Ed Oxenbould, Dylan Minnette and Kerris Dorsey Interview #VeryBadDayEvent

**Disney provided me with a full expense paid trip to Los Angeles for the #VeryBadDayEvent, #VeryBadDay in exchange for my review of the events of the trip.  No other compensation is given. The opinions  in my posts are 100% mine.**

Ed Oxenbould, Dylan Minnette and Kerris Dorsey Interview

Smiles all around is how our interview started with Ed Oxenbould (Alexander), Dylan Minnette (Anthony Cooper, Alexander’s older brother), Kerris Dorsey (Emily Cooper, Alexander’s older sister).  The chatter between the three of these actors showed us just how much they enjoyed their parts in the upcoming movie “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” coming out in theaters on Friday, October 10, 2014. Their excitement contagious, we started our interview with these wonderful actors.

The interview started with one of the most anticipated questions,

“What was it like to be in a movie with Steve Carell? Was he funny ‘all the time’, as well off camera?

Ed   responded :    He was– no, he wasn’t fun– no, I’m kidding. He was like the funniest person. He could make anything sound fun, anything.

Dylan    :   It’s effortless. It’s effortless.

Ed   :   Yeah, it’s like just completely–

Dylan   :   He can say what he’s having for lunch and you’re just like in tears on the floor.

Ed   :   Yeah, you could– you could just look at him. He’ll give you one look. And you will just be in uncontrollable laughter.

Kerris   :   Yeah, and he’s so like one thing is he’s so smart. He’s such a smart person. I think you  have to be that intelligent in order to be that funny because it’s–

Ed   :   His humor is just so–

Kerris   :   It’s so witty and so like impeccable. So that was really cool. You can just tell by looking at him, like talking to him that’s he’s just so smart. And the wheels are always turning.

All three of them seemed to finish each other’s sentences which was really fun, which I felt showed just how intune they were with one another.

Q   :   What was everybody’s favorite scene with him?

Ed   :   I think the party scene.

Dylan   :   I’ve been saying the party scene.

Kerris   :   Party scene.

Ed   :   Yeah, it was really cool.

Kerris   :   Party scene was so fun.

Dylan   :   Yeah, I mean it was just like, what, 200 people and animals and swimming and music and food and just-

Kerris   :   It was so cool. We were there for a long time. So it sort of became like a home to us, you know? So, yeah, that was so fun. We actually ate the food at one point.

Dylan   :   I was stealing– I was stealing candy all the time.

Ed   :   It was poisoned.

Kerris   :   We were eating. We were dancing.

Dylan   :   It was poisoned too.

Ed   :   It was fake.

Dylan   :   It was plastic candy.

Kerris   :   But it wasn’t real. But it was so good.

Q   :   How many takes actually did it take to film those parties? Or you did it just in your own with one swing and everybody was happy, you know, with what they got?

Ed   :   It took a lot of dancing, a lot of barbequing.

Dylan   :   There was three– wasn’t the part– didn’t the party take three days?

Kerris   :   Yeah, we were at a set out in Newhall for two weeks, and then we did the party, , like three consecutive nights. So cause there were so many things to cover. There were like, you know, his shots and all of–

Ed   :   There was dancing, barbecuing, DJ’ing.

Dylan   :   Except the animals–

Kerris   :   Thunder from Down Under. The animals– yeah, yeah, I don’t know if you’ve  heard of them. So yeah, it took a lot of coverage and a lot of days to do. But it was actually fun. Like it sounds like it would be–

Ed   :   It didn’t even feel like we were working.

Kerris   :   Yeah, we had a party. We were all just dancing, and there’s one shot that we laughed over every time because it’s like– it’s on Jen and Steve. You can see past us. I don’t know what we’re doing. We’re just like dancing the whole time. It’s like so awkward. But I mean hopefully no one notices it.

Dylan   :   Now they will.

Kerris   :   Now you will.

Dylan   :   Yeah, and  then it goes directly on us.

Kerris   :   On us. It focuses on us. We’re just like, ok, cool, this is happening.

Q   :   So a lot in your role in the film, you were sick. I just wondered if you had any good tips for us in case we wanted to take a sick day.

