#newsies interview

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Newsies Interview with Christian Bale for Seventeen Magazine, 1992

(transcript under the cut)

---

Cristian Bale lumbers into a conference room on a rainy Saturday morning. He plops down in a chair, yawns, and wipes sleep from his eyes. Dressed in black jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers, he apologizes for being late. "I'm just getting over the flu and I'm still jet-lagged," he explains, "so I'm moving a little slowly."

But the six-foot-two British-born actor, best known for his film debut as a young schoolboy in Steven Spielberg's epic Empire of the Sun and more recently for Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, need not apologize. For the past few weeks, he's been flying round and round from L.A. to London to Prague and back again.

"I've been doing reshoots for Newsies here, doing preproduction work on a new film, Swing Kids, in Prague, and visiting my mom, sister, and girlfriend in England. And I don't even like to fly!" he says with a slight shudder. "Before I came here, I flew on a plane that sounded like it had a window open the whole time."

When Bale heard about Newsies, a live-action musical recounting the tale of the New York newsboys' strike of 1899, he claims he had no interest in auditioning for the project. "I'd never sung or danced, and I didn't think I could do a musical," he says. "I read for the film in England, and then Disney flew me to Los Angeles for a screen test. But before I signed the contract, I meet with the director [Kenny Ortega] and told him I wasn't comfortable with the dancing and singing and I didn't want to be a bloody Artful Dodger in a remake of Oliver!, jumping down the street with a big smile on my face. But he told me it wouldn't be like that, and then he lied to me about all of these different actors who had done musicals, like Al Pacino."

After he was cast as Jack Kelly, the head Newsie, Bale joined the rest of the films actors and dancers in two months of "Newsies school." He studied singing, dancing, speaking with a Brooklyn accent (circa 1899), gymnastics, and karate. "We had a kung fu master," he recalls with a laugh. "Thirty of us would be standing in a room doing something like t'ai chi to this humming music. It's very relaxing, but when you see yourself in a mirror, it's really funny.

"Filming Newsies was a blast," he says. "By the time the cameras started rolling, we were so prepared we were ready for anything. The blend of technically great dancers and actors with great characterizations made it all work perfectly." And what about his Oliver! fear? "Sure, we're singing and dancing in the streets," he says, "but we don't always have smiles on our faces."

Immediately upon finishing Newsies, Bale flew up to Prague to begin Swing Kids, which costars Robert Sean Leonard and Frank Whaley. "It's set in 1930s Hamburg, Germany," the eighteen-year-old explains. "There was quite a big culture then among teenagers who liked to dress in zoot suits and go to swing clubs. The story is about three friends from different backgrounds who love swing music. I play the bad seed."

In between movies, Bale tries to squeeze in time with his family and girlfriend. "I've been going with the same girl for three years," he says shyly. "But she's going to a university in England and I'm relocating to Los Angeles, where my father lives. If I had nothing to do with the film industry, I'd stay in England, but Bournemouth [the city where he's lived for the past five years] isn't exactly the film capital of the world."

If he never made another movie, however, Bale says he wouldn't mind a noncelebrity life. "I love making movies," he concludes, "but I also love my privacy. If it all ended tomorrow, I'd just live by the sea and be perfectly happy."

[teenytinysandwiches]

Jeremy Jordan on how he has to de-Jackify his actor voice.

I went through a lot of different spellings of de-Jackify.

[krakenshipwreck]

The NHL has asked me to do stuff for them, whether that be social media, or interviews, or little promo things here and there, and I've always been willing to do it. And I kinda have been like their flag-bearer a little bit, like the token gay that they're kind of using to show that hockey is for everyone even though they're doing stuff on the outside that's completely opposite. So it felt like a stab in the back, a little bit, from them.

--Luke Prokop on the NHL's pride tape ban (starting at ~27:00)

[upside-down-sock-drawer]

I think Jack and David should have kissed, and my feeling about that is... how do you know they didn't?

[jilllovesmike]

Mmmmmmm

[trashpidgeon48]

One of my fanfic philosophies is that I often go to fanfiction for couples with issues or tension and via fic that either worsens or gets cured. If a show has a cute wholesome couple in canon I am less likely to read fic for that couple because I have all that I desire for them in canon. There’s not much spice to work with, you hand me a couple with issues up the wazoo, I’ll read so much fic that makes them better or worse.

