Matt Prokop Interview

What better time of year to see a movie about saving wildlife than right now?! Nipping at the heels of Earth Day comes the new movie Furry Vengeance starring Matt Prokop, who you'll probably recognize from HSM 3. We chatted with Matt about filming with lots of wildlife (including a bear! And a skunk! And a raccoon!) and what it was like to share his first on-screen kiss! Read on!

Tell us about your character, Tyler.
He's your typical teen who doesn't want to listen to his parents and just wants to be alone and listen to music and talk on Facebook. His parents uproot him from his wonderful life in Chicago and move him out to the middle of the forest in Oregon. He meets a girl and she shows him that all these animals are getting caged and possibly killed and so they team up with the animals and do whatever they can to take them down.

What do you do to stay green in your own life?
Just your typical things. I don't do a lot of things out and about, which I'm gonna start doing and need to do. But the little things like recycling and turning off all the electricity when you leave, taking less time in the bathroom -- I take really fast showers.

Do you go out of your way to be environmentally friendly?
Sometimes, but not all the time, which I need to do. My friends and I are planning to do a lot of tree planting this summer and hopefully do all that we can to give back.

What was it like working with Brendan and Brooke?
It was a dream come true. I was the biggest Brendan Fraser fan growing up, from Encino Man to all The Mummy movies. And Brooke, she's an icon. It was just an honor and they are the nicest, most genuine people I've ever worked with. Very friendly, very outgoing, very open. They instantly took me in as their son. And Brendan still emails me like, "Hey, son, how's it going?" They're very fun people.

Are they anything like your real parents?
Not at all. My parents are short. My parents are literally like, 5'6'" and it looks like I just do not belong. I'm like, 5'11" and both my grandpas are like, over 6 feet and that's where the height comes from. When my parents came to set, everyone was like, "Who are these people?" Brendan and Brooke look like they'd be my parents more than my actual parents do.

What was your favorite scene to film?
The running scene. It's a scene that Tyler and Amber have where they're jogging together and they find the big prison for animals. That was our first and only day working with all of the animals -- every single animal was in the scene and we got to hang out off set and just had a really good time hanging out with the animal trainers.

What kind of animals were on set?
Raccoons, skunks. There was actually a real brown bear, which was awesome. It was really nice.

The bear was nice?
It was a really nice bear until we had to get a shot of the bears roaring and that kind of freaked me out when we saw the actual animal instinct come out. I did get to pet it and it was awesome. I got to hold the raccoon and the skunks. They were de-fumed so they weren't going to spray anyone.

You had your first on-screen kiss in this movie. What was that like?
It was a little awkward having the full camera crew around and her mother staring at me.

Are you more aware of makeout scenes when you watch them now?
Yes. There are certain movies where there's actually a relationship going on and you can really see that these people are actually a couple. But there was a little age difference between us and so it was a little awkward.

Did you learn anything surprising about the environment while you were filming?
We used a lot of green equipment, which was cool. I was surprised by how far the production itself went to converting to being environmentally friendly. They were using certain lights that weren't giving off any bad fumes.

How would you convince kids to be more environmentally friendly?
It's one of those things where kids don't feel like they have a voice, and kids need to realize that they're the future. Our parents and grandparents aren't going to be able to tell us what to do forever, so we need to know that if we have these thoughts and start doing these things at a young age, they'll carry on to the future and we'll have a better life and a cleaner life and a greener life.

Source: ALLOY.com (link)

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