From the Entertainment News Wire:
Like a lot of aspiring young actors, Joel Courtney arrived in L.A. from a small town with modest hopes of landing a TV commercial gig and perhaps earning a few bucks in spending money. The Moscow, Idaho native had been taking acting classes for about six months and figured, at the very least, he could spend some quality time last summer with his older brother, Caleb, who had moved to Hollywood a few years earlier in hopes of realizing his dreams.
The 14-year-old middle school student wasn't quite sure exactly what he was in for when his acting coach pointed him to an audition in L.A. for a movie role. It turned out to be a Very Big Opportunity.
As he soon discovered, Courtney was auditioning for the lead role in a movie produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams. It wasn't exactly small potatoes. Of course, given the secrecy surrounding the project, it took a while for the youngster to figure out what he had lucked into, because so much of the audition process was cloaked in secrecy.
"I'd heard rumors that J.J. was attached to it but I wasn't positive because the code name for the auditions was 'Little Darlings,' and I thought that sounded really weird," says the brown-eyed actor, now 15.
After several callbacks, Courtney figured out he was auditioning for the part of Joe Lamb, a middle schooler who, while shooting a homemade zombie movie with his friends, witnesses an incredible event in his small Ohio town. Set in 1979, "Super 8," which is named for the type of film camera used by the amateur moviemakers, recalls such Spielberg classics as "E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "The Goonies."
"I signed about 75 secrecy forms," the youngster recalls. "They even mailed forms home to my mom, my brother and sister for them to sign."
Somehow, the teenager managed to keep the big secret from his friends, teachers and extended family members. It wasn't until a commercial for "Super 8" aired on the Super Bowl earlier this year that he finally revealed to his best friend what he had done last fall.
From Indiwire's "The Playlist":
Of the varied critical reactions to “Super 8,” everyone does seem to concur on one thing: that the film’s young leads give some strong performances. But, with the exception of Elle Fanning—who at the age of just 13 has already built herself a solid resume—most of the group are new faces, most notably “Super 8”’s lead, Joel Courtney.
In what sounds like a classic case of Hollywood Discoveries, Joel, who had never acted professionally before, was on a trip to Los Angeles to visit his brother (actor Caleb Courtney), with the idea to audition for a few commercials, and incidentally ended up with the lead role in a summer blockbuster from J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. Doing press for the film this past week, we had the chance to hear more from Courtney on working with one his favorite directors, his new career and what the future holds.
The jump to the big screen was a surprise for Courtney, as well as many of his friends, “Some of my friends believed me and some of my friends didn’t and when I didn’t show up at school, that’s when it kicked in for them and it really kicked in when they saw the trailer during the Super Bowl.” But the actor admits that’s when it started to hit for him as well. Watching the game with his best friend, he remembers rewinding the spot several times, “I think we watched [the trailer] like 5 times!”
But stardom is all very new to Courtney. “I’d had like, 6 acting classes before [being cast],” he admits, “I’ve only wanted to act for like, a year and a half, it’s my brother who’s wanted to act for a long time. I came down to visit him in L.A… I wanted to get an audition for a commercial and $100, that was my goal for the summer. And, uh,” he laughs, “I got ‘Super 8’.” But the audition process wasn’t as simple as Courtney suggests. He, as well as the rest of the cast, went through multiple tests, reading lines solo and then with other actors so that Abrams could find a group that really fit together as best friends, “[the day of the first audition] I had 2 immediate call backs. Then a while later they had me come back so I was like, ‘well they’re having me come back so that’s good,’ but I came back 11 times, and a lot of them were chemistry auditions, to see who would be really good friends. J.J. really wanted [the chemistry] to be spot on so a lot of the auditions were like hanging out with all the other actors to see who the chemistry would be the best with.”
Of the varied critical reactions to “Super 8,” everyone does seem to concur on one thing: that the film’s young leads give some strong performances. But, with the exception of Elle Fanning—who at the age of just 13 has already built herself a solid resume—most of the group are new faces, most notably “Super 8”’s lead, Joel Courtney.
In what sounds like a classic case of Hollywood Discoveries, Joel, who had never acted professionally before, was on a trip to Los Angeles to visit his brother (actor Caleb Courtney), with the idea to audition for a few commercials, and incidentally ended up with the lead role in a summer blockbuster from J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. Doing press for the film this past week, we had the chance to hear more from Courtney on working with one his favorite directors, his new career and what the future holds.
Catch the entire interview over at Indiwire's "The Playlist".
Today's Wall Street Journal has a highly complementary article on Joel and Super 8.
Before starring as Joe Lamb in J.J. Abrams’ “Super 8,” Joel Courtney was just a regular 15-year-old in Moscow, Idaho. With no previous acting experience, Courtney was catapulted onto the big screen opposite Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning.
Read the entire article over at the WSJ's Speakeasy.
From Box Office:
Debuting Friday with $12.2 million including $1 million in midnight sneaks, "Super 8" should gross between a strong $33-35 million for the weekend. That's higher than pre-release polling predicted and no doubt thanks to a massive last minute marketing push from the studio.
