Emma Roberts, Jake Austin Interview

We go to the dogs with the cast of Hotel for Dogs, Emma Roberts and Jake Austin! MoviesOnline sat down with Emma Roberts and Jake Austin to talk about their new movie, “Hotel for Dogs,” a smart, funny comedy adventure that shows how far love and imagination can take you.  The movie also stars Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Don Cheadle.

When their new guardians forbid 16-year old Andi (Roberts) and her younger brother, Bruce (Austin) to have a pet, Andi has to use her quick wit to help find a new home for their dog, Friday. The resourceful kids stumble upon an abandoned hotel and, using Bruce’s talents as a mechanical genius, transform it into a magical dog-paradise for Friday – and eventually for all Friday’s friends.  When barking dogs make the neighbors suspicious, Andi and Bruce use every invention they have to avoid anyone discovering “who let the dogs in.”

For the central role of Andi, the fast-talking, protective older sister, the filmmakers chose rising young star Emma Roberts. "We basically needed to find someone who could carry a whole movie," says director Thor Freudenthal. "To find someone who can do that at such a young age is extremely difficult. Emma came in and was amazingly professional. She understands the language of filmmaking and it was impressive to witness her level of professionalism and preparedness. She makes it look so easy on film."

To play Bruce, Andi's little brother and the movie's master inventor, the filmmakers conducted a nationwide search for an actor who was fun and could emphasize the whimsical side of this boy genius. Austin had just the right combination of innocence and wisdom they were looking for, according to producer Shuler Donner. "We needed someone who was a little lost and looking to his sister for guidance and yet super-smart, so that you believe he can concoct all these inventions."

Emma Roberts starred as “Nancy Drew” in the big screen adaptation of the classic teenage detective stories. In 2009, she will be seen in the film, “Wild Child,” in which she plays a 16-year-old spoiled Malibu princess who is sent to a strict, all-girls English boarding school by her father. She recently completed production in New York on the independent film “The Winning Season” opposite Sam Rockwell and received critical praise for her performance in “Lymelife,” a coming-of-age drama honored at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. From 2004-2007, Roberts starred as Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon hit comedy series “Unfabulous.”

Jake Austin stars as the youngest sibling, Max, who, along with his brother and sister, inherits magical powers on the sitcom “Wizards of Waverly Place.” He also had a lead role in the Disney Channel Original Movie “Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board” and will next be seen in “The Perfect Game,” based on a true story about a group of boys from Monterrey, Mexico, who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series. A voice-over actor, he can be heard in several TV series and films including the lead in Nickelodeon’s “Go, Diego, Go!” and the feature animated films “Everyone’s Hero” and “The Ant Bully.”

Here’s what Emma Roberts and Jake Austin had to tell us about their new movie, “Hotel for Dogs”:

MoviesOnline:   So as the only person here who probably listened to your CD on the way in, are you going to make another CD?

EMMA:  No I'm not.  Right now I'm just focusing on acting. I know a lot of people do the acting and singing thing, but I want to be taken seriously as an actress. I don't want to be an actress-slash-singer.  So, (laughs) yeah.

MoviesOnline:   How did this come along for each of you?

JAKE:  Well, I have an agent so I got the script, and I really felt it was a great character, so I read for it and I was lucky enough to get it and do the screen test with Emma.

EMMA:  I got the script sent to me and they offered me the role, and I was just like yeah, I think this is a great project. Don Cheadle,Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon are all actors that I really admire, so it was something I just really wanted to do.

MoviesOnline:   What about the dogs?

JAKE:  The dogs.  Going into it, I didn't really know what to expect because I'd never really previously worked with animals. It turned out being a great experience.  You know, I learned a lot about how they work on movie sets as opposed to reality.  No, for the most part, they were very professional.  They had their moments, but we'll put those aside.  They were great. 

EMMA:  Yeah, they were.  I didn't know what to expect either, and definitely at times you were just like “Oh my god!,” overwhelmed, but it was fun.

MoviesOnline:   Did you have to make any adjustments in your performance when you were shooting and you're in the middle of a scene and the dogs did something unexpected?

EMMA:  You have to be prepared for anything. You have to be prepared, like, go back, take it back a line, or like, oh we're going to take it from the top, we're just going to run two, one after the other.  So, you definitely have to be ready for like someone to just tell you what to do right on the spot.

JAKE:  And as an actor, there are so many things that went in a different direction than how we intended so, you just had to go along with it.  Like I remember I fell in a couple of scenes and they didn't call cut, so I just got up and played with it and continued throughout the scene. 

