‘Warm Bodies’: Pase exclusivo a la Alfombra Roja!

ShowBizCafe.com was one of the three Hispanic outlets invited to the exclusive red carpet premiere of ‘Warm Bodies’ in New York City. There I got to catch up with the main cast and director, as well as spot a few other celebrities invited to the screening such as Tony Danza and Gabourey Sidibe, best known for her role in the movie ‘Precious’.

‘Warm Bodies’ from director Jonathan Levine is about a Zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) who falls in love with a human, Julie (Teresa Palmer), which changes the rules in both of their worlds and might help calm the chaos of the apocalypse.

British actor Nicholas Hoult has been in the world of TV and movies since he was a child and he’s had some key roles in both. He’s worked with the likes of Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and is part of the ‘X-Men’ franchise where he embodies Hank McCoy also known as “Beast”. This year he is the protagonist of ‘Warm Bodies’ and ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’.

ShowBizCafe (SBC): What was your favorite thing about this movie?

Nicholas Hoult (NH): Getting to work with Jonathan (director) and the rest of the cast, they were all really great. I made good friends with Dave Franco but didn’t get a lot of scenes with him apart from eating his brains, which were really good; I recommend them. *laughs*

SBC: Why do you think that people are so excited about this movie?

NH:I think it comes up with some new ideas, while still being respectful to the zombie genre. Jonathan is moving it (the genre) in the right direction.

Teresa Palmer is an Australian actress that is getting more and more face time in Hollywood and has worked with Daniel Radcliffe, Nicolas Cage and Adam Sandler. Later this year she will be in ‘Love and Honor’ staring Liam Hemsworth.

ShowBizCafe (SBC): How did you prepare for this role?

Teresa Palmer (TP): I didn’t prepare too much apart from my work with my dialect coach to prepare for my American accent. I went to the gun range and learned how to shoot a shotgun and met with my acting coach to get beneath the character and learned the backstory (to) figure out what it would be like to really be a part of the apocalypse.

SBC: Why do you think people go so crazy over zombie movies, like this one?

TP:I think we really pushed the boundaries in terms of the zombie genre. I have never seen a zombie film told from the point of a zombie before. I think that’s a breath of fresh air and it’s new and different; it’s just cool. I think Hollywood more often than not they make movies that are carbon copies of other films and it’s not everyday you get such an original concept…there’s an interest in zombies because they are mystical and dangerous and we have a sick fascination with morbid things and also there are some members of society who really do believe we are headed towards the zombie apocalypse; people want to know what that feels like.

SBC: Do you think it makes fun of ‘Twilight’?

TP: I don’t really think it pokes fun at those movies. ‘Warm Bodies’ doesn’t take itself seriously, which it’s great. Some comparison has been drawn to ‘Twilight’, which in my opinion is fantastic because it’s a hugely successful franchise, so we are embracing it. But it’s very different; it’s a very comedic film, which is very different from ‘Twilight’, which I’m a huge fan of.

SBC: What are the hot guys (Dave Franco and Nicholas Hoult) you get to work with in this movie like in real life?

TP: I am very lucky… Dave Franco asks the most original, thought provoking questions about your life and makes you think and he remembers everything; he’s very incredible and he’s hilariously funny and down to earth… down for anything and he’s a great actor.Nick is humble and sweet and quiet and hilarious and just a really talented actor. He doesn’t get to express himself in this film verbally at all, but he managed to give me so much in terms of his facial expressions… he was fantastic. He really embodies that character; his own spirit is very much injected in this role.

New York City’s very own Jonathan Levine directed this zombie love story and has shown his talent in a couple of films, his most recent success was ‘50/50’ staring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, which I highly recommend if you haven’t seen it yet.

ShowBizCafe (SBC): What attracted you to the book this movie is based on?

Jonathan Levine (JL):Isaac Marion wrote this wonderful book, I read it and was so struck by the irreverence of the tone and how clever it was to place the point of view in the head of a zombie. I’ve just never seen anything like that before and when you have something different that’s very exciting.

SBC: Did you get any tips from ‘Zombieland’ or ‘The Walking Dead’?

JL: I watched ‘Zombieland’, sure I love it; but we were trying to do something unique. So, while I watched all that stuff and I’m sure a lot of it influenced me, I tried to sort of also keep it out of my mind a little bit because I wanted to do something different. But yeah I love ‘Zombieland’ and ‘Shaun of the dead’ I love all those movies…I’ve seen several episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’, but I don’t watch it religiously.

SBC: What was one of the hardest scenes to shoot?

JL: For me who is just used to doing movies about two people talking on the couch, a lot of the action was hard, but was also really fun. I think that was one of the newest challenges; doing action and CG those were kind of the things I found difficult at the beginning but I sort of think I figured it out.

SBC: This is completely different from 50/50, although that was lighthearted.

JL: Yeah, there are no zombies in 50/50. The common ground was that there were different tones there was comedy, adventure and romance and in 50/50 it’s kind of comedy and drama so that’s the common ground.

SBC: What made you choose the main two actors?

JL: We started with Nick. I loved him from ‘Skins’ and I just loved his ability of being sympathetic and sweet…you have to like this guy after you see him eating someone’s brains, so I thought he was perfect. Once we casted him we auditioned a bunch of people for Julie and Teresa was so effervescent and you can see it in her personality; she has so much soul and the two of them together were just fantastic.