On March 4, Take Me Home Tonight, one of the year’s best comedies, hits movie theaters nationwide. Set in 1988, the film chronicles a night to remember in the life of Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) as he pursues his high school crush (Teresa Palmer), tries to figure out his career path, and creates trouble with his hilarious best friend (Dan Fogler). Anna Faris also adds star wattage to the cast as Matt’s twin sister.
Take Me Home Tonight channels the elements that made John Hughes and Cameron Crowe’s 80s movies so memorable: a coming of age mixture of comedy, drama, and romantic wonderment all set to great music. Topher Grace, who was also one of the film’s executive producers and co-creator, as well as Teresa Palmer recently visited Atlanta in promotion of the film. Mixtape Atlanta talked to the stars about the film’s origins, playing in the 80s, and the importance of mixtapes in the making of Take Me Home Tonight.
Why set the film in the 1980s?
Topher Grace: They don’t make films like that anymore. I don’t wish that I was in the Brat Pack, but I do wish I was around when they were making movies like that- dynamic movies for young people that weren’t really comedies or dramas, they just had a little bit of everything. My producing partner also brought up that Dazed and Confused was about the 70s made in the 90s, and American Graffiti was about the 50s made in the 70s. If we did the math, that would put us in the 80s for a modern day protagonist. We then made a mixtape before we even hired writers. And, once we secured the idea of the 80s, we worked on our modern day protagonist in the 80s world. This is a guy who would do great today, when kids are leaving college and moving back with their parents, except he is in the go-go 1980s so it couldn’t be a worse time to do it.
Teresa, being from Australia were you familiar with America’s popular 1980s movies?
Teresa: I was born in the mid-80s so the only movies I was really familiar with were The Breakfast Club and Labyrinth, my favorite 80s movie. I had my 80s education really when I was filming this movie. The first few days I was in Arizona shooting, Topher had prepared little 80s kits for the whole cast and crew full of CDs with all 80s songs, every John Hughes movie, and mine had a photo of Phoebe Cates.
Like so many 80s movies, Take Me Home Tonight takes place over a short period of time. What was it like to wear the same clothes and be on basically the same set every day?
Teresa: I was stoked to be wearing vintage gold Halston everyday. I preferred it. I knew exactly how my character was going to look; I knew her vibe and mood through out the party. I found it easier than playing a character over several years or months.
Topher: I think the same. It’s the same experience for the actor as the audience. When something takes place in a truncated amount of time, like this movie is over 15 hours, you feel like you know every step of what everyone did as the movie takes place. If a movie takes place over several years, you have to fill in the blanks.
Teresa: It makes you feel closer to the characters, because you are with them every step of the way.
Topher: You’re on the adventure with them; you’re not missing a step.
Was the music video for the Atomic Tom cover of “Don’t You Want Me” as fun to film as it looks?
Topher: I’ve never had so much fun.
Teresa: It was such a blast. We shot it over two days and we were pretty rushed, but everything came together quite quickly.
Topher: We wanted the film to be the first movie about the 80s that isn’t making fun of the decade and not spoofing anything, so that left a lot of frustrated energy. We wanted to show off the cast and set the tone of the movie, so we decided to do a total spoof for the music video.
You spoofed over 35 movies in the music video. How did you decide which movies to recreate?
Topher: I spent a lot of time with the director thinking about what can you get in a second. We really wanted Goonies in there, but there is not one physical thing. We also wanted Gremlins too, but you can only do that if you have a Gremlin. But, if you hold a boom box over your head you know what that is. Putting your hands on a static television, you get that too.
We usually ask musical artists what songs they would put on their ultimate mixtape. Since this movie is so musically driven and mixtapes played such a large role in the creation, what would be on your mixtape?
Topher: Piece of cake, you can buy it on iTunes- it’s the soundtrack. Ninety percent of that original mixtape we made is our soundtrack to the movie, but I can tell you the songs I wish we would’ve had room for on the soundtrack: “Doot-Doot” by Freur, World Party’s “Ship of Fools,” “Let’s Go All The Way” by Sly Fox, and “Nipple to the Bottle” by Grace Jones.
Teresa: The songs that I’m constantly listening to are Mazzy Star’s “Into Dust,” Florence and The Machine’s “Hurricane Drunk,” and Sneaker Pimps’ “6 Underground.”
Don’t miss Take Me Home Tonight opening nationwide this Friday, March 4.
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Take Me Home Tonight cast in Atomic Tom music video
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Kim Burdges
