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The decision to invite British director Peter Chelsom to direct massive Disney franchise Hannah Montana The Movie was inspired, as FOCUS finds out.
With a diverse list of directorial credits to his name, from Hear My Song 18 years ago, to Funny Bones, emotional drama The Mighty and rom-com Serendipity, no-one can doubt Peter Chelsom's versatility.
But still the idea of bringing him on board Hannah Montana The Movie, a big screen transfer for the huge Disney franchise featuring Miley Cyrus, might have seemed a little odd. His taste appears more for quirky material than the prime colours and bubblegum pop music of a phenomenon that has entranced the tweenie generation the world over.
When Chelsom was originally approached he was unfamiliar with Miley Cyrus and her pop star alter ego, but he wasted no time in learning more.
"I didn't know anything about it at all," he admits. "My kids were either in the wrong place or the wrong age, so I knew nothing. But I think it was a big advantage because I went about this film like I would any other.
"I made the decision to do it literally like I would make the decision to do any other movie, which came down to what the people were like, what the script was like, and was it moving in the right direction. And who's the
star? Ten seconds into researching Miley I thought I just have to do this movie."
The movie itself opens up the more studio bound television series. It follows the return home of Miley Stewart (Cyrus) who is a regular schoolgirl by day but a pop superstar when disguised as her alter ego Hannah Montana.
Her dad Robby Ray (played by Miley's real father Billy Ray Cyrus) is concerned that the balance in his daughter's life has been lost, that Hannah is taking over from the more down-to-Earth Miley, so he takes her back to their Tennessee home to rediscover the values she was raised by.
Which is a decent message for any film, yet here it avoids the excess of saccharine it might have possessed in the hands of a director other than Peter Chelsom.
There are some elegant touches to his direction, and a reunion with British character actor Peter Gunn who previously starred in Funny Bones and here plays a journalist with a sleazy gossip rag.
Another aspect of Chelsom’s influence upon the project, which moves it on from its television origins, is a subtle change in Miley's look into something more real.
"One of the things I wanted to do," Chelsom explains, "was create a bigger contrast between how made up she was as Hannah by having her very unmade up as Miley. So when you get to Tennessee and she takes the wig off it's more of a transformation.
Seeing Miley Cyrus, her father and Chelsom together it's evident the bonhomie is genuine, but the scale of the director's achievement in coming on to an existing project and moving it on while also delivering a hit cannot be understated. It implies the extent of the Englishman's charm, but also hints at the shrewd talents of a fine filmmaker.
"About two weeks into the film I did what I used to do many years ago, I put a little compilation together with some music to send to Disney to say this is the film we are making.
"It was very important to show to Disney to say this was what we were doing, and to Miley and Billy Ray to say 'this is the film you are in,'. And Miley looked at it and understood right away that it was more of a cinematic thing."
ANWAR BRETT
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