Chris Colfer on Struck By Lightning, His Future on Glee, and Wanting the Rights to Candy Land
Chris Colfer is known as an actor — he won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Kurt on Glee — but this Tribeca Film Festival, he's making his debut as a writer as well. His first film, Struck by Lightning, premiered over the weekend with eager Harry Potter star Emma Watson in the audience (she even asked a question during the Q&A!), and he's got a second film already in the works, in addition to a children's book, a Disney Channel pilot, and probably ten other projects by now. So it's only fitting that his character in Struck is an overachieving high school student who wants to take his writing to the next level — even if he has to commit blackmail to do it. Colfer chatted with Vulture about his own literary high school experiences, his future on Glee, and why he'll be auditioning for an Adam Sandler movie soon.
With me sitting behind this desk in this office, this feels like a job interview.
Go for it! Give me a job! [Laughs.] Please hire me someday!
Okay — convince me. What are your strengths?
I can sing and dance. I can smile — a lot. I can act ... I do a little writing as well. And I'm good at typing. I'm a creative typist, actually.
Like your character in this film, you were also the editor of a high school literary journal. But you didn't have to resort to blackmail to get people to contribute, did you?
No. [Laughs.] When I did it, there was no blackmail. Looking back, of course, now I wish that there was. More blackmail! Blackmail needs to come back. I miss the blackmailing. [Laughs.] God, it was awful, getting people to contribute! I joined the writers' club my freshman year, and there were all these cool seniors there, so I thought, Wow, I've arrived. And then they graduated. So I became president of the writers' club my sophomore year, and it was miserable! No one wanted to write unless they had to. They didn't see the benefit of the therapeutic qualities that I knew from it and the escapism that it could supply.
If someone were to try to blackmail you, is there any dirt to dig up?
Honestly? Besides horrible dancing in clubs? There's probably a picture of me really sweaty, booty-shaking in a nightclub for someone's birthday or something. But I'm kind of an open book. Except for if anyone ever found my little journal of dreams, goals, and aspirations — that would be something I would not want the world to see. I'm really not good blackmail material.
Or you could just be saying that so no one tries.
See? You see right through me. [Laughs.] No, I wish I had secrets, but I really don't.
So, why didn't you set it up in the film so that the students could contribute to the journal via e-mail?
You know, honestly, I hadn't thought too much about it, other than the town of Clover where it's set is poor and a lot of people wouldn't have computers. Also, when you're watching a movie, it's so much more entertaining to see kids chuck pieces of paper physically in a box rather than a shot of a computer looking at an empty e-mail account. This way, an older audience isn't confused: "What's the difference between a tweet and a blog and an e-mail? I don't get it! Why is everything so complicated?" You know? And I love how the jock has his story on a napkin and the cheerleader has hers on pretty pink stationary.
You're writing another film that's going to be shooting this summer.
I play a very dark patient at this mental hospital who has had a very troubling, traumatized past, but it's more about the doctor who's helping me. It's a really creative, captivating story. What was really interesting about doing all the medical research for that time period, the 1930s, is that people were just considered crazy. They didn't really diagnose them the same way, with any method of treatment. So I was trying to find the terms and the procedures, and there just weren't any. People were just crazy, and you locked them up or gave them water treatments or electroshock therapy. It was crazy what they did to those poor, poor people. People chain themselves to genres, but I don't want to do that.
What about writing a musical?
Oh, yeah! I would love to. Absolutely. I kind of did this thing in high school, a spoof of Sweeney Todd called Shirley Todd, and I had a great time doing that. I wrote a 200-page script, and we kept the same songs but changed the lyrics a little bit. It was a totally different story, modern day, took place in punk-rock England. I played Mr. Lovett, and I sang all the high notes that Angela Lansbury had in the show, and I pick up that script sometimes and just laugh because it was so raunchy and so funny. It was good! I would love, love, love to bring that to Broadway, if Sondheim would ever let me turn that into a show. All that work in high school, I can't let it go to waste! [Laughs.]
What about doing Candy Land: The Musical?
Oh my God! Where did you hear that? Yes! When I was fourteen, I was obsessed with Candy Land, and I wanted to make it into a Broadway musical. I thought Candy Land could be the next Wicked. Candy Land the game was invented for kids with polio, so the story would start out with a boy who had polio and was magically transported into Candy Land and got to have all these adventures that he normally couldn't because he was chained to a hospital bed. So when I found that Adam Sandler had snatched up the rights to the movie, I was so bummed! I would have loved to have adapted that. I'll have to audition. I'd even be willing to make the costumes.
