Teen.com visited the set of The Maze Runner and talked with Kaya and Dylan!
Check out the highlights below:
Kaya on expectations versus reality of being the only girl on set:
"Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Not only is it my first big American film, but it's a full cast of boys, so I was like, 'Oh, I’m gonna be the girl. I'm gonna be all emotional and they're gonna hate me. And I'm gonna complain about the bugs, and they're gonna think I'm stupid' and all these things, but one of my best friends back at home is a boy and I've kind of been brought up around boys, so I'm quite comfortable with them. The first thing I actually said to them when I met them was that I was really gassy on the plane. And I think that kinda gave us a nice even level, and we bonded really quickly — with all of them."
Kaya's thoughts on reading the book:
"I hadn't before I heard about the project. Once I started hearing about it, I read the first book, The Maze Runner. I didn't wanna read the whole trilogy purely because these kids have no memory. They don’t know what's happened, or what is going to happen, so I thought it'd be best just to stick with the first one and I absolutely loved it."
Kaya on Thomas and Teresa's relationship book versus movie:
"I think that they know they've met each other before. They have memories; fragments of memories from before that they know no one else has. So they know that they are connected somehow. We've tried really hard to focus on their relationship being a friendship; a connection that could possibly become more. But in this movie, it doesn't. We didn't want it to be a cheesy love story because these kids are trapped in a maze and they're trying to get out. That’s the most important thing. We wanted to keep that real. So the focus is on them trying to work as a team; to work out why they're important, why they're different and what that means for everyone else."
Kaya on survivalist training:
"I was involved. My involvement really consisted of watching the boys do it. But I did join in a little bit. But my character arrives, and then the next day they escape, so... But I did get into — I learned how to make a raft. I jumped around a bit and we did some drills, and we actually camped out in The Glade overnight, which was the best experience. That was the best way to understand the nature and the animals and the noise. Just us — me and 15 guys and two survivalists in the middle of Louisiana. What could go wrong? There was a thunderstorm — that's what went wrong. From 3 o'clock in the morning, none of us slept, but I was terrified. I've never been so scared in my life. I've never seen lightning that looks like strobe lightning in a night club. It was unbelievable. We don’t have storms like that in England. I was convinced that we were going to flood and drown and die. They all looked after me and it was fine. We made it out alive."
Kaya on doing her own stunt work:
"I do! I don't have any crazy, crazy stuff to do. That was one of the things that attracted me about the project. I've never been a sporty person at all. I don't exercise, I eat s*** food, I’m awful. I read the script and I was like, 'Can I physically do this without passing out?' But I thought, 'I wanna do that. I wanna push myself to be running around all day with a load of boys and hold my own.' And I feel like I have; I feel like I've done quite well. There’s been a couple of times where I've been like, *moans* 'Take me home.' But they've all kept me going; they've all said, 'You can do it.' They've never made fun of me; they've never tried to put me down or tried to say, 'You're the girl. You're not good enough.’ They've been so supportive. With the whole cast, they all wanted us to do really well. So I feel like I've got to do all the action stuff."
Kaya on her wardrobe:
"I had long conversations about the outfits at first and I was like, 'Please, don't put me in shorts and thigh-high boots and a tank top. It's not about that.' And they've been great. They've sort of been like, ‘No, we have to think about this. She’s just come up from the book. We'll have one outfit.' And this [motioning to her attire] is her outfit. And it’s comfortable, it's light, but they're not trying to make me look sexy, which is great. Like no makeup, dirty all the time, which I love. Five minutes in the morning getting ready. I can stay in bed for an extra half an hour, it’s great. They wanted to have a very natural look to their surroundings. We all kind of blend in. Especially when filming in The Glade, which is all outside. We all sort of fit into the environment. So that was what was important. We get dirty every day. No glamour."
Dylan on seeing himself as Thomas:
"No, I keep thinking about it — it's funny because I actually didn't at first. I didn't think I was right for it mainly because I didn't get called back at first for, like, a month and a half, so I must've not been right for it. But now that we’re shooting it and we've been in production all this time, I can’t believe I wasn't going crazy for not getting the callback because it’s [the kind of] role I've always wanted to play."
Dylan on relating to Thomas's 'good intentioned rebel' nature:
"I've always been the same way. I have different ways of thinking. I'm not shy about them either. And that could sometimes strike people in a certain way. Like, just because you're adamant about what you believe in, but I've always been that way and that’s something that's really primal in Thomas as well, so I think that’s why I can play it, or relate to it and understand him."
