BOP Interview: Topher Grace and Teresa Palmer
By Ryan Mazie
March 3, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Grace and Australian newcomer Palmer (who is currently heating up movie screens with I Am Number Four) talked face-to-face with Box Office Prophets about their love for the ‘80s, filming throughout the night, Suncoast Video, and just why Topher Grace thinks why Space Jam is one of the “worst films ever made.”
Topher, being credited for the story, how did you come up with this whole idea? Was it a one-night experience thing you had like in the movie?
Topher Grace: No, unfortunately I never had a night like that. I do remember in my early twenties that feeling of “what if tonight was that night that changes everything?” At the time, I had thought that I would really want to work with my peer group. I love being in movies with big movie stars and really learned a lot from them. I did a Dennis Quaid-movie and I just did a Richard Gere-movie; me and these guys for half a year hanging out together was fantastic; you learn a lot. I wished they still made those John Hughes movies. You are blooming with your peers and I thought how much fun that would be. [I wanted] to work with Cameron Crowe and be John Cusack. Now all they make are either raunchy movies or romance. Those John Hughes movies were all in one and starred ensembles of young people. So that was my idea and then my producing partner had the idea that Dazed and Confused was set in the ‘70s and made in the ‘90s, and American Graffiti was set in the ‘50s but made in the ‘70s, so if we did that math now, it would bring us back to that John Hughes time. Really, this is the first movie like this that’s not a spoof of the ‘80s.
Teresa Palmer: We wanted it to feel like it was a movie that was really made in the ‘80s. Like we put it away in a vault and pulled it out, brushed the dust off, and just pressed play. It feels vintage. I think we managed to capture that.
How did you go about making the film without spoofing the ‘80s?
TG: The first thing we did was make a mix, before we even hired writers. We cut out all the “Rock Me Amadeus,” typical ‘80s songs and [instead went with] songs that sound like today’s hits, like “Bette Davis Eyes” and “Straight Out of Compton.” Then we went to the script. Any lines where the character goes, “This cell phone is so tiny,” (pretending to hold a giant phone) and winks to the audience or “They’ll have hover cars by the year 2000,” were stripped. We focused more on character work and how they come together. It’s really about timeless issues.
How did you go about picking the songs in the film?
TG: We had that mix and about 90% of that mix went into the final film. This is not really the way to sell the movie [to studios]. You should say that there are plenty of titties and cocaine in the film (laughs)...which there are. We wanted it to be kind of like a musical. In great musicals when the character can no longer say it in words, they sing it. Again, there is no singing in the movie. If you make a movie that is a spoof of the ‘80s, you layer the songs on top of the film, but here we wanted it to be whatever the experience was – if someone gets proposed to, everyone starts singing “Come On Eileen” or if you steal a car you start rapping N.W.A.
TP: The music really became a character. It was so imperative to the story. The majority of the songs you hear in the film, we were playing them on set and partying to that music. All of the extras were jumping around singing, “Come On Eileen” with us. It really felt like we were having a real party while we were filming and I think you can actually feel that in the movie.
TG: When Teresa walks out on the balcony, they are playing “Bette Davis Eyes.”
TP: In my slow motion entrance to the party (laughs).
TG: A lot of it came out of us listening to the mix and us saying, “There’s got to be a moment when the girl walks out and the guy sees her.”
Again, not wanting to spoof the decade, how did you decide on the costumes?
TP: It was really interesting. I was born in 1986, so I didn’t get to experience that time. When we first started doing rehearsals we didn’t know how big to go with the hair. The first time I remember when I came out of the hair and make-up trailer Topher was like, “Oh God no!” (laughs) My hair was sky high. Topher was going, “No, no, no, no.” And Topher had a terrible wig at one point. It was just bizarre. But as lead characters, we have to be somewhat attractive and tamed back. The gold sparkly vintage dress was so amazing, though. We wanted Tori to look like a golden girl so it would be quite fitting for her to have a shiny gold dress. It was such a nice outfit to wear throughout the entire film, pretty much. That doesn’t usually happen so I was very happy with that.
The whole movie takes place within 24 hours and most of that time is during the night. What is doing a night shoot like?
TP: I think your body clock gets a bit out of whack. We shot for like seven or eight weeks, shooting nights, every night. It meant that even on the weekends, we would all have to stay up, so what we did was hire a party bus and the whole cast and crew would go on this party bus and stay up all night. Just try to stay up till seven in the morning and sleep through the day.
TG: Somehow we muddled through (laughs).
TP: It was a tough time, but we pushed through.
TG: I’m not a method actor. Say if I were playing a blind person, I wouldn’t go for months pretending I couldn’t see. But this is the closest I’ll ever be to method acting, because I loved the group of people I was with, we were partying our asses off during our free time, and it bled into the film.
Topher, how was it working with That ‘70s Show writers Jackie & Jeff Filgo on the film again?
TG: It was great. They really know my voice. They are a pleasure to work with and they wrote the show for the years I really thought it stood out. There’s a real racism against sitcom writers, because sitcoms are filmed in a cheap way and the cameras really far away from the subject, there’s an audience laughing… But I remember thinking [on ‘70s Show set], “Man, if the scripts that I was doing in the movies were as half as good as this, it would be really hilarious and amazing.” So I was very happy to be in a position to say that we are going to hire these guys.
