Michael Showalter’s “The Concept of You,” based mostly on the novel by Robinne Lee, has an inconceivable fever dream-level premise: Divorced mom Solene (Anne Hathaway) is dragooned into taking her daughter (Ella Rubin) to Coachella to see boy band August Moon. At Coachella, Solene has an opportunity assembly with Augst Moon’s lead singer, Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), and the pair embark on a shocking romance.
Regardless of the fantasy premise, one factor needed to really feel steeped in realism: August Moon itself. Lee has mentioned studying Harry Kinds fan fiction whereas writing “The Concept of You,” however the band couldn’t merely simply be a One Path rip-off. Showalter wished to take it utterly significantly. “What I felt was this isn’t going to be a parody, this isn’t a film the place we’re making enjoyable of boy bands. Their music is nice, and it’s pop music. We wished this band to be cool, to be up to date, to be attention-grabbing, and all these issues,” he instructed Indiewire.
To make a boy band that really felt like a legit boy band, Showalter introduced in choreographer Dani Vitale, who has labored with artists like BTS and The Jonas Brothers and on tasks like “Daisy Jones and the Six” and the upcoming “Mom Mary.” Vitale described it as a novel expertise as a result of she was on the bottom ground of making August Moon. “I’m like, if you’d like an actual boy band on this film, I’m going to place the film to the facet for a second and develop this band as I might in my reside choreography world,” she instructed IndieWire. “Nick was forged as Hayes. So that’s our backbone. That’s our nucleus of August Moon. They wished to rent actors, and I used to be like, no, now we have to rent skilled dancers that may act.”
At first, Galitzine couldn’t dance, however Vitale knew he would crack it with apply. So she reached out to her dance world contacts to work in tandem with the casting director to forged the band round Galitzine. And after they lastly discovered the precise guys for the band, one thing instantly clicked as soon as Vitale bought all of them in the identical room. “They simply become immediate finest pals. We had been in Atlanta for 2 months in the identical resort, and it become Nerf gun battle fights within the hallway. You possibly can’t plan or choreograph the essence of the great thing about them.”
Vitale describes their beginnings in Atlanta as a boy band boot camp the place they started mapping out what kind of band August Moon was, what they’d transfer like, and what their stage presence could be like. Vitale notes inspirations like The 1975 and Panic from The Disco. However the intense setting was certainly one of creativity and security the place they had been in a position to mesh as a band. Jaiden Anthony, who performs Adrian, instructed Indiewire, “It was so centered on attending to know one another and simply beginning to construct this camaraderie that we want for this band. There was numerous choreo we realized. We did numerous totally different conditions the place we might have two boys going and two boys watching, in order that manner we can provide one another notes. It was tremendous attention-grabbing as a result of we come from a robust dance background, and Nick doesn’t have that. He’s wonderful. It labored hand in hand as a result of generally with dancers, it may be so massive, a lot, and if you end up singing on stage, it doesn’t essentially must be that. I’d be doing it full out, and Nick could be doing it tremendous chill, after which we’d discover a method to meet within the center.”
Whereas Vitale bought August Moon into boy band form, they reached out to songwriter and producer Savan Kotecha, who has written songs for Ariana Grande, Usher, Demi Lovato, and sure, One Path. Kotecha was the manager music producer on “Eurovision Tune Contest: The Story of Fireplace Saga” and had loved the expertise a lot he requested his supervisor to let him know if different motion pictures got here up. After talking with producer Cathy Schulman and Showalter, Kotecha shared related concepts for August Moon and Hayes and signed on.
Kotecha harnessed his expertise within the music business to think about what the arc of August Moon would appear like. “We had this dialog about after they’re at Coachella, you must imagine they’re a giant band. So it’s like, if we’re going to try this, now we have to determine a manner the place we hear a few of their songs earlier than, which I knew Michael wished. What was their first single, what was their actually younger teeny bopper single, what could be the primary single for his or her second album? I approached it that manner with certainly one of my fundamental collaborators and actually shut pal of mine, Carl Falk, who I’ve completed every part from One Path with to Ariana [Grande.]”
“I Acquired You” grew to become August Moon’s younger teeny bopper track, whereas “Nearer” was a sexier track from a second album. “Then ‘Guard Down’ is available in, and now they’ve a bit bit extra energy and say, and so they need guitars and form of edgier sound, and it has a little bit of a The Police vibe and extra substance to the lyrics,” Kotecha stated. Kotecha didn’t go in with any particular sonic inspiration, as an alternative utilizing Galitzine’s casting because the driving drive. Since they knew what Hayes would look and sound like, that guided the choice to make August Moon straight-up pop whereas evolving Hayes all through the movie by way of each the band and his relationship with Solene.
When Vitale bought the music, she began making imaginative and prescient boards and backstories to additional discover references for his or her stage presence. There’s one second that also provides Vitale chills after they had been rehearsing in Atlanta, the place her assistant Scott helped with Galitzine’s dancing classes. “I’ll always remember the primary day in Atlanta after we all bought collectively to rehearse collectively, it was like [Galitzine] was a complete totally different particular person, and he felt the enjoyment and the vitality of performing with different individuals and the way in which they supported him motion clever, he on the finish of the day was like, ‘I get it now. That is so wonderful.’”
As soon as they bought August Moon into boy band form, tackling a Coachella efficiency was one other huge enterprise for Vitale. She bought to assist Showalter and DP Jim Frohna work out what the August Moon Coachella set would appear like and recreate the vibe of the Indio, California, music competition. When it got here to the choreography for Coachella, she didn’t need to uninteresting down the chemistry that August Moon now had or for every particular person band member’s tics. “I actually wished it to really feel like we actually jumped into Coachella, and if it was too choreographed or too inflexible or too clear, it simply would’ve come off tacky,” she stated. “I constructed it tremendous excellent, after which we had been simply tearing it aside. So it simply felt extra unfastened like they’ve been doing this for years and years and years.”
Vitale known as filming the Coachella efficiency surreal. “I really feel like I’m doing tech rehearsals for Coachella. It actually was loopy that we actually had the precise stage arrange, the lighting rig, the content material sound, every part.” For the fellows, it felt like they had been really performing, too. “We had been lastly in a position to carry out with a reside viewers,” Anthony stated. “We did have some additional followers watching, and that simply all the time brings a unique stage of vitality and a confidence increase.”
The fellows had been in a position to convey their personalities out of their efficiency, creating small moments. “One among my favourite elements of our Coachella set was when Vik [White, who plays Simon] and I are sitting on the steps, and we do that coronary heart, after which we break,” stated Raymond Cham Jr., who performs Oliver. “That wasn’t one thing that we choreographed. It was only a foolish factor that got here from our chemistry and simply leaning on one another to create one thing attention-grabbing and humorous and truthful.”
Even with all her super work on “The Concept of You,” Vitale identified that you may’t practice chemistry. “The chemistry between them off digicam continues to be, to at the present time, they’re simply this little unit. You possibly can’t rent that. It was simply magic. And Michael makes a set like that, too. So everybody simply wished to have enjoyable and go to work, and it simply permeates by each division.”
With extra reporting by Kate Erbland.