Showing posts with label Twilight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twilight. Show all posts

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Who's Hotter, Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp? Alex Pettyfer Decides


Walking into Alex Pettyfer's hotel suite high above the stars on the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign glistening in the sun behind him, you can't help but fall a little bit in love. Not with the young heartthrob who is being heralded as the next Robert Pattison with this week's release of "I am Number Four," but with Oliver, his adorable seal-grey puppy recently adopted from the rescue organization, Barks ‘n’ Bitches.

"I got him two weeks ago," Pettyfer says in the British accent he suppressed while filming his starring role as John Smith, one of nine aliens infants sent to hide on Earth after their home planet is destroyed. Assigned a guardian and an order, they can only be killed in the sequence of their numbers. Following the murders of Numbers One, Two, and Three, Number Four (Pettyfer), is living on high alert in Paradise, Ohio, disguised as an American high school student, when he falls in love (with his real-life sweetheart, "Glee"'s Dianna Agron) and realizes he has something to fight for.

Sporting a simple band on his wedding ring finger—which went uncommented on despite rumors he and Agron were engaged (rumors have since surfaced that they've split)—Pettyfer told me that he appreciates comparisons to tween phenomenons like Pattison and "Twilight," but felt the buzz was premature.

"I hope we have the success of 'Twilight' by half or even a quarter," the 20-year-old began. "Obviously, you've got that central story of falling in love with something different and that's comparable between 'Twilight' and 'I am Number Four,' but I don't think we're anything like them. We're a lot less serious. I think people are looking for the next 'Harry Potter' or 'Twilight' as they're coming to an end, and hopefully we can fill that gap."

With Michael Bay, "the king of action" according to Pettyfer, and Steven Spielberg, "the godfather of film," producing, "…Number Four" is expected to easily inherit that mantle.

Since the film is all about gaining powers, I wondered what innate human ability Pettyfer would give up if he had to.

"Taste," he replied easily. "I don't really enjoy food. I'm not a big eater. I only eat certain things, [like] In 'n' Out Burger, pasta, pizza. I think sight is the most important."

Considering the media maelstrom surrounding the film, replete with screaming, crying fans at Hot Topic signings, I wondering if losing his anonymity was difficult.

"I haven't been witness to it; I've been holed up in hotel rooms [promoting the movie] for the last five weeks. Maybe in five weeks, after the film comes out, it will be."

Pettyfer, who says he'd like to emulate the career of Gary Oldman, "an actor who challenged himself and took the bar to a whole new level," has the added blessing/curse of being Tigerbeat-friendly. A former model, I asked if being too handsome was ever a detractor from an actor who wanted to follow an Oldman-esque path.

"I don't see myself as attractive or ugly. I think attraction is in the eye of the beholder," Pettyfer said (as only a handsome man could). "If I put Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt up, fifty percent of the women would go for Brad Pitt and fifty percent would say Johnny Depp."

So who would Pettyfer choose? "Johnny Depp! All the way," he smiled.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Comic-Con 2010: 'Tron The Pill,' Jeff Bridges' 3D Innovation

Making their third annual appearance at Comic-Con, this morning the entire Tron: Legacy posse, including Jeff Bridges, Michael Sheen, Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund, showed up this morning to pimp their film, once again, to the San Diego crowd.

Tron and Comic-Con have been like peas and carrots in recent years. But don’t expect a complaint from Michael Sheen. An admitted fanboy himself, Sheen was as giddy as a Trekkie with a new pair of Spock ears to be in San Diego promoting his project.

Sheen: “I was supposed to come for a few years, with Underworld, Alice in Wonderland and Twilight, and I wasn't able to. I wanted to build up a really big head of steam so that when I got here, I'd be carried shoulder-high through the streets, crowned the new King of Comic-Con. That hasn't happened yet. So you have the chance to make this young man's dream come true.”

