We saw the new movie
"Journey to the Center of the Earth," starring Josh Hutcherson and Brendan Fraser, last week.
The movie was about science professor Trevor (Fraser) whose nephew Sean (Hutcherson) came to stay with him for 10 days. Sean was not happy to be there, until they went on a fantastic adventure to the center of the earth. They met up with a mountain guide, Hannah (Anita Briem) who helped them a lot. While they were backpacking, they entered a cave that led them to the center of the earth. Inside, Trevor found his deceased brother's old camp and notes (also Sean's dad) and along with Jules Verne's book, they went on an incredible journey. This is a great family movie and is even more exciting because it is in 3-D.
We met with
Josh Hutcherson and talked to him about his role in the film. We asked him about the special effects, which we all loved a lot. He said, "I loved the floating rock sequence. That was really, really cool. It was a lot of fun to shoot, too. They had a whole bunch of different setups with the different rocks. One rock was on an air valve system, and another was on an inner tube which they called the rotisserie rock. That was the one that I grabbed on and flipped all the way around."
Josh told us the movie was filmed on a sound stage in Montreal, and some of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Iceland. Much of the film was very dark. We asked Josh about that; he said, "It was weird actually. There are times in movies where dark is not really dark, but this is really, really dark. All we had were those little headlamp things on. It was weird because you always bang into stuff."
We also asked him about two of the last films he has done, "Journey" and "Bridge to Terabithia." They are both fantasy films. We wanted to know if he liked fantasy movies. He said, "I do. I love it. It is one my favorite genres to watch and to be in. It is really cool not to know what is going to be in the end product with the blue screen and green screen and all the crazy effects. Finally you can see it all at the end; it is like, wow!"
Talking with Josh. . .
Did you know how to yo-yo before the movie?
I yo-yo'd a little bit, but they had this one guy on set, they called him Yo-Yo Yip; he was like amazing. You have seen the Eiffel Tower ? This guy did Darth Vader and the Mona Lisa.
What was it like being drooled on by the dinosaur?
It was pretty gross. I am not really sure what the slime was; they said it was some sort of gelatin used for sunburn mixed with balsa wood. It won't burn your eyes, so I said OK. I looked up, and it right on my face; it was pretty gross.
How was it climbing up the mountain?
It was fun. I love getting to do all the stunts I was allowed to do. They actually gave us some rope training at a rock-climbing gym in Montreal.
Was it hard to cry?
It is always hard when you have a really emotional scene. For me, I just try to think what my character has gone through and get myself into my character's mind-set. I used to think when I was younger about something sad in my life, and that would make me sad all day long. This way, whenever I broke out of character, I was back to normal.
Who has been your favorite person to work with, and what has been your favorite movie to act in?
I think one of my favorite actors to work with is Dax Sheppard. He was in "Zathura" with me; he played the astronaut. He was so much fun. We used to go to Fuddruckers and see who could eat the half-pound burger quicker. He loved cars, and I love cars, so we had a lot in common. And movies, I think this is my favorite so far because it is so action packed.
As a child, did you always want to be an actor?
Yeah, I wanted to be an actor since I was probably about 3. I used to fake being sick to get out of school and make everybody laugh at parties. I was always the center-of-attention type of guy, entertaining people. Finally, when I was 8 or 9, my parents were bugged enough by me to let me get into movies that they said, "Fine." I looked up an agent in the Yellow Pages, and it started off from there.
How many siblings do you have in your family?
I have a dog and little brother; they are about the same. My little brother is 12, and he is a genius. He is going to go to Harvard. He has an IQ of like 1,000. He is going to be a rocket scientist or a soccer player.