MoviesOnline:   It must feel good when you're playing second fiddle to all these dogs? 

JAKE:  (laughs) At times, well, we were outnumbered.  So, of course.  Outnumbered by like 40.

MoviesOnline:   Did each of you have a favorite dog? 

JAKE:  I did.  The Mastiff, Lenny, was my absolute favorite.

EMMA:  My favorite was Shep, the sheepdog.  I think it was a boy. I just thought he was like the smartest and the prettiest.  (laughs) 

MoviesOnline:   But they don't listen to you, right?  Did the dogs pay any attention to you?

EMMA:  No.  Yeah, no.

MoviesOnline:   You pet them and stuff, but they watch the trainers?

EMMA:  Yeah. 

JAKE:  Yeah.  Something like that.

MoviesOnline:   That must have gotten confusing, because you're trying to interact with the dog, and the dog's looking over your shoulder at the trainer?

JAKE:  That's why we had to do a lot of post production. We had to do a lot of ADR work, which is we had to overlap our lines because there was either barking, or trainers yelling, or Thor, the director, screaming, “Howling!  Howling!” (laughs) and giving direction, yeah. There’s a lot going on.

MoviesOnline:   Did you guys have a pet, a dog, in your real life?

EMMA:  Yeah, I have a Chihuahua named Twiggy, and I have a cat named Stranger.  (laughs)  It showed up at our house one day and just decided to live there. 

JAKE:  That's a great name for it.

EMMA:  Stranger is what we named it.

JAKE:  I have like a zoo at my house. I have three goats, which we inherited with the property, and two dogs.  Miniature poodles.

MoviesOnline:   Were those goats abandoned like the dogs were in this film?

JAKE:  Yeah, right?  Yeah.  We took them over and it's been a crazy experience.

MoviesOnline:   Can you train goats?

JAKE:  You can.  We didn't really bother with that part. We just feed them and hang out with them. We don't really get too serious with it.

MoviesOnline:   Could you tell us about your relationship with your own dogs?

JAKE:  Yeah, definitely, I could relate having dogs in my real life to Bruce having dogs in the movie. 

MoviesOnline:   Do you feed them and take them for walks?

JAKE:   Pooping, that's not my department.  I'm more like feeding and walking and making sure they don't escape or (laughs) get out, leave the property.

EMMA:  Yeah, I just play with the dog.  Sometimes I have to clean up after it, because my mom makes me, but my sister takes care of it mostly. She's eight and she walks around with that dog under her arm all day long and pushes it in all her baby carriages and dresses it up and she kisses it on the mouth and yeah, she loves the dog.

JAKE:  Oh, I can't do that.

EMMA:  She's like, “They have the cleanest mouth.” I was like, “I don't know about that.”

JAKE:  Mythbusters. 

EMMA:  Yeah, mythbusters!  (laughs) 

JAKE:  That's wrong.

EMMA:  Yeah.  And then my dog likes eating its own poo and Grace was like “Oh, maybe it's not the cleanest mouth.” (laughs)  I was like, “Yeah, I don't think so, Grace.”  (laughs)

MoviesOnline:   What about the human actors you work with in this movie? 

JAKE:  Yeah.  I idolize each and every one of them.  Kevin Dillon's one of my favorite actors, Lisa Kudrow, Don Cheadle, so being able to work with them, it was great. I learned a lot and I got to work with some of my favorite people. 

EMMA:  Yeah, I love Lisa Kudrow.  On Friends, she was always my favorite.  Years and years before I even thought I would ever do a movie with her, I loved her so. And I love Kevin Dillon on Entourage (laughs), he's my favorite.  And Don Cheadle, he's the man, he's amazing, so...

JAKE:  The Don.

EMMA:  (laughs)  The Don.  So, it was just great to get to be in a movie with all of them and it was a really good chemistry everyone had with each other, so it was great.

MoviesOnline:   Kevin seems a little similar to his character.

JAKE:  I think that's maybe towards the tone of voice and the facial expressions, but personality-wise, he's a pretty genuine guy.  And I think he plays his character really well and so people think that's actually him.

EMMA:  Johnny Drama is the best.

JAKE:  Drama is classic, classic.  They're going to make T-shirts, right?  With his face, with quotes and things. 

MoviesOnline:   When you were working opposite Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon, did you ever have trouble staying in character and not bursting into laughter? 