Coming up on Glee, your character has a make it-or-break-it audition that might determine his life after McKinley High, such as how he'll manage to stay on the show past graduation.
I haven't gotten the script yet, so I'm just as anxious as anyone to know. But it's not my decision. I love him so much. I would like to see what happens to him and watch him grow as a person and as a performer. But whether that means he just checks in from time to time, or whether he's on 100 percent, I'm okay with either of those. I just don't want to say goodbye. As long as they don't say goodbye to him, I'm fine.
So, this concludes your job interview ...
I hope I impressed you! I hope I got the job! Let me know! [Laughs.]
source: Vulture
MORE AFTER THE JUMP!
Tribeca – Chris Colfer INTV
I was fortunate enough to have a chance to sit down with Chris Colfer, the breakout star from TV’s Glee, and talk about his upcoming film ‘Struck by Lightning’ premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Not only does Colfer star in the film as spitfire Carson, but he also wrote the screenplay when he was just in high school! It’s pretty impressive stuff. I can honestly say Chris Colfer is not only one of the most talented young actors out there, but he is also one of the nicest! Completely humbled and charming, and also extremely funny! Take a look at some highlights from the interview below:
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the process of writing this screenplay, how long did it take you?
COLFER: Well the concept of the project came to me in high school and I really just kind of used it as a way to vent therapeutically about my frustrations in high school, and my peers, and my teachers, and my parents. And I internalized everything in high school, I never said how I felt out loud and I really kind of created this character who did. And I did it at home on my computer where nobody could beat me up for saying it. And it kind of took on a life of its own and I thought wow this could be a really great movie with a character like this because I had never seen a character like this before so passionate about writing, except for maybe Harriet the Spy? I could teach teenagers maybe some valuable lessons along the way. I would work on it here and there as a little side passion project for myself. Then I got on Glee and found myself in a place where I said wow this Glee thing could be really big and if it is big I could maybe use it as a platform to get this done. And I did and I wrote the script, the first draft was 150 pages, which is a ridiculously long script about a high school movie!
Q: What I loved about this character was that there was no romantic sub-plot, there are so many teen movies out there where the lead has to have a love interest but that wasn’t even addressed so why did you decide to exclude that from the script?
COLFER: Many reasons! For one I didn’t want to do, me of all people, did not want to do another sexually identification story. And I definitely in my opinion, I feel like if you address a characters orientation and the have a really strong message to tell, kids who don’t identify with that orientation wont identify with the message being told. So I felt that if he was gay in the movie kids wouldn’t listen as much and if he was straight the gay kids would stop listening. I think selfishly being on Glee I did not want to do another couple. I just wanted the point of the movie to be the message not who he was sleeping with or not what he jacked off to. To identify Carson’s orientation I think he has a crush on Rachel Maddow and it confuses him!
Q: During the entire film your character only wore colors of the sky.
COLFER: Yes that was (director) Brian’s idea he wanted every character to have their own set of colors and of course I picked blue immediately because its my favorite color and my eyes pop. I thought it would be ironic for him to wear sky colors sense he is struck by lightning.
Q: Are you working on anything new now?
COLFER: Yes the next movie that we are doing hopefully will film this summer when I am on hiatus from Glee. I wrote it as well and I play a supporting character in it this time. It’s a little different it’s a genre change for me it takes place in a 1930’s asylum, which is similar to high school! But it’s a very different type of movie.
Q: The story behind the making of this movie is so inspirational because you wrote it when you were in high school. What advice can you give other young writers out there who are writing things and don’t think it will amount to anything, what advice can you give them?
COLFER: I can show them pictures from last night! I cant believe that when I would sit in my small bedroom in my house that I grew up in with my view of the side yard with gardening tools that’s what I looked at growing up. And now here we are looking at the Chrysler building. Like I mean it’s crazy so I would just tell them that it’s possible.
Q: Did you ever think that it was possible for you?
COLFER: Yeah I mean thankfully for me I am a Gemini I was 100% eager drive it’s going to happen and then 100% it’s not going to happen! Like you should just stop now. I think everyone has those voices in their head, the angel on the left and the demon on the right. And thankfully I just listened to the angel.
Q: Do you want to direct someday?
COLFER: I feel like I love staying at home in my pajamas at my computer creating from my home. I feel like directing is in my future, its definitely not my biggest goal or aspiration, but it would have to be incredibly special and incredibly close to my heart to do it. But I feel like it will probably happen and I should probably learn how to.
Q: Are there any actors or directors out there that you have not had a chance to work with that you are just dying to?