Kerris   :    I feel like if I ever get like sick and sound sick my parents are gonna be like, no, mm-mm, we know your tricks. It’s all about the voice I’ve found. So it’s like you really have to sort of like– it’s more like nasally. So it’s like back in your throat and then in your nose. So anything like– M’s have to be B-sounding. So it’s just sort of like, I don’t know, I just watched a lot of– like I’m not gonna talk like that for the whole time.  I just watched a lot of like You Tube videos of people talking when they’re sick.

Ed   :   How to talk sick.

Kerris   :   Yeah, no, just like people when they’re sick. People post videos of themselves in any, you know, capacity. So there are literally people like, hey, I’m sick today. You know, and you just listen to it. So yeah, I– it’s all about the voice. And then real– like really heavily lidded eyes and then maybe like eyeliner or something underneath your eye or something like that.

Dylan   :   Can you believe her sick voice, though? Like, every day on set I was like how are you doing this?

Kerris   :   I would go home, and I would be like, hey, Just hey, so, my sister, I’d be like, hey, Justine. She’s like what’s wrong with your voice? It’s like, oh, recalibrating–  go back to normal.

Ed   :   it never faltered. It was always the uhhhh!

Q   :   Ed, what about you? Learning an English accent, so how was that for you?

Ed   :   An American?

Q   :   I’m sorry American accent.

Ed   :   That was pretty– it was pretty hard. But also kind of easy at the same time ’cause  I was brought up on American film. Because there’s a lot of American TV, a lot of American film in Australia. So it’s not like it’s a completely different accent that I’m kind of thinking, well, it’s American.  I knew what it was. But it was a little rough around the edges. Actually, it was really bad. So– so I had training.  I learned all the little tips and tricks on just to sound authentic.

Kerris   :   Sometimes I would forget that you were Australian. Well, I mean I knew, but like ’cause I forget that when I’m talking to him now like after we were filming it was just like, oh, that’s your– your real voice. You have an Australian accent ’cause it was so good. It was so impeccable.

Q   :   Have any of you experienced anything similar to what, you know, happened to you in the film either in high school proms or driver’s training? Anything like that?

Dylan   :   Well, Kerris has yet to do her driver’s test. So maybe– so maybe–

Ed   :   Well, don’t jinx it.

Kerris   :   Well, oh, shut up.

Dylan   :   No,- I actually–  I aced my driver’s test luckily. What else happens to me? I’ve never knocked a trophy case over.

Kerris   :   I feel like we exorcized it all out of our systems when we filmed it because we just got out– we’re like, well, this can never happen to us in real life ’cause we just did it. So that’s nice.

Ed   :  If it does happen we’re preparing

Kerris   :   Yeah, and you’re right. We know how to react. We know  how to sort of adapt to it. Yeah, I mean I have like, you know, those days where you wake up. And you’re sick. And then everything falls down in front of you, and you trip over things. It’s– those days happen to me all the time. Yeah.

Dylan   :   All the time.

Q   :   What was the hardest scene for each of you to keep your composure in?

Kerris   :   The car scene.

Ed   :   Yeah, there was one scene during the car that was completely improvised. And we’d get– the director just said– ’cause I would walk around set going brr-brr-brr, just making the stupid noises. Miguel, the director said, I just want all of you to do it. It was kind of what? So we all did it. Steve started doing it. You can see in the background everyone’s laughing. Like there was blood in our faces ’cause we’re moving our shoulders like that. But when– it’s so hard to keep a straight face.

Kerris   :   That was so– like I don’t even know– like Steve’s instrument that he was like– he was like ya-ya-ya-ya-ya.

Ed   :   And he’s like going.

Kerris   :   Yeah. Like I was playing the trumpet. And Ed was just like, I don’t even know.

Ed   :   I don’t know either.

Kerris   :   No, it was amazing. I just don’t remember.

Dylan   :   I’m the only one that didn’t have to do anything in that scene.

Kerris   :   Yeah, but you had to keep a straight face though kind of. So, yeah, that was all the car scenes ’cause we were in such close quarters. I think we got kind of loopy at one point.

Ed   :   Yeah, yeah.

Dylan   :   Also the scene outside the– the van at the DMV when we were all yelling at each other.

Kerris   :   Oh my God, yes, that was so–

Ed   :   Ohhhhhh.