JAKE:  There was sometimes, where we had to stop.

EMMA:  Sometimes we would start laughing, and we couldn't stop, and then everyone's like, “Okay guys, okay.” And we were like, “I can't stop.” 

JAKE:  I laughed a lot during the interrogation scene, where I'm being interrogated by Kevin Dillon, and he gets up in my face, and (laughs) he's got his eyes bulging. He tells me, “What do you see?” In one take, he goes and looks into my eyes and says, “What do you see!” (laughs)  And it's like I didn't burst out laughing but I was on the verge. 

EMMA: It’s tough sometimes.

JAKE: Like my eyes were watering, not from sadness, but from internal laughter. 

MoviesOnline:   Emma, you worked with Alec Baldwin on Lymelight.  Are you interested in doing 30 Rock?

EMMA:  I think 30 Rock would be so fun to do a guest spot on. I think Tina Fey is a genius.  Like oh my god, she's just so funny, and Alec Baldwin, he's such a cool guy so that would be really cool. 

MoviesOnline:   Can you imagine doing another TV series?

EMMA:  I think doing a series would be really fun.  I mean, at the moment I'm not actively pursuing that, but I would never say never.  Like I'm obsessed with Lost, I love Grey's Anatomy, I love tons of shows, I love watching TV.  That's recently too. I stopped watching TV for a year and then all these good shows came on and I was like, now I have to start watching TV again.

MoviesOnline:   I don't know if you know this, but what's the deal with the Unfabulous DVD?  I mean, is there going to be one?

EMMA:  Good question, yeah.  I'm not sure, I'm sure it will come out eventually, but I don't know if [it will be] anytime soon. 

MoviesOnline:   It's strange, you go on Amazon.com and they’ll burn one when you order one.

EMMA:  You know why?  ‘Cause it's on I-Tunes.  You can get it on I-Tunes.  I know that, so I'll bet you that's where they probably get it from.  Yeah, it's definitely on I-Tunes.  So is Clarissa Explains It All, an old Nickelodeon show that I used to be obsessed with when I was younger, so I was really happy about that.  (laughs)

MoviesOnline:   If we could talk about Thor a little bit, he's a younger guy than we expected…

JAKE:  He's yeah, like when I was told I had a director session, I imagined this elderly man, just typical director...

EMMA:  That's what I thought.  They were like, “You're going to meet the director.” I'm like, “What's his name?” “He's Thor Freudenthal.” And I was like, “Oh my God!” I imagined some older man, who's like, (imitates older German director’s voice) “Okay, so we are making Hotel For Dogs.”  (laughs)  Yeah.  And then I met him and he doesn't even have an accent, and so yeah, he was really great to work with.

JAKE:  Fresh out of college.  I was shocked.  Thor was great to work with...

EMMA:  He took on a lot for his first movie...

JAKE:  W.C. Fields said, “Never work with kids, never work with animals,” and he basically put that aside.  He really knows what he wants.

EMMA: W?

JAKE:  W.C. Fields.

EMMA:  Oh, I thought you said something else.  Okay.

JAKE:  What do you think I said?

EMMA:  I thought you were abbreviating "never work with kids and animals," and I was like, no wait, W's…

JAKE:  No. That doesn’t work.

EMMA:  Okay, just go on. But yeah, he did a really good job. Jake and I saw the final thing a couple of days ago, and we were just like, “Wow, like congratulations,” because when you're in the middle of doing it, you're so stressed out and you don't even really think about how it's going to turn out, and then to see it finally done. I was just like, “You know what, you did a really good job.”  Like, I'm really happy.
 
JAKE:  Watching it on the monitor and then watching it on the screen is a completely different experience. 

EMMA:  Yeah.

MoviesOnline:   What was the trickiest sequence you guys had to shoot?

EMMA:  I would say the scene with Lisa Kudrow and our dog. We were trying to hide the dog when Lisa was walking around the kitchen.  We were shooting it in a studio and the walls in the studio weren't moveable. Like most sets, you can move the walls, you can get the camera in there.  [But this was a] permanent set, four pages of action and dialogue, plus you have three actors, a dog, and it was just so insane and it took a day and a half.

JAKE:  And the set was small, too.

EMMA:  It took a day and a half and it was just like, I remember getting to set and I was looking at the sides and I was like, this is going to be a long day.  I mean rehearsing alone took almost two hours I think, because we were trying to get every single movement down perfectly, because with actors, you can throw them in there and do what you feel.  With the dog there, it throws a whole wrench in it, because it's like you know what, the dog needs to know what it's doing. 

