Based on the book of the same name, the new supernatural teen romance movie Beautiful Creatures is about a girl named Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) who moves to the small Southern town of Gatlin just before her 16th birthday. But with strange occurrences following her arrival, it looks like it will be a bittersweet 16, at best. The townsfolk (particularly Ethan, played by Alden Ehrenreich) take notice of this young enchantress and the mystical abilities she begins to conjure. While Ethan’s intrigue is affable, the rest of the town (namely resident mean girl Emily Asher, played by Zoey Deutch) is ready to burn this witch at the stake. As this supernatural love story opens in theaters on Valentine’s Day, Wrestling with Pop Culture talks to Deutch and Project X‘s Thomas Mann, who plays Ethan’s best friend Link.

Did you read the book before filming the movie based on Beautiful Creatures?

Mann: She did, but I did not. When I first met with Richard [LaGravenese, director], he told me about the books and how the script varied a lot from them. When you adapt a 600-page book, you have to consolidate a lot of things and he didn’t want me to get things confused. He was like, “You can read it if you want, but I’m not asking you to read it for the movie because it’s a different take on it.” I didn’t want to get anything muddled in my brain, so I just stuck with Richard’s vision and read the book after.

Having read the book after you finished filming, is there anything you wish you had done differently with your character now?

Mann: The appearance of the character in the movie is different from the character in the book. He’s kind of a punk rocker in the book and in the movie he’s just kind of a groovier guy who wears a lot of vintage clothes.

Deutch: He was the hat guy.

Mann: Wardrobe kept trying to put this hat on me and I was like, “I don’t want to wear that. I don’t want to be the hat guy.” I was trying to lose it on purpose, but they’d bring it up every time we started shooting. Then is just became part of the character that I really liked. But it’s just a different thing and I trust Richard’s vision. We had a lot of talks about what kind of person we wanted Link to be and it’s definitely still Link. His personality is there all the same. Link is a total horndog in the book, too. In the movie, not so much so. There were a few differences, but I’m happy with it.

You guys worked with some heavyweights like Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson in this movie. What was it like working with them and what did they share with you?

Mann: It was really intimidating at first.

Deutch: The idea of them is intimidating. They’re not intimidating.

Mann: Once you meet them and start working with them on set, it really is the best acting class you could ever ask for.

Deutch: We got paid to go to acting class!

Mann: Pretty much. They’re all so smart and have so much life experience to share with you. It was really nice because Emma Thompson would give me direction instead of the director and he’d be like, “Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s do that.” You’re not going to say no to Emma Thompson. It was just amazing getting to be near Jeremy and Viola [Davis] and I just feel very lucky.

The conservative views in the movie, especially with Zoey’s character, seem almost foreign to those of us who haven’t spent time in small Southern towns like this one. Do you feel like that intolerance was exaggerated at all in this movie or do you think that’s how people might really react to a teenage witch today?

Deutch: I’m Jewish, so I had no idea that any of that existed. Emily is evangelical, so she’s religiously extreme. I went to a lot of evangelical churches and talked to a lot of people and tried to understand that perspective. In no way did I judge it because if you judge the character’s viewpoints, feelings and community – that’s what religion is is a community – then it’s not going to feel real to you or the audience. The people I met, it didn’t seem forced or exaggerated.

Mann: I would say the fictional town of Gatlin specifically just seems like it’s stuck in the past. I don’t know if it’s exaggerated for how things were a hundred years ago, but it is a heightened version of that and the movie has a lot of social commentary about fitting in, right or wrong, good versus evil. It helps build a strong, tense atmosphere.

Deutch: The idea is that it’s so closed-minded that it’s been built up to this craziness. It’s not even their fault because they have no other perspective.

Mann: That’s all they know and they’re just so ignorant that they can’t even see it.

There have been lots of movies and books lately that deal with the supernatural and love often gets intertwined along the way. What do you think sets Beautiful Creatures apart from those other stories?

Mann: I haven’t seen the Twilight movies, but I hope this movie stands on its own as something really special. The aesthetic of the movie is very strong and there’s a lot of humor in the movie, which I think people aren’t expecting. It doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Deutch: It’s sophisticated in this weird way. I think there’s something to be said about the fact that there are these incredible actors of such extreme notoriety.

Mann: There’s a real maturity to the movie that you don’t find in a lot of these other teen romance movies.

Deutch: It’s told from the perspective of a teenage boy, and the girl has the powers. So it’s the guy going after the girl finally. I appreciate that and I think that’s what makes it unique and will allow for guys to really like it as well.

Mann: Alden Ehrenreich, who plays the main character Ethan, is not a brooding movie [character]. He’s a typical everyman. He’s so funny and is just not the leading man you would expect, which is really refreshing.

Do you think you’re ready for Twilight-like stardom if this movie launches you into that?

Mann: I don’t know. I hope people like the movie, but I can’t really think about that. I guess the answer is no. But Zoey’s ready for it!

A big theme in the movie is the transition into adulthood. Since you’re both making similar transitions in the acting world, how did working on this film compare to what you’re going through as up-and-coming actors?

Mann: As you grow up, your interests change and when you read a script you start relating to different characters. A script I read four years ago and loved, now I’m like, “I don’t understand this kid anymore.” So you just change as a person and I think that informs your decisions and the kind of roles you want to do. I’m no longer going to school, so a character feeling insecure in high school doesn’t mean as much to me as it did several years ago. You just have to be aware of your life changing.

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