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Director/producer Chris
Columbus was drawn to I Love You, Beth Cooper,
not only because he could relate to the story, but because he was
excited about working with and nurturing a group of fresh young
actors.
{sidebar id=1}In the film, Buffalo Grove
High School valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) has played it
safe and made it all the way to graduation without ever breaking
curfew, destroying property, consuming too much alcohol, fist fights,
fast cars or women of any sort. But, with the encouragement of his
colorful best friend Rich (Jack T. Carpenter), Denis had decided to
tell the truth and declare his love for Beth Cooper (Hayden
Panettiere), one of the most popular girls in school. When Beth and
her two best friends (Lauren London and Lauren Storm) show up to
Denis and Richs graduation night party, Beths military hopeful
boyfriend, Kevin (Shawn Roberts), also shows up, ready to kick some
ass.
Best known for directing
the first two Harry Potter films
(Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets),
and for writing such classics as Gremlins and
Goonies, Chris
Columbus is currently filming the fantasy-adventure Percy
Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief,
based on the best-selling novel about a New York kid who learns that
he is the half-blood offspring of one of the Greek gods.
At the Beth
Cooper press day, Chris Columbus talked about
how much he loved directing a smaller budget film again, and his
excitement for the February 2010 release of the CGI-filled,
big-budget Percy Jackson.
Q: What was the interest
in directing a movie like this?
Chris: You have to go back
to Adventures in Babysitting.
Thats where youve got to start. For me, the reason I did this
movie was that I was in a situation where you have big budgets, like
with the Harry Potter movies,
and you tend to work at a slightly slower pace, and you become
spoiled and a little soft, and I thought, I need to reinvigorate
the process of filmmaking. I wanted to go back to that, and I said
to myself, If I were getting out of film school right now and I
was starting to direct my first movie, what would I do?
I went back and looked at
the movies I had written -- Gremlins
and Goonies -- and
then I looked at the first movie I directed, which was Adventures
in Babysitting, and this had been sitting in
our office as a book, with Hayden attached to it, and I thought,
This could be a companion piece to Adventures
in Babysitting. This gave me an
opportunity to do a movie on a lower budget, fairly quickly, with a
brand new cast, and try to recreate that energy for a filmmaker, like
myself, whos been given a lot of money to make movies.
Q: Was this also easier
because you didnt have to worry about expectations, like you would
with Harry Potter or
Rent?
Chris: Yeah, but I worried
about the schedule because the schedule was back-breaking. In a weird
way, there was actually more pressure. On Harry
Potter, if you didnt finish a scene, the
Great Hall would be standing there for the next seven years. In this
movie, we just had to move on. If we had a blizzard, I had to rewrite
on the spot and lose a scene. There was no chance of going back, and
that was exciting.
Q: Were you interested in
this material because of your own high school experience?
Chris: I was a complete
combination of Denis Cooverman and Rich Munsch because I just was a
freak in high school. I was a guy who, literally, was in love with
movies, in a town that was a factory town. I would see movies all
weekend and imitate the characters, and didnt make a lot of
friends.
Q: Were you hopelessly in
love with a girl in high school?
Chris: I was hopelessly in
love with probably 7 or 8 different girls, who all said no. But, that
sense of putting them all on a pedestal and not really knowing who
they were was a big problem.
Q: Can you talk about
working with Hayden? What made her right for the role?
Chris: She was attached to
the project, and it was the first time in my career where I was going
to make a film that someone was already attached to it. So, I
thought, Ill meet her and, if shes a complete flake, I may
have to recast. But, I was very taken with her because shes
very bright and has a great sense of comic timing, which I wasnt
expecting. I didnt know from her work on Heroes
whether she was capable of going a little deeper.
The thing that fascinated
me about this character is that Beth Cooper has had the most amazing
four years of her life and, once she hits graduation and the clouds
dissipate, her life is on a bit of a decline and shes going to be
going into a fairly ordinary, mundane life. Denis Cooverman, on the
other hand, has had the four worst years of his life and, after this
graduation, things are going to start to look up for him. I was
interested in how those two characters would intersect and, when they
came together, I needed an actress who had an emotional core, who
could get to that point where you see in her face that she realizes
that things are not going to be going great for her and her life is
going to be more ordinary, and Hayden was able to get there.