JAKE:  Everything has to be specific. 

MoviesOnline:   And everything rolled on what happened just the second before that, so you couldn't just keep going?

EMMA:  Yeah, the continuity was insane.  The continuity was insane.

JAKE:  Yeah. The continuity was really important.

MoviesOnline:   But it worked.

EMMA:  Yeah it did work.

JAKE:  It looked great.

MoviesOnline:   Do you have any theories why dog movies are so popular as family films?

EMMA:  Everyone loves dogs.

JAKE:  I think that a lot of families have dogs.  And I've never met a dog hater.

EMMA:  It's a common interest, too. It's like one of those things where even if you don't have one, or even if two people are completely opposite, you can bond over just the fact that, oh you have a dog too, so do I. It's a common interest that's really simple, a simple bond, and I just feel like this dog movie though is really special. None of the dogs die in it, for example, like most dog movies. I mean, I took my sister to see Marley and Me with a bunch of her friends, and I think she's traumatized from that movie.  (laughter)  So, I think what's so special about this is it's really about family and the siblings are different ages. You can have a six-year-old, a ten-year-old and a fifteen-year-old, and I think that all of them will love this movie. 

JAKE:  And this movie's a little more realistic because, unlike Beverly Hills Chihuahua, the dogs don't talk in the movie (laughs) which I thought was great. 

MoviesOnline:   And they had weird CG faces that...

JAKE:  Yeah, that always helps when they don't have that. 

EMMA:  I didn't see that movie.

JAKE:  Me either.

MoviesOnline:   You thought Beverly Hills Chihuahua was great, or was it the fact that they didn't talk?

JAKE:  Well the dogs are talking the entire movie, (laughs) so, this is the movie about the dogs, and the dogs are in every scene, but you're able to express everything without the dog saying a word. 

MoviesOnline:   You mentioned Entourage.  What would you say is something that each of you likes that people wouldn't expect you to like?

JAKE:  That we like?  I like Entourage, I don't think a lot of people know I live in New York, so I go to public school and I love to write and everything and I have a lot of friends that I hang out with whenever I go back. So, when I'm not in Hollywood, I'm just a normal kid.

EMMA:  Things that I like that people wouldn't know, I'm really into photography. I love taking pictures of people.  I make all my friends be my models and they get really annoyed (laughs) and I love Entourage.  I'd love to guest star on Entourage actually. 

MoviesOnline:   Who's your favorite photographer?

EMMA:  Mario Testino and Bruce Weber are my favorites. 

MoviesOnline:   Are you still in high school?

EMMA:  Yeah, I'm a senior and I just sent all my applications into college, and so we'll see where that leads me come the fall.

MoviesOnline:   What do you want to study?

EMMA:  I would love to study something to do with literature and writing, and I'd love to study photography, and maybe even take a psychology class or something. 

MoviesOnline:   Would you put your acting on hold, or do both at the same time?

EMMA:  I cannot even plan that far. I can't even plan what I'm going to do tomorrow, let alone in nine months. I mean, it depends, because if an amazing script comes along with an amazing cast, and people I want to work with then, I am going to put college on hold, just because I can go back to that. At the same time, I'm not going to leave college for something that I don't love because I really do want to be serious about it. 

MoviesOnline:   You've made an independent film, Lymelife.  Are you eager to leave kid movies behind for awhile, or at least for your next project?

EMMA:  I think so, yeah. I mean, I'm not really making a conscious choice to not do something, or to specifically do something.  I'm just kind of like seeing what comes to me and choosing what I like to do which, so far, has been obviously more mature things. I'm almost eighteen next month, so it's just inevitable that I'm going to want to do older things, but nothing too crazy.  Like I did Lymelife which was much more mature and then I just did a movie with Sam Rockwell called The Winning Season, and both are actually going to be at Sundance next week.  And that's about an all girls basketball team and Sam Rockwell's the coach. It's kind of A League of Their Own for basketball.  So, I'm doing completely different things, like a dog movie, a sports movie, and independent. It's all kind of just different. 

MoviesOnline:   What are you working on Jake?

JAKE:  I'm filming the series Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney Channel.  I have a movie coming out called The Perfect Game this year, sometime I think March or April, and you know what, I like to write a lot of my own stuff so I want to elaborate on that.

