ComingSoon.Net Visiting Beastly Set

ComingSoon.Net visited Beastly set in Canada and they published on their website what they have seen there. Check it out below:

Beastly: An Exclusive Set Visit
Source: Edward Douglas

Nearly two years ago, ComingSoon.net was invited to Quebec to watch a few scenes being shot for Daniel Barnz’s upcoming fantasy-thriller Beastly, starring Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer, Mary-Kate Olsen and Neil Patrick Harris. The movie is based on the novel by Alex Flinn, her take on the classic “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale set in modern-day New York involving high school students.

Pettyfer, an up and comer who also appears in DreamWorks’ I Am Number Four next month, plays Kyle, a good-looking teenager who comes from money who reigns over his high school class. The gregarious young lad pulls a mean prank on the school’s misfit outcast Kendra, played by Mary-Kate Olsen, who happens to be a witch who vengefully casts a spell on Kyle that turns him into a hideous monster. After the transformation, Kyle’s wealthy father, played by Peter Krause of “Six Feet Under,” locks his son up in a brownstone in Brooklyn. He hires Will, a blind tutor played by Neil Patrick Harris and Zola, a maid played by Lisa Gay Hamilton. (The book is different in that regard as Kendra transforms herself into Zola to keep an eye on her handiwork.) While in hiding, Kyle goes under the name Hunter, but when he learns that a girl from his school named Lindy (Hudgens) has run into some problems due to her father’s dealings with a drugdealer, he ends up helping her and bringing her into his home as a safe haven.

Producers Susan Cartsonis and Roz Weisberg picked up the rights to the book the day it was released in 2007 right as the Writers Strike was commencing and it was the first film to be optioned by CBS Films with their Senior VP of Production Maria Faillace suggesting Daniel Barnz to write it. Barnz had previously directed an indie fantasy/fairy tale called Phoebe in Wonderland, starring Elle Fanning and Patricia Clarkson, that found a lot of fans when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.

“[Daniel] saw in it what was immediately apparent to me, which is ‘Beauty and the Beast’ set in a high school is a perfect venue for it,” Cartsonis told us when we sat own with the producers early in our visit, “because there’s never a time in a person’s life that they feel more conscious of their looks than in high school, and the hierarchy of a school is so much based on that, too. It’s such a rich time of life to tell the story, and for me, that transcended even whether it was a ‘tween movie or a teen movie or an adult movie. It didn’t really matter. It was just such a perfect marriage of subject and story.”

“Daniel has an energy about him that makes you believe that he can do anything,” Weisberg agree, “and he pretty much can.”

Although Barnz’s second feature has significantly more money behind it, it was still a relatively quick shoot of 45 days and they were on day 19, a scene which involved Kyle helping Lindy escape from drugdealers that were after her father. Barnz had the luxury of getting cinematographer Mandy Walker to shoot the film, who had just come off Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. (Ironically, Walker would also end up being the DP on Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood, which comes out a week after Beastly, so she clearly has a good eye for fantasy and fairy tales.)

The reason why they chose Quebec to substitute for New York City was that it would allow the money to go further, and for the most part, they had been shooting the film as much as possible on practical locations in and around Montreal. This particular day, they were shooting in the heart of the city’s largest outdoor park, Parc Jean-Drapeau, which was doubling for Central Park and other outdoor locations, and we were greeted by our local host, unit publicist Cara Leibovitz. Even though they were starting the day’s shoot during the late afternoon, they somehow had found a relatively abandoned part of the park where to shoot, which probably was a good thing, considering Alex Pettyfer’s make-up job. Although it was a rather rainy day, they were still making the most of it, shooting whenever they could in between downpours.

When we arrived, Pettyfer was sitting on a bench quite far away for a scene in which he’s talking on his cell phone with his father. While he was clearly already in his beastly form, we couldn’t really see him very clearly from that distance; we could tell he was shaved bald and it looked like his face and neck were covered in tattoos. When he walked by us and we saw him up-close, we were shocked to see the long scars that covered his face and upper torso. Mind you, this was before the first pictures were released, and it was quite jarring, but apparently, others had gotten used to it as we saw Alex hanging with a bunch of kids–his relatives we were told–in between takes. In the scene on the bench, Kyle was talking on the phone and at the end, he jumped off the bench and ran off. After shooting that a few times, Pettyfer had to continue the scene by running behind a pick-up truck that had a camera trained on him, because whatever he was told in that call, it was pretty urgent.

While we were waiting for them to set up, we had a chance to look at some of the photos taken by unit photographer Takashi Seida from earlier in the production, including a number of Mary-Kate Olsen’s different looks and the high school they attend, which had a very modern, stylish design, not like any high school we’ve seen in movies.

