Sitting Down with the Cast of Goosebumps

Growing up I loved to read, in fact I still do. There’s nothing like sitting down and getting into a novel or even a series. One series that has been wildly popular especially with the kids is Goosebumps by R.L. Stine.  I’m excited to share that they’ve made a movie off the series!

A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author R.L. Stine after the writer’s imaginary demons are set free on the town of Greendale, Maryland.

I had the chance to sit down with the stars of the film, Jack Black, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee, and Dylan Minnette to talk about the film.

We chatted about how they got they start in  acting. Did you know that both Ryan Lee and Jack Black went to an acting camp? That’s where it started for both of them.

We talked about CGI effects too. They were sharing stories about one of the monsters using stilts as arms and green screens.

During the interview Jack Black started doodling then he handed out the sketches to each of us as we left. I have a drawing that Jack Black did! Okay so it’s a little geeky, but I don’t care. Jack Black drew a picture for me! 🙂

Movie Synopsis

Scholastic has over 400 million Goosebumps books worldwide in 32 languages in print since the series introduction in 1992, earning critical acclaim and dominating global best seller lists. R.L. Stine has been recognized as one of the bestselling children’s authors in history.  Now, the literary phenomenon is coming to the big screen.   In Goosebumps, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette), upset about moving from a big city to a small town, finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door, and makes a quick friend in Champ (Ryan Lee).  But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach’s comes when he learns that Hannah’s mysterious dad is in fact R.L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series.  As Zach starts learning about the strange family next door, he soon discovers that Stine holds a dangerous secret: the creatures that his stories made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books.  When Stine’s creations are unintentionally released from their manuscripts, Zach’s life takes a turn for the weird.  In a crazy night of adventure, it’s up to Zach, Hannah, Champ, and Stine to team up and get all of these figments of Stine’s imagination – including Slappy the Dummy, the girl with the haunted mask, the gnomes and many more – back in the books where they belong to save the town.

While the movie does have monsters they’ve stressed that they’re done in such a way that children will realize they are not real. There’s a balance of scary and comical.

I asked the actors for their best advice for kids that are afraid of the monsters in their rooms, in their closets, and under the bed. They had great ideas like drawing their fears and confronting them. They also suggested role play and defeating their monsters.

Goosebumps will be in theaters on October 16th!