This is why movies cost so much money ... and are so magical.
In June, motorists who followed the mysterious yellow “Lorien” directional signs and ventured deep into Deer Lakes Park near Pittsburgh in the foggy blackness would have discovered a secret carnival.
High on a grassy, muddy hill were rides, including a Ferris wheel, a Tilt-a-Whirl and a Zipper with blinking arrow lights, plus stands advertising french fries, pink and blue cotton candy, funnel cakes and corn dogs..
Director D.J. Caruso, however, was focused on actors Alex Pettyfer and Dianna Agron, two of the stars of I Am Number Four, a sci-fi thriller then filming in Pittsburgh and targeted for a February release. (It arrived, on time, in theaters Friday.)
Pettyfer, his blond hair streaked and slightly mussed, was clad in a gray hoodie and jeans while a camera-toting Agron was wearing a beret, her blond hair in a single braid swept to the side and a bag slung across her dark jacket.
Months later, the scene would be reduced to seconds on screen, but this night, it was all consuming. Caruso was battling volatile weather — the night before had brought a tornado warning and lightning that shut down the outdoor set.
The filmmaker had considered shooting in Michigan or the Carolinas, but decided that Western Pennsylvania had the production base and could cheat for make-believe Paradise, Ohio.
I Am Number Four is based on a novel written by James Frey and Jobie Hughes under the pen name of Pittacus Lore. It’s the first of a planned series about nine gifted aliens on the run from enemy Mogadorians, who are killing them in numerical order on Earth.
As Number Four, Pettyfer plays a “disenfranchised teenager who keeps moving around from place to place, not really putting down roots and trying to figure out who he is, and at the same time, he’s got this sort of hidden destiny that’s unknown to him, that he’s going to basically save the world,” Caruso said.
The Pettyfer character, who adopts the name John Smith, is a stand-in for high-schoolers everywhere. He’s an outsider who finally finds a place he wants to call home and a girl he loves, but his destiny yanks him away.
“I thought it was a really cool story from that aspect,” said Caruso. “It sort of reminded me of Rebel Without a Cause crossed with Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Caruso, who helped to make Shia LaBeouf a star with his movies Disturbia and Eagle Eye, auditioned more than 145 actors before narrowing the field to four and, eventually, one in British actor Pettyfer.
“He’s incredibly dynamic and there’s a macho sort of element to him, but what I really liked was his vulnerability.”
Each of the nine aliens develops legacies or powers around age 17, and John unexpectedly gains telekinesis along with the power of lumen, which causes light and energy to beam out of his hands in a nifty effect.
Aussie actress Teresa Palmer, who turns up as Number Six, can make herself invisible.
Another Australian, 15-year-old Callan McAuliffe, is Sam, an Ohio teen who is regularly bullied but finds a friend and ally in John while Agron’s character, Sarah, is a beauty and one-time popular girl who quit dating a football player.
Caruso builds what he calls a character bible for each actor and spent two weeks rehearsing, first in Los Angeles and then in Pittsburgh.
As previous movies demonstrated, he has a winning way with youthful actors and says the key is simplicity because performers of any age can overthink a moment.
“Keep it really simple. It’s really easy for them to grab onto what they want to do and what they want to accomplish. It’s just kind of keeping them focused.”
Once admittedly “a little bit afraid of science fiction” because he was so grounded in reality, the director said the challenge on this film was “balancing the character elements and the struggle of identity and making sure the spectacle of the action and some of the other things don’t overtake the character elements.
As for a possible franchise (I Am Number Four could be the first of six books), he says, “I think that’s probably everyone’s plan — knock wood — you just feel like I try to make one great movie and whatever happens from there happens.”