Q: Was there anything that
surprised you about working with her?
Chris: I think I was most
surprised by her willingness. She was game to do just about anything.
It was interesting that she felt very comfortable doing the locker
room scene, and I was shocked by that. I kept most of the creepy crew
members to the back of the set. The older, creepier guys, who were
just sneaking in to get a peek were kept at a distance. Honestly, I
was really surprised by her comedic timing. Paul Rust had been
studying and doing comedy for years, but I never really associated
Hayden with doing comedy, and she was really spot-on, in terms of her
timing, which is a very difficult thing.
Q: Why do you think she
was so comfortable with doing the nude scene in the locker room? Why
didnt you use a body double?
Chris: She wanted to do
it.
Q: How involved did Hayden
get with the stunts?
Chris: She did some of the
stunts, but she didnt do many of the dangerous stunts herself. She
drove a couple of times. She had to drive into a scene or out of a
scene, but a 4-year-old could have done that. She didnt have to do
anything intense. She really did not do any of the more serious stunt
work.
Q: Did you have to work
around her schedule with Heroes?
Chris: She was pretty
free. We shot in her hiatus period, so we didnt have to worry
about that. There was no scheduling issue at all. One time, we needed
her and she had to do some sort of Heroes
promotion, but it never was a huge issue.
Q: How did you find the
girls who played Haydens two friends?
Chris: Just through
casting. Lauren London is an actress I liked in a movie called This
Christmas. Its usually movies that Ive
seen. And, I saw Lauren Storm in The Game
Plan, as this crazed babysitter. She was only
in the movie for about four minutes, but she made an impression on
me, and then when I met her in person, I thought she was perfect.
They were great. Lauren is a very skinny little girl, and I had to
make her eat a lot of Twinkies and donuts and things, to get her to
gain weight. It was a tough job.
Q: Paul Rust is not an
obvious choice for the leading man in a film. Why did you choose him?
Chris: No, and there were
a lot of issues. Our executive at Fox really was supportive of my
decision because Paul is, to say the least, a unique-looking guy. I
really felt that the challenge was to take a guy like that and make
it believable that he could have some sort of emotional connection
with a girl who looks like Hayden. That was the excitement for me.
Its a little bit of Cyrano in there. I wanted to go for a guy you
could believe would have had a miserable high school experience. Paul
Rusts face says it all to me.
Q: Did collaborating with
Fox make the Star Wars references
in this any easier?
Chris: No, I still had to
get in touch with George Lucas. Thank God we live in the same part of
the world. Its all Georges world, so we had to remove the Star
Wars references. When theres a flashback
with them watching Robin Hood,
they were originally watching Star Wars and
talking about light sabers, and Fox didnt want to go to him with
that. They said, George may not be up for the boners/light sabers
reference, so lets see if you can change it and you may get to use
it later in the film. I really thought the polycarbonate blade
line was funny and I wanted to keep that in the movie, so I changed
it to The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Q: You do show some
examples of recklessness in this film, but isnt that part of the
learning experience for teenagers?
Chris: I think it is, but
you draw a fine line as to whether its good or bad. Ironically, if
you look at the film carefully, theyre never drinking and driving,
so thats good. They might be drunk, but its PG-13. Im not
advocating it, but having teenagers of my own, I couldnt deny that
its something that goes on. But, I certainly dont want to
advocate that. That would be horrible. I think the most reckless
thing in the movie, which scares me, is turning off the headlights
and driving. That, to me, is just insane, but its funny and it
worked, comedically, for that particular scene in the movie. Its a
sense of not being a hypocrite, in terms of remembering what my
teenage years were like, which were very similar to this, in terms of
me being a nerd and not being able to ask any girls out.
 Q: There is talk of
remakes and sequels of some of your earlier work. Are you involved
with any of those things? Would you want to revisit any of your
earlier work?
Chris: Not at this point.