How was the casting experience?
TG: It was the best part. You kind of feel like as a young actor in Hollywood, you have heard rumors of who is kind of a jerk, who’s cool, and you have your opinions of who is a good actor; but normally you don’t get your opinions heard. They say, “Hey, here is the person you are in the movie with.” But in this case it was great to be able to make the decisions. I remember Teresa and I actually met in an audition for another movie and I said, “That girl is really good.” And Anna Faris I’ve always wanted to work with. I think it is egotistical that I think she can be my twin equivalent (laughs). Dan [Fogler] I’ve seen on Broadway, he won the Tony for The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee. I wanted to work with that crew.
Did you always envision yourself as the lead when making the story?
TG: Always, every movie that I read (laughs).
What are the differences between playing a movie role and a TV role as an actor?
TG: I remember asking Michael Douglas that [question] when I did Traffic which was my first film. He started off on Streets of San Francisco and I asked him that same question and he gave me this crazy answer that taught me a lot about acting! He was like, “You know it is really all the same thing,” and he kind of walked away (laughs). It really is, though. It’s no different than how I talk to you and then how I talk to [Teresa], you talk and act the same way to almost everyone. There is no mystery. I think the fact there is no mystery is the great mystery. It’s all the same thing.
Teresa, getting cast in bigger releases, how are you handling the attention?
TP: Yeah, it was only the last week that I started to notice a shift. Also, right now I am promoting I Am Number Four simultaneously. It is so exciting and surreal and exhausting, I haven’t really slept (laughs), but I really am trying to embrace the whole experience. There are so many peaks and valleys in a career and right now, yes, it is a peak, but I know that there will be a valley that’s going to be coming shortly I’m sure, so I’m just really excited about what’s going on.
What made you want to take this role?
TP: Well I’ve just come to Hollywood and my agent sent me the script and said that Topher was involved...
TG: That’s a good answer (both laugh).
TP: But I do remember working with Topher on this other audition and we had this great chemistry between us.
TG: But the director hated us together.
TP: Yeah, the director did not pick up on that, but we thought we were pretty good together.
TG: Yeah, I talked to the director after and said, “I thought that was good.”
TP: Me too.
TG: And he said he didn’t like it.
TP: The script was really quick and fast paced and it was hilarious. It actually takes a lot to get me to laugh. I can’t read a script and laugh out loud, but this was so funny. I was turning the pages and just pissing myself laughing the whole time. And she was a dynamic character and I really liked that.
Teresa, for such a short filmography you have done so many genres. Do you consciously seek out parts according to their genres?
TP: I do actually. I definitely like to push the boundaries and constantly surprise myself and challenge myself in ways that I haven’t been challenged before. So in I Am Number Four I had to transform every part of who I was to embody this ferocious warrior and then in Take Me Home Tonight I was this bubbly, fun chick. I like to switch it up, because that means I don’t get too bored with my character.
Can you relate to the characters both of you play in the film?
TP: I think Topher relates to Matt Franklin in many ways (laughs).
TG: I worked at Suncoast Video for two years when it was still a video store, but there is not a lot of autobiography. It was more that we wanted to have a scene in the mall. But these stores like Sam Goody don’t exist anymore, so it will be better to watch this film a couple years from now. When ‘80s movies start, they have to be in a mall and Suncoast Video was just hilarious. My silly story about Suncoast was that I worked there because I thought I’d just watch movies all summer (laughs). And then they played the same movie over and over again, which was Space Jam. That’s the worst movie ever made now. So awful and I’ve probably seen it about 3,000 times.
Topher, you were an executive producer too. How did that affect your acting?
TG: It certainly was really difficult. A real learning curve for me, but I’d say the thing I did was I got to spend a lot of time with the director which you just don’t get as an actor. Working on the script we’d ask, “What happened two minutes before this scene starts?” so I felt like I had a real knowledge of everything about the film and why it was there. That would be the reason why I’d want to do it again if I did.
Why do you think a movie set in the ‘80s will be relevant to audiences today?
TG: The best thing about American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused is that they aren’t spoof movies. It’s weird, because when you spoof a decade, it’s really a broad thing to do. No one in the ‘70s was like, “What’s up with these bellbottoms?” Right now, no one is questioning what we are wearing now, asking, “Why are you wearing a baseball cap?” It’s not something people do. So when you go broad, it makes it weirdly specific. If you keep it more specific in the terms of telling the story though, there is actually a bigger thing audiences can walk away with. And I think it’s how Matt’s life is resolved in terms of what he might want to do at the end of the film. It’s what the ball came out of. It’s tough when structure ends. It’s middle school, high school, and college, then no more structure. It’s a 360 that you can do anything on your own. It’s almost paralyzing that you have so many options and Matt’s so smart, he’s talked himself out of doing anything really. He’s a bright guy. We wanted to make sure that you knew he was a bright guy and that’s his issue. We set it in the ‘80s, but it is a much more timeless, and it might be even more relevant today with more kids living with their folks after college.