COLFER: Oh yeah Tim Burton! For sure! I feel like I am a living, breathing Tim Burton character so I am just waiting for that phone call. Who else? Tons of people, tons of people I have already embarrassed myself in front of so that will never happen. But yeah Tim Burton I think he is my number one.
Q: Compare this character Carson to the character of Kurt on Glee.
COLFER: Oh gosh! They’re very different people and they handle situations so differently. I think Kurt comes form a very, very long line of really harsh bullying and has unfortunately learned to keep quite. You are in a conservative town and you do not make yourself really known in this environment. So Glee constantly Kurt is very subdued and internal where Carson doesn’t give a crap about anything. He will never die of a heart attack he just lets everything out he has no filter and says whatever he wants whenever he wants. They just come from very different backgrounds!
Q: What can people expect form the Glee graduation?
COLFER: I have no idea! We haven’t filmed it yet, we have not gotten the script yet. So I do not know about the graduation episode yet. I know that we have a really, really amazing NYADA audition episode coming up for Rachel and Kurt where they audition for the NYADA school and Whoopi Goldberg plays the NYADA Professor that comes out and recruits people so that’s all I really know and we are shooting Nationals next week and that should be really fun too! I don’t want to give anything away though.
source: themoviebanter.com
Chris Colfer Teases 'Emotional' Whitney Episode
Glee pays tribute to one of music’s most memorable voices tonight when Whitney Houston is the subject of an hour-long tribute episode.
It’s a highly emotional hour for the characters and the actors. “Whitney Houston meant the world to me,” Chris Colfer told TheInsider.com at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of his new movie, Struck By Lightning. “I had a major musical education with this show, but she is one of the few artists I absolutely loved prior to Glee.” And much like his character Kurt, who has erected a shrine to Miss. Whit in his locker, Chris says, “I was devastated when she passed away, but what a way to honor her and sing her music. I just pray the episode turns out alright.”
Whitney’s passing plays into the episode’s theme of moving on (something McKinley’s looming graduation has thrust to the forefront of the season) as Chris reveals, “All the characters are having as hard a time saying goodbye to Whitney as they are to each other.”
But lest you think tonight’s Glee (titled Dance With Somebody) will be a somber affair, Chris cautions that the hour mimics the celebratory tone struck at her funeral. “The news has been so much about Whitney’s death, but this episode is truly a celebration of her career and all the things she accomplished. It’s all about how amazing she was.”
source: theinsider.com
Tribeca Exclusive: Chris Colfer on Struck By Lightning & More!
ComingSoon.net is thrilled to have gotten the able aid of Jeremy Wein, host of This My Show, to help us cover this year's Tribeca Film Festival, having met him when he won our Tribeca Film Festival contest last year.
Jeremy's coverage begins with an exclusive interview with "Glee" star Chris Colfer who came to Tribeca with his first movie based on his own screenplay, a high school comedy called Struck By Lightning. Jeremy (who is the same age as Colfer!) got him to talk about that and upcoming episodes of "Glee," his children's book and even the next movie he's writing!
Struck By Lightning tells the story of Carson Phillips (Colfer), a young man, who after being struck by lightning and killed, recounts the way he blackmailed his fellow classmates into contributing to his literary magazine. The dark comedy, which also stars Allison Janney (Juno), Christina Hendricks ("Mad Men"), Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids), Sarah Hyland ("Modern Family") and Dermot Mulroney ("New Girl"), recently had its world premiere at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
ComingSoon.net sat down with Chris to talk about the movie, the future of "Glee," his next film project and being named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential people.
ComingSoon.net: Congrats on a great premiere I heard it went really well. It's very deserved; the movie is fantastic.
Chris Colfer: Thank you!
CS: Can you talk about what the genesis of the film was? I know it started as a project for your speech and debate club.
Colfer: I'd always known that I'd wanted to screenwrite from a very early age, since I knew what it was I've wanted to do, and I started this project when I was 16 (laughs) - I'm talking like it was official. It really started as like a diary almost of sorts as a way to vent my daily frustrations at public high school. I was in speech and debate and I used this story as an OPP which is a "original prose and poetry," which is an event in the speech & debate world. So I performed all the characters as a little mini one-man show, and then I knew I always wanted to try to turn it into a movie if I ever had the chance and then the success of "Glee" kind of came, and I was thinking, "Wow I could possibly have a platform to actually make this happen" and I did.
CS: Are all the characters then somewhat loosely based on real people that you knew in high school?
Colfer: Yes, there are some that are dead-on certain people that I knew in high school, like Malerie (Rebel Wilson's character) was my best friend growing up in high school and she actually got to be in the movie, the real Malerie, actually, but a lot of the people are just loosely based on collectively a lot of people.
