Like his character in “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” Ed Oxenbould is a little brother. But unlike Alexander, Ed is now 13, the son of actors and a resident of Sydney, Australia.
He does a flawless American accent as a boy who — serendipitously — loves all things Australian. Ed, who calls that a “strange destiny,” emerged from hundreds of hopefuls to star in the live-action comedy inspired by Judith Viorst’s 1972 picture book.
“We wanted someone who was very natural. I wanted to stay away from the typical Hollywood kid casting,” director Miguel Arteta said in a joint phone interview from Philadelphia with his young star.
“In the movie, Alexander the character is very pessimistic, but at the end he opens his heart to his family, so I kind of wanted to find somebody who felt like an optimist, somebody who I felt could really play that last beat of the film. And Ed, I don’t know, there’s something very gracious and very generous of heart about him.”
Those weren’t easy qualities to find when looking at 12-year-olds who, the director said, “can be very self-involved.” The age of the child in the book was bumped up several years to allow him more interaction with his older brother and to broaden the appeal of the character.
When people realized that Mr. Arteta, whose movies had included “The Good Girl,” “Cedar Rapids” and “Youth in Revolt,” was tackling the beloved children’s book, he frequently heard: “Please don’t mess it up.” Ed, similarly, was warned, “We better not ruin it.”
The director, a native of Puerto Rico, had not read the book but had worked with Steve Carell on an episode of “The Office.” Mr. Carell plays Alexander’s father who has his own terrible, horrible day just as he’s interviewing for a job.
“I think Disney was looking for an independent filmmaker for this. They wanted to make this feel a little more authentic than your typical family movie, and that’s why I got the call. I didn’t know the book. I read it and I fell in love with it, it’s a really special book.
”It was a movie I could really put my heart in. It was incredibly fun, and it just celebrates family. It’s about how you can take them for granted, and when you’re in the middle of a crisis, you remember how lucky you are to have them around you,” the filmmaker said.
The movie teams Mr. Carell, Jennifer Garner and Ed with Dylan Minnette as Alexander’s older brother, Kerris Dorsey as his older sister, and twins Zoey and Elise Vargas (they shared the infant’s role in “Neighbors”) as baby brother Trevor.
The director did not try to cast actors who looked as though they could be related despite lots of questions from the producers about family resemblance. “I always feel like right person for the right part … and now people are telling me, how do you cast people who look like a family. I really think it only has to do with their chemistry with each other, not their appearance.”
As for the menagerie of critters that appears, the crocodile was real and frightening, the baby wallaby Winston an adorable distraction and some kangaroos were authentic although one that executes an MMA-style kick was computer-generated.
“Alexander” allowed Mr. Arteta the chance to work with one of his acting idols, Dick Van Dyke. “I feel so blessed. ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ was my favorite movie growing up. I was obsessed with that movie. Our executive producer, Shawn Levy, directed the ‘Night of the Museum’ movies, and Dick Van Dyke had been in those movies. …
“I couldn’t believe I was sitting there talking about what it was like to hang out with Walt Disney and make movies that I adore. To me, there’s a connection between the kind of comedy that Dick Van Dyke does and the kind of comedy that Steve Carell does. I feel like they both are able to do something very hard, which is to make comedy out of being a nice guy, not out of a dark, sarcastic place. ... It is pretty hard to do that.”
Movie editor Barbara Vancheri: bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1632.
First Published: October 11, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
