John Krasinski,
best known to American audiences as Jim Halpert on the hit television show The Office. In Universal’ Pictures ‘Big Mircle he
plays Adam Carlson a television reporter
who lived in the city at that time, but as an amalgam of small-town news people
who served to tell the human elements of the story.
John Krasinski |
Even
though signing on would mean multiple trips between the set of his television
series and Anchorage, Krasinski believed it was worth it to work again with director
Ken Kwapis. The filmmaker had directed
him in License to Wed,
as well as many pivotal episodes of The
Office. “Ken is a phenomenal person,” commends Krasinski. “He did the pilot of our show and many of the
important episodes, including the first time I said ‘I love you’ to Pam. He’s been there emotionally in a lot of
stages of my life as an actor, as well as a person growing up in front of the
camera. He has that rare gift to be not
only in tune with you but also with the whole movie.”
The
producers were pleased to bring him onto the production as a character who
would discover the story and be at the center of the story’s romantic triangle.
When
Barrymore heard that Krasinski was a candidate to play Adam, she advocated
bringing him onto Big Miracle. “I remember calling Ken from the San
Francisco airport,” she says. “I was
screaming down the hallway that I’d do anything to do this movie with him. He was perfect for the role, as he is
wholesome, funny and a good guy, just like Adam. Even though the film is rooted in the
environmental and political aspects of the whale rescue, there is also a love
triangle that had to work among me.”
This is a big change for
you from The Office.
Definitely. For a while
there, Ken Kwapis (director) and I were doing both at the same time. It was pretty wild. For the first month or so
that we were shooting, I was going back and forth from The Office to this. It's awesome and it's so fantastic to have the
opportunity to do a movie like this that has such a beautifully epic
story. It is moving. I was hooked on the
idea of the true story.
When you're reading the script, there are moments where you say to yourself, “Oh, come on! This is so over the top and not real!” Then you find out it's exactly what happened. Especially the story of the Colonel getting married to Kelly. I'm just psyched to be up here. This is my first time being on a big, crazy location.
When you're reading the script, there are moments where you say to yourself, “Oh, come on! This is so over the top and not real!” Then you find out it's exactly what happened. Especially the story of the Colonel getting married to Kelly. I'm just psyched to be up here. This is my first time being on a big, crazy location.
How are you dealing with the cold?
Pretty well. That's my Boston blood in me coming back. It got pretty
diluted in LA. My brothers make fun of me when I go home to Boston and when
it’s around 60 degrees I'm like, “Ooh... It's getting cold.” They think I'm
completely ridiculous but it's finally coming back and I'm starting to get the
feeling in my hands again.
Can you talk about your character?
I play Adam Carlson, a local news reporter. He’s been sent up here to
Barrow, Alaska by the Anchorage news station that he works for to cover several
different stories. He would love to get
back to a major news station elsewhere. Then he happens upon these whales that
are trapped in the ice. Adam is the first person to cover the story and it's
Adam's story that gets picked up by the national news. So, he's the reason
everybody's here. A lot of my scenes
happen once the national news services come to Alaska. Adam is pretty
overwhelmed and trying to get his foot in the door with anyone of these people
that will listen to him. For me, it was
a whole thing about the media frenzy that went on.
Did you get to meet the real Adam Carlson?
Adam is actually a hybrid of a couple of different people. I didn't get
a chance to meet one person because there wasn't really that one person. Drew
Barrymore (plays Rachel) met the person whose character she portrayed, Cindy,
the real Rachel. Cindy is a phenomenal lady and she gave Drew all this great
material to work with.
How did you prepare?
Because my character is a news reporter, I basically looked at all the
news footage that happened at the time. Having read the book, you see that it
did become a huge media frenzy. It's
both incredible and a little ridiculous that so much media power can be focused
on one place, at one time. It's also incredibly inspiring. It gives you the
idea that we could potentially be doing more with where we're focusing the
media these days. That's kind of where I was going with my character.
Can you talk about working with Drew Barrymore?
Drew is phenomenal. She has so much experience and is still so young.
She's had so many experiences and learned so much about the business in such a
short amount of time. Drew is such a pro. She knows exactly what she's doing.
She is prepared and, on top of all that, is able to have fun. Off set, we get
along great. She's fantastic and as the lead of the film, you couldn’t’ have
anyone better. Her spirit as an actor and her deep belief in all her causes are
huge to have on set. And the love story with Drew is really fun. Come on. It's
Drew Barrymore.
Can you talk about your favorite scenes?
So far, one of my favorite scenes is the big emotional climax of the
movie, when the whales start to move. When you read the script, you hope
there's an emotional impact on screen. Those scenes are fun to shoot because
you get to see the weight of the movie actually coming together. When you're
doing a lot of scenes, and they're kind of scattered, it's hard to keep a
barometer of what's going on in the movie. When we did that scene, you realize
what kind of movie it is and it's a really good check in point.
How is it working with director Ken Kwapis?
I have worked with Ken on The
Office. He put me in LICENSE TO WED
and in this film. I think he still to this day is one of the best directors
I've ever worked with. He's incredible with actors and with grasping on to
emotional strengths.
What do you make of the anima-tronic whales?
I was genuinely frightened when I first came to the set. When you first
look at them, you get the sense that you're going to fall into a tank, like if
you go to SeaWorld or the zoo. They're unbelievably realistic. The guys running
them are unreal. They are so incredibly talented, designing these things and
then the way they move them. It's like a video gamers dream come true. They
have these huge joysticks. I'm jealous.
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