Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.
With the release of the Blu-Ray and DVD of NEW YEAR'S EVE in stores, here's 10 Questions with some of the film's cast and the director. Read to find out more about what they think of the film, working together on set, and some tidbits about themselves!
Director Garry Marshall speaks...
Q1: What was it about New Year's Eve that made you want to make a film about it?
Marshall: I always like to do a film where there's a clock on it, and it comes with a natural clock, because you're heading for 12 o'clock, no matter what kind of story you're telling. It was a series of stories that interested me and I thought we did a pretty good job doing this type of film with Valentine's Day, I figured do another holiday. I don't know if I'll do the rest of the holidays, but we'll go into Italian and Jewish holidays. We'll keep going.
Q2: Do you remember the first time you watched the ball drop?
Marshall: Yes, and it's interesting, the change of situation. In 1956, I was somewhere lying on the sidewalk not in such good shape for having a few drinks. And in '59 it was pretty festive, but now it's a whole new thing, very organized, very, very together, everybody's on the same page. People say who's the star of NEW YEAR'S EVE? I think the New York City Police Department is the real star, because we couldn’t have done it without them.
[Image of director Garry Marshall]
Q3: Can you talk about the casting of some of the people, such as Robert De Niro or Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer. Why did you want them for the roles?
Marshall: Well, there are different types of characters written by Katherine Fugate, who does wonderful characters and different types of stories. We wanted the generations to all be represented. So we did a little older story with Robert De Niro. We have a younger story with Zac Efron and J.T. Austin and Abby Breslin, who first worked with me when she was 6.
A lot of these people I do know and worked with before. So the casting is really very important. It's not to get all the stars you can. It's just to get everybody who could actually portray the characters that were written.
Actress Abigail Breslin speaks...
Q4: You have worked with Garry Marshall before. What is it like on a Garry Marshall film?
Breslin: It's so much fun working with Garry. This is my third movie with him. He's, honestly, like having another grandpa. It's so much fun to work with him. On his sets, the atmosphere is always just fun. Everybody's having a good time. It was great, because in my storyline there's so many teenagers that he would come up to me and everybody and say, “So what are the teenagers doing these days with the cell phones?”
So we actually added a scene in the movie where my friends and I are sitting talking about YouTube videos of how to kiss, and that's actually come out of real life. So he added that in and it was pretty funny.
Q5: What was it like to work with Sarah Jessica Parker in New York, because she's such an icon there?
Breslin: Yeah, I know. I loved working with her. She's so sweet and so much fun. It was a lot of fun. We bonded over 'American Idol' off-camera, because we're both huge, huge, huge fans. It was going on while we were filming and we would come in every day and discuss it.
[Image of Abigail Breslin (left) and Sarah Jessica Parker]
Q6: I know the street scenes on NEW YEAR'S EVE weren’t filmed during actual New Year's Eve. But because there was so many extras in that recreation, did it have that same energy and feeling as if it were?
Breslin: Yeah. I've never spent New Year's Eve in Times Square; so it was fun. It was like having the mini version of it for a week. I think it was in March when we filmed, and so it was so cold out and there're like 500 extras in this pen and in the middle of Times Square. So it was like having a mini New Year's Eve.
Q7: Have you ever done anything crazy for New Year's Eve?
Breslin: I've never done anything crazy for New Year's Eve. I'm the type of person that sits at home with my family and we eat and watch a movie and watch the ball drop and then go to bed. Chill and simple, but still fun.
Actress Michelle Pfeiffer and actor Zac Efron speak:
Q8: Zac, you looked like you were just having the best time playing Paul. When you play a character that's just over the top and just a little full of himself, does that help bring a little bit more joy to what you're doing?
Efron: Sure. Yeah, it's all those things that I never really let out. I get to let the tiger out of the cage and be a little bit over the top and have fun. He's a guy who thinks you only live once, capitalize on every moment.
Pfeiffer: I loved seeing you do this kind of part. He just showed up with this character, because a lot of that wasn't on the page.
[Image of Zac Efron (left) and Michelle Pfeiffer]
Q9: To see you on the motorcycle and how you get more comfortable, it's such a nice progression to see. Then at the end, there’s a kiss. What was it like?
Efron: Awesome. Everything I dreamed of.
Pfeiffer: It was very nice.
Efron: It was very nice. It was very fun.
Pfeiffer: I'm a married woman. So...
Efron: You are?
Pfeiffer: Oh, shoot. Nobody told you?
Efron: Nobody told me.
Pfeiffer: Aw.
Efron: No, it was great. And it happens at a fantastic point in the film. I don't know. Yeah, it's very meaningful when it happens. It was very fun.
Q10: It's the culmination of both of you getting what you want in a way?
Efron: Yes.
Pfeiffer: Well, it was literally getting what we wanted, because actually that was our contribution to the script.
---
Get the Blu-Ray and DVD for NEW YEAR'S EVE in stores now!
For more details, check this out: