The New Mutants Cast Interviews: Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt And More

Cinema Blend

The New Mutants cast members Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Alice Braga, Henry Zaga along with writer/director Josh Boone sit down with CinemaBlend Managing Director Sean O’Connell to talk about the experience of filming without seeing the special effects on set, how music helped unify the cast, bringing these beloved characters to the screen and more.

Transcript

00:00 I have to wear this massive onesie

00:02 that I basically look like a traffic sign

00:04 in order to get bags.

00:06 - You look like Teletubbies.

00:07 (laughing)

00:09 - We can get out of this together.

00:12 (upbeat music)

00:14 - As someone who has paid attention

00:21 to all of the marketing and the trailers

00:23 that have developed for the film,

00:25 with each new one dropping,

00:27 I've been really paying close attention

00:28 to the way that you're revealing

00:31 the individual powers of the characters at each stage

00:34 and how we get to see a little bit more each time.

00:36 And even with this most recent one,

00:38 we do even get a glimpse of Limbo.

00:40 - It's my take.

00:40 - It's all mine.

00:42 - Which I think is Ileana's safe space, so to say.

00:45 - Yeah, it's her special place.

00:47 - Her special place and her soul sword in action.

00:50 So Josh, from your perspective,

00:51 I know you talked back in March

00:53 that you were happy to have more time to edit,

00:55 but I also am just curious about having more time

00:58 to develop special effects.

01:00 Are they gonna be better because of the delays to the film

01:03 and the more time you've had to tinker on them in post?

01:06 - Well, I mean, I don't know if they're better.

01:09 Our visual effects supervisor, Olivier, is so wonderful.

01:11 It's just that that was sort of what was left unfinished

01:14 when the merger happened.

01:15 So a lot of the work that was done in the past year

01:18 has been getting all those visual effects done.

01:20 And when the cast saw it,

01:21 it was really the first time they'd ever seen the bear

01:24 and it had been years, you know?

01:25 So to finally see the bear, I think,

01:27 was gratifying to be like,

01:29 "Oh, there really is gonna be a giant bear in it.

01:31 It's great."

01:32 (all laughing)

01:33 - That's awesome.

01:34 Yeah, I want all you guys to just talk about, for a minute,

01:37 what it looks like on the set doing something like this.

01:41 (all laughing)

01:44 Try to conjure your powers

01:46 and try to imagine some of the stuff that's happening.

01:49 - I preface it by saying that, like,

01:51 the stuff that really involved powers and visual effects

01:54 and things like that were maybe two to three weeks

01:56 of filming, I think, out of all of it.

01:58 And the rest is really performance-driven.

02:01 So it's quite different, that stuff and that stuff,

02:03 that the cast can speak on.

02:05 - And Alicia has some amazing blackmail material for me.

02:08 (all laughing)

02:11 - I couldn't stop.

02:12 I was like, "I need to take pictures of this."

02:14 It's amazing.

02:15 - It's actually, it's too funny to,

02:17 I'm dying to take it seriously, but like, you know,

02:19 I have to wear this massive onesie

02:21 that I basically look like a traffic sign

02:24 in order to get bags.

02:25 - You look like Teletubbies.

02:27 (all laughing)

02:29 - We see it realized in the most recent trailer.

02:31 Finally, we see Sunspot.

02:33 - Heck yeah. - Ready to go.

02:34 (all laughing)

02:35 - It's great to see it finished.

02:36 And also, it felt real in my mind.

02:38 It was just like, later on,

02:40 seeing on Alicia's phone what it actually looked like.

02:42 (all laughing)

02:44 - Oh.

02:45 - The first thing I was going to say is that it was amazing

02:47 'cause you feel like a kid.

02:49 I remember, like, talking to Josh on set

02:52 when we were doing a scene,

02:53 specific scene that I had to do powers.

02:55 And then Josh is like, "We're talking about it."

02:58 And I literally felt like, "Oh my God, I'm five again."