Dylan   :   That was–

Kerris   :   When we had to ice–

Ed   :   We spent a whole day filming there.

You can tell during this part of the interview they were so excited that they kept interrupting one another which just showed you 1) they are like excited kids in a rush to tell their part.

Kerris   :   We had to isolate it so that,  you could hear the sound of everyone– so we didn’t have to like go back in post and do it. So Dylan would do his part. We would all have to like mime talking. Then when Steve did his part, literally, I could not– you had to be normal and like yelling at him.

Dylan   :   Well, he was like yelling at me like  about crashing the van, improvising. I’m off camera. I’m just– feel so bad ’cause I’m near tears on the ground laughing. He’s still yelling at me on camera not breaking character. It was just– that was so difficult.

Kerris   :   Oh my God. I just wanted them to like never call cut so we could just keep going. It would’ve been funny for like two more hours if– at the least.

Dylan   :   Also the scenes with Jennifer Coolidge (driving test instructor).  I couldn’t keep my cool like that.

Ed   :   Yeah.

Kerris   :   I can’t imagine.

Dylan   :   That was– that was an unintended pun, but,  yeah.

Kerris   :   I just got it. Ok.

Dylan   :   Yeah.

Ed   :   Next question!

Q   :   Best Worst Day Ever. And you perform it yourself.  I felt, you know what, I felt there was so much emotion and feeling. I didn’t really think that, good emotion,  from the movie,  to write the song. What did it take you? Did you write it like that all the whim?

Kerris   :   Well, Miguel actually called both of us and said he knows that we’re both musicians. So he called– I think he probably called you first. Then he called me, and he said, you know, I would love it if you wanted to write a song for the movie. My sister’s a singer/songwriter. She’s so talented. So I asked her if she wanted to write it with me. Then we had like a short window that we could do it, that we could fit it in. So we were like fingers crossed. Let’s see. We watched the trailer sort of for inspiration. Obviously I knew what happened in the movie.

We sort of tried to capture the essence of  Disney and  the worst day sort of turning out to be the best day. You know, it all came together in a way that it’s in the end credits. So we were really happy.

Q   :   I think it was the highlight. I didn’t want to leave. 

Kerris   :   Oh, thank you.

Ed   :   Can I say– we have a second that, you know, Dylan’s band has a song in the film.

Kerris   :   They’re call the Narwhals.
Q   :   That’s what it is. You know, the soundtrack is absolutely the top. 

Ed   :   Yeah, I know. I’ve even got a– no, I don’t.

Kerris   :   No, I pre-ordered it. It’s just that the whole time.

Ed   :   For three hours.

Kerris   :   And Dylan’s band is amazing. They have– like montages they played one of his songs.

Ed   :   Halfway through, it’s when we’re kind of turning the day around. And the song’s perfect.

Kerris   :   Yeah, it’s called Surf, Surf, Don’t Drown.

Dylan   :   Aw, thanks. Hey, they just said it. They said it all for me.

Kerris   :   And check out  his band. It’s amazing.

Ed   :   Yeah, the Narwhals.

Kerris   :   The Narwhals.

Dylan   :   The Narwhals.

Kerris   :   N-A-R-W-H-A-L-S.

Dylan   :   I don’t even need to talk.

Ed   :   They’re amazing! They’re amazing!

Kerris   :   We’re his publicists.

Dylan   :   I’ve trained them to talk about the band.

Ed   :   He’s paying us–

Kerris   :   We’re his PR.

Q   :   Steve said you guys wrote a song for him that made him a bit emotional. So what can you tell us about that?

Ed   :   That was the genius minds of Kerris and Justine Dorsey. Because all the way during the set we had this on the party, we always had the song Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil. Is that it? I should know. I’m an Aussie.

Kerris   :  You’re the Aussie.

Ed   :   We always had that. So that was always in our heads. So the song was to the tune of that. But it was all about working with him and all about his character. And it was really cool. We all sang it. And, yeah, he did get really emotional. It was really nice.

Dylan   :   He got emotional.

