Ryan Lee
Super 8 has been one of the monster hits of 2011 - which saw J.J. Abrams return to the director’s chair while shooting the young cast to stardom.
The movie is out on DVD & Blu-Ray this year and I caught up with Ryan Lee, who tales on the role of Cary, to talk about the film, the experience on set and what lies ahead.
- Super 8 is about to be released on DVD here in the UK so for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet can you tell me a little bit about it?
The movie is basically about six kids and they go on an adventure in the summer. They want to shoot a movie together, like they did in the old days, and one day they are shooting and they discover this catastrophic train crash.
And what happens after the crash is things start to go chaotic and crazy - and there is a little bit of a surprise from that train crash.
Everyone should see this movie because it has everything from action to comedy to sci-fi, adventure and romance - everything I can of apart from Western is in this movie.
- J.J. Abrams is always super secretive about his projects so what was the casting process like - so were you told about the movie before you auditioned?
I can’t really tell you because it’s too secretive (laughs). It was completely secretive, me and my mom felt like we were signing our lives away to Paramount; I felt that if I said anything about the film to me friends before I was suppose to they were going to come through the windows and tackle you.
At first it was a fake script, it was called Darlings, and it was totally fake script and no one had any idea that it was going to be Super 8 - they did a great job of that.
What was weird was before I went to audition J.J. had done a teaser trailer I can’t remember what I was going to watch, so I saw this teaser trailer, which was basically just of the train crash, and I was like ‘wow I really want to go and see that’. Who knew that I would be in that movie it’s just really crazy.
After I had put myself on tape I heard about a month a later that I had got a call back so I went out to L.A., I went back and forth to L.A. about six times. Each process was really more intense and I kept seeing the same people and the same people who are in Super 8 right now and so we were instantly we were all friends.
The last casting, six months after that first audition, I felt like I should have been nervous but I wasn’t I felt confident - I felt like ‘hey just have fun if it doesn’t happen at least J.J. Abrams saw me’.
So we all were really great friends and that is basically why we all got the parts because we had such good chemistry and it felt like we had all know each other since we were young - we are still great friends today.
- You took on the role of Cary in the movie so can you tell me a little bit about him and his role in the film?
Basically Cary likes to blow up anything that he can get his hands on and he really is the comic relief of the film.
And in the movie that we were making he is a zombie, which was really fun to play, and he has a fun time and he never takes anything seriously; he likes to mess with everybody in the group.
- And how did you find working with J.J. Abrams?
He is alright (laughs). He really is the nicest guy - I had worked with so many directors before this but never of this calibre - and J.J. was so nice and so comforting, the first day we were on set we were all really nervous but he made us feel so comfortable and secure.
He would tell us jokes if we started getting mad at ourselves for messing up our take or he would have other people do magic for us - he was just the nicest guy and he is such a great director.
- Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths are also on the cast list so how much fun was it working alongside those guys?
It was great - we are all still great friends. You got to wake up each day and go to work with your friends and run through explosions so it wasn’t a bad time. They were all just so great.
Me and Riley were talking and one day and we worked out that we, even though we had only met each other for that year, we probably hung out more than with the people that we knew from back home.
We hung out every day straight, even if we were filming or not, for three months and then after that we were doing press together - ninety days we have hung out together and I don’t think I have hung out with any of my friends back here that long. So everyone was really cool and really nice.
- The train crash is the biggest scene in the movie can you talk me through filming that?
All the train cars that you seen in the movie weren’t CGI they were all really on fire - and they were all real train cars.
So we actually got to look at the horizon of this train crash - it was just crazy - and I think that was all of our favourite scenes because we got to run through explosions and it was such an adrenaline every take.
It was definitely one of the best things about Super 8.
- You have worked mostly in TV and on shorts so how did you find stepping into a movie of that size?
I actually wasn’t that nervous once I got the part I was just so excited that I got it - I guess I didn’t realise how big it really was.
I am really glad that I didn’t and it later one after I was already comfortable and I was jut like ’whoa this is really happening’ reality caught up with me.
I feel like if I hadn’t done the six years of previous work I feel like I wouldn’t have got the part so I am really thankful to all of the people who casted me before Super 8.
- What did you think when you saw the movie for the first time?
It was amazing. Me, Joel, Riley, Zach, Dave and Elle we sitting next to each other and it felt like we were in a mosh pit because we kept jumping out of our chairs and we were pushing each other around and yelling - we had press the next day in L.A. and I lost my voice.
It was amazing to all of us how it all came together - on set it was like ‘ok Ryan pretend that this lamp is flying past your face’ and you look at the film and there really is a lamp flying past my face.
Then there was the alien and everything is just so crazy and everything is just so cool.
- You have said what a great time you had on the movie but do you have a particular favourite moment of your time on set?
