Now streaming on Netflix is the screen adaptation of 13: The Musical. We had the chance to sit down for an interview with Adam Santelli, the director of photography to talk about bringing 13 from stage to screen and more.
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Interview with Adam Santelli for 13 The Musical
So what is it specifically about musicals and music videos that interests you most as a creative?
Adam: I’ve always been involved in music ever since I was a kid. I am the MTV generation, I was there when there were two videos on MTV. Basically spent most of my time watching MTV through middle school and high school.
I just remember my mom always going, what are you going to do with your life? I’m like, I’m gonna make music videos. And so that’s kind of where it all started, because of that, it just was an easy transition into musicals. And I’m a big musical fan. So a big Broadway fan.
Let’s talk about 13: The Musical and what made you want to work on this project? Did you come across challenges when adapting the stage play and book into the film?
Adam: I’m a big Tamra Davis fan, just that alone kind of got me excited about the project. But then when I read the script and started doing the research, I was like, I have to do it. We’ve all been there and we’ve all had those problems. So in a sense it was one of those kind of projects [and] all the stars have aligned.
The choreographer, Jamal, I know very well, from Descendents 3. It was just a great coming together of people I’ve always wanted to work with, or people I have been wanting to get back together with.
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To hear the whole interview take a listen below.
About 13 The Musical
13 The Musical follows 12-year-old Evan Goldman after he leaves New York City following his parents’ divorce. Evan is devastated to leave all his friends, his father, and his rabbi behind. Especially since his Bar Mitzvah is coming up, But upon arriving at his grandmother’s house in small-town Walkerton, Indiana, he hatches a plan to win new friends by turning his Bar Mitzvah into the coolest party ever.
As an outsider, Evan quickly finds out he’s not the only one grappling with the all too familiar anxieties of eighth grade. While his new friends Patrice and Archie fret over the fate of the planet and unrequited love, popular cheerleader Lucy desperately plots to stave off a first kiss between her crush Brett and best friend Kendra. To make matters worse, Evan invites the popular kids to his party—who aren’t fans of Patrice. Evan faces the impossible task of bringing everyone happily together in time for his party, or else risk social ruin. It turns out, 13 isn’t looking as good as he thought it would be.
About Adam Santelli
Adam Santelli has worked on everything from Descendants 3 to Fear of the Walking Dead and so much in between. But as much as we wanted to talk about that Hades musical number and Hellraiser, we tried to focus on 13: The Musical. Okay, yes, we also asked about the other things, too, because Adam has such an expansive portfolio. How could we not?
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