EMMA:  Yeah, he's a really good writer.  I've read a lot of his stuff

JAKE:   Thank you.  And yeah, maybe I want to do some more movies.  Take a break from TV.  We're doing 30 episodes, so that's a lot.

EMMA:  It's unheard of.

JAKE:  So we just want to take a break from Disney and television and just focus on film. 

MoviesOnline:   What kind of writing do you do?

JAKE:  I read a lot of Syd Field, so a lot of screenwriting. I made a lot of short films I'm looking to submit to some things. I just really like putting my ideas down on paper, because I always have things brewing in my head, and just to be able to put it down and make something out of it is great. 

EMMA:  I told him he has to give me a job one day. (laughs)

JAKE:  One day, yeah. 

EMMA:  Please.  (laughs) 

MoviesOnline:   Well the biggest genre right now is Superheroes.  If you could be one, which one would you be?

EMMA:  Wonder Woman.  (laughs)  She has the best outfit.
 
JAKE:  Well, it's one of the only girl superheroes.

EMMA:  No, there's Catwoman.

JAKE:  Ah, that's true.  That's true.

EMMA:  There's actually not a lot of girl superheroes.

JAKE:  I don't know, probably maybe Captain America.  I think that would be fun. 

EMMA:  No, I want to be a Powerpuff Girl.  (laughs)

JAKE:  Are those superheroes though? 

EMMA:  Yes, they are.  I want to be Buttercup.  I think I would be Buttercup.  Yeah.  Wait, no.  I don't want to be the short, dark-haired one.  I don't like that one.  Oh, no, I want to be Blossom, sorry, the redhead.  (laughs)  I like Blossom.  Blossom or Bubbles, those are my favorites.

JAKE:  I'm surprised you know the names of The Powerpuff Girls. 

EMMA:  I know, that is kind of weird, that's embarrassing.  They should make that a real movie. 

MoviesOnline:   That's a cool T-shirt you’re wearing. (It has a picture of Heath Ledger in character as The Joker on the front.) Are you a fan of The Dark Knight?

JAKE:  I am. It was one of my favorite movies. I thought Heath Ledger was amazing.  It was a great movie. 

MoviesOnline:   Emma, is this your first time shooting a romantic sequence in a film?  Was that your first screen kiss?

EMMA:  Oh no, I'm always subjected to kissing a lot of people in movies (laughs).  I had to do a kissing scene in Wild Child, I had to do one in Lymelife, and I had to do one on my television show, Unfabulous, actually two on that show, and in Winning Season, too. Yeah, so no, this was not my first one.  But they're all really awkward and embarrassing because there are so many people around. Most of the time, it's supposed to be an intimate thing, like you're kissing your boyfriend or something, and it's like, okay and action, like the focus puller is right here in your face watching and the guy at the camera and it's really uncomfortable.  It was embarrassing too, because if you watch that scene, Don Cheadle comes in two seconds later. So, he's just standing off screen watching this happen and then he walks into the shot.  I'm like cool. (laughs)  This is embarrassing. 

JAKE:  Plus everybody wants to be on set to witness it, so...

EMMA:  You see how many people are really working on your movie when you have to do a kissing scene.  You're like, “What have you been doing for the past two months on this movie?  I have never seen you before.”  And they're just like, (hums a tune), so...

JAKE:  If you get Craft Service, they're all focusing on the kiss. 

MoviesOnline:   We were talking with the director about how Don Cheadle’s final monologue was so powerful and surprising.  What was your reaction to it?

EMMA:  I just thought he did such a good job, because on paper you read it, and it's kind of like okay, like, yeah, that's cool, you don't really think much of it.  And he really like just made it his own and he made it sound really honest and like wow, you know what, these kids really did do something that meant something.  And they weren't just running around in like a dog shaped van, (laughs) doing nothing.  So I think that he really gave the movie a very real feeling, like a weight to the movie. 

MoviesOnline:   I liked the fun inventions in this film.  What's your favorite one and why?

JAKE:  My favorite is the Simulator, where the dogs are hanging out the window.  I thought that was the most creative and one of the most honest inventions, because look, whenever a dog's in a car, that's the first thing that they do. 

EMMA:  My favorite was the shoe vending machine.  (laughs)  Every time I just laugh.  Like I love that.  I think it's great.  I love it.

MoviesOnline:   All right.  Thank you very much.

JAKE and EMMA:  Thank you.

“Hotel for Dogs” opens in theaters on January 16th.