03:02 I'm like, "Shh."

03:03 - Yeah.

03:04 - And then, I remember Josh coming on,

03:05 I'm like, "This is amazing.

03:06 "I never thought a director would tell me."

03:08 And then he was like, "Feel, like, feel, like,

03:09 "just, you know, feel the power."

03:11 And I'm like, "This is so cool."

03:13 (all laughing)

03:14 - Power of the bubble.

03:15 - You feel so much like a kid again.

03:18 It's like, "Okay, it's the power of imagination."

03:20 (dramatic music)

03:23 (dramatic music)

03:26 (dramatic music)

03:34 - Charlie, I wanna go to you

03:35 because Cannonball is honestly

03:37 my favorite New Mutants character.

03:39 - Oh, wow, wow.

03:42 - I've been waiting my entire life

03:43 to see him realized on the big screen.

03:45 - Oh, that's beautiful.

03:47 - And you do get a glimpse of it in the most recent teaser,

03:50 but I wanna know how comic accurate

03:52 we might get to see Cannonball's power

03:54 and also just kinda how you brought it to life on screen,

03:58 on the set and on screen.

03:59 - Yeah, completely.

04:01 You know, we do get to see, you know,

04:04 at least Sam and Cannonball, you know,

04:08 using these powers and kind of realizing these powers.

04:12 For me, what was interesting,

04:15 and, you know, this was working with Josh

04:17 and his past and his kind of

04:21 into a reflection of his power.

04:25 - Yeah.

04:26 Yeah, we really intended it to be more character driven.

04:29 - I think out of all the Mutants,

04:30 I think he is one of the ones who believes he belongs here.

04:34 And, you know, we know from the comics,

04:37 you know, he's this good natured kid from Kentucky

04:39 who gave up his school to join,

04:42 and his dad, and we know about the accident,

04:45 there's an accident that happens in this coal mine.

04:47 So the idea was like to bring that element into our movie

04:52 and almost manifest it in his power.

04:55 So it was like a manifestation of a panic attack.

05:00 - I started panicking.

05:03 People got hurt.

05:04 - I see all those records behind your director

05:07 and his use of Pink Floyd in the marketing

05:11 has been so prevalent, that eerie sort of tone,

05:14 the translation of that song.

05:15 ♪ We're coming up, can't take our stand ♪

05:19 - Josh, are you a guy who used music on set

05:21 to set mood as well too?

05:23 There's some directors I know who like to play

05:24 in the background. - No, but I,

05:26 not this one, but I sent everybody lots of music

05:30 and certainly had a lot of music that felt to tonal,

05:33 well, you know, tonal touchstones for characters

05:36 and things like that.

05:37 We did get a little, a couple of songs in the movie,

05:39 but it's mostly score in this one.

05:42 It just sort of naturally happened that way.

05:44 My other ones have a lot more actual music in it

05:47 than this one.

05:49 - Josh, I don't know if you know this,

05:50 but when you sent us the score as a cast,

05:53 we all went to, I think my room or Blue's room

05:57 and listened to it together.

05:58 - Oh. - And it kind of got us

06:01 in the same tone for our performance that week.

06:05 And I think, I mean, to me,

06:07 that was a very special time to, you know,

06:09 bond over music and understand the feel of the movie.

06:13 - Yeah.

06:14 - All of you are dangerous.

06:17 That's why you're here.

06:18 - Blue, for you specifically,

06:22 New Mutants is your first feature film.

06:24 Is that right?

06:25 - Mm-hmm, yeah.

06:26 - So what are some of the feelings

06:28 that you've been going through and experiencing,

06:31 having to wait to kind of share this

06:33 with family and friends,

06:34 to show them what you guys have accomplished?

06:37 I'm sure you've just been dying to fill a theater

06:39 with everybody and show them what you've done.

06:41 - Yeah, yeah.

06:43 I think at first I was definitely like,

06:46 "Oh my God, I just want everyone in my life to know

06:48 "I did this, see it."

