Sky High’s Heroes
Ruling over Sky High’s “Sidekicks” are the popular, elite and stunningly powerful “Heroes” who are being honed to become the great crime-fighters of tomorrow – which can sometimes go straight to their heads. Among their ranks are:
Hero: Gwen Grayson (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)
Special Power: A Technopath who can control technology with her mind
Smart and pretty, but with a hidden secret, Gwen Grayson quickly becomes the object of Will Stronghold’s affections – as he leaves behind his “Sidekick” friends to date a popular “Hero.” To play Gwen, the filmmakers eschewed the usual blonde cheerleader heroine and chose instead the ravishing brunette Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who is already an award-winning young actress.
Says Winstead of the role: “Gwen is the Queen Bee, the ruler of the school. She can be sweet but she’s also manipulative and she uses her charm to lure Will into dating her.” Winstead loved that Sky High seemed to mirror just about any suburban high school in the U.S. in its social structure – but with a twist. “Sky High isn’t exactly your typical high school, but it has your typical teenagers. It takes real high school situations to a weirder level,” laughs Winstead. “You’ve got people flying, freezing, fighting, going through walls and bouncing off ceilings. It’s constantly entertaining.”
Hero: Warren Peace (Steven Strait)
Special Power: Flame Thrower
Warren Peace is Sky High’s rebel without an extinguisher – a powerful flame thrower with a super-heated grudge. In looking for someone to play this brooding, misunderstood loner, the filmmakers carried out extensive auditions with no success. With the entire rest of the film cast, Mike Mitchell at last saw the actor he knew could play Warren Peace: Steven Strait, a young Greenwich Village-based actor, model and rock singer who seemed to embody the role. Strait was excited to play a super hero with more than just super-powers going on.
“Warren was a really interesting character to me because he has a lot of internal struggles,” says Steven. “He’s someone who makes a complete transformation in the course of the movie and that’s a great challenge to play.” Steven related to Warren’s feelings of alienation. “I think we all know someone like Warren or like Layla or like Will from our own school experiences,” he says. “Sky High is just like a real high school except that when you have people throwing flames, running at 100 miles an hour and tossing tables through walls – the stakes get raised.”
Hero: Speed (Will Harris)
Special Power: Turbo-charged quickness
The character of Speed lives up to his name in every way – he does everything fast, from eating to running to pulling pranks on “Sidekicks” like Will Stronghold. Playing Speed is newcomer Will Harris, who was chosen for the role after producer Andrew Gunn saw him perform in a high school play. After auditioning, Mike Mitchell liked the humor in the idea of the imposing, 6-foot-plus Will Harris playing one of the fastest kids on earth. Harris had fun with a part that he describes as “your typical school bully.”
He adds: “And since I can move faster than anyone else, I like to believe that no one can touch me!” Most of all, Harris enjoyed getting the chance to do a lot of wild stunts. “We get to do a lot of cool action,” he says. “Waiting for those scenes was like waiting in line for a rollercoaster. You’re so scared but then want to do it again and again because it’s so much fun.”
Hero: Lash (Jake Sandvig)
Special Power: Stretches to any length
An actor since the age of 5, Jake Sandvig plays the role of the troublemaker “Hero,” Lash, who uses his stretching super-powers to play practical jokes at Sky High. For Jake it was the overall experience of SKY HIGH that made the film so unique and special. “You had so many great people around, from the big heroes like Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston, to all these young actors making their first movie,” he notes. “You really couldn’t ask for a better atmosphere. And on top of that there’s Mike Mitchell who acts like he’s one of the kids, but at the same time he’s also really brilliant and constantly coming up with cool ideas.”
Hero: Penny (Malika & Khadijah)
Special Power: Can Instantly Multiply Herself
Rounding out the cast of “Heroes” is Penny, the cheerleader who can multiply herself infinitely – and is appropriately played by identical twin actresses Malika and Khadijah. Malika and Khadijah enjoyed Penny’s comically conceited antics.
Says Malika: “Penny is sassy, sporty and very trendy. She loves to overpower the younger girls and ”Sidekicks.” And if there’s an empty table in the cafeteria at lunch, she’ll multiply herself to sit in every chair so nobody else can sit there!”
Adds Khadijah: “She’s fun to play because she’s the opposite of who I am. We used to be the ones being picked on but now we get to have a little revenge.”
