Josh Hutcherson & AnnaSophia Robb - Stars of "Bridge to Terabithia"
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. Permission required prior to usage.)

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AnnaSophia has naturally changed since the last time I spoke to her, but yet she’s always exhibited the kind of maturity that may see her career spanning many years. Josh Hutcherson’s hair is much longer than in the film.
The talented youngster is full of life as he takes a seat on the opposite side of the table. The duo impresses me with their bubbly outlook and overall intelligence that surpasses quite a few, shall we say “older” folks I’ve interviewed.
Being that AnnaSophia wrote a letter to Gabor Csupo explaining that this was her dream role, someone comments to Josh:

Did you write a letter?

Josh Hutcherson:

“No, no. I didn’t write a letter. I had to go through a grueling, long audition process before I got the movie. I had to audition on tape multiple times. I went in and met with Gabor, director and some of the producers several times and I met with Lauren Levine…”

AnnaSophia Robb:

“He worked WAY harder than I did!” *She laughs heartedly.*

Josh Hutcherson:

“He just called her and said “Do you want to do the movie?” and she was like “Yeah!”…”
*laughter*

AnnaSophia Robb:

“It was different! It took way longer, it wasn’t THAT easy!”

Question:

So why did you want to do it?

AnnaSophia Robb:

“Well, it’s just such a timeless story. It’s a story worth telling and it’s really important for kids to hear, read or watch a story like “Bridge” because it’s like real life you know? Bad things happen and you’re sad that you have to go through and so it just teaches the value of friendship and how important friends can be and how they impact your life and how you can be a good friend. It’s just really good for people in general?”

AnnaSophia Robb - Star of "Bridge to Terabithia."
(copyright© Movie Jungle International, INC. All Rights Strictly Reserved
. Permission required prior to usage.)

Question:

I ask “So Josh, is she really faster than you?” with a smirk

Josh Hutcherson:

He calmly replies “no” and laughs.

AnnaSophia giggles and says “I was just so tired at the end because we kept on doing it take after take. All these boys of course are so competitive, especially JOSH! He wanted to run to run during lunch! He wanted to race just to prove that he’s the fastest one! He was, and everyone agreed but he was like….uhhh!”

I know AnnaSophia read the book but want to learn exactly when and if Josh ever read it:

Josh Hutcherson:

“When I knew it was being made into a movie, that’s when I went out and got the book and read it because I knew there was going to be a role in this movie that was around my age and I didn’t know much about it, so I wanted to learn about it. So I read the book and I loved it all the way and as I was reading it, I could see movie coming together and what not. I read the script after I got closer to getting it and I loved the script, it translated perfectly from the book into the script and then into the movie, it really kind of follows a smooth transition. That’s what was one of the big things that attracted me to it, that it was such a great story and a story that needed to be told and I think that between Walt Disney and the producers, I think everything went pretty well.”

AnnaSophia:

“Yeah, I saw a rough cut of it and even though all of the special effects were done and looked really silly at some points in time, it still made everybody cry.”

I ask them if they both clicked instantly in their roles or did they have to work at it more than anticipated.
They both jump in together excitedly “Yeah!”

AnnaSophia Robb:

“The day we got off the plane we kind of hung out the whole day together”

Josh Hutcherson:

“But you know what? It’s funny because some kid asked me the question – “were you friends in real-life?” It’s like yeah, like I’m going to tell them “No, we’re the worst of enemies!” It’s like sometimes they want me to say, no we didn’t get along well at all, it was all acting!” No we got along really well.”

Question:

So you haven’t seen the full product?

AnnaSophia Robb:

“No not until the premiere, we’re both going to see it. I’m very excited,  I’ve never seen it front of an audience.”
Fellow press members talk about the effect of the movie on younger and older audience members alike during the screening with tears and laughter rampant.

AnnaSophia Robb:

“I was crying! I know it sounds really bad for me to say but I was! It was just the whole notion of having lost.”

Josh Hutcherson:

“I have a hard time crying in movies that I’m in. Everyone was crying, I was like “I made this movie” and my mom was like *makes a crying sound* and everyone I knew couldn’t breath they were crying so hard and I was like “I was in it! I’m right here!”