Kerris   :  Yeah, it was one of the most special moments ever ’cause–

Ed   :   I have to say, yeah, it was really sad, though. You know, because it was his last day. It was near the end. And it was all kind of-

Kerris   :  Yeah, it was very emotional. The whole crew was there on the set. You know, we got to like sing it together. We had the lyrics and everything. They had a little speaker that they let us use to play the song. It was such a like special moment.

Ed   :   That was a really special moment.

Dylan   :   It was amazing.

Ed   :   Yeah.

Kerris   :  Always makes me happy.

Q   :   Were you all familiar with the book? The story and the book before you started making the movie before you got involved with the project? Had you read it as kids?

Kerris   :   I read it as a kid. My mom read it to me and my sister.  I grew up with it and loved it.

Dylan   :   I actually didn’t grow up– it’s funny. Like it was one of the books I didn’t read get that read to me when I was younger. But I’m very glad to be a part of it now and bringing it back to people’s attention. But, no, I didn’t.

Ed   :   I was familiar with it.  I never had it read to me like Dylan said. But I knew what it was. That’s the book with the stupid title. The Alexander– [MUMBLES] and I still call it that today.

Kerris   :   The Alexander then dot-dot-dot.

Dylan   :   Ed Oxenbould from Alexander

Ed   :   It’s what I do.

Kerris   :   Well, at a certain point, it’s a lot. Like every person I’ve been like, so, you know, what do you have next? They’re like what’s that movie you’re in? I’m like, ok, get ready….

Ed   :   Alexander the no bad good. And then if you go terrible, horrible, no good, good day.

Dylan   :   For me, I could never finish the title. They’ll say like, oh, you’re in, what’s the name of your movie? I’m like, no– I’ll just be like Alexander the– they– oh, right, right, right.

Kerris   :   Nobody– you’re so lucky.

Ed   :   Stop yourself now. That’s fine.

Kerris   :   Nobody ever cuts me off. I want people to cut me off so I..

Dylan   :   They always cut me off.

Kerris   :   I never get cut off. And like you– no?

Ed   :   Neither do I.

Kerris   :   You don’t want to help me out here? No? Anybody?

Dylan   :   But then when they don’t cut me off and I’m done saying the title they just go–

Kerris   :   Yes, yeah.

Dylan   :   Ok?

Kerris   :   It’s a long title.

Dylan   :   But I don’t think we’ll ever be in a ten-word, 18 syllable title movie again.

Kerris   :   No. Harry Potter and the–

Dylan   :   Oh, true, true.

Dylan   :   Very bad day again.

Kerris   :   Part two.

Q   :   What was your take away personally for each and every one of you from this movie working with fabulous cast and the director?

Kerris   :   This was our take away.

Ed   :   This friendship.

Dylan   :   Aw!

Ed   :   Yeah.

Dylan   :   Get out. No, really, though, I mean I– it’s– honestly,  that’s true because I can’t– now that we’ve done this, I can’t imagine not doing it because we have become such good friends that I literally can’t imagine not having the experiences that we’ve had after filming. Like it’s such a strange thought that we all just happ– it was kinda like fate. It’s kinda weird to say. But it really was fate because we– we’re really close.

Kerris   :   It’s cool to have a movie that, you know, you are proud of and you enjoyed making. Then literally to walk away and go I’m like– my life would be completely different if I hadn’t done that movie ’cause I wouldn’t have met the people I met and had the experiences that I have. So, yeah, we’re– it’s very dear to our hearts I think.

Dylan   :   Definitely.

Q   :   How was it working with Bella?

Dylan   :   Great, and she–I think that, you know,  there’s so many ways of every– there’s a lot of– ok, it seems the kind of character that a lot of people can play in the same way.  I think that Bella does it perfectly in a way that she also does it in her own way. So Celia’s very hatable. At the same time there’s a part of you that like–

Kerris   :   You understand her. Yeah.

Dylan   :   Sort of– you understand what she’s saying. It’s interesting how she did it ’cause she also is not like completely mean all the time. She’s also kind of cool and kind of like careless. She’s like Willy Wonka like or–

Ed   :   Like she’s trying to get her point across and–

Dylan   :   Like what are you wearing? Or– or just like whatever. What she does is so perfect.

Kerris   :   I really liked– personally I liked that she wasn’t like a super prissy mean girl because that’s so, you know, over done.