The twins love working together. “We are truly blessed as twins,” says Khadijah. “But we are still individuals and you will see that in Penny who has very different aspects to her personality, though you will not be able to tell who is who.” But the twins especially liked becoming a part of the whole SKY HIGH experience. “Sky High is a movie that gives you more than just a great story,” sums up Malika. “In the end you realize that there is a hero inside everyone. We all have different ways of showing our powers and what we’re able to do – but in SKY HIGH you have a chance to see that every kid is capable of doing something amazing.”
Sky High’s “Sidekicks”
In the world of SKY HIGH, if you’re not a “Hero,” you’re simply a second-fiddle “Sidekick” destined to provide “Hero Support.” After the all-important Power Placement test, Will Stronghold himself is labeled a “Sidekick” and joins a group of other super-kids who haven’t quite worked out the full force of their powers. Among his new crew of friends are:
Sidekick: Layla (Danielle Panabaker)
Special Power: Controls Nature
Will’s loyal friend Layla hides her superior superpowers during the Power Placement test so that she will become a “Sidekick” just like Will-and winds up helping to lead the “Sidekicks” to unexpected victory. To play Layla, director Mike Mitchell turned to a rising young talent he had worked with in “Surviving Christmas,” Danielle Panabaker.
Danielle found Layla to be an extremely cool character to play. “She’s very funky and upbeat, with her own unique vibe, and she definitely marches to the beat of her own drummer,” says the young actress. “She’s Mother Nature’s daughter so she’s really concerned about the earth and being wholesome-but she also has her own secret: she’s in love with Will. And in true male fashion, Will is oblivious to that fact!” She continues: “The issues that Layla and Will and the other characters are dealing with in Sky High are really similar to issues that kids were dealing with at the high school I went to. They might be super heroes but they’re dealing with unrequited love, trying to fit in and trying to please their parents just like every kid of that age.”
Sidekick: Ethan (Dee-Jay Daniels)
Special Power: Melts
Brainy, awkward Ethan is another “Sidekick” who discovers unknown strengths when the going gets tough-and soon realizes the uses for a unique superpower: the ability to melt his body into liquid whenever he gets into a tight spot. Playing Ethan is 16-year-old Dee-Jay Daniels, making his feature film debut.
Dee-Jay didn’t mind playing a `Sidekick’ in SKY HIGH. “What I like about the movie is that at first everyone thinks these `Sidekicks’ are just nothing, they have boring powers, and the `Heroes’ are the best-but then the `Sidekicks’ start to get bold and they realize they can do some amazing things. As it turns out, `Sidekicks’ are pretty cool, too.”
Sidekick: Zach (Nicholas Braun)
Special Power: Human Nightlight Who Can Glow At Will
Zach is the cocky freshman who is quickly humbled when he is labeled a `Sidekick’ after his power to glow fails to impress. To portray Zach, the filmmakers cast Nicholas Braun, who was previously honored with a award nomination for his role in Showtime’s “Walter & Henry.” Braun related to Zach’s split-second journey from `in crowd’ to outcast. “It happened to me in high school,” he notes. “It happens to a lot of kids. You go to school thinking you’re so cool and then things happen where you get humbled. In Sky High, Zach realizes the `Sidekicks’ are really where it’s at. They’re all talented; they’re loyal to each other, and it turns out they all have reasons to be proud of who they are.”
Sidekick: Magenta (Kelly Vitz)
Special Power: Shapeshifter
Magenta, played by newcomer Kelly Vitz in her feature film debut, is a punky, young super hero with the power to shapeshift-only she can’t seem to turn into anything other than a purple guinea pig! Like her cast-mates, Kelly was immediately drawn into the story’s mix of very recognizable high school reality and wild comic book fantasy. “It’s a coming-of-age film as well as a comedy and that’s what makes it a lot of fun,” she says. Kelly also had a great time working with director Mike Mitchell. “He is so like a kid,” she observes. “He’s drawing all the time, he has all these amazing creative ideas and he makes everything really, really fun.”
Sky High (2005)
Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Starring: Kelly Preston, Lynda Carter, Danielle Panabaker, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kurt Russell, Michael Angarano, Kelly Vitz, Malika, Khadijah, Jake Sandvig
Screenplay by: Paul Hernandez, Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle, Jonathan Aibel
Production Design by; Bruce Robert Hill
Cinematography by: Shelly Johnson
Film Editing by: Peter Amundson
Costume Design by: Michael Wilkinson
Set Decoration by: Robert Gould
Art Direction by: William Hawkins
Music by: Michael Giacchino
MPAA Rating: PG for action violence and some mild language.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: July 29, 2005
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