AnnaSophia Robb:

“I have never cried in a movie that I’ve made, it’s kind of weird, it’s not the acting, it’s just the story.”

Question:

Being an actor requires an imagination, however the trials on a young actor’s imagination when they know that all of what is happening during filming is not real can stain their much loved youthful outlook.  I ask whether they find that their imagination is falling as their experience grows and as they move towards  adults.

AnnaSophia Robb:

“I find that it’s really important to keep your imagination going. Not just because we’re actors, but because it’s important in life and just to have the openness to the people and just keep your mind open because you know…there’s things in life that happen every day that are really normal but you also have to accept the world not just around you, but in other places too. So it’s harder to keep your imagination as you get older because you have more responsibilities, you don’t have much time but I think kids really help with that, especially just going into a school or just watching kids play. It looks like they’re having so much fun, it seems really stupid “What are they doing?” but then they’re just enjoying themselves, they’re just being free…”

Josh Hutcherson - Star of "Bridge to Terabithia."
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. Permission required prior to usage.)

Question:

How close are the characters in relation to you?

Josh Hutcherson:

“He was much like me in a lot of ways I mean we’re both artists in a sense that he liked to draw and he’s that kind of artist and I’m an actor. I think all artists have some sort of common ground with each other, that they create things using their imagination. I thought I could put that into Jess’s character by filtering my own creative thoughts into his creative thoughts. But as far as family wise goes, like material characteristics, I don’t think I was much like him, so that was a lot of fun for me to get to play someone that wasn’t like me, that’s why I act because I like to pretend and use my imagination every day. I just love doing it, so every time I get to play a character that’s different to what I am it’s a lot of fun.”

AnnaSophia Robb:

“Leslie was really hard for me to play because she’s always so happy and you know she doesn’t judge so it taught me a couple of things of how to like accept people and it was a little hard for me. I was like “people are not that happy!” but she was just full of life, she just had such a positive outlook on life. Leslie doesn’t have a grudge against anyone, but you know children always have guards up to save themselves from emotional hurt or whatever. So for me it was weird because she’s just so different, she’s not like that, she has no guard up, she’s just free with who she is and if you don’t accept her then that’s fine because she’ll still accept you. It was fun, it’s nice to learn something from your characters.”

Question:

Josh, do you feel like you learned something from this?

Josh Hutcherson:

“I think I learned to kind of value the family that I have because in playing a character like Jess and seeing what he has to go through every day and he’s kind of neglected in his family, it is kind of different obviously to how I am because my parents obviously care because they let me do acting and they’re there for me all the time and I have a little brother and they’re there for him all the time too. It was a big experience for me, I’ve become more grateful for what I have. Some kids don’t have as much as I do…”

Question:

I ask them both about the challenges of working with the blue screen.

Josh Hutcherson:

“There were some times where it was really difficult because we had to have an entire fight scene with these creatures!”

AnnaSophia Robb:

“Well, we felt stupid a lot of the time, we were like…”what are we doing?”…”

Josh Hutcherson:

“And then we’d be running, we had this giant blue treadmill with a big blue background and we were supposed to be running away from creatures that are chasing us. It’s really hard to look back and be afraid of a blue screen with green dots on it!”

AnnaSophia Robb:

“And then keep up with running because you kind of want to stop but if you stop you’re gonna slide back because the ground’s always moving. You just have to imagine, and it was easier because Josh was there and I didn’t feel so alone and stupid you know?”

The same question Gabor Csupo was asked is now thrown at AnnaSophia and Josh “What overall message do you want the audience to walk away with?”

AnnaSophia Robb - Star of "Bridge to Terabithia."
(copyright© Movie Jungle International, INC. All Rights Strictly Reserved
. Permission required prior to usage.)

Josh Hutcherson:

“For me I would be happy if you walked out of there just kind of reminiscing on their past relationships with friends and I mean the overall message is for you to be really thankful for the friends you have and the time you have with your friends. You can have all these material things but you have absolutely nothing if you don’t have friends! “

AnnaSophia:

“I agree!”