[tps_title]Part 2: The Stormchasers[/tps_title]
The next group of cast-members to join us were Matt Walsh, Jeremy Sumpter, and Arlen Escarpeta, who are all part of the storm chasing team. As it turns out, this round of cast had its own daredevil as well.
Q: Have any of you even been in a storm like the one in this movie?
Jeremy: When I was in first grade, a tornado tore through my school while we were in class in Kentucky. That was my experience with tornados.
Q: And were you traumatized for the rest of your life?
Jeremy: No. I’m fascinated by the weather. When I was growing up, Twister was my favorite movie. I watched it all the time. The weather channel was on all the time. The weatherman was my hero, so that was a cool experience for me.
I’m sorry, but you’ve got to be one insane little kid to think being in a tornado is awesome. When I was in 1st grade, a thunderstorm could make me crap my pants. And I just wrote that on the internet.
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And now I have to take a moment to warn you: this next question involves some serious spoilers. Did you get that? SPOILERS AHEAD! If you’re one of those people who get pissy about having certain scenes ruined for you, then skip this question entirely.
Me: So both of you guys died in some pretty epic scenes. What was it like watching that happen to your characters?
Matt: To sit down and watch that, it was mind-blowing. Like all these guys, you’re acting with pieces that aren’t there so you don’t see this carrying out in your head. But you trust him (Steve, the director) to see it fully executed with that incredible soundtrack and that intense visual and all the special effects coming together. It’s pretty mind-blowing. It’s incredible to see that and you can’t believe that it worked.
Jeremy: I never read the script so thanks for blowing it for me.
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We all laughed that off at first. But Jeremy kept going. He started arguing details with Matt over how much they’d seen and honestly, I couldn’t quite hear it over the voice in my head shouting, “YOU RUINED THAT DEATH FOR HIM YOU ASSHOLE!”
He sold it. He really sold it. And it was only after I apologized heavily that he revealed it was all a joke. One point for you, Jeremy. But honestly, joke’s on you. I already looked like an idiot once today.
ATTENTION: SPOILERS OVER. We’ve reentered the safety zone guys.
Now, let’s take a moment to appreciate something that screwed up way more than me. This short paragraph is dedicated to the fancy schmancy storm chasing vehicle, Titus. Which, it turn out, worked about as well as a 1985 Toyota Corolla with over 300,000 miles. And you thought the movie life was glamorous.
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So next I had to ask about the filming scenario. I couldn’t be the only one wondering if any of what the cast filmed (onscreen) ended up in the movie.
Me: So you guys were “filming” a lot of the movie. Did any of that actually end up in the film?
Arlen: You know, Steve told me there was a scene in the movie but he won’t tell me what it is. So we can’t claim it as our own. And we also got to go to this camera class for a day. We got to learn how to use a steady cam. You had these little cups of water and you had to run with it and tilt to the left and tilt to the right. And I took it very, very seriously. So the day when (Matt) is talking about the Titus (their storm chasing vehicle), you’ll never notice this but I’m sitting there and I’m total cameraman. I’m not an actor at all and I was just like, “I want this to be in the movie.”
And then an interviewer brought it back to the boring sort of questions. But Matt Walsh came in with the save.
Q: Can any of you talk about the director?
Matt: As long as Steve had his cocaine he was a good director.
*Laughter please*
Matt: That helped him visualize what was in his head.
Arlen: By cocaine you mean Coke 0.
Matt: Oh, I’m sorry, did I say cocaine?
Yes, Matt. Yes, you did. And it was hilarious.
As for the next question, Jeremy Sumpter got a chance to flex his comedy muscles in answering a question that could have otherwise been rather depressing.
Q: And what do you think the appeal is to a movie like this? Something that’s real?
Jeremy: We’ve got some really sexy tornados. There’s one big giant fat one at the end who’s just a real b-word.
Obviously he meant babirusa, a large breed of pig inhabiting the Indonesian wild.
Matt: Casting the tornados was the longest part of this process.
Jeremy: One of them is like so hot she’s on fire. And one of them doesn’t like to show her face much so she just kind of jumps around at you. And there are these Victoria Secret models who are just sort of twisting around in the background, too. But no, this movie’s got everything. It’s a big blockbuster tornado movie.
If you’re keeping track, that makes Jeremy Sumpter: 2, Interviewers: 0. Ding, ding, ding, we have our winner. And let’s wrap these guys up.
Q: And what are you guys doing next?
Matt: I’m in a show called Veep.
Me: Season 4?
Matt: Season 4.
And I guess I was feeling ballsy here.
Me: I’ll see you there.
And then I got a smile and finger point from Matt Walsh. My day was sufficiently made.
[tps_footer]Click NEXT for our interview with Nathan Cress, Max Deacon, and Alycia Debnam-Carey[/tps_footer]
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