The Goonies thing is
fun. Ive always kind of liked the movie, but now its become a
weird, cult-ish thing among 21- to 26-year-olds. They really like
that movie. I thought it was okay when it came out, but these kids
are wearing the shirts and thats the movie they want to talk
about, more than any other movie.
Q: Not Home
Alone?
Chris: Not yet, but maybe
those kids are just going into college now.
Q: Why such a long break
between movies for you?
Chris: Rent
was in 2005, and that was part of the reason
I jumped into this. And then, I realized I was going to do Percy
Jackson immediately afterwards. There wont
be a longer break anymore, as far as Im concerned.
Q: What can you say about
Percy Jackson?
Chris: We have a
tremendous cast. We just finished shooting Uma Thurman as Medusa,
with Pierce Brosnan as Chiron. And, this kid from 3:10
to Yuma, Logan Lerman is Percy Jackson. I
believe hes going to be one of the great leading men. I really do.
I dont say that often, but I think hes really an amazing kid.
Hes got a sense of reality about him and a sense of real intensity
that I havent seen in many 17-year-olds.
Q: What interested you in
that project?
Chris: Im like a little
kid, really. I love to see movies where I havent seen things
before, and I havent seen the world of Greek mythology done really
well, on screen. Its always those cheesy stop-motion monsters, so
I really wanted to do them in a much more interesting way.
Q: How are you achieving
that?
Chris: Really fine CGI
work. We have Uma Thurman playing Medusa, but shes wearing those
things on her head. Were putting several snakes in her hair that
move, and move with the performance. Its really interesting.
Q: Are you staying true to
the books, to set it up for sequels?
Chris: Yeah, but theres
a bit of a sense of liberation with Percy
Jackson because were changing the books. I
wouldnt say significantly, but were able to change them a
little bit.
Q: Are you worried that
will upset fans of the books?
Chris: Im not worried.
I think theyll be excited. Im really excited about the movie. I
think weve made some of the right choices. A couple of the other
books are going to be a bigger challenge, but I think theyll be
real happy with this one.
Q: Will you be involved
with further films?
Chris: I hope so. We have
a good cast and I love this world. Its really exciting.
Q: Do you still regret not
having done more Harry Potter films?
Chris: No, I dont have
any regrets. The only regret I have is mostly emotional. I see those
kids on screen and its like seeing part of your family on screen.
Theyre aging before my eyes. And, you see all the sets that we
built and all the actors that we cast, and its very surreal
because its an entire world that I put together, yet Im not
part of anymore. So, that part of it is a little melancholy, but I
dont want to go back. Not now.
Q: What do you think of
the latest movies?
Chris: I like them all. I
really do. I really like Goblet of Fire a
lot. I havent seen the new one yet. It was weird to see them
because it was like we had set into pattern how those seven movies
were going to be made, with the exception of the seventh book being
split into two movies. We talked about splitting the fourth book into
two movies because the fourth book was huge in length. My initial
shock was, Oh, my God, Tom Felton looks so old, or The kids
are so good now.
Q: Has Percy
Jackson got any similarities at all?
Chris: The book does, so
weve tried to remove those similarities.
Q: Do you have a favorite
kind of film to make?
Chris: I honestly just
want to try different types of films. Were in a very scary
situation right now because were in an economic disaster area, and
yet movies are doing okay, but its these gigantic movies, like
Transformers. Are
those small movies going to continue to get made? Thats what we
have to hope for.
Q: Do you want to continue
doing small movies, rather than $200 million movies?
Chris: I think its so
much fun to do these kind of movies, whether theyre dramas,
comedies or whatever. Theyre fun to do because, in terms of the
cost, there is a relative lack of pressure. In terms of making them,
its intense, but I think its great. I just think its great
that they can still be made. I dont know how we exist in the world
of Transformers. Its
odd that this little movie is going to open five days before Harry
Potter. Talk about an odd situation for me.
Q: What was the budget on
Beth Cooper?
Chris: $18 million.
Q: How could you do that?
Chris: Vancouver.
Q: Is it weird then to go
from this to Percy Jackson?
