Former “iCarly” star Nathan Kress is about to be seen in a whole new light with “Into the Storm,” the found-footage film about an onslaught of terrifying tornadoes, which hit theaters Aug. 8. We spoke to him about self-taping, getting drenched, and abandoning vanity.
On being cast.
“They had us self-taping, and because it’s found footage I could set it up my own way and make it more immersive. And I actually auditioned for Max Deacon’s character, so I auditioned to be my own older brother, originally. A couple weeks passed and they said they found someone a little older looking and instead, they were going to retool the script and change the Trey character from Donnie’s best friend to Donnie’s younger brother. So it worked out!”
On the filming conditions.
“I mean this in a very positive and affirming way—it was completely miserable. It was uncomfortable and wet and freezing cold and a huge challenge to remember your lines. But because of that, we didn’t have very much green screen. And I think that ultimately made it so much easier. It was just happening to us. There was very little acting required.”
On the reality of the shots.
“We sound like the biggest whiners but as hard as it was to do, I’m so grateful we did it because it’s going to be so real. All the facial reactions you see, that’s because something awful happened to us. I learned watching the movie that I have a really unattractive running face. But it’s harder when you have a big fan and big bags of leaves and sticks and stuff they’re throwing up into the fan. It’s hard not to look unattractive!”
On looking at fake tornadoes.
“Because obviously we couldn’t create tornadoes on demand, we had to create reference points for the entire cast to look at. But when you have a cast of nine or 10 people, inevitably someone is going to look in the wrong place. There was really only one significant time I was in front of a green screen. We were just sitting still in a car, pretending to swerve left and right. And the director was yelling out, ‘Pretend it’s a tornado! And oh, this tree is about to block the path!’ That was the only time we were really pretending. The only time we’re looking at a tornado, we’re really looking at a drenched P.A.”
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