Intro
/ Hemingway-Kitsh-Crawford
/ Renny
Harlin /
Steven Strait and Sebastian Stan seem to be the film’s leading “men”,
and ironically Steven, who was last seen in SKY HIGH as the
troubled Warren Peace, is the youngest of the bunch. They were pretty mellow
and came across more… serious(?)… yeah I’ll say serious.
Steven was also in the critically panned UNDISCOVERED, but that one
can probably be blamed on Ashlee Simpson who was making her feature
film debut (re: end). Still, in the most non-gay and non-homophobic
way I can say it, these guys were charming and had me sweating
bullets. As for Sebastian, he’ll next be seen in ALL FALL DOWN
with Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet). Ladies and gentlemen, your
leading men.
| Steven | Sebastian |
One
question no one asked you that you’re dying to talk about?
Steven:
“What’s my character like?” or “What’s the movie about?”
(laughs)
Steven:
What’s a good one? I remember someone asking me once, if you were
a cookie which one would you be? But that’s not it. (laughs) Which
one do you like to be asked Sebastian?
Sebastian:
Ummmm… “What kind of music do I listen to prepare for this
character?” Music is so important you know. This role definitely
opened me up to different genres of music. Techno, Nine Inch Nails,
Arcade Fire, who are from Montréal as well.
Steven:
I dig music as well.
Are
you in a band?
Steven:
Yes I am. It’s called “The Tribe”.
What
type of music?
Steven:
Rock. On “Undiscovered” I did a song on the soundtrack, and one
for “Sky High” as well.
What
do you play?
Steven:
I’m the singer and a writer.
Wow…
and how old are you?
Steven:
I’m 19.
Sebastian:
22.
Have
you been doing a lot of partying within the shooting and afterwards?
Steven:
Not too much, I haven’t had too much time I’m here quite a bit.
Sebastian:
We’re shooting and working. We’re training for the flying stuff.
We had some Swimming scenes, and we’ve done some work for that.
You know, training in general. It’s got everyone pretty
disciplined.
What’s
your favorite Renny Harlin comment?
We’ve heard Super Cool, and Extra super cool…?
Steven:
Super super sexy!!
What
do you take from “Super Super Sexy!”?
Sebastian:
Ya right, it means put in a bit more energy. I don’t know actually
(laughs). But it depends what the scene is.
Steve:
He used “Super Super Sexy” when we shot the rave. You know, 150
extras, all had to be super super sexy! And got prizes for being
super super sexy!!
What
prizes?
Sebastian:
Oh you know, DVDs, posters, money… Some extras got singled out for
hooking up on the set, and it was super cold, so everyone was doing
there best to look hot and stay warm.
What
was the most challenging thing you had to do for this movie?
Steven:
To be honest with you, swimming was tough in the beginning.
Originally they asked me if I can swim, and I said yes. But what
they had us doing… They hooked us up with a 2 time Olympian to
help us out and I realized I had no idea how to swim. We’ve been
training really hard for one month and ½ we were training once or
twice a day.
Sebastian:
The wire work, we’re really, like if there was a way of learning
how to fly this is probably it. We’re learning how to hold our
body slanted down, defying gravity and going at amazing speeds. I
used to have an issue with heights, I eventually got over that
though…
How
uncomfortable are the harnesses?
Sebastian:
Mine is probably more uncomfortable… well, I don’t know… (to
Steven) You have the thigh one right?
Steven:
I don’t have the thigh one on… but they’re ok, it’s not too
much of a big deal,
but they can get uncomfortable when you’re up there for 20
minutes. Holding your own body weight…
Sebastian:
We really want to make sure, you know, file out all the contents
(laughs).
Steven:
It gets tight in places where you really don’t want it to be.
(laughs) It makes it fun to be diving off 40 ft platforms… No,
it’s ok though, there aren’t many people who get to do stuff
like this, so it’s worth it.
What’s
your favorite Renny Harlin film?
Steven:
“Cliffhanger” – that’s
my favorite!
Sebastian:
I always liked “Long Kiss Goodnight” – People often name
others, but I remember liking that one. “Die Hard 2”, that’s a
really good one too.
How
tough was it for you guys to get the role… How was the audition
process?
Sebastian:
For me it was a lot easier. I sent a tape to
New York
and I literally found out the next day.
Steven:
I had met with Renny in
Los Angeles
and I worked with some of the people involved in the film already.
He gave me a script I thought it was great and I loved his vision
for it… So that was pretty much it.
This
movie sounds a lot like “The Lost Boys”…
Steven:
Yeah, it’s similar.
Sebastian:
There’s elements of “The Craft” and “The Skulls”… and
definitely “The Matrix”.
Steven:
There’s a Korean film called “Volcano High” – It’s Pretty
incredible – a lot of the look of this film is styled after that
film. Unbelievable, our DP is doing amazingly beautiful stuff.
How
much longer you shooting for?
Sebastian:
We’ve been here for awhile now, about 2 months, and we’re
getting closer to the end. I think we have until December 8th.
We’re going to pretty much be here. The barn scene is going to
take a while.
And
after that you have projects lined up?
Steven:
We’ve been trying to concentrate on this.
Sebastian:
But I think now I’m just starting to send tapes out again and get
things going, and to see what’s going on in the future.
You
have stuff coming out that you shot before this?
Steven:
No, the last thing that came out was Undiscovered. But there are a
few things that I’m looking at.
Do
you have an actor you sort of look up to?
Steven:
I always looked up to Marlon Brando, which is the reason I went to
Adler for so many years up in
New York
. He was the chairman of the school.
What’s
your favorite Brando performance?
Steven:
“A Streetcar named desire”. Great movie.
(to
Sebastian)
What’s your favorite film?
Sebastian:
Umm I don’t know. I think I spent a year watching “American
Beauty” religiously. I’m a big Sam Mendes fan. I also loved
“Magnolia”… What else?… I liked “Jerry Maguire”, and I
haven’t seen “
Elizabethtown
” but I’m a big fan of Cameron Crowe’s movies.
What’s
your favorite horror film?
Sebastian:
I liked “Underworld” a lot, and “Exorcism of Emily Rose”,
and I loved the concept behind “Saw”, but I haven’t seen
“Saw 2” yet, but I heard it’s great.
Steven:
I love “The Exorcist”, “The Shining”, both amazing films.
Sebastian:
“It” ruined my childhood. The book was even scarier. Just clowns
in general disturb me.
Tell
me about the elements of horror in this movie.
Steven:
I think most of the film is quite dark… very dark. It’s a dark
thriller. There are pretty horrific images in the film.
Sebastian:
And we’re always in a state of suspense… which is what we’re
aiming for.
Steven:
We’ve been really lucky, we’ve all gotten really close – a
wonderful group of young actors – it’s been great. We’re very
excited about this…
Sebastian:
We have this really good friendship, and I think most of us here are
at the beginning of our careers. We keep joking around referring
back to “The Outsiders”. (laughs)