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Hollywood Insider: Catching up on the greatest showmen and women
LOS ANGELES — We were lucky to go on the set of director Michael Gracey’s ambitious musical “The Greatest Showman” in New York where we saw Hugh Jackman (as P.T. Barnum) doing the song, “Come Alive,” composed by the award-winning “La La Land” duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
The biographical period musical film, written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, is inspired by the story of how P.T. Barnum started the Barnum & Bailey Circus, and the lives of its attractions.
The very realistic set really transported us to a circus which we used to watch only in this circus, you see Zac Efron and Zendaya doing their trapeze act.
Then there was newcomer Keala Settle as the bearded lady belting out “This is Me,” another Pasek-Paul composition, giving us goosebumps. Be sure to remember Settle because she is bound to be a household name after the movie comes out.
After our New York set visit, we met the cast and director again in Los Angeles where we sat down with each one of them at a Beverly Hills hotel.
Below are excerpts of our conversations with them:
On his memory of his first circus experience:
“I was about 5 or 6. I remember my father getting us food and eating during the performance because my dad was like never buy the popcorn, it's too expensive. He's an accountant and obviously in the theatre you couldn't eat so I was like wow, we get to eat. I remember the clown being sad, not funny. It was a circus called Circus Oz which I didn't know at the time but it was the first circus to not use animals. It became quite famous for it was like a precursor of Cirque du Soleil.”
On his own “oddity”:
“When I first came to Hollywood, they said I was too tall. I was also told it's not good to be doing a lot of things like people won't understand what it is you do. So you either choose. Are you an action hero? Are you a movie star? Or are you the ‘Boy From Oz’? Maybe 10 years later, people went oh, that's kind of cool that you can do all that stuff. But there was a while where I remember people saying man, it's like it's my thing was open as many doors as possible.”
On how his parents encouraged him to be individualistic or different:
“I don't remember any specific talk about it. Parenting seems very different like I don't know about you but I don't ever remember my parents talking to me about what I wanted to study or what university to go to. I don't even remember my father saying have you done your homework. It was just like when you got the report every term you had to go and answer to the judge. We were left up to our own devices to make a lot of decisions. But my father did always talk about education. I remember a key time and at the time I was frustrated by it but I look back as a parent now and think it was an amazing bit of parenting.”
On when he felt like an “outsider”:
“During my early teenage years, around 12 to 13, I thought I was special. But every kid around that age feels that and when I first began acting weirdly, it took me 6 months before it started to click that I was someone who always did acting. I went to a drama school and I just didn't really have one of those teachers who was tough on me. I learned that lesson that the moment you start worrying about what that teacher thinks is the moment you start acting.”
ZAC EFRON (Philip Carlyle, the stage actor)
On the “maturity” of his acting in this movie:
“That was a part of my character Phillip and his dilemma. I think at the beginning of the movie he's earned this kind of air of prestige and checked off all the boxes. He is a professional playwright and he found success in every way possible monetarily. He's got the name behind him. He's got pretty much everything a young man could desire yet he's profoundly unhappy. He's drowning himself. There's a part of me that could relate a little bit. I think a little bit of us all can relate to Phillip. You feel lost yet you've got everything to be happy. That's what Hugh is. That's one of the great things about playing Phillip was being able to relate and have my eyes reopened as they were in real life by Hugh Jackman, Michael Gracey, Zendaya and everybody. So it was very, very fun.”
On being back to singing and dancing:
“It was as great as ever. It was like a dream come true. I don't know what else to say. It's like I always wondered when and how I would find my way back into musicals. I had known Michael for a few years so when I got a phone call from him when I was stuck in traffic on the 101 freeway, it was literally gridlocked, and I just thought he was going to call me to get lunch tomorrow. But he started the combo with there's a musical movie I'm making and there's a part for you in it. Do you want to do it? I think I got out of the car and literally was like danced around for a second because we weren't moving. It was what you shouldn't do but this was a special occasion. I was really excited. I immediately said what is it, when are we starting, how can I help. He's like come over.”
ZENDAYA (Anne Wheeler, the acrobat, trapeze artist)
On her first trapeze act:
“Trapeze was very new for me. I had never done trapeze before and I actually got a call from the director before we started rehearsals and he was like, listen I want to use the stunt double as little as possible. I want you to look like a trapeze artist so you should probably start working out. And you’re going to start trapeze training when you get here.
“So that was like, oh, ok. It’s definitely something I’d never done before and it was a huge physical change for me. It was something completely different. But I get excited with challenges and new things. It’s important to use every ounce of your gifts.”
On her great chemistry with Zac Efron:
“Zac is amazing. We both had to be partners in crime in everything really, but it is all in the air. So that took a lot of harnesses, rigging and all kinds of crazy things. We did it for days. In order to accomplish something like that, you have to have somebody next to you who is just as driven, as focused and as excited to do it as you are.
“But also, quite literally, we had to hold each other up. There were times when we had to hold onto each other. He had to carry my weight. I had to hold onto him and pull his weight. It was a hundred percent a team not just mentally but physically as well. I think that that helped with our connection and how much we had to work together. That was an icebreaker the first day. It was, ok you guys are harnessed together when you’re in the air, and have fun. That was a good thing for both of us. He’s just so amazing to work with and we worked so smoothly together. We made a really great team.
KEALA SETTLE (Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady)
On when she became a singer:
“When I opened my mouth. My mother originally was from New Zealand and as a native New Zealander, music was in her family. She was the lead singer in a band, so quite a few members of my family actually sing. We have been doing it for our whole lives. It’s in the culture.”
On her audition for the movie:
“I didn’t know the audition process was happening when I was doing the presentation for Fox. It wasn’t an official audition. It ultimately came to fruition when I had to sing ‘This is Me.’ Once that happened, there was a standing ovation. I was crying into Hugh’s chest, because of how pertinent that song was to me. I was afraid to sing that song because of how close to home it hit. Within that space of time, I had no idea that I was going to be given the role to play.”
On why the song “This is Me” is very close to her heart:
“The song means so much to me because it’s a challenge that I have gone through my whole life. I am not different than any other human being on this planet in that sense, because we are all humans. Every morning, we fight ourselves to get out the door and say I can face the day and quiet the demons that our society has created for us within our minds.
“The beauty of the song is that through music, we can tell the story of how to overcome that. It is literally all about connection. The second, my character, the bearded lady, sings it, she is grounded and surrounded by these other individuals who are alike. They are as likeminded as her and they are also oddities. But they also take charge and go we can do this. If they can do that, imagine what a world could do.”
MICHAEL GRACEY
On his transition from a commercial director to a film director:
“I met Hugh doing musical-based commercials with spectacle. So doing a musical felt very comfortable for me, transitioning from doing that in a commercial. But it’s the difference between being a sprinter and a marathon, which clearly is the amount of years and the amount of work is extraordinary. But I was very fortunate, because Hugh brought me this project after we worked together in commercials. I had the support of a star who was very passionate about the project.”
—JST, GMA News