CS: In what ways did you try to portray high school differently in "Struck By Lightning" than it is portrayed on "Glee"?
Colfer: You know I really never thought about making it a different portrayal. One thing I love about "Glee" and "Struck By Lighting" is that I feel they are very accurate portrayals of high school. I really enjoy the fact that in the movie I could use bad words. That was a great element, because there is so much bad language in high school. It was great to actually use the real language instead of having them say "This is bull." We can say, "This is bullsh*t," the way it's really supposed to be said.
CS: What's awesome is that this is your first feature you worked on and wrote and it's just populated by an amazing cast of people. Allison Janney, Angela Kinsey, Sarah Hyland, even Ken Marino, which as a comedy nerd made me really happy. What was it like to you that this was the first big thing you worked on, and that you were just surrounded by amazing actors and actresses everyday.
Colfer: I was so spoiled. I mean I've seen the movie a hundred times and every time Christina Hendricks comes on the screen, I'm like "Oh my God! I still can't believe she's in my movie!" I still can't believe that we got Polly (Bergen) and Allison (Janney) and I mean Polly she is a living, breathing legend. I would just sit on set and for hours just listen to her tell the stories that she has of Hollywood from back in the day. I mean it's like crazy. And Dermot (Mulroney) and Rebel (Wilson), I mean Rebel was a miracle. She got cast the night before she started filming, "The Night," I mean thats really cutting it close. But we really lucked out.
CS: I especially want to say Allison Janney, without getting into details, there is one scene she is in towards the end that just almost had me in tears, its just an amazing performance.
Colfer: Oh God, she is amazing, and it's crazy to me hat she's in the movie because when I was writing the character of Sheryl she was the only actress I ever had in my head for that part.
CS: What's your favorite movie that she has been in?
Colfer: Probably "Drop Dead Gorgeous." I mean, she's amazing in that.
CS: I would say thats a pretty good choice. So I was curious. You're 21, only a couple of months older than I am, and TIME magazine names you one of the hundred most influential people in the world. Is that just kind of mind-blowing and surreal to be this young and have this huge magazine say this?
Colfer: It's crazy, right? Yeah, it's a lot of pressure, it's a lot of pressure to give a young guy. It's like, "Oh and now I have to live up to this. Why can't I just be a college student? I have to be inspirational now." No it was a complete honor, but God, it's a lot of pressure... and they never said I was a good influence.
CS: That's a good point. I think you're a good influence.
Colfer: Well, thank you.
CS: The last couple of episodes of this season of "Glee" are about to air. Can you let us know what we can look forward to?
Colfer: Well, this week we have our big Whitney Houston episode for which I recorded the song "I Have Nothing" and it was the scariest song I have ever had to tackle, because it was so hard to sing so many riffs and runs and the song is all over the place and I did it in Whitney's original key which is crazy. It was really nice to honor her because I'm a hugh Whitney fan. We also have a big NYADA (New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts) episode coming up where Rachel and Kurt audition for Whoopi Goldberg who is playing the NYADA recruiter and then we have our nationals episode and our graduation episode.
CS: It's been talked about that next season, the seniors that are graduating this year are going to come back and that it's going to be done in a revolutionary way. Do you already have kind of an idea of what that is or are you still kind of in the dark?
Colfer: Every time I think I know what it is, it seems like it changes, but at the time, I thought it was a great idea and I was really excited about it. I'm really not sure what's going to happen. I honestly don't, I think its a great idea but I'm not sure how they're going to do it, if that makes any sense.
CS: Yeah like it sounds good in concept but how is it going to be executed?
Colfer: Right.
CS: On top of everything else, you also have a young adult book or I guess a children's book coming out?
Colfer: Yeah it's a children's book, but I hate to use that phrase because then people always think it's like a picture book. It's a children's novel, but I have friends that are my age that have read it and they love it and yell at me to write the next one.
CS: And it's called "The Land of Stories" and comes out July 17th right?
Colfer: Correct.
CS: Could you talk about this other screenplay you are currently working on writing?
Colfer: Sure. One of my biggest pet peeves is people saying, "I hear you're working on or writing a project when it's written. When it's finished I'm like, 'oh no you have to know its finished.' Probably because when I finish something it's ike a miracle, it's like I finished something! But yeah it's definitely a different setting for me, because it takes place in an asylum in the 1930's.
CS: Wow, that's a total 180 from this movie. That got me really excited, and I'm interested to see what that looks like. Is it like a noir kind of film?