06:50 And then after the years passed,

06:52 (all laughing)

06:55 I really wanted people from Lakota Nation,

07:01 from all of the nations,

07:04 from all the indigenous nations across the country.

07:07 I'm most disappointed that they haven't gotten to see it yet.

07:10 - Yep.

07:11 - And now that they're so heavily impacted

07:14 by COVID right now too,

07:15 I just want this to come out.

07:19 And I'm really sad that they absolutely

07:22 probably won't be able to see it in theaters.

07:24 And I think that's where most of my disappointment lies,

07:27 not in so much my family and my friends,

07:29 'cause they don't even,

07:31 my family and friends don't even really see me

07:32 as actor Blue.

07:34 They always think it's funny that that's my job.

07:36 I'm like, "I have an audition today, guys."

07:40 And they're like, "Oh yeah."

07:41 But I think that's who I've been most excited

07:48 to see this movie,

07:48 because I think it's really cool,

07:49 an indigenous superhero.

07:51 So I think that's what I'm most excited for,

07:55 for this to finally come out for that reason,

07:56 and for people to get to see "Danny Moonstar" in action.

08:01 - So to that end,

08:02 I know there was an Instagram photograph

08:04 of the cast being able to see the film.

08:06 Everyone got gathered together as a new Mutants family,

08:09 without spoiling much of anything.

08:13 Tell me a scene that you're dying for the fans

08:16 to finally be able to witness.

08:18 - Are we allowed to say?

08:21 (all laughing)

08:22 I don't know.

08:23 - I don't know.

08:24 - Is this a trick?

08:25 (all laughing)

08:28 - I think that the last third of the movie,

08:32 in terms of fans and getting to see these characters

08:35 brought to life,

08:36 for me, the last third of the movie is kind of,

08:39 obviously, it ramps up a lot in where it goes.

08:43 And to getting to see what you've seen,

08:45 but these kids struggling to finally just doing

08:49 the best they can, was really heroic.

08:52 And not heroic in like a,

08:53 I'm gonna save the world heroic.

08:54 It was like very heroic in like an average heroic

08:58 kind of mood.

08:59 It was like, I'm gonna protect my friends.

09:00 And that to me was the most heart kind of felt moment.

09:04 And I think there was, yeah, I think that was,

09:07 I'm excited for the fans to see that.

09:09 'Cause I think it's just, you know,

09:11 for me, that's what it would have been.

09:13 - Even just the pace and the tone of it,

09:14 I don't think is much like other comic book movies.

09:17 So I'm interested to see people get to see something

09:20 done a little differently than it usually is.

09:23 - Well, yeah, Josh, maybe speak to that just a bit,

09:25 because you hear these mutant stories

09:26 and it's hard for us to relate to these characters.

09:29 But with the new mutants,

09:31 they always seem like somebody

09:32 that we can almost see ourselves as.

09:33 Is that translate as well too?

09:35 - Yeah, I mean, I wanted it to really much more be

09:38 kind of like a John Hughes movie

09:40 or a Stephen King movie about youngsters

09:42 where a lot of the focus was on characters

09:44 and the stuff that's power related

09:47 was entwined with psychology and all that.

09:50 And what made them end up there

09:52 and the traumas that they've experienced and all that.

09:55 - You mentioned Stephen King

09:56 and we just got a director's cut of "Doctor Sleep."

09:59 Is there a longer Josh Boone cut of yours waiting somewhere?

10:03 - Oh my God.

10:04 I thought "Doctor Sleep" was amazing.

10:05 I know Mike a little bit, he's awesome.

10:08 Of this, you used to meet of this one of new mutants.

10:10 You know, it's funny,

10:11 I put together kind of a selection of deleted scenes

10:13 that were things that just didn't fit totally

10:15 with what we were doing, but are fun character moments.

10:18 But no, I mean, really what you see is the director's cut.

