Ashley Wallen: I work a lot in the pop industry in the UK. So I work a lot with Kylie Minogue,
I do a lot of her stuff and I've just started Robbie Williams on his new album, I do a lot
of his stuff. So, I love working in the pop industry, but film is like my favourite because it's
there for life.
[What sort of scale are we talking about? How many dancers are you working with?]
So we've got 16 dancers, all from America. We auditioned a lot and they're basically
the world's best. They've danced with Janet, Beyonce, Britney, Katy Perry. Like every major
pop star in the world, they've done.
We've got 16 of those and then we've got probably about 8 of our other Oddities. So we have
about 24 big cast of Oddities. On top of that we've got all the Circus people. So some days
are huge. Fifty or so!
[And I know you've worked with a lot of people over the years, but if we can just talk about
Hugh Jackman for a moment. So people in the UK will know him as well from Oklahoma on
stage that he did. How have you found working Hugh and his skills as a dancer?]
Ash: Hugh? Terrible! He never rehearses. He's an awful dancer, can't sing, can't act. No,
I'm joking! Hugh is... how do I describe Hugh?... he is just amazing. He's the hardest working
guy I think I've ever come across, to work with. He tires me out because he's like "again,
again, again!". He just wants to keep doing it and doing it and doing it, which is great
because he's a perfectionist and it's going to look great. He's a great dancer. He doesn't
think he's a great dancer. But I've fine tuned him, we kind of sit there and go through every
move so it's just perfect. Right down to just having his feet locked together, making sure
everything is just right bang on.
[I can't believe he doesn't think he's a good dancer!]
Ash: No he always says! And then sometimes he'll do a funny move and he'll go, "You don't
want that?" and I'm like "No, I don't think I'll take that move Hugh, but lets go back
to this" No, he's a great dancer, really good, really good.
[And how about Zac Efron? Because again I suppose in terms of singing and dancing people
will know the High Musicals films he did.]
Ash: I mean, Zac's done a lot of High School Musicals. So he's done the singing and dancing before.
He's been great. We've been rehearsing him up. We're just getting to his scenes, to where
we're doing a lot of the dancing stuff. He's been great, he's got to deal with these big
slides on his knees and then he's got canes and hat tricks to do. So he's got a lot of
stuff to kind of get down, but he's been great.
[Have there been any injuries yet?]
Ash: I'm trying to think... there's been a few dancers that have fallen on their head.
One I dropped, which wasn't good, because I've never dropped anyone! But the poor girl,
I did. We've been pretty good actually.
[And what about Michelle Williams?]
Ash: Michelle has been great. We rehearsed with her for 8 weeks. I know she's not a trained
dancer, so we've had her rehearsing every day. We do a little class with her before we start,
like a dance class. We've trained her for three or four hours every day. A lot of partner
work, so it's been quite hard on her body. I know she has been quite sore, like really
sore. She's been like "I can't, I can't do this, I can't do this". But no, she'd been
good. Really good.
[For people who haven't experienced this kind of thing before, when you are shooting a huge
dance sequence can you just talk through the day briefly? So you have to warm up?}
Ash: So we arrive on set and the dancers and actors get to have breakfast, then they need
to let that digest because you don't want to dance there. Then they get thirty minutes
to warm up and then they come on to set and it can be quite taxing because the routines
we can shoot just as one. So it can be a good two minutes of like hard core, it's like being
an athlete really. So they do that and Michael is a perfectionist so we go over and over
and over and over until it's right. So it's quite a hard day. It's twelve hours of full
on, hard core dancing, all day. So they've got to keep their energy up.
[So how many takes do you think Michael would do then of the numbers?]
Ash: We've got to get a lot of shots. They could do it forty times, all day. Because
we've got to get this angle, that angle. Then close–ups and stuff like that. But they
could run it as one big number, probably fourteen, fifteen times. So it's hardcore. The bar scene
was the hardest, 'From Now On'. We're in a bar, they're dancing on tables, they're dancing
on the bar. It was a hot room because it's a condensed space, and it's a really tough
routine. There's lots of lifts up in the air. People get flown around and drinks flying.
That was a really, really tough day. But they were good.