Luke Benward was familiar with the Thomas Rockwell book prior to taking the lead role in the film. “I did read it once in third grade with my whole class, so I was pretty familiar. But I wasn’t so familiar that I knew the whole story and all the characters names,” said Benward.
Although the movie’s based on the book, Benward said he decided not to go back and read it through one more time before they shot How to Eat Fried Worms. “After I read the script we were kind of like, ‘It’s kind of different from the book…” So I didn’t go back and read it because we thought it might confuse me.”
Even for people who haven’t read the book, the story’s fairly simple to follow. “It’s about a kid who was really popular at his school before, and he moves into a new school. When he moves in he gets picked on, and throughout the whole movies he makes friends,” Benward said. “This movie is kind of about friendship and bravery because he stands up [against the bully]. He has a weak stomach and he knows it’s going to be really hard to do it, but he does it and he follows through.”
A favorite of elementary school kids, Benward says the changes made from the book to the screen shouldn’t affect how kids will enjoy the film version. “There are two characters that stay the same, that’s Billy, my character, and Joe. The rest are changed. The plot is kind of different. In the book he ends up liking worms, but in the movie he ends up, he can’t wait until he finished eating the worms,” explained Benward. “I think it will be a lot better because if he ends up liking the worms… It’s like how weird - who would end up liking worms?”
Learning the names of all his young co-stars may have been the toughest part of working on How to Eat Fried Worms. Benward laughed, “When I went there to the table read, I was the last one there and then I forget who, but someone introduced me to everyone. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is too many names! I can’t remember.’ There were two people named Alexander, there was one named Austin, there was one named Adam, but Adam’s another character in the movie.”
Benward said hanging out after shooting helped the cast bond. “They had a green room on set and like in the green room there would be movies, an Xbox and cards and so that’s what we’d do in between shots and scenes. When we were done shooting for the day, I’d invite a couple kids up to my apartment and we’d play Halo2.”
Is there actually a way that fried worms can be tasty? Benward said, “My favorite one was the Brown Toad Bloater Special. They put two worms together and it was like a big giant French Fry with syrup on it. It was pretty good, though.” But worm lovers have no need for concern. A special concoction was used in place of the worms for filming purposes. “It was a gelatin and they paint food coloring on it so it looked like a real worm.”
Looking back on the experience, Benward has a tough time pointing out a favorite day on the set. “I had a lot of favorite things I did. Every time I did a stunt, it was just so much fun. I loved doing my own stunts. Like, I dove into a river at a place called Blue Hole. After shooting…every day while we were shooting at the Blue Hole we would all go swimming so that was really fun. But I did actually like eating the Brown Toad Bloater Special - that was really special, too. We were doing it one time and the director kept telling me to do my lines, so after a while I kind of laughed. When I laughed, all the food came out of my mouth. And actually in the movie they make that part of it - and it goes on Joe’s face.”
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New Line Cinema's How to Eat Fried Worms hits theaters on August 25, 2006.