It’s been 28 years since Tron first hit theaters. Obviously Jeff Bridges was a much younger man then, one who’d enjoyed far less of life’s carnal pleasures. When asked how he felt to be jumping back into the Tron world, he said he’d heard rumors about the film’s return for two decades but had sort of given up on the idea.

“Disney had it on its back burners and they were not satisfied with the script so they waited and I'm so happy they did,” Bridges said. “Because we got a good script and they held out to find the right guy at the helm. With [drector Joe Kosinski] they found a terrific leader.”

Before Kosinski did any casting or camera tests, his first step in buiding the new world of Tron was to hook up with Daft Punk to create a score the director says blends electronic and orchestral music “that really blurs the line bet sound design and music in a new way.”

“I hooked up with Daft Punk very early in the process, before even doing the effects test piece. We went down to the 101 Cafe in Hollywood and met them for a pancake breakfast. Their passion for Tron and what inspiration it is to them, which I think is obvious if you've ever been to their live shows, we talked about it for a long time and got started on the music before we ever started shooting and still are, almost two years later. They are, as we speak, putting finishing touches on the score.”

Sure, the score will be super cool, but the thing everything, including the actors, seemed the most excited about were the neon bodysuits they wore during filming. Responding to a question about how they were to wear, the cast said:

Olivia Wilde: It was amazing.
Michael Sheen: It was amazing--to watch Olivia in the suit.
Wilde (laughing): It was totally revolutionary. We were wearing electro-luminescent lamps woven through neoprene and all these other materials. We would get really excited every time the suits would turn on.
Garrett Hedlund: At the beginning, you’ve got to train immensely for the suit and then they’ve got this thing called Cyber-Scan where they create this suit out of every curve and definition of your body so it’s completely exact and fits like a glove. Then the greatest thing is, you go into a dark room room and the producer has their kids around, you light it up and they just go “Aaaaaahhhh!”
Sheen: There was a great moment before every take where sound’s rolling, camera and, just before they’d say action, they’d say, "Light them up! And—action!" And suddenly the whole room would go "Bing" and you'd forget to act for a little bit, it’s so cool.

That’s a moment audiences will get to experience in 3D when the movie hits theaters December 12, 2010. Asked how he sees 3D technology evolving, Bridges said "We're always looking for something to bring the audience into the story. Isn't 3D without glasses coming out? Or holograms? That's where it's going. Or maybe you'll just take a pill. ‘TRON: The Pill.’"

From the Dude’s mouth to your ears.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Kristen Stewart Loves Rock 'n' Roll and Joan Jett



Kristen Stewart may be known for playing Bella in "The Twilight Saga," but sitting down to speak with her, there's obviously a lot more rock star blood flowing through her veins than audiences might expect. It's an aura that landed her the role of Joan Jett in "The Runaways," the new film about the rise and fall of the groundbreaking 1970s all-girl rock group, and a heaping of praise from Jett herself, who is not only one of the film's producers, but was on set throughout filming.


Portraying a real life character is daunting enough. Doing it while the real person is watching you recreate one of the most formative, meaningful times in their life might be too intimidating for some actors to bear. But Stewart was thrilled to have Jett as a mentor and guide.


"The fact that Joan wanted to be a producer, be on set every day and was so open about a time that's so important to her; it definitely says something about the people that they hired to play the parts," Stewart says. "She easily could have said, 'Get someone else. I can't tell this girl what I need to tell her.'"


Stewart explains that both Jett and lead singer Cherie Currie were extremely forthcoming in divulging details about their past. "There are things that we needed to know that aren't in the movie; details, personal reflections about things. It was nice having them there. We can't know how everything happened and it would really be awful to just make it up and try to fill in the blanks when it can be real."


One of the greatest pieces of guidance Jett offered was regarding manager Kim Fowley (played brilliantly by Michael Shannon). "Kim is written really aggressive," Stewart continues. "Every time I sort of went, 'Wow, I would punch him in the face,' Joan would be like, 'No, you'd laugh at him. You love the guy. You aspire to be as crazy and freaky as him.' There's no way of knowing that without her."


"The Runaways" opens March 19.