Interview: Corbin Bleu of ‘High School Musical’ on His Motocross Film ‘Free Style’

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CHICAGO – The challenge of instant fame caught up with Corbin Bleu, when he portrayed Chad Danforth in the “High School Musical” series. He is now producing and starring in “Free Style,” an underdog story centered around motocross racing.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

Bleu, a humble and hard-working performer, credits his family and friends for helping through the fame period and is pumped about creating an exciting and heart-warming film about rising through the challenges of motocross and life.

HollywoodChicago.com snagged a phone interview with Corbin Bleu in anticipation of the film’s release this week and talked about riding a motorcycle for the first time, telling a different story around it and his adventures as an actor.

Corbin Bleu Rides the Storm Out as Cale in ‘Free Style’
Corbin Bleu Rides the Storm Out as Cale in ‘Free Style’
Photo credit: © 2009 Marcel Williams for Samuel Goldwyn Films

HollywoodChicago: What preparation did you do or who did you consult before the taking on the responsibility of carrying a whole movie in ‘Free Style’?

Corbin Bleu: The main part of this film was making sure the motocross was authentic. Once I knew I was going to ride, I thought ‘okay, I really need to learn how to do this.’ Luckily my manager rides bikes, he brought me to the track and I started learning, met a bunch of the other racers and I became obsessed. I have a bike now, I go to all the races still and I’ve become friends with a lot of top riders. So all of that came together.

The rest of the film is a good love story, even though it’s a traditional story of a young guy pursuing what he loves doing, but there are a lot of different layers. It plays with lot of different themes.

HC: How do you relate to your character, a young man who essentially has to carry the whole burden of his family on his back, but still has a dream to make something of himself?

CB: My character, Cale, comes from a broken home, opposite of me who comes from a very tight-knit family. My family is my rock. Cale also works two jobs taking care of them, which to me it’s important to show that reality and what so many people go through.

I have friends that come from divorced households. I took from a bit from their experiences and what I’ve known and put them in the film. At the same time, I wanted to show Cale’s roller coaster rise and fall, because he is a flawed character. He has father abandonment issues and temperament problems.

HC: What had been your experience riding motorcycles before ‘Free Style’ and what did you learn shooting the film about motocross racing?

CB: I had never ridden a motorcycle before this film. I never realized how fast a bike can go once you lose control (laughs). I have the marks from the spills. Basically what I learned is that you have to as crazy as the other riders.

HC: Even though motocross is the centerpiece of Free Style, the film also features a story line emphasizing multi-ethnic and multi-cultural themes. How did you relate or connect with these elements in the script?

CB: I grew up interracial. And I still am (laughs). In the media in 2009, we’re seeing interracial families on shows and the President is interracial. But you may see the people, but the family ties are often not portrayed. We didn’t know who we were going to hire at first, but once Penelope Ann Miller came on board, we cast my real-life Dad as my father. It was perfect.

And then we fought Sandra [Echeverria, who played Corbin’s love interest]. That was another role where we didn’t know where we were going until we got there. We determined the Hispanic part when she walked through the door. So now Cale gets thrown into another culture, the world of the fiestas.

HC: With your interracial circumstance personally, did you struggle at any point with identity?

CB: Yes, I remember in school kids asking me if I was black or white. And I would say ‘I am both.’ That was weird for them. But that’s what we all go through in that situation.

We Are Family: Corbin Bleu, Penelope Ann Miller and Madison Pettis in ‘Free Style’
We Are Family: Corbin Bleu, Penelope Ann Miller and Madison Pettis in ‘Free Style’
Photo credit: © 2009 Marcel Williams for Samuel Goldwyn Films

HC: Penelope Ann Miller, who played your mother, is a veteran actor. What did you learn as an actor doing scenes with her?

CB: Anytime you work with any seasoned actor you can always tell that the scenes carry their strength. They have a spark. Penelope is great to play off of, it was just natural. Whenever you can look at a person and feel the emotions, it makes it that much easier.

HC: Was there a moment that occurred after High School Musical became mega-popular that completely threw you off because you weren’t expecting that much fame that fast?

CB: Pretty much every day (laughs). It was very quick, literally overnight. I remember the first time I went out and got mobbed. Paul McCartney’s sister helps run my website, maybe I can hook up with him to talk about it at some point (laughs). It was definite chaos.

There are many acting books and acting coaches, but there is no handbook for fame or success, especially on how to handle it. Luckily I have my family around me and I just go back to the basics.

HC: How difficult was it for you to do the scene where you meet your movie father – which is your actual father [David Reivers]? How did you, your Dad and director William Dear discuss your approach in that scene?

CB: There were a couple of different ways we could have played it. This was a turning point for Cale. The whole time he’s been holding on to the fact that his father has left him. He was also thinking that it was his fault. So when he confronts his father we decided that was the point where he could let him go. It’s a huge turning point.

It was strange experience playing the scene with my father. I had to pretend that I hadn’t seen him in years, when I actually see him every day.

HC: You had a small but significant role in the cult film ‘Galaxy Quest.’ What do you remember from this experience?

CB: Oh wow. I remember the wig, because my head was shaved and that hair you saw was a wig. And since I was playing Daryl Mitchell [adult Tommy] younger, I actually had to have make-up because I was lighter skinned than him, they had to darken me up.

It was fun, we got to play it really cheesy, because I was supposed to be on the original TV show in the film, and I got to play it really big.

Sandra Echeverria in 'Free Style'
Sandra Echeverria in ‘Free Style’
Photo credit: © 2009 Marcel Williams for Samuel Goldwyn Films

HC: How much of your hometown of Brooklyn, NY has stayed with you, especially when you get caught up in the life style of Los Angeles?

CB: I still consider myself a New Yorker at heart. I come back all the time and I still have relatives there. Both my Mom and Dad grew up in New York, so even living in Los Angeles most of my life, I still grew up in an East Coast home.

The biggest difference is, on the whole, New Yorkers aren’t afraid to get in your face (laughs). That’s what I love about home. My mother is not afraid to tell me off, in the best way possible.

HC: Regarding your music career, I read in an interview that you had more control over you second album ‘Speed of Light,’ calling it ‘more personal.’ What did you want to communicate as an artist on that album?

CB: I really wanted to make it more about life stories, I guess. It was mainly relationships, but up until that point I hadn’t really put it into the life story perspective. I wanted to show them that. The song ‘Champion,’ for example, was a fictional story about real people and situations that you run into every day. I wanted the whole album to come from a much more real and organic place.

HC: Finally, what kind of experience do you most want to have as a performer? Is it in acting, music or some other aspect that you haven’t experienced yet?

CB: I like to think of myself as a complete performer. I’m going to continue to explore production, my company produced Free Style. I try to expand myself as much as possible.

”Free Style” opens October 9th, 2009. Rated “PG.” Featuring Corbin Bleu, Penelope Ann Miller, Sandra Echeverria, David Reivers and Madison Pettis, directed by William Dear.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2009 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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