10:21 It's maybe 15 to 20% a little bit different

10:24 than it was when I cut it initially,

10:25 'cause I had time to go back and look at it after a year

10:28 while the merger was going on and all that.

10:30 So yeah, I'm just really happy with how it turned out

10:32 and I'm really happy people get to finally see it.

10:35 (ominous music)

10:37 - What is this place?

10:40 (dramatic music)

10:42 - This isn't a hospital.

10:44 It's a haunted house.

10:45 (screaming)

10:49 - You know, Blue was mentioning the fact

10:50 that theaters are suffering

10:52 and we're not quite sure when we're gonna get to see it.

10:54 And there's a lot of uncertainty.

10:56 It seems that "Hamilton" sort of blazed a path

10:58 to bring something to Disney+.

10:59 A lot of the new mutants fans were clamoring.

11:02 Can we just see it?

11:03 Has there ever been a conversation about that?

11:05 Of getting it onto the streaming service?

11:07 - I'm just like, they don't,

11:09 studios don't really involve you that much

11:11 in those sort of conversations.

11:13 I just know there's contractual stuff and issues.

11:17 I don't even know exactly what it is.

11:19 There's reasons why it has to be released in theaters first.

11:22 Even though we want everybody to see it in theaters,

11:24 I don't think it's as simple

11:25 as just putting it onto a streaming service

11:27 because of a lot of business-related things

11:30 that I couldn't speak to and I don't really know about.

11:32 - Sure.

11:33 Selfishly, I just wish I could watch it today.

11:35 - I wish everybody could too.

11:37 Yeah, we'll get to see it soon, I hope.

11:40 - I'm just so excited.

11:41 - Can I add something just very fast?

11:42 - Of course.

11:43 - Just by someone that was able to be involved

11:46 with these five actors,

11:48 like five characters that everybody's so eager to see,

11:51 like "Cannonball," like "Magic,"

11:53 like you were saying, you're a big fan of "Cannonball."

11:56 Yeah, I think I'm really excited.

11:58 I think more than like one specific scene,

12:00 I'm really anxious for the people to see it

12:02 because I'm Brazilian, Henry's Brazilian,

12:05 and the Brazilian fans, they're comic fans,

12:07 and I can feel their love to watch it.

12:11 And it's so beautiful to see the work

12:13 that each one of them did,

12:15 because you're portraying young kids, teenager,

12:19 they're struggling to figure out their lives,

12:22 and that is the mutants as well.

12:24 That's why I love so much the "X-Men" world

12:25 because it talks about that challenge in your lives.

12:29 And I think each one of these actors with Josh,

12:31 they develop in a way the characters that it's so deep,

12:34 that it's not just by a superhero,

12:36 but it's like a really like questioning and all that.

12:40 And it's beautiful to see their work.

12:42 So I'm really excited for the people

12:43 to finally connect with these characters

12:46 that Josh is so passionate about.

12:47 But now the fans, the love, they can finally see it.

12:50 I'm really excited about that.

12:51 I think the movie as a whole

12:54 brings that with so much strength.

12:56 Sorry that I said a lot, but I really want to put it out.

12:58 - You're totally right there.

12:59 But it's like when we went to Comic-Con Brazil,

13:01 it's like I'd never felt that sort of intensity of fandom.

13:05 Like they were passionate,

13:06 and really the fans have stuck with us so long.

13:09 They post stuff on Instagram every day.

13:11 They get hyped on all these trailers that come out.

13:13 So for them more than anything else,

13:15 I want "New Mutants" fans to be able to go see this.

13:17 - Yeah, it's gonna be very special.

13:19 (dramatic music)

13:22 (dramatic music)

13:25 - You've been through a lot.

13:27 Get some rest.

13:29 (dramatic music)

13:32 (dramatic music)

13:35 (upbeat music)

13:38 (bell dings)

13:39 (bell dings)

13:41 (upbeat music)

13:44 (upbeat music)

13:47 (upbeat music)

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