Based on the celebrated YA novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures is the magical story of a boy struggling to find himself. After the death of his mother and with an absent father, Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) must fend for himself. Ethan’s nanny Amma (Viola Davis) has a mysterious past, and while she tries taking care of him, her unanswered questions get the best of Ethan. In the novels, Amma’s role is purely to take care of Ethan, while a woman named Marion (a friend of Ethan’s late mother) takes him to an underground library. However, in the movie both characters are combined in the role of Amma. Sure enough, Ethan quite literally meets the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), and falls in love.
While Beautiful Creatures was in development, the pitch given to the stars was “Twilight meets Romeo & Juliet”. The answer was a quick “no”, but when the script arrived hesitantly, Ehrenreich did a quick read and loved the narration; later that day he was on a plane. Englert was convinced over email, and met director Richard LaGravenese. After an hourlong meeting, the two found that they were on the same page, wanting a more realistic approach than Twilight. It would seem that Twilight is the go-to reference point for the YA film genre–it opens a lot of doors. But now that it’s such a phenomenon, it closes them, too.
LaGravenese, with the help of his nimble cast, has put together an incredible piece with this film. Ehrenreich is the standout; he’s fresh and smart and when he laughs, you just want to laugh right alongside him.
This film is not the book, however, so don’t go looking for Ridley’s (Emmy Rossum) lollipop, or Macon’s (Jeremy Irons) dog Boo Radley, and be surprised toward the second half when Lena does something heroic. This movie could be the end, but there’s room for more. Let’s hope the filmmakers agree.
Here is the interview we did with Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich:
-ML
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