Talented up-and-coming Australian actor Liam Hemsworth stars opposite Miley Cyrus in The Last Song – his first major role in a Hollywood film.
Here he talks about the film, how he found working with Miley and what he thinks of her singing!
Written by Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song focuses on the journey of teenage girl Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) who's reluctantly arrived in a small beach town to stay with her father (Greg Kinnear).
Moody and uncommunicative at the start of the story, as she settles into the community and reconnects her dad, she also discovers first love Will (Liam Hemsworth).
Liam was born and raised in Australia, where he appeared on TV shows including Neighbours, Home and Away and McLeod's Daughters. He voiced the role of Marcus in the television series, The Elephant Princess. He's also had a starring role in the movie, Triangle and appeared in Knowing with Nicolas Cage.
Hot pics: Liam Hemsworth gallery.
Q: How would you describe the story of The Last Song?
A: It is an inspiring coming of age story about first love.
Q: What was it like doing an American accent?
A: Well I had already done an American accent for a film called
TRIANGLE, so I did a lot of training in Australia. For this film I had a dialect coach on set every day and we went through the whole script before filming. We would go through it all and make sure it all sounded good.
You have times when things slip for whatever reason but I just try not to think about those times.
Q: The chemistry between you and Miley is incredible. Did that come completely naturally?
A: It did, absolutely, she’s gorgeous, she’s a beautiful girl. From day one we just got along, it was just easy. For some people it can be an effort to find that chemistry but we just worked really well together.
It is a funny thing; I have known people who hate each other in real life but have amazing chemistry on screen. We don’t hate each other in life (laughs). We get along really well so it just worked on screen - and we get along really well together in real life too.
Young love: Miley and Liam's public PDAs:
Q: There are some great comic moments, what were they like?
A: It can be awkward doing physical things with a girl, like pushing her, because you want it to look authentic but you don’t want to hurt her.
We were filming on the beach and I was pushing Miley into the water and Julie Anne the director kept telling me to push her harder and the same with the mud scene, when we are flinging mud.
She said ‘really throw the mud at her.’ It worked but it is hard because I didn’t want to hurt her but at the same time I wanted the end result to be funny.
Q: Everybody says love scenes are difficult, what were they like for you?
A: The most difficult stuff for me is emotional stuff, because you want it to all look real obviously. For me that’s the hardest - bringing up that emotion.
Q: And you’d imagine it would be hard for a guy your age in real life?
A: Absolutely and it’s a really hard to talk about anything very personal and emotional to a girl.
I think that was the thing about Will and Ronnie and why they have a deep relationship, he realized that he could tell this girl anything at all.
Q: How did you actually get the part?
A: Originally I was flown over here to LA to do a screen-test for the film
Thor which my brother Chris ended up getting.
I was auditioning for various things over here and had an audition for The Last Song. I read the script and then I got called back and read with Miley and got the part, it was exciting.
Q: Do you remember that scene where you read with Miley for the first time? How was she?
A: She was great. I was kind of nervous about it. I knew who she was but I didn’t know how big she was around the world really, but that was a good thing.
It meant that it was a girl that I was meeting rather than a star and it was great. From the first time I met her she was so kind and so easy and really nice.
Q: What was it like working with the director, Julie Anne Robinson?
A: She was amazing, she’s such a kind person and always makes you feel really comfortable in a scene. It’s just calm on set, which is great. You can relax and do your thing and she’s very easygoing.
She collaborates and often asked me ‘what do you want to do in this scene and what do you feel about the scene?’ It’s great to be able to talk to a director like that and share ideas.
Q: What do you think of Miley as a singer?
A: Miley’s music is awesome. She’s incredibly talented. I’d never heard her before meeting her and I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t know how she does what she does.
Q: Do you remember any funny moments during the filming?
A: Oh, there were plenty of funny moments. My singing was one of the funny moments. That wasn’t even in the script. I just started singing along and then they said ‘do more’ and I said ‘oh, no’ and they said ‘but that was so funny’.
I was laughing the whole way through that scene because I was like, ‘this is going to ruin my career’.
Also in the fight scene I kept falling over when I wasn’t supposed to and it was frustrating.
And in the wedding scene, I kept tripping in the dirt. I’d fall over and I’d have to brush all the dirt off me and that wasn’t funny, it was kind of frustrating. I actually banged my knee really hard on the ground and limped for a little while.
I just kept tripping. I did it three or four times, I was cursed.
Q: Was it massively hard work making the movie or fun?
A: It’s both. I mean, it’s always hard work but I enjoy it. When I was in Georgia, I would prefer to be working than having a day off. I enjoyed being on set. I love working with people, other actors. That’s why I do it.
The Last Song is available on DVD on the 4th of August.
Pics from the movie:
Related video:
The Last Song movie trailer and interviews.
