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Some of you might have seen the trailers for ABC Family's original movie, Princess. Did you miss it Sunday? No worries. It encores again on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. What is it about?
"Princess is a bit of a fairytale and it’s more of a modern fairytale. This is a story that is set very much in our world, but it crosses over into the fairytale world pretty seamlessly. Nora (Zehetner) plays Princess Ithaca, who is a person that is misunderstood, to say the least, and she lives in a castle on the hill in this kind of idyllic space," says one of the show's main actors, Kip Pardue (Remember the Titans).
"My character, William, enters her life by chance actually. And as he
enters into her life he realizes that he’s going to play a much bigger
role and finds out that Princess Ithaca really does have powers beyond
the mere mortals that most of us are. It ends up being this tale of
saving mythological creatures from certain disaster, and Princess
Ithaca needs William’s help to make the transition to the next
princess," he reveals.
Because there are a lot of mythical creatures and magic, special effects are a key factor in this low-budget production. The actors found themselves acting with golf and tennis balls against green screens much of the time. You won't be disappointed though, as ABC Family and Radium put together some pretty tight visuals. Pardue agrees, "Some of these creatures will blow your mind; I mean they’re really fantastic!"
There are always varying degrees of difficulty when shooting any production. Pardue and Zehetner talk about their experiences while filming Princess.
"For me it was just trying to balance playing this princess with the fact that it is kind of set in modern day and how far do you take that. And it was just completely different than anything I’ve ever done, which was really fun for me. And I guess, aside from that, it was figuring out how to move in these enormous dresses and acting with tennis balls. So, luckily I got to be knocked out for half of that, Kip got more of that than me," says Nora.
"For me it was definitely the visual effects elements of this movie that were pretty strenuous. I mean there’s a fight towards the end of the movie where my character has to be picked up by a three-headed dragon, which is called a hydra. And the hydra, of course, wasn’t there on the day that we shot, I guess he was booked or something, so that was a bit of a strain. Any time you’re doing anything against that much green screen it becomes a bit of a lesson in frustration, I think, as an actor. I mean you have to hope that they’re going to make you look reasonable," Pardue chimes in.
It isn't all green screen and tennis balls however, there was one rather comical aspect in the flow of production that had nothing to do with dragons or magical effects. Zehetner explains. "Well actually we went to a dance lesson, or dance rehearsal, because there is this big choreographed dancing, which was delightful for me, I was thrilled, because I took dance when I was younger... ballet. And so just to be in a dance studio was really fun. Kip was not as pleased to spend the day in a rehearsal studio learning ballroom dancing. And I had my hoop skirt inside out, is what I realized happened, so it didn’t really flow properly. So I was constantly tripping in rehearsal until somebody told me I had it inside out, and I felt pretty silly."
Pardue interrupts, "Yes, which is a great way to start … as it is, I’m stepping on Nora’s feet and then on Nora’s dress."
"I didn’t say that. I said I was tripping on myself," insisted Nora.
"I know. But I’m just saying, I’m stepping on …" began Kip.
"He actually did it, he was tripping on my skirt," admitted Zehetner.
"I’m tripping on her skirt even if it’s the right way. So when it’s the wrong way I trip on it even more. And Nora is a very delicate flower and I’m quite big and lumbering, and my feet tend to get in the way of her. She’s very small and sweet and beautiful looking and I’m just this kind of lumbering soul. But you know what, it actually looks really great and I’m glad that I went through the humiliation of having to dance," laughs Pardue.
Make sure you check out the encore for ABC Family's Princess this Saturday at 8 p.m. ET and again at 10 p.m. ET!
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