[christianbalefanatic]

Christian Bale On Set Interview on Newsies (1992)

Re: Christian Bale as Jack Kelly in Newsies (1992) dir. Kenny Ortega

[crowley1990]

I hate where there’s specific tags for different versions or productions of something and people just use all the tags for their generic post that isn’t related to specific versions. Shut the fuck up I’m not following the tag for your dumb non version specific posts.

[screen1ne]

Watch Newsies Interview With Moya Angela and Sam Bailey

Watch the Screen One Interview with Disney's Newsies cast members Moya Angela And Samuel Bailey. #Newsies #Disney #Musical #Theatre #MoyaAngela #SamBailey @MoyaAngela @SamuelJB26 @newsies_uk

Screen One Interview ��� Disney’s Newsies cast members Moya Angela & Sam Bailey In this edition of the Screen One Interview we chat with Moya Angela and Sam Bailey two of the cast of the hit Disney Musical Newsies, now playing at Wembley Troubadour Theatre. We talk about the show itself, the music and dancing involved, what it’s like day-to-day and much more. Based on a true story, NEWSIES is set…

[spideyhexx]

why js there a newsies to tbosas pipeline

idk😔

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Boots Lore!

TEEN BEAT: Tell us about your Newsies character, Boots. ARVIE LOWE, JR.: His name is Benjamin Arvis. TEEN BEAT: How'd he get his nickname Boots? ARVIE: He used to shine shoes when his mom was still with him. When his mom passed away, he couldn't make it because shining shoes didn't pay well. So, Jack Kelly (Christian Bale's character) asked if my character wanted to sell papers too. But since my character loves shoes, they call him Boots.

[Arvie Lowe Jr. - Interview by Teen Beat]

[teenytinysandwiches]

Jeremy Jordan answering fan questions. ↳ Is that you on the Newsies poster?

[itslacroixsweetiedarling]

Gonna finally use all that time in school for something, a fan edit of a show I like

[ftm-megamind]

did they date though?? in an interview with the Seventeen magazine (may 1992), cbale mentioned having dated the same girl (back in england) for three years, and the article which op's quote comes from (insider) it is said that they've broken up while newsies was still being filmed. which obviously means the two interviews don't add up

Christian and I dated during the movie. We did. We were babies and it's so sweet. You have to remember I was 19, he was 17, so we were babies. It was one of our first relationships that we'd ever had, you know?

~Ele Keats

[dcdreamblog]

Watched a clip of an interview with Ted "Wildcat" Grant, and he mentioned the he once "swam two miles with three bullets in his lung", and it hit me. Man was not just a professional boxer, but for years was the reigning *Heavyweight Champion of the World*. How'd he hide or explain away the inevitable physical result of spending every night fighting heavily armed gangsters, spies, saboteurs and supervillains with his bare hands, when he was routinely walking into a ring with no shirt on in front of huge crowds, getting inspected by refs and whatever you call the guys who take care of fighter's injuries, having his photo taken, etc.?

You just answered your own question. He was Heavyweight Champion of the World. He always came in at weight before the fight and he played it clean as a whistle in the ring. Were YOU gonna question him in front of the crowd, or where a sports reporter might hear you?

(The famous photo of Grant's final victory against Cassius Clay before professional retirement, Las Vegas)

Beyond that, Ted Grant's personal life was (assumed to be) a known quantity. He was a roughneck from a harsh part of Gotham and he retained a strong sense of "street principles". Even out of his uniform he was often seen getting into fights with catcallers, deadbeats and anyone else who offended his sense of decency on the street. More than once he came upon a man striking his wife or child and beat said man into a hospital bed in broad daylight.

If you were the ref, or the reporters, any new scar or bruise that couldn't be explained as the price of his living COULD be explained away as Ted Grant being Ted Grant even away from the camera. I am going to list for you actual things Ted Grant did, in his civvies, during his period of active sportsmanship. Not one of these is a lie.

He got so offended at a beat cop shaking down newsies for protection money that he started a fight. He fought said cop, his partner and 4 other beat cops who joined in. And won.

He saw an off duty sailor, who had half a head of height on Grant, refuse to leave two women alone. He put the sailor's head through a table and scared off half a dozen other service men just by telling them who he was.

He crashed through the front window of a hotel lobby because he was trying to strangle a reporter who called him a "Nip Lover" for speaking out against Japanese internment.

AND, my personal favorite

He walked past a bar known to be a hang out for the local Klan chapter. Heard one of them on the bar's porch call him a "White Man's inspiration", walked directly up to the bar, split the oak door off its hinges with one punch and thrashed all 29 men inside walking away with only a black eye and bruises from his right shoulder to elbow where one of them broke a METAL BAR STOOL across it. He then made a habit of bringing black friends and ring staff to said bar, daring anyone to make a fight out of it (which they often did, to repeated results) until the bar shut down. Where he then used the pot from his next fight to buy the land and donate it to the NAACP. If you've ever been to the Grant Rec Center that does after school for the north end of The Narrows in Gotham, now you know why its called that.