Colfer: It's very, I don't know, I can never really compare it to something. It's kind of like when people ask me is it a horror movie? I'm like, it's more like the events after a horror movie. Like if someone had really gone through a situation like characters do in horror movies, like the mental effect that it would have on them and how they would carry it with them. Like even though their safe now, the situation never died.
CS: Like it starts with them in the rubber room six months after the events?
Colfer: Exactly, like it's with them forever. Like they're traumatized forever.
CS: So what else are you working on right now?
Colfer: "Land of Stories Two," the title of which I'll announce later. Hopefully people will care, and the next movie and that's pretty much officially everything I'm working on.
CS: Aren't you working on a project for Disney as well?
Colfer: Yeah, that's still up in the air. Disney originally asked me to adapt it into a screenplay, which I did and they bought it, then they asked me to adapt the screenplay into a television pilot which I did and we kind of went back and forth a few times. I created three or four different versions of the pilot with different variations of the same story, and now they want me to adapt it back to a screenplay, so we'll see. That's up in the air.
CS: Well, I'm knocking on wood that it all goes through and is successful.
Colfer: Thank You.
CS: Is there anything else you want to say to the readers of the site?
Colfer: Oh, gosh. I hope I don't annoy you. That's probably my biggest fear. Please don't find me annoying. I know I annoy the crap out of myself and I hope you don't find me annoying.
CS: Thank you so much for sitting down and talking with me.
Colfer: Of course. Thank you so much, appreciate it.
Struck By Lightning is playing a couple more times throughout this year's Tribeca Film Festival and will be released in theaters this fall.
source: Comingsoon.net
Tribeca Dialogue: 'Glee's Chris Colfer on the Transition from Writing Stories for Grandma to His First Feature ‘Struck By Lightning’
When you break out courtesy of a monumental hit like Glee, being branded “the kid from Glee” is basically inevitable. However, not only is Chris Colfer a talented actor, singer and dancer, but the guy can write, too!
Colfer wrote and stars in Struck By Lightning. His character, Carson, is the head of the writing club and the editor of the Cheddar High Paper. Whether he’s writing, pleading with his paper staff to actually submit articles, attending student council meetings or really doing just about anything, Carson is outspoken and has no problem putting anyone in their place. While his brash attitude can be a turnoff and certainly doesn’t earn him “cool kid” status, Carson knows what’s important and has dreams he’ll fight for no matter what.
In honor of Struck By Lightning’s Tribeca Film Festival world premiere, Colfer sat down to discuss the process of bringing his first feature script to life. He covers the good old days when his grandmother was his very first editor to finding a director for the film to making the transition from script to screen to working with Rebel Wilson’s hilarious adlibbing skills and more. Check it all out in the video interview below.
source: Movies.com
Tribeca – Chris Colfer INTV
I was fortunate enough to have a chance to sit down with Chris Colfer, the breakout star from TV’s Glee, and talk about his upcoming film ‘Struck by Lightning’ premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Not only does Colfer star in the film as spitfire Carson, but he also wrote the screenplay when he was just in high school! It’s pretty impressive stuff. I can honestly say Chris Colfer is not only one of the most talented young actors out there, but he is also one of the nicest! Completely humbled and charming, and also extremely funny! Take a look at some highlights from the interview below:
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the process of writing this screenplay, how long did it take you?
COLFER: Well the concept of the project came to me in high school and I really just kind of used it as a way to vent therapeutically about my frustrations in high school, and my peers, and my teachers, and my parents. And I internalized everything in high school, I never said how I felt out loud and I really kind of created this character who did. And I did it at home on my computer where nobody could beat me up for saying it. And it kind of took on a life of its own and I thought wow this could be a really great movie with a character like this because I had never seen a character like this before so passionate about writing, except for maybe Harriet the Spy? I could teach teenagers maybe some valuable lessons along the way. I would work on it here and there as a little side passion project for myself. Then I got on Glee and found myself in a place where I said wow this Glee thing could be really big and if it is big I could maybe use it as a platform to get this done. And I did and I wrote the script, the first draft was 150 pages, which is a ridiculously long script about a high school movie!
Q: What I loved about this character was that there was no romantic sub-plot, there are so many teen movies out there where the lead has to have a love interest but that wasn’t even addressed so why did you decide to exclude that from the script?
COLFER: Many reasons! For one I didn’t want to do, me of all people, did not want to do another sexually identification story. And I definitely in my opinion, I feel like if you address a characters orientation and the have a really strong message to tell, kids who don’t identify with that orientation wont identify with the message being told. So I felt that if he was gay in the movie kids wouldn’t listen as much and if he was straight the gay kids would stop listening. I think selfishly being on Glee I did not want to do another couple. I just wanted the point of the movie to be the message not who he was sleeping with or not what he jacked off to. To identify Carson’s orientation I think he has a crush on Rachel Maddow and it confuses him!