Ed   :   It’s very cliché.

Kerris   :   And she’s so like just normal and straight, I feel like relatable in that way. It is something that’s really– prom is so important to her. You know, her social standing is so important to her character. So it’s like, you kinda get where she’s coming from, you know? She wants her  day to go perfect.  Alexander and Emily and everybody wants their day to go perfect. So I feel for Celia. I feel bad for her.

Dylan   :   She just doesn’t go bad in the right way, her character. But Bella does it really well.

Q   :   We can tell the camaraderie you guys have.

Kerris   :   It’s all fake.

Dylan   :   Just for today.

Ed   :   Yeah, just for today.

Q   :   No, I’m just wondering is this like one of your favorite projects that you guys have worked on?

Ed   :   This is the best project I’ve worked on.

Dylan   :   It goes without saying that this is  life changing. I mean it’s–  the experiences that we’re all gonna have together throughout life now just because of this; I’m gonna always be able to watch this movie and– and think that this was such a great time in my life that I’ll never regret doing it ever. So it’s really special. The premiere night’s gonna be great.

Kerris   :   It’s gonna be so fun.

Dylan   :   Having it– seeing it in theatres with people is gonna be great.

Ed   :   Yeah, I can’t wait just to see it in front of the real audience.

Q   :   We were able to sit with a bunch of people that weren’t just bloggers or press last night. The response was wonderful

Dylan   :   Oh, great.

Kerris   :   Yay!

Ed   :   That’s great. That’s really good to hear.

Q   :   The audience was very engaged, very few if any bathroom breaks, even for very young kids.

Kerris   :   That’s so cool. Thank– thank you for telling us that.

Dylan   :   That’s really awesome.

Q   :   It’ll  be really great for you guys to see it.

Dylan   :   Oh, I can’t wait.

Kerris   :   Yeah, I’m excited.

Dylan   :   Even I saw the trailer, I saw the trailer in a movie theatre. They showed it and the theatre was packed. Everybody was laughing at the trailer. I was like, wow, this is good.

Q   :   My question’s for Kerris. How was the scene where you performed after the  cough syrup–?

Kerris   :   It was really fun. When I was doing the audition process and I read the script. I was like I can’t wait for this day. I kept asking  everybody when am I filming it? When am I filming it? They would say  it’ll be the last day. So my last day on set– both of our last day was,  I got to do the flying scene. It was so much fun ’cause it was like, it was a life goal  to play Peter Pan. And, um, you know, I’ve always wanted to play Peter Pan. And I grew up with the Cathy Rigby, um, DVD of Peter Pan. And so, um, so, yeah, it was just– it was so fun. And like to do a twist on Peter Pan, which was that I’m just intoxicated with cough syrup, which I don’t think I ever picked–

Ed   :   Her own weird drugs– drug twist on Peter Pan.

Kerris   :   Yeah, it’s Peter Pan like you’ve never seen her before.

Ed   :   And you probably don’t want to see her.

Kerris   :   You’ll never see her again and don’t want to. No, but it was so much fun. I really loved being the harness, and I really like how it turned out.

Ed   :   I was there watching it. I wasn’t even called for set.  I was just there watching it. It was hilarious.

Kerris   :   Laughing probably.

Ed   :   Everyone was laughing. Yeah.

Kerris   :   It was really fun. It was a good day.

Q   :   I liked when you were like throwing the pixie dust. 

Kerris   :   Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was actually pixie dust in my pocket one time.  I didn’t know it. No one told me.

Ed   :   That was real pixie dust, by the way.

Kerris   :   Yeah, it was– like actually. We– I didn’t know that there was pixie dust in my pocket. And I was like talking to you or something. I was talking to somebody. And I was laughing hysterically.

Ed   :   She just pulled it out like it was glitter.

Kerris   :   All of a sudden like glitter was littering everywhere until he was like, Kerris, what are you– and I was like oh my God!

Ed   :   You’re leaking glitter.

Kerris   :   Just like spewing glitter. It’s like a gift for everyone.

So now you have a glimpse of what it was like interviewing them.  For being kids, they were so much fun, and writing this brought me right back in that room we were in while interviewing them.

I applaud their acting in this movie. If you don’t go to any other movie this year—this is the one to not miss!