I Love You, Beth Cooper

By: Christina Radish 
IESB.net

Director/producer Chris Columbus was drawn to I Love You, Beth Cooper, not only because he could relate to the story, but because he was excited about working with and nurturing a group of fresh young actors.

Best known for directing the first two Harry Potter films (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), and for writing such classics as Gremlins and Goonies, Chris Columbus is currently filming the fantasy-adventure Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief, based on the best-selling novel about a New York kid who learns that he is the half-blood offspring of one of the Greek gods.

At the Beth Cooper press day, Chris Columbus talked about how much he loved directing a smaller budget film again, and his excitement for the February 2010 release of the CGI-filled, big-budget Percy Jackson.

"... the reason I did this movie was that I was in a situation where you have big budgets, like with the Harry Potter movies, and you tend to work at a slightly slower pace, and you become spoiled and a little soft, and I thought, “I need to reinvigorate the process of filmmaking.” I wanted to go back to that, and I said to myself, “If I were getting out of film school right now and I was starting to direct my first movie, what would I do?.."

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