ARTICLE

5 Questions with 'Rock Of Ages' director Adam Shankman

By InCinemas / 25 Oct 2012 (Thursday)

Source: Warner Bros
Distributed by Typhoon Creations
Thanks to our friends at Typhoon Creations, InCinemas gets to feature this interesting Question & Answers with the Rock Of Ages director Adam Shankman! Hear the director's decision on choosing Tom Cruise to play the super rockstar Stacee Jaxx and his experience when making this film! Hit the jump for some awesome rock music we've included below too!

Rock Of Ages arrives onto Blu-Ray extended cut and DVD on 29 October 2012! Blu-Ray includes an extended edition with 13 mins worth of never-seen-before footage in theatres!

Q: What made you want to bring Rock of Ages to the big-screen?

Adam: I was asked. I was a little bit leery about doing a jukebox musical. Then I saw the show and I had never seen anything like it in terms of the audience reaction. So, I was really intrigued. I thought, if I can actually make something with a movie version of this where the audience has that same reaction, it'll be incredibly cool.

Director Adam Shankman

Q: Can you talk about casting Tom Cruise, and what he brings to the film?

Adam: Casting Tom Cruise, people scratch their heads about it. But for me, it was really obvious. The first thing that I thought of was, if I'm gonna do this I want the biggest movie star in the world to play the biggest rock star in the world. So, I want Tom Cruise, because that would be super-surprising and super-cool. And not even stunt-y, because you can't do stunt in a musical. Everybody, actually, has to be able to do what they do.

(Stand a chance to win Rock Of Ages movie premiums and DVD!)

I can't use CG to make Tom Cruise sing. Certainly, Tom Cruise is not going to let someone sing for him. If he's not gonna let someone climb the tallest building on the planet for him, he's certainly not gonna let someone sing for him. So, he was in. After we got him through a voice lesson, he said, “Let's do this.”

We're around the same age, and we both lived through the '80s. Tom as an incredibly famous person, and me as some little Jew-nerd, but we were both in L.A. during that time. So we both remember the Strip, really, really well. It had a lot of nostalgia for us.

(Read our Rock Of Ages review - by Yun Huei)

Q: What was it like to get Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand to sing. Was it a challenge or was it very natural?

Adam: I'll be honest, it was easier to get them to kiss than it was to get them to sing. Alec and Russell knew what they were getting into when they signed up for it. I had heard Russell sing, in Get Him To The Greek. And I had heard, Alec sing on “Saturday Night Live.” So, I knew that they could do it.

It was just getting them to really commit to it. What was interesting from a director's standpoint, was all I had to say to them was, “We are not making fun of these guys.” This is their life. This is their livelihood. This is how they feel, and this is really important. I never want these guys to be made fun of. And they ended up having, this deep connection, and deep affection for each other. The guys knew they were in a musical, so they knew what they had to do.

Q: What were some of your favorite sequences to shoot?

Adam: Shooting “Shadows Of The Night,” with those girls on the poles, was one of the longest, but greatest nights of my life. It was like being in this brilliant stripper circus. I always say, no straight man could've ever shot that scene the way I shot it because they would have just been too leering about the whole thing. And not seen it as the more of the Cirque de Soleil, that I saw the world as. I loved doing that scene. That really, really made me happy.

And then from the sublime to the absurd, I felt equally as giddy about shooting “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” Because it is so absurd, on top of which, I was shooting Catherine Zeta-Jones singing and dancing—the first one to get an Oscar in like 15 years for being in a musical. So, it was thrilling.

QUESTION: What can an audience expect from this film?

Adam: What audiences can expect from this film is literally a giant party. One of the best times, one of the best-feeling times they'll have this summer. This movie is probably, of all the movies coming out this summer, it’s the only one where afterwards all you want to do is go do shots and sing karaoke. It's just the party, that's it. So joy, they're gonna get joy.
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For more Rock Of Ages updates:
Like Typhoon Creations Facebook Page and stay tuned at InCinemas as we will be featuring a Q&A with the sexy Malin Akerman. whom had performed the song 'I Want To Know What Love Is' with Tom Cruise in the movie.

Special Features in Rock Of Ages Blu-Ray and DVD
ROCK OF AGES Blu-Ray Extended Cut and DVD are available at major video stores from 29 October onwards!

The Standard Retail Price (SRP) for Rock Of Ages Blu-Ray and DVDs are S$39.90 and S$24.90 respectively.
Running Time: 136 minutes (Blu-Ray); 123 minutes (DVD)
Rating: NC16 (Sexual References) - Theatrical Version; TBA - Extended Version

Blu-Ray:

Extended Cut of the Film (additional 13 mins of never-seen-before footage in theatres)
Rocks Of Ages: Legends of the Sunset Strip Hosted by Bret Michaels - Hear from rock stars - Def leppard, Poison, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Twisted Sister, and more - as they relive the music and vibe of the extraordinary Sunset Strip.
The Stories We Sing - Find out the real stories and crazy events that inspired your favourite power ballad's and rock anthems of the 80's.
Defining a Decade - Join Julianne Hough, Ddiego Boneta, Russell Brand, Tom Cruise, Mary J. Blige, Catherine Zeta-Jones, director Adam Shankman and others to show us the inside world of the late 80's!
Rock Of Ages: Musical Numbers
Any Way You Want It - Music Featurette (Video)

DVD:

Any Way You Want It - Music Featurette (Video)
Def Leppard - LIVE! - Get an inside look at the Rock Of Ages premiere, including the live performance by Def Leppard.
If You Build It, They Will Rock It - Defining A Decade - A look at the historical significance of the real "Sunset Strip" clubs in the 80's and how they shaped the design of the Bourbon Room in the movie.

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5 Questions with 'Rock Of Ages' director Adam Shankman