can Dance on Fox every Wednesday at 8 and Thursday at 9 to see if he's right.

Chace Crawford Cuts Loose "Footloose"

First it was Zac Efron, now Chace Crawford. What's an 80s remake gotta do to keep a good man around these days?

Paramount's reboot of "Footloose" has once again lost their leading man. Zac Efron initially abandoned the project over fears that he'd be typecasting himself. Director Kenny Ortega was next to jump ship, claiming he was too spent from all his time on the Michael Jackson doc "This is It." Now Chace Crawford has hightailed it based on scheduling conflicts since both the film and the new season of "Gossip Girl" are set to shoot this summer.

So who will next step into Kevin Bacon's dancing shoes?

Reports claim it might be an unknown but we have a deeper, darker suspicion. After Justin Bieber's dismal attempt at thespian-ism on this weekend's "Saturday Night Live," we don't want execs getting any wild hares. Sure, he's a guaranteed box office gold mine but he's also embarrassingly bad at anything but hair flipping and castrati crooning.

Luckily, there is one shining beacon of hope for "Footloose." The script.

After the studio trashed their most recent rewrite from Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich"), writer/director Craig Brewer ("Hustle & Flow") was brought in for a new pass at the story of a town that outlaws music and dancing.

If Brewer can win Three 6 Mafia an Oscar, there's no doubt he can make an 1984 classic shimmy and shake in all the right ways. Paramount chief Adam Goodman would reportedly like Brewer to direct as well but he's already committed to "Mother Trucker" for New Regency.

That means they're still holding out for a hero. He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight.