Wednesday November 25, 2009
New adventures
By ALLAN KOAY
Ben and his gang face new challenges in Ben 10: Alien Swarm.
THE Ben 10 universe is far more popular than even the stars of the new Ben 10 movie, Ben 10: Alien Swarm, could anticipate.
Nathan Keyes, who plays Kevin Levin, the scheming guy whom everybody loves to hate, related in a telephone interview from California, the United States, recently: “We were shooting in a little town in Georgia and we had the car out on the street.
“And I just remembered this school bus driving past us, and all of a sudden all the kids that were inside it were screaming and pounding on the windows. I didn’t realise at that time the scope of the project and how Ben 10 really reached so many kids. That was pretty cool, actually.”
Ryan Kelley, who plays Ben Tennyson, the titular hero of the series and the movie, said: “It’s pretty funny, especially when you’re in costume and then walk out into the street – we were working on, like, a set that was out in public – and the little kids get to see you, or they get to see the car that’s like an icon for Ben 10. The little kids and the fans would go crazy.”
With such a legacy to the show, do the actors, Kelley, Keyes and Galadriel Stineman (who plays Gwen Tennyson), feel the pressure of living up to the expectations of such an ardent fanbase?
Set for action: (From left) Alyssa Diaz (as Elena), Ryan Kelley (Ben), Nathan Keyes (Kevin) and Galadriel Steinman (Gwen) are ready for greater adventures in Ben 10: Alien. Swarm. “Yeah, definitely,” said Kelley. “We knew that from the get go. Not a single person wanted to let down any of the fans. But we feel our director Alex Winter did an amazing job on this one.
“The film is darker and grittier and I think the fans will be extremely happy with the fact that Ben and the gang are growing up and becoming adults so they are dealing with different situations.
“They’re dealing with things that the fans that have been growing up with the show are dealing with themselves. So the film itself feels much more like a feature film rather than a TV movie. So we’re all definitely proud of that.”
The film is Ben 10: Alien Swarm, the follow-up to the first live-action movie Ben 10: Race Against Time. It will premiere on the Cartoon Network (Astro 616) this Saturday at 6pm.
Alien Swarm sees Ben 10 uncovering an alien threat to the world. To do this, he must break ranks from the Plumbers, a secret organisation that fights alien forces, and help a mysterious young woman from his past who is searching for her father.
Apart from the three actors, the movie also features Alyssa Diaz as Elena, the young woman from Ben’s past, and Barry Corbin as Grandpa Max.
Ben 10: Race Against Time garnered 13 million viewers when it premiered in 2007. For the latest movie, premiere events are held in several cities around the world for the whole of this month.
The movie tour begins in London and fans can follow the cast members’ travels via the official Cartoon Network Facebook page and Twitter.
Kelley, Keyes and Stineman, who admitted to being fans of the show, all got to do some of their own stunts in the film.
“For the most part, we all had a big hand in all of our stunts,” said Keyes.
“Some of the hardest things I had to do were transforming into monsters,” quipped Kelley. “I had to train really hard to learn how to transform into Humongousaur.”
But for the three of them, they definitely found qualities in each of their characters that they could personally relate to. For Kelley, he felt that Ben is slowly moving away from Grandpa Max and the rest and starting to make his own decisions and show leadership qualities.
Stineman’s Gwen is extremely loyal to the people she cares about, and would always keep an eye on them.
Keyes relates to Kevin in that the character is becoming more of a genuinely good person and is looking out more for the team than just himself.
But as far as superpowers go, Stineman reveals that in real life, she can recite the alphabet backwards in a single breath, and twirl three hula-hoops in one go.
Said Kelley: “I wish I had superpowers, but I’m really, you know, just a boring average kid.”
Said Keyes: “I’m pretty much in the same boat as Ryan. I don’t have any cool superpowers that I can boast about …”
But after a pause, he exclaimed: “Oh yeah! I make really, really good spaghetti.”
Ben 10: Alien Swarm premieres this Saturday at 6pm on Cartoon Network (Astro 616). Fans can also go to cartoonnetworkasia.com and download the exclusive Ben 10: Alien Swarm Party Kit, which will provide them everything they need to hold a premiere screening in their own living rooms.
Meanwhile, the movie will also be available in Bahasa Malaysia, featuring the voice of Akademi Fantasia 7 winner Mohd Hafiz Mohd Suip (aka Hafiz AF7) as Ben.
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