One of my favourite moments was in the credits when you get to see the entire movie that the kids were making in the film. Me, Riley, Joel, Zach, Dave and Elle we all got to name the movie, write and direct it and it was actually like our own little movie - we could switch off from this super huge movie and go into our little film and just relax and have fun.
That was definitely one of my favourite parts because it felt like our own - so that was a lot of fun.
- You have been acting for about six years now so how do you juggle work with school?
Actually a lot of people think that it’s challenging but because I have been doing it for so long I suppose I have got use to it.
Also away from acting I get to hang out with friends at school and sports - it’s not completely hard but you just have to find the balance.
- 2011 is coming to a close so what movies have you been enjoying this year?
I just saw Tower Heist and I thought that that was really funny - it had a lot of twists. I also really liked Horrible Bosses, that was just super funny, I want to see Money ball - I haven’t seen it yet but I have been told that it is great. I have also seen The Help and I thought that was also really great.
- Finally what's next for you?
Right after Super 8 I finished shooting a movie with Samuel L. Jackson, he is robbing my house in the movie and I go up behind him with a shotgun and big as I am and tell him to ’Back the f**k up’ - if you want to see what happens to me it’s called Meeting Evil.
I also did a movie with Judd Apatow, he has directed it, and it is a sequel to Knocked Up and the movie follows Leslie Mann’s family and how everyone is getting older.
I think I was on the set for seventeen days but it went by so fast because I was having such a blast.
And read what FemaleFirst thought about Super 8 on our review pages here
Super 8 is released on DVD & Blu-Ray now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Super 8 has been one of the monster hits of 2011 - which saw J.J. Abrams return to the director’s chair while shooting the young cast to stardom.
The movie is out on DVD & Blu-Ray this year and I caught up with Ryan Lee, who tales on the role of Cary, to talk about the film, the experience on set and what lies ahead.
- Super 8 is about to be released on DVD here in the UK so for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet can you tell me a little bit about it?
The movie is basically about six kids and they go on an adventure in the summer. They want to shoot a movie together, like they did in the old days, and one day they are shooting and they discover this catastrophic train crash.
And what happens after the crash is things start to go chaotic and crazy - and there is a little bit of a surprise from that train crash.
Everyone should see this movie because it has everything from action to comedy to sci-fi, adventure and romance - everything I can of apart from Western is in this movie.
- J.J. Abrams is always super secretive about his projects so what was the casting process like - so were you told about the movie before you auditioned?
I can’t really tell you because it’s too secretive (laughs). It was completely secretive, me and my mom felt like we were signing our lives away to Paramount; I felt that if I said anything about the film to me friends before I was suppose to they were going to come through the windows and tackle you.
At first it was a fake script, it was called Darlings, and it was totally fake script and no one had any idea that it was going to be Super 8 - they did a great job of that.
What was weird was before I went to audition J.J. had done a teaser trailer I can’t remember what I was going to watch, so I saw this teaser trailer, which was basically just of the train crash, and I was like ‘wow I really want to go and see that’. Who knew that I would be in that movie it’s just really crazy.
After I had put myself on tape I heard about a month a later that I had got a call back so I went out to L.A., I went back and forth to L.A. about six times. Each process was really more intense and I kept seeing the same people and the same people who are in Super 8 right now and so we were instantly we were all friends.
The last casting, six months after that first audition, I felt like I should have been nervous but I wasn’t I felt confident - I felt like ‘hey just have fun if it doesn’t happen at least J.J. Abrams saw me’.
So we all were really great friends and that is basically why we all got the parts because we had such good chemistry and it felt like we had all know each other since we were young - we are still great friends today.
- You took on the role of Cary in the movie so can you tell me a little bit about him and his role in the film?
Basically Cary likes to blow up anything that he can get his hands on and he really is the comic relief of the film.
And in the movie that we were making he is a zombie, which was really fun to play, and he has a fun time and he never takes anything seriously; he likes to mess with everybody in the group.
- And how did you find working with J.J. Abrams?
He is alright (laughs). He really is the nicest guy - I had worked with so many directors before this but never of this calibre - and J.J. was so nice and so comforting, the first day we were on set we were all really nervous but he made us feel so comfortable and secure.
He would tell us jokes if we started getting mad at ourselves for messing up our take or he would have other people do magic for us - he was just the nicest guy and he is such a great director.
- Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths are also on the cast list so how much fun was it working alongside those guys?
It was great - we are all still great friends. You got to wake up each day and go to work with your friends and run through explosions so it wasn’t a bad time. They were all just so great.
Me and Riley were talking and one day and we worked out that we, even though we had only met each other for that year, we probably hung out more than with the people that we knew from back home.
We hung out every day straight, even if we were filming or not, for three months and then after that we were doing press together - ninety days we have hung out together and I don’t think I have hung out with any of my friends back here that long. So everyone was really cool and really nice.