Chris: Yeah. Our second
unit crew on Beth Cooper were
like ex-cons. It was a little scary. Id go to the second unit and
fear for my life. They had prison tattoos. It was scary. Thats how
you do it. Were not hiring children from foreign countries and
exploiting them, but at one point, I thought we had convicts working
for us. I really didnt know. It was weird.
Q: Does Canada have a
work-release program from ex-cons on movie productions?
Chris: That was my sick
sense of humor. If this gets out, the crew is going to kill me. Just
give me three weeks. Im in Canada for three more weeks. This was
the second unit, not the first unit. There were no convicts in the
first unit, but I did see one prison tattoo. But, our
Percy Jackson crew has no convicts.
Q: Does it make it easier
that the demand for the box office for Beth
Cooper isnt the same as something like
Transformers?
Chris: We can make a
couple million dollars and were fine. It was just so much fun to
make and theres very little stress with the release of this movie
because of that. You want it to do well, but you hope people will
discover it. You still hope that theres a section of moviegoers
out there, who are willing to discover something. With Borat,
the movie was released in a select number of theaters, so everybody
was fighting to get it and that created this communal experience
where the theater was filled, which worked great for a comedy. Now,
when movies open in 4,000 theaters, its very difficult. I go to
the movies every weekend.
Q: What do you like to
see?
Chris: I see what my kids
take me to see, and then Ill catch up on my own choices -- the
more dramatic, adult pictures -- on DVD. I have a 17-year-old, so I
get to go to R-rated movies, which is fantastic. Ive waited 15
years to get to go back to an R-rated movie, so its just great.
Q: As a filmmaker, have
you been excited to see your films come out on Blu-ray?
Chris: Yeah, but I dont
revisit my movies. I dont want to waste time watching my own
stuff. Ill check the transfer, if they ask me to. With some of the
older films, they wont even get in contact with you. They just
show up. Home Alone just
showed up. Certain movies, you really want to see on Blu-ray. Id
like to see Harry Potter on
Blu-ray.
Q: Are you involved with
the DVD for Beth Cooper?
Chris: Im involved with
the DVD because theres a big alternate ending with this movie. In
the book, Kevin, her army friend, comes back. We had two successful
screenings with the towel sequence when Rich defeats the guys, so at
that point, the audience said, Those guys are gone. Kevin is
defeated. It was a high point for the audience. When I brought
them back later in the picture, the audience, at that point, wanted
to invest themselves in the romance and the love story, and they did
not want to see that guy again.
Q: Is there an unrated
version for the DVD?
Chris: Yeah, it will be an
unrated version. Language will be pushed intensely.
Q: Is the book very
different from the movie?
Chris: The book is a
little bluer, and youre in Denis head. Without narration,
thats something you couldnt really accomplish in the movie.
There were funny things that we just couldnt accomplish because
its what hes thinking.
Q: Did you ask the cast to
read the book, in preparation?
Chris: Because the book
doesnt really go into a lot of their history, I asked the cast to
write as many pages as they wanted to about their characters past,
which was really fascinating to me. Paul wrote a very small, detailed
one page. Jack Carpenter, who played Richard Munsch, wrote about 18
pages of his past. Hayden wrote a page for me. They were all very,
very bright kids and all wrote about exactly where their characters
grew up. Shawn Roberts, who played Kevin, never turned his in. Hes
the one guy who didnt.
Q: What did Hayden write
about?
Chris: She wrote less
about her past and more about her future and what it meant.
Basically, she thought Beth would go to a small community college for
about a year, fall in love with someone, get married early, he would
be unemployed and they would have two kids together. It was a pretty
sad future that she wrote for herself.
Q: What are you doing
after Percy Jackson?
Chris: I have no idea. We
have to get Percy Jackson out
by February of next year.
Q: Will you take Percy
Jackson to Comic-Con?
Chris: Id love to, but
Comic-Con is in July and we dont have our visual effects finished.
When people see the visual effects, I want them to really be blown
away by them and theyre not complete yet. Theyre just not ready
to show.
Q: What studio is that?
Chris: Its Fox.
Q: Is that your home
studio?
Chris: Now. It used to be
Warner Bros, but now its Fox. Well see. Theyve been good,
though. I
LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER opens on July 10th
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