Five minutes with ... Luke Wilson and Brec Bassinger

Superheroes trying to get through high school is the premise of the new series Stargirl

Mon, 17 Aug, 2020 - 06:00

Luke Wilson and Brec Bassinger lead the charge for DC's Stargirl, which introduces a new generation of superheroes.

STARGIRL IS DESCRIBED AS INSPIRING A NEW GENERATION OF SUPERHEROES - WAS THAT PART OF THE APPEAL OF THE SERIES?

Brec: "For me it 100% did, because growing up I always loved like the coming-of-age films.

"I think high school is such an interesting time for anyone, so having a girl go through high school as well as trying to navigate being a superhero, I think that's a really interesting dynamic that isn't a story that's told a lot.

"So for me it was a very appealing story."

Luke: "For me to be around the new generation just in terms of actors, I started thinking 'What's it going to be like to be around these kids? Are they going to be on their phones all the time or is it going to be hard to kind of connect with them?'

"And then I had so much fun being around all of them and especially Brec, just how professional she was and how well prepared (she was) and how hard she worked on every aspect, not just emotional scenes, but also on dialogue.

"Also just the physical stuff and the stunts, so for me to get to be around these people for half of a year was really great and to see them playing superheroes was really fun too because superheroes are something that is so timeless."

LUKE, THIS IS YOUR FIRST SUPERHERO PROJECT. WHY DID YOU WANT TO DO IT?

"I mean when I think about it, I was like, OK, I've done comedies, I've done some dramas, I've done Westerns, I've played a policeman, and then I started thinking of course there are all these superhero shows and movies now, and I thought, gosh, I've never gotten the chance to do one of those, and kind of thought, well, I'm probably too old now to get to do one.

"So when the opportunity came around to get to work with Geoff Johns and he thought I could do this role, it was really exciting for me."

THE SCRIPT HAS SOME GREAT COMEDIC ONE-LINERS...

Luke: "That was one of the things we kind of discovered as we went along.

"Some of that stuff wouldn't be in the script and we kind of discovered it as Brec and I got to work together and also just those family scenes.

"For some reason they kind of lent themselves to some humour... we would just have fun at those dinner table scenes or those scenes in the kitchen and stuff like that where that stuff wasn't scripted but I feel like we discovered it as we went along."

Brec: "I think comedy is so fun and almost everything I've done up to this point in my career has been comedy.

"So it's kind of a safe place for me and I love it."