Q: During the entire film your character only wore colors of the sky.
COLFER: Yes that was (director) Brian’s idea he wanted every character to have their own set of colors and of course I picked blue immediately because its my favorite color and my eyes pop. I thought it would be ironic for him to wear sky colors sense he is struck by lightning.
Q: Are you working on anything new now?
COLFER: Yes the next movie that we are doing hopefully will film this summer when I am on hiatus from Glee. I wrote it as well and I play a supporting character in it this time. It’s a little different it’s a genre change for me it takes place in a 1930’s asylum, which is similar to high school! But it’s a very different type of movie.
Q: The story behind the making of this movie is so inspirational because you wrote it when you were in high school. What advice can you give other young writers out there who are writing things and don’t think it will amount to anything, what advice can you give them?
COLFER: I can show them pictures from last night! I cant believe that when I would sit in my small bedroom in my house that I grew up in with my view of the side yard with gardening tools that’s what I looked at growing up. And now here we are looking at the Chrysler building. Like I mean it’s crazy so I would just tell them that it’s possible.
Q: Did you ever think that it was possible for you?
COLFER: Yeah I mean thankfully for me I am a Gemini I was 100% eager drive it’s going to happen and then 100% it’s not going to happen! Like you should just stop now. I think everyone has those voices in their head, the angel on the left and the demon on the right. And thankfully I just listened to the angel.
Q: Do you want to direct someday?
COLFER: I feel like I love staying at home in my pajamas at my computer creating from my home. I feel like directing is in my future, its definitely not my biggest goal or aspiration, but it would have to be incredibly special and incredibly close to my heart to do it. But I feel like it will probably happen and I should probably learn how to.
Q: Are there any actors or directors out there that you have not had a chance to work with that you are just dying to?
COLFER: Oh yeah Tim Burton! For sure! I feel like I am a living, breathing Tim Burton character so I am just waiting for that phone call. Who else? Tons of people, tons of people I have already embarrassed myself in front of so that will never happen. But yeah Tim Burton I think he is my number one.
Q: Compare this character Carson to the character of Kurt on Glee.
COLFER: Oh gosh! They’re very different people and they handle situations so differently. I think Kurt comes form a very, very long line of really harsh bullying and has unfortunately learned to keep quite. You are in a conservative town and you do not make yourself really known in this environment. So Glee constantly Kurt is very subdued and internal where Carson doesn’t give a crap about anything. He will never die of a heart attack he just lets everything out he has no filter and says whatever he wants whenever he wants. They just come from very different backgrounds!
Q: What can people expect form the Glee graduation?
COLFER: I have no idea! We haven’t filmed it yet, we have not gotten the script yet. So I do not know about the graduation episode yet. I know that we have a really, really amazing NYADA audition episode coming up for Rachel and Kurt where they audition for the NYADA school and Whoopi Goldberg plays the NYADA Professor that comes out and recruits people so that’s all I really know and we are shooting Nationals next week and that should be really fun too! I don’t want to give anything away though.
source: themoviebanter.com
Chris Colfer Teases 'Emotional' Whitney Episode
Glee pays tribute to one of music’s most memorable voices tonight when Whitney Houston is the subject of an hour-long tribute episode.
It’s a highly emotional hour for the characters and the actors. “Whitney Houston meant the world to me,” Chris Colfer told TheInsider.com at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of his new movie, Struck By Lightning. “I had a major musical education with this show, but she is one of the few artists I absolutely loved prior to Glee.” And much like his character Kurt, who has erected a shrine to Miss. Whit in his locker, Chris says, “I was devastated when she passed away, but what a way to honor her and sing her music. I just pray the episode turns out alright.”
Whitney’s passing plays into the episode’s theme of moving on (something McKinley’s looming graduation has thrust to the forefront of the season) as Chris reveals, “All the characters are having as hard a time saying goodbye to Whitney as they are to each other.”
But lest you think tonight’s Glee (titled Dance With Somebody) will be a somber affair, Chris cautions that the hour mimics the celebratory tone struck at her funeral. “The news has been so much about Whitney’s death, but this episode is truly a celebration of her career and all the things she accomplished. It’s all about how amazing she was.”
source: theinsider.com
Tribeca Exclusive: Chris Colfer on Struck By Lightning & More!
ComingSoon.net is thrilled to have gotten the able aid of Jeremy Wein, host of This My Show, to help us cover this year's Tribeca Film Festival, having met him when he won our Tribeca Film Festival contest last year.
