Beastly
Director Q&A: Daniel Barnes
Meeting with Daniel Barnes
I had an opportunity to meet with the director of the movie Beastly. We asked questions, and we now have our answers.
Main Cast
Kyle (Hunter/Adrian) Played by: Alex Pettyfer
Kyle, also known as the beast, and a good looking guy.
Kendra Played by: Mary- Kate Olson
Known as the evil witch who turned Kyle into the beast for his actions.
Lindy Played by: Vanessa Hudgens
The shy, and quiet girl who is destined to fall in love with Kyle.
Questions
Question#1: In the book Kyle changes his name to Adrian, but in the movie he changes it to Hunter. what this meant to be a minor or major detail?
A= It was meant to be minor. The author and I both agreed that Hunter fit well with the circumstances of trying to increase the factor of difference from the book and movie.
Question #2: There are a lot of differences in the movie. Why did you make those decisions? Were they based off of promotional ideas, or an act of inspiration?
A=Most of the time the decisions are made upon: "How much money can we make with this scene?" That is most of the time, not all of the time. I, however, made my decisions based upon the book. Sounds like some ridiculous excuse, but I do. Books are meant for creating your own thoughts and imaginations. If I were to keep everything the same, book to movie, there would be no interest. You read and create your own ideas. You wouldn't want to watch something you just read and think, "hey, it is everything I thought it would be." There is no point. So, in order to keep balance of same and different, there has to be minor and major changes.
Question #3: Hairy, and claws Kyle or Tattooed, bald Kyle, what inspired the change?
A= The answer to that is slightly unknown. My thinking is we changed it because most "monsters" these days are hairy, or have sharp teeth, we are trying to drift from that same old teenage mind. So, we switched his looks to something that has never been touched on before.
Question #4: In the book, they attend the "snow alps" if you will, but in the movie they go to the lake house. Was making the snow time consuming?
A=It definitely is a time consuming project to make all that snow, and to produce his flashback with his father. In order to create that flashback, we would have to hire a child character. Which means losing more money that we could just put into the lake house.
Question #5: Lindy's father offers to give her up in the book to get his "personal items" back. Why did you want to change how she arrives?
A=She arrives by force either way, due to her father can't care for her. I decided to switch it because, I didn't want younger viewers to see the worse in the film, and we also needed to keep the rating in PG- to PG-13. Adding terrible things like his drug usage would most likely be too much for younger viewers. And we want to connect with all ages. Although, for the most part she arrives and leaves under the same issue, her father.
Question #6: Do you think Brooklyn, NY was a good setting for most of the book and movie?
A= Yes, because he revolves his world around the twinkling lights of New York. He always is looking outside, and dreaming to be normal again. He wrote his letter to Lindy, while looking outside. That is his life.
Question #7 Ida's dress takes a big part in the book, why not in the movie?
A= Ida's dress would have been beautiful, but that means to create the full affect you would need a flashback from the 30's or some time like that. And that means, characters, scene, dress, time, and this all costs money, which we were short on by the last scene. It would have been great. But there was too much we could have done in the time and money we had. Basically, time and money is a large portion of the movie industry.
Question #8: If you could change anything else, after everything you shot, what would you change?
A= I would change the way Sloane and Kyle's friends treat everyone and how they treat themselves. They think they are God's finest creation, but really their souls are black and cold because they have hurt many people. The only people they are really hurting, are themselves. They are not God's fine creation at hand.
"Heaven" The Fire Theft with lyrics.