Beth Cooper

School Daze

by Lynn B

During her “Heroes” break, young uber-star Hayden Panettiere is in Vancouver shooting the teen-aimed comedy I Love You Beth Cooper (she’s Beth of course) with a roster of talented co-stars and director Chris Columbus (two Harry Potter films). Along with “Flight 29 Down’s” Lauren Storm, ATL and This Christmas star Lauren London, Jack T. Carpenter of Sydney White and newcomer Paul Rust (Semi-Pro), Hayden met with us on a rainy day to chat about the fun the gang is having on set and off (seems all the actors are involved in feisty rounds of the “Rock Band” video game on a regular basis).

Since “Beth Cooper”, based upon the popular novel by Larry Doyle, is set at a high school graduation and the party that follows, we wanted to know how the actors’ personal high school experiences contrasted with their characters’. Where did Hayden, the two Laurens, Jack and Paul stand in their high school cliques? And hey, we asked popular director Chris Columbus as well. We got some very relatable answers….

Hayden plays Beth Cooper: Queen bee of the school, cheerleader and Miss “everything” but she knows high school will probably be the pinnacle of her life. She envies Denis Cooverman, the film’s nerdy lead, for his mind and the future it can bring him. She’s actually not a “mean girl”, just stuck at the top of a pedestal, with no way down.

Hayden: Denis Cooverman sat behind her in almost every class they had together and she has no idea who he is. It’s kind of like those people in high school where you knew who they were but you never had a conversation with them.

AGW: Were you able to have a regular high school experience yourself?

Hayden: I made a lot of sacrifices which is great for me now. I worked really hard but, for being gone as much as I was, I actually had a relatively normal high school life. I homeschooled because, my Freshman year I went over to South Africa and did a film there [Stripes] and lived there for about six months so I finished my Freshman year there. Obviously, this business is so all over the place that you never know if and when you’re going to work so I just decided to continue to do high school in a homeschooling program but I did it at home where I was raised and with all of my friends so I was still going to high school. I was even in the yearbook. I went to homecoming. I went to prom. I participated in school sports. I just didn’t go to class with them. Really, as much as it was abnormal, it was normal.

AGW: Where was this?

Hayden: It was in New York, a small town, a great place to grow up because it’s so boring. You could not get yourself in trouble. You resort to house parties. We had this fort in the woods near a cliff and it was beautiful, amazing. You would never get that anywhere else. It’s one of those places where, while you’re there you’re going ‘can’t wait to get out of here’ but as soon as you’re gone you’re like ‘ah, I miss it’. Such fond memories of it.

Lauren Storm plays Treece Kilmer: a gorgeous, pleasingly plump hook up queen who can’t stop flirting or making male conquests no matter what the situation. She’s vacuous, dumb, pretty unaware of what’s going on. But she’s the nicest of the girls.

Lauren S: I went to a special school because I was working while I was in high school. We went half days in Hollywood. It had 20 people in the whole school! It was originally meant to be performing arts but it ended up being kids whose parents let them go to this half day school [laughs]. But, it was great. I got a really good education. But, funny thing is, just by a fluke, I ended up being the only girl in the whole school!

AGW: Wow, lots of opportunity to be a little like your character!

Lauren S: Well…I got a boyfriend and all that wonderful stuff. It would be a problem if I didn’t get a boyfriend and I was the only chick in school [she laughs]. I was the only girl that signed up. I didn’t take summer vacation so I finished in like two years. There were probably girls after I left. We didn’t have a prom. It was weird at first but it’s really easy to get along with guys if you’re a chick because chicks fight! I don’t even know how to. I can’t. It was really nice. It became one big group of friends

Lauren London plays Cammy Alcott: Beth’s best friend and fellow cheerleader. She’s prickly, very honest, just tells it like she thinks it is. Cammy thinks she and her galpals are above Denis and friend Jack. Let’s hang out with them because it would be a funny joke.

Lauren L.: I was homeschooled. I didn’t know anybody like these characters. I went to regular high school for one year and then I was homeschooled. And then when I graduated, I graduated with five hundred kids I’d never met before. But, I wouldn’t take it back for the world. I didn’t have a prom, none of that stuff which is fine. I feel like it doesn’t really do anything for you in the long run.

Jack Carpenter plays Rich Munsch: a film geek and Denis’ only real friend. Rich is constantly performing for Denis. He does bad movie star impressions. He thinks he’s really cool but has this tragic past and an unpleasant home life.

Jack: My high school experience was a lot more similar to Denis’s rather than Rich’s. I was in drama club and got all the same sort of insults that Rich gets throughout the movie but I definitely was sort of an outcast in high school. I had a couple of friends but that was about it.

Paul Rust plays Denis Cooverman: a total geek/nerd. He’s the brainy valedictorian, captain of the debate team, a hotbed of anxiety and angst. He’s scared of everything. He’s madly in love with totally unattainable Beth Cooper.

Paul: I was valedictorian of my class like Denis. Denis makes this sort of kiss off speech to the school and I made that same sort of stupid choice! I made a speech that was kind of like a middle finger to the whole school. It was on the radio and my friend taped it and I listened to it like eight months later and totally regretted everything I said. ‘Oh, I’m such an idiot. So full of bravado’. So there’s a parallel there. This is the part of a nerd and I act and look like a nerd so I got the part.

Director Chris Columbus as himself: famous director of both classic and recent films; many of great interest to teens!

Chris: I relate to Denis. [I was] a combination of Denis and Rich Munsch. I was much like Rich in that I knew who directed every film I saw. I was obsessed with film. I was quoting film. So I was that sort of geek. On the Denis side of the coin, I was very shy about talking to girls. I was in love with about ten of them, not just one Beth Cooper. I didn’t go to the prom. I was a complete and utter movie nerd. For me, an exciting time was Saturday night alone at the movies. To me this is the ultimate dream night. Denis says in the film, ‘All my memories of high school are from tonight’. My memories from high school are just me seeing movies and drawing comic books.

The Fox Atomic film will be released next year. We’ll be bringing you more tidbits from the set and the lives of the actors closer to release date!

Photos courtesy of I Love You Beth Cooper.com

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