A sort of thematic sequel to his 2010 hit, Valentineâs Day, director Garry Marshall reteams this Friday with screenwriter Katherine Fugate for another ensemble holiday celebration, New Yearâs Eve.
Boasting a cast that includes Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Chris âLudacrisâ Bridges, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, Hilary Swank and Sofia Vergara, New Yearâs Eve offers intertwining narratives that focus on work, friends, family and lovers, all playing out in New York City over the final night of 2011.
ComingSoon.net caught up with Marshall, Fugate and much of the all-star cast at the filmâs official press conference where, not unlike the holiday itself, thoughts were both about looking back at a year of production and forward to the filmâs December 9th release.
âYou canât imagine New Yearâs Eve without the ball drop,â says Swank of the Times Square setting and her role as the woman tasked with making sure that the celebration there goes off without a hitch, âand the idea of this woman who takes her job so seriously and is responsible, I felt very in touch with. I take a lot of things pretty seriously. I love the speech that I have. Itâs so universal. I canât imagine one person not thinking about the year that just passed and the optimism for the next year. The idea of having a second chance. Another chance to be a better person. To love more and to forgive. Essentially, thatâs life in a nutshell.â
A longtime friend of Fugate, Swank had her character written specifically with the actress in mind.
âWe really know each other on a spiritual level,â explains Fugate, âI knew that the words I gave her are her belief system and I was really proud of enabling people to see Hilary as clearly as Claire, because thatâs my girl.â
Swank wasnât the only one whose casting began during the writing stage. Fugate also wrote Lea Micheleâs role based on her fondness for âGlee.â In the film, Michele plays a back-up singer on the way to a performance at the ball drop, but who winds up getting trapped in an elevator with Ashton Kutcherâs holiday-hating curmudgeon.
âI got to be stuck in that elevator with Ashton for two weeks, which was awesome,â Michele laughs. âHeâs hilarious and I got Punkâd a couple of times⌠He opened the door with a towel on when he was supposed to have all his clothes on.â
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Michelle Pfeiffer was interested in the project specifically because it was so far from the type of role sheâs normally associated with. In the film, she plays a woman who, in her early 50s, suddenly realizes that sheâs never been brave enough to go after what she really wants.
âOne of the things I love most about acting is just disappearing in the role as much as I can,â she says. âI think thatâs one of the things that intrigued me about it. Figuring out, who is this woman who has lived in New York City all of these years and has never been to any of these places? Thatâs kind of where it lead me.â
Teaming with Pfeiffer is Zac Efron, playing a courier who promises her character, Ingrid, that he can get all her yearâs resolutions checked off in a single night. The two previously worked together on âHairspray.â
â[I] had a huge crush on her since day one,â he admits, âBack then I was very, very young and very bashful. Around her, I tended to put my foot in my mouth a lot. I didnât know what to say to her and everything just came out wrong⌠Then I got to talk on the phone with [her] about this part and she said, âI think we should take this to the next level and really push it. Letâs get a kiss in there.â I was like, âIâm in! Iâm in this movie! Put me in! Sign me up!'â
âIâm the envy of every girl across the planet, I think,â smiles Pfeiffer of her co-star. âI got a kiss in there with Zac Efron, which was pretty clever of me at the ripe old age of 53⌠I think he was a little disappointed when he opened up my trailer door and there sat Ingrid. His little face just kind of fell and I felt really bad. But I think, probably, the sweetest thing about him is that he never let on and that he still wonât admit how disappointed he was.â
Of course, Pfeiffer wasnât the only big name talent that helped draw some younger faces. 17-year-old Jake T. Austin was most excited for the opportunity to be in a film alongside one of his personal heroes, Robert De Niro.
âAs an aspiring actor, thatâs someone you emulate,â he explains. âThatâs someone you want to follow in the same footsteps of. For me, that was incredible.â
Naturally, Austin wasnât the only one who was excited to be in De Niroâs presence.
âHeâs at the top of my bucket list of people I have to work with before itâs all said and done,â says Swank. âI got to check that off. On my very first day⌠Halle Berry and Robert are in the room. Theyâve been working all day and theyâve got their thing going. Iâm the outsider here. I donât even know the crew or anything. I walk in and am trying to get the sense of the vibe. Robertâs in the bed. Iâd heard he was so method. You hear all this stuff about Robert De Niro and him being method. This is a comedy, but heâs dying. I donât want to get in anyoneâs way⌠Iâm thinking, âWow! Heâs going. Weâre connected here. Me and De Niro, weâre method!â I start getting a little emotional, but weâre just getting into the mood of father/daughter and father dying. Iâm feeling it and going deep with De Niro. The next thing I know, heâs [sitting up and opening his eyes] âAnyone got that coffee?!â Iâm like, âOh my god! He was just sleeping!'â
On another level, Josh Duhamel came up against a very different (but nonetheless intimidating) sort of celebrity.
âYeardley Smith!â he laughs of one of his co-stars. âI kept thinking, âThis is Lisa Simpson!â Sheâs playing the Pastorâs wife and there were a few takes where she was playing it kind of frisky. I was telling her this story about a girl that I had met the year before. She started playing like she was getting all hot and bothered. I kept thinking, âIâm making Lisa Simpson all hot and bothered with this story!â There was something really wrong about that.â
Hector Elizondo, meanwhile, faced his own challenges playing an electrician tasked with repairing the enormous lighted Times Square ball with just hours to go before midnight.
âThe ball, 40 feet up, that was an experience,â he recalls. ââŚIâm a fella who gets dizzy licking an airmail stamp. For me to be on the ball, 40 stories above the ground at 2:30 in the morning with a windchill factor below 0, looking like I was doing my job and not being able to go to the bathroom, that was a big challenge. Thatâs what builds your character. Itâs not the other stuff, itâs the endurance of it a lot of the time.â
Marshall was on hand, though, going above and beyond a directorâs duties for his cast.
âI think the biggest thing I had to do was to hug them,â he laughs, âNot because I was so attractive, but because they were freezing. We all hugged each other a lot.â
As for the real New Yearâs Eve, none of the cast expects the actual night to play out quite as elaborately as it does for their on-screen counterparts. In the case of 15 year old Abigail Breslin, especially, a Times Square celebration is out of the question for a few more years.
âMy parents are cool and they let me do things,â she says, âBut I was saying in an interview the other day that Iâm not really sure if my parents would let me do Times Square on New Yearâs Eve. [My Mom] was like, âYouâre right, I wouldnât!â I donât think thatâs going to be happening anytime soon.â
Swank offers the best advice, however, and itâs an idea echoed in the film. That no matter how much you plan the perfect start to a New Year, the night is going to go its own direction.
âI stopped trying to chase the perfect place to be,â she explains, âand realized that the perfect place is with your friends and loved ones around the dinner table over a good meal, talking about the past year and the year to come. Things to want to change in your life, hearing their stories and what youâd like to see happen in the world.â
âAnd I never make it to midnight,â she adds, âEver.â
New Yearâs Eve hits theaters on December 9th.