Yesterday I had the chance to speak to Jeffery Hornaday, legendary choreographer to Michael Jackson, Madonna, and many more, about his career and his work in the brand new Disney Channel Original Movie, Teen Beach Movie. Check out what he had to say about his time in film, MJ and paying homage to one of his favorite Broadway shows of all time.
You've worked on some legendary films; do you have a favorite on camera production of your career so far?
I liked different ones for different reasons. Flashdance was great because it was my first thing and I was kind of a "virgin", so there's the "first love" kinda thing with that. Another one was the movie called Dick Tracy and I was a gigantic fan of the Warren Beatty, he's the director. He did Reds and I love that movie. The DP was a guy named Vittorio Storaro, so those are two kind of legends that I was honored to work with. Captain EO with Michael Jackson, kind of the same reasons, Francis Ford Coppola directed it and the same DP, Vittorio Storaro.
You've worked on some legendary films; do you have a favorite on camera production of your career so far?
I liked different ones for different reasons. Flashdance was great because it was my first thing and I was kind of a "virgin", so there's the "first love" kinda thing with that. Another one was the movie called Dick Tracy and I was a gigantic fan of the Warren Beatty, he's the director. He did Reds and I love that movie. The DP was a guy named Vittorio Storaro, so those are two kind of legends that I was honored to work with. Captain EO with Michael Jackson, kind of the same reasons, Francis Ford Coppola directed it and the same DP, Vittorio Storaro.
What are the differences between choreographing a live show versus choreographing a film production?
Well the concert projects I've worked on I directed and choreographed them, so the nature of being able to handle the entire project if much different than being responsible for one department on a feature film. So it's the all inclusive aspect of working on a concert tour that's much more emotion in every detail. Working with an artist, on a feature film you really have to get under the skin of a story, and a scene is very specific to that, whereas working with an artist on a concert tour, it's much more free-flowing in terms of what you can do conceptually.
What is most difficult production you've worked on?
When I worked with Michael Jackson, usually as a choreographer, especially on films, you do your preproduction work - you devise what you want to do, you stage it, you light it out, you work with your assistant and kind of devise it very specifically - then have meetings with the talent and give them the work you pre-produced. Whereas with Michael there's a whole different kind of approach, because he's so specific and unique in his style, and it wasn't like he was a trained Broadway dancer or company dancer, he was more improvisational. So I couldn't come at working with him the same way as a movie.
The solution we found, rather than imposing on him pre-planned material, we got in a studio together and did a lot of improvising with music going and dancing spontaneously. We video-taped those improvisational sessions and I'd take those tapes home and study them. And out of what he did organically, devise a choreographed vernacular, which was the language I used to create the choreography from. So that everything I devised would be coming from what he developed naturally. So that was a tough challenge but we found a good solution I think.
Moving on to Teen Beach Movie, did you have a favorite cast member to work with?
I'll tell you, the four principles, part of the dream come true, when we first started casting, the priority was to find actors that could really create the characters, and we put the scene, the ending kind of second/third in the hierarchy. We just got lucky that all four of them are really really strong musical theater performers, so one thing I loved was that we didn't have to compromise the music and the choreography, and that was really with all four of them.
As someone who has worked on Broadway to film adaptions in the past, did you appreciate them turning West Side Story in to Wet Side Story?
Personally that was fun for me because I started out as a dancer a long time ago, and the first production I was in was a production of West Side Story. There was one number in the show, and in the movie version, "Cool", and I always loved that number. And there was a number we did in Teen Beach [Movie], called "Cruisin' For a Bruisin'", which had the same kind of tonality to it, so it was fun to make that number in Teen Beach Movie kind of an homage to the production number in West Side Story. So that was really fun.
How did you feel about how the final production turned out?
The thing in the back of your mind, especially with a young demographic, is are they going to be able to connect, especially with that kind of connection, which represents the 60's and is the "old style" of "breaking out into song and dance" musical. So I feel very happy that the audience was willing to go on that ride, especially when they didn't have to directly, the references that are built into the movie. I think the movie is successful in how it connected emotionally with them and the sense of fun kind of brought people on.
Did you enjoy Teen Beach Movie? Let us know on twitter @HitZoneOnline!
Interview by: Gabi
Posted by: Gabi
Well the concert projects I've worked on I directed and choreographed them, so the nature of being able to handle the entire project if much different than being responsible for one department on a feature film. So it's the all inclusive aspect of working on a concert tour that's much more emotion in every detail. Working with an artist, on a feature film you really have to get under the skin of a story, and a scene is very specific to that, whereas working with an artist on a concert tour, it's much more free-flowing in terms of what you can do conceptually.
What is most difficult production you've worked on?
When I worked with Michael Jackson, usually as a choreographer, especially on films, you do your preproduction work - you devise what you want to do, you stage it, you light it out, you work with your assistant and kind of devise it very specifically - then have meetings with the talent and give them the work you pre-produced. Whereas with Michael there's a whole different kind of approach, because he's so specific and unique in his style, and it wasn't like he was a trained Broadway dancer or company dancer, he was more improvisational. So I couldn't come at working with him the same way as a movie.
The solution we found, rather than imposing on him pre-planned material, we got in a studio together and did a lot of improvising with music going and dancing spontaneously. We video-taped those improvisational sessions and I'd take those tapes home and study them. And out of what he did organically, devise a choreographed vernacular, which was the language I used to create the choreography from. So that everything I devised would be coming from what he developed naturally. So that was a tough challenge but we found a good solution I think.
Moving on to Teen Beach Movie, did you have a favorite cast member to work with?
I'll tell you, the four principles, part of the dream come true, when we first started casting, the priority was to find actors that could really create the characters, and we put the scene, the ending kind of second/third in the hierarchy. We just got lucky that all four of them are really really strong musical theater performers, so one thing I loved was that we didn't have to compromise the music and the choreography, and that was really with all four of them.
As someone who has worked on Broadway to film adaptions in the past, did you appreciate them turning West Side Story in to Wet Side Story?
Personally that was fun for me because I started out as a dancer a long time ago, and the first production I was in was a production of West Side Story. There was one number in the show, and in the movie version, "Cool", and I always loved that number. And there was a number we did in Teen Beach [Movie], called "Cruisin' For a Bruisin'", which had the same kind of tonality to it, so it was fun to make that number in Teen Beach Movie kind of an homage to the production number in West Side Story. So that was really fun.
How did you feel about how the final production turned out?
The thing in the back of your mind, especially with a young demographic, is are they going to be able to connect, especially with that kind of connection, which represents the 60's and is the "old style" of "breaking out into song and dance" musical. So I feel very happy that the audience was willing to go on that ride, especially when they didn't have to directly, the references that are built into the movie. I think the movie is successful in how it connected emotionally with them and the sense of fun kind of brought people on.
Did you enjoy Teen Beach Movie? Let us know on twitter @HitZoneOnline!
Interview by: Gabi
Posted by: Gabi
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