During the filming of the new supernatural drama Beautiful creatures, Performance visited one of the film’s Louisiana studios to watch a key scene being filmed. During that visit, we chatted with some of the new movie’s stars about its themes and why this movie is different from anything you’ve seen before.
The film is based on the first book in the series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and was directed by Richard LaGravenese (Freelance Writer). Hitting theaters on February 13, 2013, this supernatural film has a strong cast – including Viola Davis, Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson – and a story of coming-of-age romance that could appeal to crowds. Young people go to the theater.
The film’s star is Alden Ehrenreich (Tetro), who plays idealistic teenager Ethan Wate. Early in the story, Wate begins to dream about a mysterious woman entering his life. When Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the young woman of his dreams, arrives in town, he is attracted to her and quickly realizes that she has supernatural abilities that make her an outcast in the local community. cancel. Ehrenreich, who starred in Tetro (2009), told us what he liked about the script:
My personality. I think within the first five pages I wanted to make the movie and it was because of my character…Richard [LaGravenese] has a really great understanding and great knowledge of cinema in general and I feel like a lot of the old movies that I grew up with, I feel like Ethan is a character in a number of them that old movie. And I like Jimmy Stewart kind of like get out here and fight for it [attitude] – that’s the element of it and that’s definitely why I wanted to do it. I just had something that you feel good about and you get it – you know who that guy is.
In the story, Wate ends up having an affair with Duchannes even when others warn him about it. He meets her entire family and realizes that she will soon be possessed by good forces (light) or evil forces (darkness). While Lena’s aunt Del (Margo Martindale) hopes that Lena will come into the light, others including Del’s mischievous daughter Ridley (Emmy Rossum) hope that Lena will become an agent of the darkness . On set, Martindale described his character’s relationship with his wayward daughter:
She’s really not in my world much anymore. She really went her own way… She came to visit and said ‘Oh my gosh! What trouble will she bring?” She is like a child going down the wrong path.
Of course, the movie isn’t just about supernatural phenomena and a girl’s future. Like in Sunset series, several key events in the story speak to the growing pains and teenage anxieties that young people often face. Englert, whose character is torn between family members and uncertain about his feelings for Wate, knows these themes all too well. Englert told us about such conflicts:
For a supernatural movie, I think it says a lot about humanity. It has a lot to do with people. We’ve talked about everything from first love to the functions of the body and where that is represented in this story. And I think every child grows up with the idea that… what we contribute is our society. Education and parents – they tell you ‘this is how it is’, but then you get into your teenage years and you think, ‘Is that it? Why? Why is it like that?’ And sometimes that question leads to something more. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes, we just continue these cycles.
For those who think the story sounds familiar and the movie is trying to be a new movie SunsetRossum explains why this movie is unique and why viewers should pay attention to it when it hits theaters next spring:
I think this is special because – and I’m sure people will say that about their projects – but our project was really because Richard had a visual vision… I’m going with that . And with Philippe Rousselot [the director of photography], I mean they really created a world that looks different than any other world out there. It’s not like ‘Twilight’, it’s not like ‘Hunger Games’, it’s not like any of that. It’s very much based in this Southern gothic world, but it feels magical and just as much a nod to high fashion fashion as it is a nod to old paintings and things that he he’s pursuing it that way. So I think there’s really a subtlety and the way he tweaks the material that makes it quite different visually. And film is a visual medium so I think it will be good.
Beautiful creatures will hit theaters on February 13, 2013.