The cast of 'Dear Evan Hansen' on mental health, moving from stage to screen
Ben Platt and the cast of Dear Evan Hansen talk to Yahoo Entertainment about how they dealt with mental health while shooting the film during the pandemic.
Video Transcript
- Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be an amazing day, and here's why.
BRITTANY COOPER: The film explores teen mental health, and the Broadway show got a little heat sometimes for some of its depictions. So how did you approach the film in handling that topic in a delicate way?
STEPHEN CHBOSKY: Well, I knew-- I knew it was two-fold. Basically, mental health is a very important subject, and it can't be glossed over. So what we felt was just the nature of cinema being in the close-ups and having some certain details, we were able to just add a texture that you literally physically can't add on stage. It's impossible to do it. So there was that. That was an advantage.
We consulted so many groups that, you know, whether it's the suicide hotline folks or JED, other people that had dealt with mental health in teenagers, and we just followed all of their recommendations to the letter. They saw the film. They had cut-- like absolute veto power. You want the shot cut? Its out.
We wanted it to be authentic because we wanted it to be part of the solution. We wanted to go about inspiring young people and helping them after this horrible year and a half that we've all lived through. And it's much more important than some shot of a tree.
BRITTANY COOPER: Yeah, you mentioned the year we've lived through with the pandemic and so many people experiencing new levels of loneliness, do you think that will impact how audiences receive the film?
STEPHEN CHBOSKY: 100%. It impacted how we made it. The only time we saw people's faces was when the actors were on set. Actually, they would take it off and they would perform and then they go right back in.
So yeah, that sense of isolation is all over the film. And I actually think, in a lot of ways, that considering what people have been through and their relationship to screens in general has completely metamorphosized that they're going to find a lot of solace in this and a lot of inspiration and catharsis. I hope so.
BRITTANY COOPER: Evan is this young boy struggling with some big emotions, loneliness, anxiety, his confidence. Did you have any hesitation stepping back into that headspace every day, especially during the pandemic?
BEN PLATT: Very much so. I was certainly very nervous and apprehensive, just because it was such a kind of mountain to climb for those years that I was working on it on stage. And, obviously, so happy to be giving those kind of sacrifices for the experience that I got to have, but certainly apprehensive to re-enter that. I think, you know, on the one hand, as I said, there is a bit more of a humanity and an intimacy on film that was very challenging because there isn't the separation of theatricality. So you do have to delve somewhat deeper in some ways.
But what I really did appreciate and was able to get me through and rely on is this idea of how temporary the experience was and how much of a time limit there is when you're talking about making a film and how you only really have to attack each moment and each story point for one or two days, and you can just throw yourself into it and live it the way you want to, and then let it go.
BRITTANY COOPER: You know, Alana is this beautiful character who just wants to help everybody else, but she is struggling internally with so many things. How universal do you think that experience is, and could you relate to that at all?
AMANDLA STENBERG: Yeah, I think Alana so desperately wants to help everybody else because, like you said, she's contending with her own pain and her own feelings of isolation and the weight of, like, depression and anxiety. And she doesn't have an outlet to express that, and so she kind of, like, responds to that by just externalizing all of it and doing a million activities in order to kind of get that out of her or make up for it or make herself feel whole or receive that external validation. All of those things are things that I can really deeply relate to.
I also am on the exact same medication and dosage as Alana. And so when I read that on the page I was, like, oh, that's funny. I do wish I could have had conversations around mental health when I was younger because I would have maybe avoided a kind of painful path to arrive to the ways in which I have help in my life now. And I hope that people know that it's normal to struggle with mental illness, and it's normal to receive help for it. It's normal to get the services that you need, whether it's therapy or medication or whatever it may be.
BRITTANY COOPER: Do you think doing this during the pandemic maybe heightens those emotions, those strong connections?
AMY ADAMS: Um, I think the connectivity that we were able to create in set, that was something that I understood to be very special that maybe I would have taken for granted before. But the connectivity and that human connection was something that I was really, really grateful for in that time.
BRITTANY COOPER: Julianne, I know that this was new for you to sing in a film.
JULIANNE MOORE: Yeah.
BRITTANY COOPER: How was that experience singing live on a set?
JULIANNE MOORE: Scary. I thought I would swallow my tongue. I really did. It's, like-- to be surrounded by such extraordinary musical talent and to have so much support from everyone, I mean, it really was wonderful. It was inspiring and supportive and I learned so much, you know?
I mean, I really kind of, like, lay at the feet of these giants and learn from them and was helped by everybody. So it was really-- I was so grateful to have that opportunity because that doesn't happen very often where you get to work with these masters of their musical craft. You know, like Amy, like Ben, like Pasek and Paul and Alex Lacamoire. And, you know, it was just sort of was very lucky.
BRITTANY COOPER: Yeah. And, you know, movie musicals can sometimes get so big, but this film, the tone stays so intimate and so personal. Amy, what was it like for you to have this musical be this very intimate raw experience?
AMY ADAMS: It was amazing. I mean, to again, to be surrounded by these musical giants-- I don't include myself in those, but thank you, Julianne.
JULIANNE MOORE: Oh, come on, Amy. Come on.
AMY ADAMS: Uh, no. No, I'm like-- I'm a back room karaoke singer at best.
JULIANNE MOORE: I don't know. You have a beautiful voice, come on.
AMY ADAMS: But it was amazing that the stage musical, which was able to-- while having this massive impact-- was still able to maintain its intimacy. To see that become even more intimate was stunning. And to see the way that Ben was able to take his performance, that was able to fill an entire auditorium, and make it so detailed and so specific, I was blown away. I get chills every time I talk about it. I was just blown away daily.
BRITTANY COOPER: What was the final scene that you shot, and did it feel extra emotional knowing that it would be the end of your journey with Evan Hansen?
BEN PLATT: Absolutely did. The last scene I shot was one of my favorite scenes in the whole film, which was with the brilliant Amandla Stenberg. We did the scene where we're walking in the park, and we talk about our medications and our mental health. And we really connect as Evan and Alana about the struggles that we're having and really see each other for the first time.
And it was a beautiful way to end. A, because it was so intimate, and it was such a small kind of quiet ending in a really nice way. And as soon as we hit that last cut and it was over, I obviously was very emotional. But I did feel such a weight lifted and such a relief, because I had really felt like I did everything I could do, and I laid it all out. And I was really fully ready to say goodbye to Evan.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