No one questioned Grant showing up with a shiner and a crooked tooth, they just contented themselves with the knowledge the the other guy A. deserved it and B. got it worse.

[chrisgotitall]

can we have the moments where Mike Faist and actress!Reader have a fun friendship during their promotion of the new movie drama, thriller, literary human psychology as D. Fincher movies, their characters have an intriguing and complex love interest (he plays an ambitious, manipulative, intelligent main character and she plays an independent, passionate, sweet character)

Several clip interviews, Q&A with the rest of the cast, preview, defined their relationship, as if the fans ship them because of what they say to each other or others about their chemistry on set or their actions moves towards each other (like mike and reader as friendship goal, teasing each other for 4min, being a old married couple, chaotic moment...) and audience reaction. :)

R and Mike connected instantly, from the very few days on set. They developed a strong bond, a tight friendship throughout their work experience. And of course, like it happens for every couple of male and female actors in this industry, they were being shipped all over the internet.

The amount of clip compilations all over the internet was enormous both complementing their friendship and their alleged romance.

Reader and Mike being cute for 5 minutes

There was a clip of her passing behind him on the red carpet while he was doing an interview. He sees her and says “Hello” smiling at her. She says “Hello” imitating his tone and casually touching his shoulder while passing to reach her interviewer.

Another clip showed the two of them literally mirroring each other and then noticing the action and laughing it off. Oh, and if that wasn’t cute enough she touched his leg while laughing.

They went on Agree to Disagree together and let’s just say that the amount of eye contact they held up to each other was crazy.

The question was: “I am the best karaoke singer on the team”

Mike scoffed and put the glass of water on “strongly disagree” while Reader put it on “disagree”.

“If you’re there I’m definitely not the strongest singer at all,” he says.

“Oh shut it, Jake Kelly” she responds, referring to his role of understudy in Newsies.

Another clip showed Mike casually removing a hair from the sleeve of her sweater.

“What’s the best thing about playing your characters?” they got asked in an interview.

Mike said: “I mean my character is not really a nice person. But I think the best thing is really that, you know, like getting to study how his mind works and why he’s doing specific things. He’s manipulative and mean which is not easy to be when there’s R working with you…” he answers.

She chuckles, “You did great tho, you delivered amazingly” she says.

“Thank you, thank you”

R and Mike Faist being a married couple for 7 minutes

“When you’re in the room when she does what she does it genuinely changes the air in the room and everyone is completely stunned by what she does” he said in an interview while she was next to him shaking her head no.

“Not because I have to say something nice back but really watching Mike Faist performing in front of you leaves you astonished. He’s such a deep feeler, first of all as a human, and that helps him amazingly with his acting. He’s brilliant” she says back.

There were a few clips on set. One when they laugh when he messes up his line and another one when she adjusts a piece of his hair from his face.

But the cutest and fan favorite is the clip where Mike defends R after some sexist comments about her clothing in the movie.

The comment sections of course were crazy as well.

“OMG they’re the cutest”

“Honestly I’m a little jealous but they’re so freaking cute together”

“Notice how Mike is always the quietest in interviews but when he’s with her he’s constantly participating”

“Uhm… why is no one talking about her hand placement in the first clip”

-”Also him clearing his throat before continuing speaking after she touched him”

“The other cast members are just existing while they’re blatantly flirting with each other”

“Their chemistry in the movie was palpable and after this it’s obvious why”

“Am I the only one that heard him call her “darling” while thanking her after she complimented his acting?”

-”NOOO, I heard it too, oh my god they’re so cute”

“He just looks so at ease with her”

“There’s no way they’re just friends, come on”

-”Absolutely not. All that touching seems done before”

“Their compliments to each other are adorable, there’s so much estimation between these two”

“The way he stood up for her after those horrid comments. Mike Faist, the man you are”

“He looks at her so lovingly, I’m gonna cry”

“That should be me but that’s also my queen, so it’s fine”

“GIIIIIRL, she’s down bad”

“He would be one of the best looking guys she’s ever been with”

“They honestly fit each other soo well”

Of course they never dared to admit or confirm a romance but a picture of him at the opening night of one of her broadway shows started a fire of rumors that wasn’t so easy to extinguish.