Jeremy's coverage begins with an exclusive interview with "Glee" star Chris Colfer who came to Tribeca with his first movie based on his own screenplay, a high school comedy called Struck By Lightning. Jeremy (who is the same age as Colfer!) got him to talk about that and upcoming episodes of "Glee," his children's book and even the next movie he's writing!
Struck By Lightning tells the story of Carson Phillips (Colfer), a young man, who after being struck by lightning and killed, recounts the way he blackmailed his fellow classmates into contributing to his literary magazine. The dark comedy, which also stars Allison Janney (Juno), Christina Hendricks ("Mad Men"), Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids), Sarah Hyland ("Modern Family") and Dermot Mulroney ("New Girl"), recently had its world premiere at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
ComingSoon.net sat down with Chris to talk about the movie, the future of "Glee," his next film project and being named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential people.
ComingSoon.net: Congrats on a great premiere I heard it went really well. It's very deserved; the movie is fantastic.
Chris Colfer: Thank you!
CS: Can you talk about what the genesis of the film was? I know it started as a project for your speech and debate club.
Colfer: I'd always known that I'd wanted to screenwrite from a very early age, since I knew what it was I've wanted to do, and I started this project when I was 16 (laughs) - I'm talking like it was official. It really started as like a diary almost of sorts as a way to vent my daily frustrations at public high school. I was in speech and debate and I used this story as an OPP which is a "original prose and poetry," which is an event in the speech & debate world. So I performed all the characters as a little mini one-man show, and then I knew I always wanted to try to turn it into a movie if I ever had the chance and then the success of "Glee" kind of came, and I was thinking, "Wow I could possibly have a platform to actually make this happen" and I did.
CS: Are all the characters then somewhat loosely based on real people that you knew in high school?
Colfer: Yes, there are some that are dead-on certain people that I knew in high school, like Malerie (Rebel Wilson's character) was my best friend growing up in high school and she actually got to be in the movie, the real Malerie, actually, but a lot of the people are just loosely based on collectively a lot of people.
CS: In what ways did you try to portray high school differently in "Struck By Lightning" than it is portrayed on "Glee"?
Colfer: You know I really never thought about making it a different portrayal. One thing I love about "Glee" and "Struck By Lighting" is that I feel they are very accurate portrayals of high school. I really enjoy the fact that in the movie I could use bad words. That was a great element, because there is so much bad language in high school. It was great to actually use the real language instead of having them say "This is bull." We can say, "This is bullsh*t," the way it's really supposed to be said.
CS: What's awesome is that this is your first feature you worked on and wrote and it's just populated by an amazing cast of people. Allison Janney, Angela Kinsey, Sarah Hyland, even Ken Marino, which as a comedy nerd made me really happy. What was it like to you that this was the first big thing you worked on, and that you were just surrounded by amazing actors and actresses everyday.
Colfer: I was so spoiled. I mean I've seen the movie a hundred times and every time Christina Hendricks comes on the screen, I'm like "Oh my God! I still can't believe she's in my movie!" I still can't believe that we got Polly (Bergen) and Allison (Janney) and I mean Polly she is a living, breathing legend. I would just sit on set and for hours just listen to her tell the stories that she has of Hollywood from back in the day. I mean it's like crazy. And Dermot (Mulroney) and Rebel (Wilson), I mean Rebel was a miracle. She got cast the night before she started filming, "The Night," I mean thats really cutting it close. But we really lucked out.
CS: I especially want to say Allison Janney, without getting into details, there is one scene she is in towards the end that just almost had me in tears, its just an amazing performance.
Colfer: Oh God, she is amazing, and it's crazy to me hat she's in the movie because when I was writing the character of Sheryl she was the only actress I ever had in my head for that part.
CS: What's your favorite movie that she has been in?
Colfer: Probably "Drop Dead Gorgeous." I mean, she's amazing in that.
CS: I would say thats a pretty good choice. So I was curious. You're 21, only a couple of months older than I am, and TIME magazine names you one of the hundred most influential people in the world. Is that just kind of mind-blowing and surreal to be this young and have this huge magazine say this?
Colfer: It's crazy, right? Yeah, it's a lot of pressure, it's a lot of pressure to give a young guy. It's like, "Oh and now I have to live up to this. Why can't I just be a college student? I have to be inspirational now." No it was a complete honor, but God, it's a lot of pressure... and they never said I was a good influence.
CS: That's a good point. I think you're a good influence.
Colfer: Well, thank you.
CS: The last couple of episodes of this season of "Glee" are about to air. Can you let us know what we can look forward to?
