I got to go and read for it and go meet Raja [Gosnell, director] and stuff. I had the meeting and it went very well. I left and found out I got it. It was really great to go back to our set and say that we’d be working on the movie together,” explained Bell.
Faris ("Reunion") said the audition process was fairly simple. “Seems like they left the whole casting process in Raja’s hands because I never met a producer. I had one meeting with Raja and the next day I had the movie. I was actually the last one cast.”
Drake Bell on Working with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo: “I think they sort of emulated their characters. Dennis would come on and be about getting the job done and being very professional. Renee would come on stage and want to play first and hang out with the little kids and be very personable.”
Sean Faris Remembers the Days Dennis Quaid was Covered in Slime: “He would just sit there and you could see dollar signs floating around in his head that reminded him, ‘Okay, it’s not so bad. I’ll go jump in the goop.’
I think he actually had more fun on the days he had to jump in the goop than the others because it let him really let go and enjoy himself with all the kids. The kids were bonkers running around in circles. Sugar was the drug of choice on this set. The days that he got covered in goop or had to dive into the goop, I think he liked those the most.”
Chaos Versus Choreography: With that many young actors on the set, there were bound to be moments when the director just let them loose. Bell said one instance of a free-for-all was the paint scene. “The paint scene was sort of spontaneous. We had our places where they wanted us to be but everything else was just, ‘Make a mess.’”
Faris praised his “Yours, Mine and Ours” director for handling that many kids. “Raja did a great job on the set-ups, planning it out. A lot of times it would take a long time - with kids it can take forever - but Raja was right on point every day. He knew what he wanted and how he wanted it done.”
Sean Faris on His Four-Legged Co-Star: Faris said it was definitely interesting working with a pig. “Its squeals were loud and it bit Slade [Pearce, one of the kid actors] a couple of times. Slade was the one who handles and plays with the pig. He’s a little animal wrangler. He turned around and got a dog after that.”
Drake Bell’s Musical Skills Play a Part in “Yours, Mine and Ours:” “That just came about. This band Hawk Nelson… Raja was looking for a song and band for the party scene and he couldn’t find anything he liked. Then he heard a couple of songs by the band Hawk Nelson and he liked the sound, but he wanted a song that makes you think you’re at a party when you hear it. He called them up and said, ‘I like your ideas for these songs. Can you do this?’ They wrote a song for the movie.
Raja came to my trailer and said, ‘I want you to go onstage with them.’ I got to hang out with the band that day and learn the song and go down to Capitol Records and record it, and sing through the same mic Dean Martin sang through and play on Nat King Cole’s piano. It was really cool.”
Katija Pevec Says She’s Not the Cheerleader Type in Real Life: “I don’t have anything against them….well, kind of [laughter]. I think they are distracting. If you’re watching a game, they are just distracting to me. I’ve never been a cheerleader and never will. My friends and I promised each other we’d never let each other do that. If one of us did decide to, we’d know something was seriously wrong.”
Pevec based her character’s behavior on the cheerleaders at her school. “It’s kind of really bubbly, a really overly-excited personality. You just are always jumping up and down. That’s kind of how I portrayed her. My voice in the movie ended up going an octave higher every time she screams. It’s piercing, but it was fun.”
