Brendan Cowell & Yvonne Strahovski - Inscris-toi gratuitement et surfe sans pub !
Brendan Cowell & Yvonne Strahovski
| In ''I Love You Too'', written by and co-starring Aussie comedian Peter Helliar, beautiful Aussie actress Yvonne Strahovski (star of U.S TV hit ''Chuck'') and man-of-the-moment Brendan Cowell (''Beneath Hill 60''), play a couple who, after three years together, cease to be a unit. With the help of a new-age dwarf (Peter Dinklage) - who, despite how lonely he is, is a walking encyclopedia on romance - the fella might just be able to convince his gal to come on back. CLINT MORRIS reports. Before we get on with this mate, congratulations on the success of ''Beneath Hill 60''. Brendan: Yeah, thanks mate. We seem to be doing Okay - I think this weekend (Anzac Day long weekend) will be the most important one for us; we hope to get a few people in then, before Iron Man 2 comes out next week. So this is the make-or-break weekend. But hey, I'm happy with it - ninety percent of the reviews are like four-and-a-half-stars, the press is bloody everywhere, and the film features some incredible performances. I know my mother would choose to see your two, ''Beneath Hill 60'' and ''I Love You Too'', over Iron Man. Brendan : Awww, thanks Clint's mum! [Laughs] That's my age-bracket though - 50 and over! Yvonne : The older chicks are banging for a night with you Brendan! Brendan : I could really rock it Cougar-style if I wanted to! [Laughs] I don't know if you could fit it in, mate - I mean you're out they're flogging two films, for example, at the moment. You'd forget which film you're supposed to be stumping half-the-time wouldn't you? Brendan : Yeah, I don't know where I am half-the-time, but especially today. I've been up since about 4am this morning doing all the TV shows... and Yvonne's been doing the early-morning radio. You alright after that Yvonne? Yvonne: Yeah, I'm hanging in there - though I'm only just eating now (it's nearly 2PM). How did you guys get involved in ''I Love You Too''? Brendan : I knew Pete [Helliar] a bit, so I knew the script existed, but I still had to go through the usual channels to get in on it. My agent had set up an audition. I got a call-back immediately, so I assumed I had it. But then they called me and said 'We're not sure' and they ended up going on and seeing every Australian actor for the role you can think of. I ended up just forgetting about it, and in the process had moved to L.A and gotten on with my life. And then Pete got in touch with me in L.A and said he hoped I hadn't got a job over there, because he'd like me to do the movie. So it was a very strange process. And Yvonne, you of course were in the states, doing [TVs] ''Chuck'', so I imagine they set up a screen-test for you both over there? Yvonne : Yeah, over in L.A. Brendan : Yeah, we did a chemistry test. Yvonne : It's funny, neither Brendan or I were who they were originally looking for when they started casting these roles. Pete was saying on set last year that he initially thought you were too young for the role, but once he saw some of your work on ''Chuck'', was convinced you could play older. Yvonne : That sounds like Pete! [Laughs] Brendan : Oh man, you don't ever tell a woman she looks older than she is! [Laughs] No I think what Pete was trying to say was that, well, you could play anything - you had sophistication about you that most young twenty-something actors don't. Brendan : I agree, She was great in the chemistry test too -man, that was such a loose screen-test. Was shooting the film pretty loose, pretty breezy? Yvonne: (shakes head) Brendan: Nah, because we had such a tight schedule it got pretty stressful at times. Yeah, we had a lot of fun together, but we really had to nail it - there wasn't any room for mistakes. We had to pretty much just get what we needed, and move on. But what we decided was to simply forget about the comedy, not try and perfect it too much, because comedy is usually funnier when you don't try and polish it - it's funnier when you just let it happen first time round. I remember being on set one day and noticed that, unlike a lot of films, you'd just do the one take... maybe two...and then pretty much that was it. You were onto the next one. Yvonne : And it was hard for [director] Daina [Reid] because she spent a lot of the time sick. Brendan : Yeah, she was sick a fair bit so she was under a bit of extra stress and pressure because of it. But also, the script featured a lot of locations - which is something a lot of first-time screenwriters do, and by the time they get to their next second movie, they end up just writing a movie set in the one room because they knew how difficult it was first time around having all those locations.... Or they get an enormous budget to do it. But yeah, there were a lot of locations. I don't know whether it's just something I'll notice, being a producer, but you can tell that a lot of locations were used. Thing is, I think it works. Brendan : Yeah I know, right? Yvonne : Yeah, it looks beautiful. Brendan : Some of the locations were very romantic - which suited the film. Now you guys didn't each other before the shoot, so did you get much rehearsal time? Yvonne : Yeah, we had a bit of rehearsal. Oh, and we went out to the AFL! Which was quite funny because neither Brendan nor I were into AFL, let alone did we know much about it, so... Brendan: But she got rapt in Collingwood-clothing, and straight away everyone assumed she was a staunch Collingwood fan. Yvonne : I ended up copping a lot of crap for that - people saying that I'd chosen the wrong team... Brendan : Yeah, like that guy from The Australian! He really went off about it! Yeah, there are fans and then there are fanatics. Yvonne, how do we work here as opposed to in the states? Did you notice many differences, in other words, between working on this film and your TV series? Yvonne : I have to say, yes - being on a one-hour show is one of the hardest, most grueling-jobs in showbiz you can do. And we're not bullshitting when we say we probably work 14 or 15 hours a day. When you've finished a season, you just crash; you're so sleep-deprived by the end of it that you need a heap of sleep just to face the world again. It was so good coming here to shoot a movie. When we'd wrap for the day I'd always ask, �What!? Is that it?' And Brendan, I have to ask, you're always riding something in this flick... Brendan : Yeah, I have a lot of transport for this flick. I go from push-bike to miniature train to postie-bike to cab to... Riding Yvonne's character? Brendan : Yeah, ya know [Laughs] And did you have to get your license to ride the postie-bike? Brendan : Yeah, I had to first get my Victorian license - because I didn't have that - and then I had to get a motorcycle license. Everyone was riding on me getting it too, because we were about two days away from filming those scenes when I went in to get it. And I have to be honest, it was so easy to get- they just give them away!. There's no wonder there's so many motorcycle fatalities - because nobody has to work for that license; I think if you get just over 50% on your test they give you one. Really? Brendan : Yeah, it's like one eight-hour day - you watch videos, do two-hours of training on a bike - which I was shithouse at, and then at the end of the day you do this little examination. Then you can ride your motorbike on the road - on the same day! All these people pass, and they can all be on the road on a friggin' bike - it's terrifying. Yvonne : I got my motorcycle license a few years ago, and I couldn't believe how easy it is to get it. Brendan : Funny thing is, I'll never touch a bike again. In other words, Yvonne had the easiest job on this film. But was it nice for you not having to kick peoples asses for a change - or did you want to? Yvonne: Sometimes [Laughs] Now out of interest, do you do all of your own stunts on ''Chuck''? Yvonne: I do. It's one of my favourite things to do. I've always been fairly physical - I have a dance background - so I'm always happy to jump in there. "I Love You Too" commences Thursday |
