The Maze Runner Blog: Will Poulter

Showing posts with label Will Poulter. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Cast talk TMR with XFinity

Kaya, Dylan, Will, and Dexter talked all things TMR with Xfinity.

Here are the highlights:

Will on making Gally less of a villain:

Yeah, I feel really blessed. I’ve been trusted with a challenge, so I’m grateful to Fox and [director Wes Ball], in particular, for that. With Gally, what we tried to do – and I think you’re right, I think he is a villain in the books – was try to make Gally more understandable, a little bit more rational, bring a bit more justification to him as a character and the way he went about things. I think it was easy to just kind of hate him, whereas I hope in the movie you can empathize with him on occasion and kind of understand where he’s coming from, even if you don’t necessarily agree with it. I think Thomas certainly has the right idea, but Gally makes some kind of valid points against him at times. He’s just a bit of a douchebag.

On Dylan being the Beyonce of the Teen Wolf cast:

All: [laughs]

O’Brien: That’s so funny.

Poulter: He’s got the cutest booty, too.

O’Brien: Yeah, it only comes to play at those random things where I’m doing press for the movie and they’re there with the show and I have to have a whole different agenda for the day and I can’t be with them. At Comic Con, it was so weird. As an actor, I’m just excited that I got to do this and excited that it worked out at all. We literally shot this movie in the eight weeks that I had off with “Teen Wolf” and it almost didn’t even happen for a second. It’s so cool that it worked out and that I got to go do something else. I have two roles now… that I’ve done.

On free time on set:

Darden: We formed such a brotherhood. Even Kaya. I know she’s the only girl and she’s like a sister – she likes being part of the brotherhood. She’s like one of us as well. There was no difference in anything. We became so close as a cast and we were a strong support system for each other. Being able to have that vibe and camaraderie and be able to lean on each other whenever it was needed was amazing.

O’Brien: We’re also probably the most emotional group of dudes. If I had nickel for every time someone’s asked, “There’s gotta be a lot of testosterone!” I’m like, dude, you should see how we see each other and we’re always giving big hugs and kisses.

Poulter: Kaya’s there like, “Pull it together! Are they cuddling again?”

On Blake Cooper:

O’Brien: Yeah, I really loved Blake [Cooper]. He’s such a great kid. He impressed me. I would always forget that he was 12. He would always shine in the most hilarious moments. Like, you know… when he was just eating all the blueberries.

Poulter: [laughs]

O’Brien: He’s so funny. “These blueberries! They’re amazing! Did you have any?” He had two cups. Two full cups. He’s such a great kid. He’s so sweet. He’s also just so aware for his age and he’s so smart and he’s such a great actor. I’m always so in awe of him. We had such a brotherly relationship, but I’m so in awe of him because I could have never done what he’s doing at his age.

Check out the rest of this stellar interview at the source!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Cast visits Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

While on TMR promo tour, Will, Kaya, and Dylan visited Philadelphia's Children's Hospital and interviewed at Seacrest Studios.

Source

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Crimson and Gold talk with Kaya and Will

Crimson and Gold had the pleasure to talk with Kaya and Will all about TMR, young adult adaptations, and more.

Here are the highlights:

On what separates TMR from other YA adaptations:

Kaya: We’ve thought about this a lot. It’s strange that teen action films get compared all the time and I think it’s because it’s a new genre, whereas with Batman and Superman, that doesn’t happen. But I’m proud to be a part of something like this because I certainly believe that these films are getting a new generation of people together, reading it, discussing it, saving up to buy that ticket to have that experience together. I think it’s really special. And our movie, if you want us to list what sets it apart… It’s about togetherness, it’s about brotherhood. It’s not about killing each other. It’s not a love story, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to do it. It’s a through and through action film where they don’t waste time going on dates in the woods.

Will: As Kaya said, the focus is survival and I think the heart of the movie is the idea that humans are innately good. The reaction of these characters to this extreme circumstance is to come together and work as one.

On performing with an American accent:

Kaya: First of all, I think your accents are the most amazing thing ever. I did a film when I was fourteen in an American accent, and I’m not like Will at all where he can just pick it up right away. It was so bad, so embarrassing. And that was good, because from then on, I really wanted to work on it. I made it a personal focus for me. But Will is naturally gifted at doing any accent in the world and it’s amazing.

Will: Not sure that’s true.

Kaya: It’s so true!

Will: The funny thing about being on set with each other is that our cast is roughly 50/50 English/American, and the English half started taking on Americanisms and the American half started taking on “Englishisms.”

On the most challenging scene they filmed:

Kaya: I liked the days we were all on set with each other, which wasn’t often. We did a weeks worth of film when the Grievers were invading and it was tough, exhausting. There were horseflies everywhere, we were having to run from one side of the glade to the other, we were having to imagine the beasts all the time.

Check out the rest of the interview at the source!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Promo Interview Roundup

Check out the latest TMR's cast interviews!

