2000s Teen Movie Facts
Author Meg Cabot approved killing off a character from The Princess Diaries to give Julie Andrews a bigger role.
1.
David Reale, who played Glen Coco of “four for you” fame in Mean Girls, wrote in Dazed that he became a part of 2000s teen movie history because he “wandered onto set to see if I could watch some scenes being shot and maybe get some free food.”
He’d auditioned for the film and wasn’t cast, but on his free food quest, the director recognized him and put him in the scene. Reale wrote, “But I guess it was the first time somebody pointed to me on the street and shouted ‘YOU GO GLEN COCO!’ that I knew I was involved in something with a beauty and power that surpassed the mere proliferation of four candy canes to an accidental movie extra.”
Paramount / courtesy Everett Collection
2.
In a 2009 interview with the Guardian, Christopher Mintz-Plasse said that when he filmed his sex scene for Superbad, his mother had to be present on set because he was still only 17.
Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
Mintz-Plasse explained, “It was real awkward, but it worked out OK, because when I watched the movie with her, the sex scene wasn’t awkward because she’d been right there when it happened. Afterwards, we didn’t talk about it; we still don’t speak about that moment.” He added, “Now, I’m 19 so my mom doesn’t have to be in the room when I have sex, thank God.”
Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
3.
During a 2011 interview at Comic-Con, Kristen Stewart said that the design of Bella Swan’s wedding dress in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 was such a tightly guarded secret that she had to wear a Volturi cape between shots.
Stewart said, “It was a huge deal keeping this thing shrouded. I was wearing a Volturi cape most of the time and I hated it. You know, you want to feel pretty on your wedding day and every time they called cut, someone would come and attack you with a Volturi cape and you’re like ‘Where am I?'”
Though she praised the look of the dress, it was apparently uncomfortably tight.
4.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, The Twilight Saga: New Moon director Chris Weitz spoke about how he had to change the way he filmed a scene where Bella comes close to drowning when Kristen Stewart expressed trepidation at his suggestion — acting in a weighted wetsuit — and he tried it himself, realizing in the process that it was truly terrifying.
He said, “I decided to go down there in a wet suit weighted down and I started to panic. I thought, ‘Holy crap, this isn’t fun at all!'” Instead, he decided to “make our shot sideways, ” which gave the illusion of Bella in deep water, without having to frighten Stewart in the process.
5.
Bart Johnson, who played Coach Bolton in High School Musical, told Seventeen.com that his character and drama teacher Ms. Darbus originally had a number together that he compared to “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” from Annie Get Her Gun. Alas, it got left on the cutting room floor to keep the film from being too long.
Disney Channel / Courtesy Everett Collection
6.
In 2010, Bend It Like Beckham became the “first ever western-made film to air on TV” in North Korea, according to a tweet from Martin Uden, the British ambassador to South Korea.
20th Century Fox Film Corp. / Courtesy Everett Collection
The Guardian reports that the movie was heavily edited and lasted only an hour, as opposed to the original, which runs just under two hours. It was aired to honor the 10th anniversary of North Korea and Great Britain’s diplomatic relationship.
20th Century Fox Film Corp. / Courtesy Everett Collection
7.
Both The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement were produced by none other than Whitney Houston, through her production company BrownHouse.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
8th.
According to an oral history of The Princess Diaries published in Cosmopolitan, author Meg Cabot gave her blessing to producer Debra Martin Chase to kill off Mia’s dad, who is still alive in the books. This was to secure a larger role for the one and only Julie Andrews as Mia’s grandmother, Queen Clarisse.
Walt Disney Co. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Cabot recalled, “[Chase] said, ‘We want to have a bigger role for the grandmother because we’ve got this great actress that wants to play her.’ And I asked, ‘Who’s the actress?’ ‘It’s Julie Andrews.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god. Kill him. Kill the dad.'”
Buena Vista Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
9.
In a Variety Roundtable with Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone revealed that she has never actually watched Easy A.
Screen Gems / Courtesy Everett Collection
The process of filming was stressful for Stone, due to pressure she put on herself and the fact that her performance as heroine/narrator Olive was so central to the movie’s success. Stone said, “I’ve seen some scenes. But I went to a friends and family screening to see it and I had to get up and walk out. … Who wants to watch themselves for that long?”
Screen Gems / Courtesy Everett Collection
10
In an interview with Forbes about the 2003 adaptation of his novel Holes, author Louis Sachar said that while he would’ve “preferred an overweight Stanley, who gradually got into shape,” as he does in the book, it “would have been almost impossible to pull off,” both ethically and practically.
Walt Disney Co. / Courtesy Everett Collection
He went on, “You can’t ask a 15-year-old kid to gain a hundred pounds for a role, plus movies aren’t shot in sequential order, so he would have had to be changing his weight up and down depending on the scene.”
Walt Disney Co. / Courtesy Everett Collection
11.
To prepare to play Roland in Saved!, Macaulay Culkin shadowed a wheelchair user at a rehab facility. In an interview, he recalled that while he was there, he asked a patient, “Is there any one thing that you see people in wheelchairs in movies do wrong or not do?”
United Artists / Courtesy Everett Collection
They responded that wheelchair users need to shift in their chairs on a regular basis to prevent “the equivalent of bed sores.” Culkin explained, “I realized that this is something that they have to do every 10 minutes for the rest of their lives. It’s almost as important as breathing and eating. It’s just a part of who they are now.”
United Artists / Courtesy Everett Collection
12.
Hilary Duff told Cosmopolitan that she had a crush on her A Cinderella Story costar Chad Michael Murray during filming.
Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection
Duff said, “I definitely had a crush on him. We had a few kissing scenes in the movie and I remember feeling pretty nervous about that, but then we became friends and I wasn’t so nervous anymore.”
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
13.
In an interview with female.com.au, Elliot Page described practicing with a roller derby team to prepare for Whip It.
Following months of training, Page practiced with the Los Angeles Derby Dolls and said that he was “absolutely terrified” on his first day. He went on, “It was like the first day of school. No matter how much I’d practiced, it’s a daunting thing to have people wanting to rip your head off while you’re doing it! But when you get it, it’s such a fantastic feeling.”
While Page’s character, Bliss, goes by “Babe Ruthless” in the film, Page suggested the name “Hurt Vonnegut” for himself, in honor of one of his favorite writers.
14
Michael Cera had to learn how to drive a stick shift for Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
Sony Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
In an interview with ComingSoon.net, Cera said about driving his character’s Yugo, “I had to learn on that to drive a stick and it hardly ran at all even for someone who knew how to properly drive a stick shift. They could hardly get it to go.”
Sony Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
15
Elliot Page was the one who suggested to Juno director Jason Reitman that the film’s soundtrack should feature music by the Moldy Peaches.
Fox Searchlight / Courtesy Everett Collection
In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, he recalled, “The second time Jason and I met, I was in his office and he said, ‘What do you think Juno would listen to?’ And I said, ‘Oh, the Moldy Peaches!’ I went on his computer, played him the Moldy Peaches, and next thing you know — it’s in the film. Who should have a soundtrack credit? Me.”
Kevin Winters/Getty Images
16
And finally: Warner Bros. edited out Amanda Bynes flashing a peace sign on the poster for the 2003 comedy What a Girl Wants out of fear of being seen as anti-war.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
A spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly, “In a time of war, we made a slight alteration so that we could avoid any potential political statement in a completely nonpolitical film.” Just in case “freedom fries” were feeling lonely in the “bizarre early 2000s pro-war gestures” category.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
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