After lunch, which was actually at night since they started so late, they moved the shoot to another area of the park where they had dressed up a 10-foot high wall with all sorts of trees and bushes, which we were told was meant to be the periphery of the Prospect Park Zoo. A large float hung over the wall to bathe it with fake moonlight.

Before they began to shoot in this location, we had a chance to speak with Vanessa for a few minutes. Having never seen “High School Musical,” we weren’t too familiar with her character, but she was quite adorable and rather bubbly even though we were both shivering in the surprisingly cold May night. (As we learned, her entire family was on-set that night as well.) Afterwards, we had a chance to talk with the director, who took some time from an incredibly busy day to speak with us.

Unfortunately, Alex Pettyfer was too busy working that night, and we were told he didn’t feel comfortable doing interviews while wearing all of that heavy make-up—honestly, who could blame him?

After the location was all set, they spent the rest of the night shooting a scene later in the movie in which Kyle as Hunter helps Lindy escape from the drugdealers, which involved a stunt in which he had to clime up a wall with Lindy on his back, and they spent a bit of time trying to figure out the logistics of how he should do it. For the scene, Hudgens was dressed modestly in jean jacket and jeans while Pettyfer had donned an eerie black-hooded outfit that covered more of his face. We then watched as the two actors were trussed together with a harness and with the help of a wire, he scaled the wall with her on his back, which seemed quite awkward for the both of them. After each take, they’d slowly be lowered back own the wall on the wire and they would shoot the scene from a number of different angles, and at one point, we noticed that Takashi Seida was walking precariously on the wall above them to get a cool downwards shot.

We spent a few hours watching this before it got too late (and cold) for us and we headed back to our hotel to crash, not realizing that it would be many, many months before we’d have a chance to share the experience with you.

Beastly opens nationwide on March 4.

It may not be surprising that Quebec gets kind of cold at night, even in May, and by the time we had a chance to talk to Ms. Hudgens, it was nearly 9pm, and we ended up having to borrow a heavy coat from wardrobe so we could do a quick interview with her while sitting outsider her trailer. At the time we spoke, her movie Bandslam hadn’t been released, but she had signed on to star in Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, a set we wouldn’t visit for seven more months. (Look for that set visit soon, hopefully!)

Although we never had spoken before (and we weren’t exactly “High School Musical” fans), it turns out that Ms. Hudgens was quite delightful to talk to, especially after we had met her parents and sister earlier in the day.

ComingSoon.net: I know this had been in development for about a year and a half, so how did they come to you about this and what was the appeal?
Vanessa Hudgens: It was just a script that was in the pile, you know, and I read it, and I thought that it was really interesting. I had a meeting with them, and I remember running in, and I was late and I felt horrible, and we just had a great conversation. It was me, Susan the producer and Daniel the director, and we just sat and talked about the project. Just hearing Daniel’s ambitions, what he wanted to do, how he wanted to shoot it, how he wanted to develop the characters. It just seemed like the right next choice.

CS: Had you already finished the last “High School Musical” movie at that point?
Hudgens: Mm-hmm.

CS: What about “Bandslam”?
Hudgens: That was actually before “High School Musical.”

CS: Had you been looking specifically for non-singing roles?
Hudgens: Yeah, I’m growing and I want to be able to grow as an actress, and I think the best way of doing that is just by trying to sink my teeth into as many different things as I can. This came to me and it just seemed different. It was a fun, interesting character that I would really be able to play with, so I was like, “I’m totally on board.”

CS: Did you read the book or did they want you to read the book?
Hudgens: Um, no, I read the script first, and then heard about the book later on. (laughs)

CS: Did you want to pick up the book to see what your character was like?
Hudgens: Well, yeah, definitely.

CS: So you’ve read the book?
Hudgens: Um… I don’t want to say.

CS: Talk about your co-star, Alex. We’ve seen him before and he’s a really good-looking blonde guy and then he has a very different look as “The Beast.” I know your character doesn’t like him when he’s the blonde guy in some ways. Can you talk about the relationship he has with his two incarnations?
Hudgens: Well, it’s the stereotypical, nerdy girl always falls for the bad boy. Even while he is himself, she is the kind of person who sees good in everyone, so from the get-go, she kind of already had a thing for him.

CS: She’s a nerdy girl? Is that how you would describe her?
Hudgens: She’s just kind of different. She’s the artsy one out of the posh people. She’d be the one wearing a scarf and layers and just look more artistic than everyone set in New York where it’s very posh and sleek.

CS: Even in high school?
Hudgens: Well, in our version of high school. (laughs)

CS: I didn’t go to high school in New York, so I don’t know what it’s really like.
Hudgens: Yeah, our version is very posh and sleek and very sophisticated. It’s supposed to be in an extremely wealthy school, so Lindy definitely stands out from everyone else. He slowly starts to follow her, and she kinds of takes refuge with him and they just slowly fall for each other, because he ends up having a great soul and kind of wins her over from the sweet things he does for her.