TMR Promo Tour: Dallas

Kaya, Dylan, and Will headed to Dallas to promo TMR in their seventh and last tour stop!

TMR Promo Tour: Chicago

Kaya, Dylan, and Will headed to Chicago to promote TMR in their sixth tour stop!

Making the Maze: Behind the Scenes

Check out a behind the scenes look at TMR with cast commentary and a peek at Wes Ball bringing the story to life!

Source, Via

TMR Promo Tour: Toronto

Kaya, Dylan, and Will headed to Toronto to promote TMR in their fifth tour stop!

Cast Interview Teaser

Kaya, Will, and Dylan chat TMR in this funny interview teaser.

The Maze Runner - teaser from Michael Reed on Vimeo.

Behind the Scenes: TMR Cast Photoshoot

Check out this amazing behind the scenes footage for a recent cast photoshoot!

Source

TMR Promo Tour: Philadelphia

Kaya, Dylan, Will, Dexter, and Alex headed to Philadelphia to promote TMR in their fourth tour stop!

TMR Promo Tour: Atlanta

Kaya, Dylan, and Will headed to Atlanta to promote TMR in their third tour stop!

Will and Kaya talk with Fangirlish

While at Comic Con Fangirlish had the opportunity to interview Kaya and Will about all things The Maze Runner.

Here are the highlights:

Is it better or worse to walk into a movie that also has a book adaptation with an existing fanbase? Do you feel like you have been received well on social media or is that difficult to listen to the criticisms?

Kaya: I think we’ve been incredibly lucky. I think Maze Runner fans probably… of all the stories I’ve heard and I have heard a lot of them… the Maze Runner fans seems to be the nicest families out there. And they have been so supportive. I haven’t seen a single negative comment and they’re really supportive of like other films, and other franchises. And they all want to talk about it and get together and discuss it. And they’ve been like overwhelmingly nice. I’m so scared that one day I’m going to go into a room and it’s going to be all the assholes they talked about.

Will: Yeah… yeah… Maze Runner fans… Right. I think it’s because the collective online voice of the Gladers and the Maze Runner fan labels has been loud and really encouraging. That’s been the case from day one. As soon as we all got cast, they were following us. They were you know sending out encouraging words and personal messages.

Kaya: And like Fanart! And Videos.

Will: Unbelievable! And we would contact them like during filming to kind of keep them up-to-date and stuff with a couple of video chats and things and saying what we’re going to do and before the release of the movie maybe we’ll do another one; but it wasn’t something that producers asked us to do. We really found ourselves wanting to make contact with them because they were so cool to us. I realize that a number of big franchise films have huge support, but that happened so dramatically, so early on that it is a very special relationship.

Kaya: Yeah. Yeah. Totally. It is special.

Will on what types of roles he likes to play best.

Uhm, I actually don’t mind. I was saying just early… the common theme for me, the characters I like playing is that they kind of have an element to their personality that I have a respect for. So every one of them might have elements I don’t understand to some degree nor do I feel like I agree with Gally entirely, there are elements of his persona and elements of what he stands for that I can kind of appreciate. That made him accessible to me as an actor. I loved playing someone who you know brought conflict and created friction. It was fun. Some of my favorite scenes were when I was being kind of a complete asshole. It was like, I can’t lie… it was fun to do. I don’t know why. I can’t explain that. You don’t strive to be an asshole in every day life. I imagine people don’t do that. Some people will fool you. But uhm, I uh… I really enjoyed it. I thought it was like really good fun. I loved to play another baddie.

What do you think sets Maze Runner apart from many of the other similar big franchises that are hitting the theaters in the last couple of years.

Kaya: For me, it’s just from the second it starts you’re on the journey with the character. That’s what’s great if you don’t know anything about the books. If you’ve never read it, you can still go watch it. You discover the story from the eyes of Thomas, through the eyes of Dylan’s character. You know you go on the journey with him. Nothing’s explained. It doesn’t start with a paragraph of this is what’s happened. It’s all about you discovering it as you go on the journey. And if you connect to the first film, from what I know of the second and third books, it’s only going to get more and more interesting.

Will: Yeah, I would say… to touch upon what Kaya says that the fact your experiences kind of synchronize with the characters. You’re not spoon fed everything. There’s a natural element of ambiguity. There’s a natural number of questions. You are kind of thrust into this world with Thomas and all the other kids in these glades. And you are right with them through every step of the way. You find out as they find out. There’s no voice-over narrating or holding your hand through it. I even recently watched some of the films we were talking about earlier, even some fantasy ones. A few of them start off with a kind of voiceover break down of what’s happened in the world etc. and this [Maze Runner] is entirely different – comes from the opposite direction. And that I think it’s far more action, far more suspenseful and just makes it a more exciting film I think, if I can say that.

Catch the rest of the interview at the source!