Chatting With The Cast of The Film The Maze Runner!

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When I first learned about the book series for The Maze Runner through my teen, I immediately thought it could be turned into a motion picture. I’m glad to say I was right as the film adaptation based upon the best-selling novel by James Dashner is hitting theaters on September 19th.  If you’re not familiar with the books or the film, it follows a character named Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) who wakes up trapped in a massive maze with a group of other boys, he has no memory of the outside world other than strange dreams about a mysterious organization known as W.C.K.D. Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the young and up and coming cast of the film to chat with them about their experience and the challenges of making this film. Pardon the bad photos as I was forced to only use my camera phone as my camera was not working.

For many of the young actors in the film it was their first leading role and it was a very physical film to shoot.  The main cast consists of  Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf), Will Poulter (Son of Rambow & We’re the Millers), Kaya Scodelario (Skins), Thomas Brodie-Sangster  (Game of Thrones & Love Actually) and Ki Hong Lee (Motherlover).

Some of the cast was actually injured on the set because of the physicality of the rolls. Dylan O’Brien (who plays the lead Thomas) recalled running at full speed and sliding and falling as he and Ki Hong Lee had to run on wet smooth pavement in a parking lot. Lee actually recalled pulling his hamstring in this scene and had to keep shooting with the injury.

According to Will Poulter his costar Dylan relished in the physicality of his role. While they were shooting a wrestling scene together is when he first noticed Dylan’s love of being physical. “Dyl loves the physical stuff.  He’s really good at it.  And even if we were joking around about how kind of apologetic we were through the entire rehearsal, worried about hurting each other, and I would push Dyl.  And he’d be like, dude, you can push me harder than that.  I’d push him a little bit hard.  He’d be like properly push me, man.  Come on.  And I’m really glad he kind of got it out of me.  But, yes, that was fun.  The wrestling was fun, and the push.”

Dylan willingly admitted to this love of being fit and active. For an actor with his first leading role in this film, he was perfectly cast as Taylor. “Yes. Climbing on the vines and stuff on the wire, that was always like a whole 12-hour day where I was just hung up on a wire.  They would just bring me food.  They didn’t want to lower me because it would just take a lot more time.  And Wes [Ball, Director] would literally come over because it was real like ivy and stuff that they used on those walls. And you know, so we’d be doing a thing where The Griever’s jumping on me, and it’s that part where I’m running away from The Griever.  And it jumps on the wall over me.  You know? And so, they shake the wall.  And all this debris was shaking down.  And we just had to a shot where I’m looking up, and it kept just getting in my eyes. I’d be like, oh, there’s something in my eye.  You know and Wes would just be like I got it, baby.  Don’t need a medic.  And he’d come over, and he’d literally just take it out of my eye. Before that, I was never someone who was comfortable having someone touch their eyeball.  But now I am.”

From chatting with the smart young cast a few things stood out to me, one of which was mentioned by Thomas Brodie-Sangster. The film does not have that sappy romantic aspect that we’ve come to expect from a film geared towards teens. I relished in this aspect of the film and apparently so did Thomas Brodie-Sangster. “I mean not every teenager is in and out of love all the time. I certainly never fell in love as a teenager.  I never even had a girlfriend as a teenager.  So, I don’t think you have to put that into every teen film.  I personally loved the fact that that was never present.”

I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment.  Kaya Scodelario as shared this perspective as the only female in the male driven cast. She was also very comfortable holding her own amongst the boys. “I grew up in London with quite a mixed group of friends, and as human beings, we just all got on.  And I never felt like the only girl.  They never changed the way they acted around me, which I really respected.  I didn’t feel like when I walked in the room suddenly they were really polite.  They were still dirty and rude and fun.”

It was quite refreshing to meet a cast that genuinely enjoyed each other as much as this cast did. It truly reflects in the film as the dedication and love that went into the film make it a very entertaining movie going experience for young adults and adults alike.

The cast was so fun to spend time with. We of course decided to take a selfie once we were wrapped with questions, as what’s more fun than a selfie. Fun times with the cast of The Maze Runner.

THE MAZE RUNNER from 20^th Century Fox is in Theaters September 19th!

For more info on the film visit the Official Website…

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