CS: It’s the “Beauty and the Beast” story. What about your father in the movie? There are some dark underpinnings, because when you first hear about this, you assume it’s going to be another PG family movie.
Hudgens: No, it’s not. It’s really interesting. My Dad is a druggie and it was just crazy, because I never really done anything where it’s a little darker and edgier like that. I’m being held at gunpoint in this movie, and it was my very first time, and it was interesting. It’s fun. I finally get to do something that I haven’t.

CS: It’s interesting because Mary Kate Olsen started out as a child actress, as did Alex, who started maybe a little younger than you. You’ve worked with a lot of people your own age in “High School Musical” and “Bandslam” but is it different working with those who have been acting from an even younger age?
Hudgens: I think the fact is that at the end of the day, we all love doing what we do and that’s why we’re here, and we all share a love for it. Whether or not we’ve been doing it for a long time or more recently, we’re all here to learn and play.

CS: But Mary Kate obviously has different experience, and I was curious whether you’ve had a chance to bond with her over it or talk to her about it.
Hudgens: I mean, no. We came here to do our movie and we had a great time doing it together. The past is the past and we just kind of let it be.

CS: What about Daniel as a director? Have you had a chance to see his other movie “Phoebe in Wonderland”?
Hudgens: Yeah, I’m in love with Daniel. I think he’s such an incredible director. He’s helped so much in character involvement and just kind of figuring out mannerisms to play with my character and a way of speech and just truly developing the character to the fullest. He’s so smart.

CS: What do you feel you’ve been able to bring to the character that shows a different side of you?
Hudgens: It’s a whole lot different than me. I’m very outgoing and confident and when it comes to Lindy, she’s a bit more all over the place. She’s kind of the person that has a bunch of word vomit. She’ll say something and then instantly start to retract it, yet she can’t stop talking about it. She’s just kind of this neurotic character that’s just a lot of fun. There’s much more of a deeper undertone to the way I speak in it, because I have an extremely high voice (laughs).

CS: So you’re speaking in a deeper voice?
Hudgens: Yeah, yeah.

CS: So was a lot of that characterization in the script or was that something you developed with Daniel?
Hudgens: I think a lot of it was what me and Daniel created together. I feel like we created this strong person who I have a lot of fun playing.

CS: I did want to quickly ask about “Sucker Punch” before they take you back to work. Do you have any idea when you start that?
Hudgens: I start that right after this. I go straight into training, and I’m extremely excited. I’m a big fan of Zack’s, and I’ve heard him say that this is going to be his first action film, so I’m kind of freaked out.

CS: His first action film besides “300″ and “Watchmen”?
Hudgens: Yeah, exactly. That’s what I said.

CS: What has he told you about the character or what have you worked out?
Hudgens: It’s an ensemble piece, so I play the character of Blondie. It’s just a bunch of strong women. (laughs)

CS: Do you think that’s going to be the movie that finds you a different audience that has never seen any thing you’ve done before?
Hudgens: Yeah, definitely. The kids aren’t going to be able to watch “Sucker Punch,” that’s for sure, but I’m excited. I feel like I’m hopefully going to be able to branch out and reach out to some new people.

CS: My editor’s niece is a huge fan of “High School Muscial” and of you and she wants to start singing. How do you feel about being a role model in that sense with lots of young girls wanting to sing and dance?
Hudgens: I think it’s incredible, but I think their role model is the character, not necessarily me, and I think that Gabrielle is a great role model, but at the end of the day, I’m doing this for myself, so I’m going to do some films that the kids won’t be able to watch, but I’ll try to come back and make PG films for them, because the fans are incredible. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.

CS: They’ll also get older so they’ll grow into your other movies
Hudgens: Yeah, they’ll go with me.

CS: What’s been the most fun thing you’ve done on the movie or the thing you’ll remember the most about the movie if you’ve done it already?
Hudgens: Oh, my gosh… probably just working with Daniel, just really working on scenes, and really developing a character, her mannerisms, a new way of speech, a new way of carrying myself. It’s just a lot of fun. I feel like we’re really taking it to the next level rather than just half-assing it.

CS: I know you’re going to do a stunt next so how much of that have you been doing in the movie?
Hudgens: (laughs) I’ve had one stunt already, which was quite frightening ’cause I’m afraid of heights, and I had to climb up a ladder, hold onto something upside down, they rigged me and I was literally hanging upside down on a pole, and then they would let the latch go, and they’d count “3,2,1″ and then I’d let go and fall into Alex’s arms.

CS: So that was part of the scene you’re shooting tonight in some ways.
Hudgens: Yes, exactly. It’s a continuation of this scene, but it’s exciting. It makes things fun.

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