Jon Chu (director): One of the hardest parts about taking a cartoon and turning it into a live-action movie, especially one as iconic as Jem and The Holograms, is that there is a shift when you change the medium. We didn't want to compete with the cartoon. We wanted to do something different but keep the essence, and I think the essence of that fearlessness is in the storytelling. I grew up in front of that TV, and there was a block of cartoons: It was G.I. Joe, Jem and The Holograms, and then Transformers. Of course, I would never admit it to my guy friends at the time, but I, of course, loved it.
Jason Blum (producer): A lot of the themes that are touched upon in the cartoon are pushed further in the movie.
Juliette Lewis (Erica Raymond): Jon's really giving it to everybody and saying, "We are Jem". And that's the theme that runs throughout. It's just people striving to express themselves and to own all the specialness that's within each and every one of us.
Aubrey Peeples (Jerrica/Jem): [imitating the JEM theme] JEM! (giggles) I can't not do that.
Jon Chu: One of the things that Christy Marx, the creator of JEM, when I was having a conversation with her about the story, she said, "What I really wished I did was tell more of the stories of the sisters".
Christy Marx (JEM creator): I got a call from Jon Chu, the director, and we had a wonderful, wonderful talk, and Jon said: "Would you like to come down and do a cameo on the film?" and I said: "Mmm, I'm not an actor. You understand this."
Jon Chu: Some audience knows it from the 80's, but some people have never heard of Jem and The Holograms.
Christy Marx: Maybe several weeks later, he walked me through the movie and really gave me his vision of what he saw for the movie. Then he asked me again if I would do a cameo, and I thought: "Well, okay."
Jon Chu: Let's tell that story so that we know the foundation of who these people are, and what we're rooting for in them, and what we want them to accomplish.
Hayley Kiyoko (Aja): Directors don't have to put in that much effort if they don't want to. Y'know, they could just shoot the film. And Jon is just going to the next level to really create something special.
Aurora Perrineau (Shana): He really is about the fans 'cause he really does love the cartoon, and I think he's doing a great job of bringing everyone into it that wants to and is willing to.
Molly Ringwald (Aunt Bailey): He really has this vision for how things are gonna look.
Ryan Guzman (Rio): When he's going through the angles, he knows exactly what he wants, and he gets what he wants.
Molly Ringwald: His enthusiasm is really infectious. He's also really focused on the subtlety of character.
Juliette Lewis: It's real life, but also has that glow, where it's something more fantastic and a little more fantasy-based, as well. And I think that's really exciting.
Hayley Kiyoko: There's this red thread throughout the film. The casting directors did a great job picking Aunt Bailey. Molly Ringwald's awesome.
Aubrey: Oh, my God. So perfect, first of all. I mean, '80s queen. And second of all, just... I can't even describe how lovely she is.
Hayley: She was this icon and this idol for so many people. And when you meet her in person, you realize what a special energy she has.
Aubrey: Just watching her in a scene is incredible, just watching her thought process.
Molly: I was so excited when I found out that I was doing the movie, 'cause I thought: "Finally, something that my daughter can love!"
Aurora: The cast of Juliette Lewis was the time where I fangirled, because she's just so rocker-chick cool. And I think it's amazing that she's also into music with her band and everything.
Aubrey: She's my favorite. When People ask me: "whose career do you wanna emulate?" I'd always be like: "Juliette Lewis". So many of her performances were life-changing to me to watch.
Juliette: This was a whirlwind for me because my role was originally a male. When they came to me, they switched it all around and made me the main villain part. I thought that was really complimentary and exciting, and I couldn't say no.
Aurora: The music in this movie is really cool. It's definitely top 40s. You wanna dance, you wanna hve a good time.
Stefanie Scott (Kimber): Aubrey has an amazing voice, and it's so fun to listen to her perform them live on stage all night for 12 hours with the band and the crowd and getting them going. It's awesome.
Aubrey: The first week we started working on this film, basically, we were in the studio for hours upon hours, recording all the new songs.
Stefanie: I love the music! We had so much fun recording everything.
Jason Blum: I think the songs are really catchy, and I think the songs are great. The music production of the movie was almost as big and a totally separate job than the movie production.
Aubrey: The songs are really accessible to what's on the radio and today's culture.
Aurora: Learning how to rock out like a rock star. I think I had the hardest time, 'cause I was like, "Well, I can do one of these. I can do The Sprinkler." And they were like, "Okay, that's cool". It was hard for me to learn, but Christopher Scott is just amazing, and he's super supportive.
Christopher Scott (choreographer): I start off drawing inspiration from the TV show. But then, as I got with the girls, it really started to become more about them, and who they are and how they move. They're very musical, and they're little rock stars, So I really went with it with them, and took all the plans that I had and threw them out the window. We just started having fun in the studio, like they were a real band, kind of, evolving into who they are as Jem and the Holograms.
Hayley: We shot the concert scene for I'm Still Here, and Jon tweeted and was like, "Hey, if you're a Jem fan, we need extras". It was really cool to see people dressed up, and it felt like you were sharing this experience with them and this project was theirs.
Stefanie: My favorite 80's fashion would have to be, from what I think, 'cause I see it in the movie, I wasn't in the 80s. but I love all of the hair colors. That's my favorite part.
Aurora: I like shoulder pads. I really like shoulder pads.
Hayley: The jelly sandals that everyone used to wear with the glitter in them.
Soyon An (costume designer): That is the most exciting part of my job, is to be able to create things that you can't find off the rack and is just specifically for Jem and The Holograms.
Stefanie: My favorite look is Youngblood, when we have the studs everywhere. I felt like such a badass rock star. It was awesome.
Aubrey: I really love all the clothes that Jerrica gets to wear even before she's made over. And then once we become "jemmed out"... Oh, my goodness, the jacket for Youngblood is so jemtastic. (laughs)
Soyon An: That was all created just for JEM. I love Swarovski crystals, so you have this Swarovski crystal side fringe that Jem is iconically known for.
Aubrey: I've never worn clothes this extravagant and this much performance-wear before for projects, so it's really fun. It's like playing dress-up to the extreme.
Hayley: It's like glitter galore in the trailer. It's a disease. It's like: "Oh my gosh, you have glitter, I have glitter".
Stefanie: It follows me home at night. I just have glitter everywhere.
Aurora: The makeup's fantastic, and Jon is an amazing director because he lets you create.
Mary Klimek (Makeup dept head): He kind of let me run with it, and then I would run things by him, and we would tweak things that way. But, yeah, he was open to a lot of things. This is the makeup-artist dream gig of the century. There is no other makeup-artist gig. This is it.
Aurora: You can't really describe it as anything but "JEM".
Molly; It's sort of catching. This is what I had to do to my nails today (shows neon orange nails). You know, and it's fun. I feel like the last time I wore neon colors was... I don't know, like, 1984?
Jason: There's a real heartwarming, touching aspect to the movie, and a real celebration of being different and finding your voice, and once you find your voice, holding onto your voice.
Stefanie: I feel like we really stay true to Jem and The Holograms in a sentimental way, but we definitely brought it up to date in a really great way.
Jon: We really wanted this movie to take that step and explore identity. Which one are you? Who are you?
Ryan: I think a lot of people put barriers on what they think they can be, and they don't realize that they have the potential to become even bigger, better.
Aubrey: I felt so honored, and I feel like it's so special to be a part of something that's so iconic. It's great. I love it.