Colfer: Well, this week we have our big Whitney Houston episode for which I recorded the song "I Have Nothing" and it was the scariest song I have ever had to tackle, because it was so hard to sing so many riffs and runs and the song is all over the place and I did it in Whitney's original key which is crazy. It was really nice to honor her because I'm a hugh Whitney fan. We also have a big NYADA (New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts) episode coming up where Rachel and Kurt audition for Whoopi Goldberg who is playing the NYADA recruiter and then we have our nationals episode and our graduation episode.
CS: It's been talked about that next season, the seniors that are graduating this year are going to come back and that it's going to be done in a revolutionary way. Do you already have kind of an idea of what that is or are you still kind of in the dark?
Colfer: Every time I think I know what it is, it seems like it changes, but at the time, I thought it was a great idea and I was really excited about it. I'm really not sure what's going to happen. I honestly don't, I think its a great idea but I'm not sure how they're going to do it, if that makes any sense.
CS: Yeah like it sounds good in concept but how is it going to be executed?
Colfer: Right.
CS: On top of everything else, you also have a young adult book or I guess a children's book coming out?
Colfer: Yeah it's a children's book, but I hate to use that phrase because then people always think it's like a picture book. It's a children's novel, but I have friends that are my age that have read it and they love it and yell at me to write the next one.
CS: And it's called "The Land of Stories" and comes out July 17th right?
Colfer: Correct.
CS: Could you talk about this other screenplay you are currently working on writing?
Colfer: Sure. One of my biggest pet peeves is people saying, "I hear you're working on or writing a project when it's written. When it's finished I'm like, 'oh no you have to know its finished.' Probably because when I finish something it's ike a miracle, it's like I finished something! But yeah it's definitely a different setting for me, because it takes place in an asylum in the 1930's.
CS: Wow, that's a total 180 from this movie. That got me really excited, and I'm interested to see what that looks like. Is it like a noir kind of film?
Colfer: It's very, I don't know, I can never really compare it to something. It's kind of like when people ask me is it a horror movie? I'm like, it's more like the events after a horror movie. Like if someone had really gone through a situation like characters do in horror movies, like the mental effect that it would have on them and how they would carry it with them. Like even though their safe now, the situation never died.
CS: Like it starts with them in the rubber room six months after the events?
Colfer: Exactly, like it's with them forever. Like they're traumatized forever.
CS: So what else are you working on right now?
Colfer: "Land of Stories Two," the title of which I'll announce later. Hopefully people will care, and the next movie and that's pretty much officially everything I'm working on.
CS: Aren't you working on a project for Disney as well?
Colfer: Yeah, that's still up in the air. Disney originally asked me to adapt it into a screenplay, which I did and they bought it, then they asked me to adapt the screenplay into a television pilot which I did and we kind of went back and forth a few times. I created three or four different versions of the pilot with different variations of the same story, and now they want me to adapt it back to a screenplay, so we'll see. That's up in the air.
CS: Well, I'm knocking on wood that it all goes through and is successful.
Colfer: Thank You.
CS: Is there anything else you want to say to the readers of the site?
Colfer: Oh, gosh. I hope I don't annoy you. That's probably my biggest fear. Please don't find me annoying. I know I annoy the crap out of myself and I hope you don't find me annoying.
CS: Thank you so much for sitting down and talking with me.
Colfer: Of course. Thank you so much, appreciate it.
Struck By Lightning is playing a couple more times throughout this year's Tribeca Film Festival and will be released in theaters this fall.
source: Comingsoon.net
Tribeca Dialogue: 'Glee's Chris Colfer on the Transition from Writing Stories for Grandma to His First Feature ‘Struck By Lightning’
When you break out courtesy of a monumental hit like Glee, being branded “the kid from Glee” is basically inevitable. However, not only is Chris Colfer a talented actor, singer and dancer, but the guy can write, too!
Colfer wrote and stars in Struck By Lightning. His character, Carson, is the head of the writing club and the editor of the Cheddar High Paper. Whether he’s writing, pleading with his paper staff to actually submit articles, attending student council meetings or really doing just about anything, Carson is outspoken and has no problem putting anyone in their place. While his brash attitude can be a turnoff and certainly doesn’t earn him “cool kid” status, Carson knows what’s important and has dreams he’ll fight for no matter what.
In honor of Struck By Lightning’s Tribeca Film Festival world premiere, Colfer sat down to discuss the process of bringing his first feature script to life. He covers the good old days when his grandmother was his very first editor to finding a director for the film to making the transition from script to screen to working with Rebel Wilson’s hilarious adlibbing skills and more. Check it all out in the video interview below.
source: Movies.com
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