Teen: As the author of the series, what were your feelings when you first saw Jamie and Lily together during their audition together?
Cassandra Clare: It was really embarrassing. I cried, I was so happy. We had been looking for Jace; it was an ordeal process. Every young, blond actor in Hollywood tried out and Lily, bless her soul, went in over and over for chemistry reads with people, and Jace is a tough character. He is a guy who covers up his vulnerability and is real personality with a lot of layers of just being a jerk. If you play him wrong, he’ll just come out as a jerk, but if you play him right, he comes across as “I’ll use my wit to hide my broken heart and my pain and I’m vulnerable and love me.” Nobody was quite hitting that, so Lily did all these chemistry reads with all these different people and I was starting to think “Maybe no one can play this role; maybe I have written a bizarre character that cannot be played.”
Teen: That was before filming. Can you talk a little more about the romance within the movie itself?
Lily: There’s romance in the story. That is obviously Simon, Jace and Clary, but it’s not a movie about a love triangle. Every character has a relationship with every other character in this. The romance is only one portion of this kind of epic adventure. And yes, it fuels certain scenes and it’s an undertone, but it’s in no way a love story that has action in it. It’s a full-blown action/adventure fantasy film that is based in reality that has this romance in it. I think from the first draft to now, it’s definitely got a lot more of that, kind of propelling-you-forward, less of a romantic kind of teen flick, if you will. It also has a lot more humor than the first draft because Cassandra’s writing… That’s the beauty of the writing, is that you end up giggling when you’re reading it because of something Simon said or Jace is so cocky, you’re like, “Did he really just say that?” They’ve added some of those lines back in, so there is a comedic tone to these dark moments that kind of makes the audience relax for a second. And they are witty, so we have a lot more of Cassie’s voice back into it.
Cassandra Clare: It was really embarrassing. I cried, I was so happy. We had been looking for Jace; it was an ordeal process. Every young, blond actor in Hollywood tried out and Lily, bless her soul, went in over and over for chemistry reads with people, and Jace is a tough character. He is a guy who covers up his vulnerability and is real personality with a lot of layers of just being a jerk. If you play him wrong, he’ll just come out as a jerk, but if you play him right, he comes across as “I’ll use my wit to hide my broken heart and my pain and I’m vulnerable and love me.” Nobody was quite hitting that, so Lily did all these chemistry reads with all these different people and I was starting to think “Maybe no one can play this role; maybe I have written a bizarre character that cannot be played.”
Teen: That was before filming. Can you talk a little more about the romance within the movie itself?
Lily: There’s romance in the story. That is obviously Simon, Jace and Clary, but it’s not a movie about a love triangle. Every character has a relationship with every other character in this. The romance is only one portion of this kind of epic adventure. And yes, it fuels certain scenes and it’s an undertone, but it’s in no way a love story that has action in it. It’s a full-blown action/adventure fantasy film that is based in reality that has this romance in it. I think from the first draft to now, it’s definitely got a lot more of that, kind of propelling-you-forward, less of a romantic kind of teen flick, if you will. It also has a lot more humor than the first draft because Cassandra’s writing… That’s the beauty of the writing, is that you end up giggling when you’re reading it because of something Simon said or Jace is so cocky, you’re like, “Did he really just say that?” They’ve added some of those lines back in, so there is a comedic tone to these dark moments that kind of makes the audience relax for a second. And they are witty, so we have a lot more of Cassie’s voice back into it.
Teen: How much are you looking at what fans are saying?
Jamie: I think at the beginning I was very much aware of what was being said, whether it be positive or negative; predominately negative. That’s something that you’ve gotta deal with. I have to appreciate the fact that this is a series of books that people have already encountered and people… will already have preconceived notions about who the characters are and I have to respect that and be able to bring some of those qualities that they believe the character to have to the movie, while still sticking true to how I feel. Did it affect me? F*** yeah, of course it affected me. I’d be a cold, heartless and self-absorbed person to have it not, but it made me want to prove to these people that say I can’t do this that I really can. If I can win over 50% of the people who said that I couldn’t do this or didn’t want me to do this, then I feel like I’ve done my job.
Read the rest at teen.com
Jamie: I think at the beginning I was very much aware of what was being said, whether it be positive or negative; predominately negative. That’s something that you’ve gotta deal with. I have to appreciate the fact that this is a series of books that people have already encountered and people… will already have preconceived notions about who the characters are and I have to respect that and be able to bring some of those qualities that they believe the character to have to the movie, while still sticking true to how I feel. Did it affect me? F*** yeah, of course it affected me. I’d be a cold, heartless and self-absorbed person to have it not, but it made me want to prove to these people that say I can’t do this that I really can. If I can win over 50% of the people who said that I couldn’t do this or didn’t want me to do this, then I feel like I’ve done my job.
Read the rest at teen.com
No comments:
Post a Comment