Kissing and Telling :: Director, Stars Talk 'Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List'

Naomi and Ely have been best friends their whole lives. They both live in the same building. They're both attending New York University. They're both stunning to look at. And they both like boys. They've created a "No Kiss List" to make sure nothing messes with their BFF status. Alas, when Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend, their bond is put to the test.

Based on the young adult novel by Rachel Kohn & David Levithan (who wrote "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist"), Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List is a hip, enchanting new film directed by theatre sensation Kristin Hanggi ("Rock of Ages"), and starring Pierson Fode and Victoria Justice. The movie feels so in tune with today's tweens without straining to be (prescient since the film was shot two years ago).

Hanggi's interest in the project was piqued immediately upon reading the script: "I had just opened 'Rock of Ages' on Broadway in 2009 and I remember reading it on a plane and it really hit me emotionally. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for coming of age films and especially ones that don't condescend...

"There's something very powerful in the message that there are so many different kinds of love in our lives. And that relationships come in all shapes and forms. And that when we try to hold onto something too tight we tend to suffocate it and lose it. And that by opening up and allowing things to be what they are, then we can see how much love there actually is in our lives. And loving people for exactly who they are without trying to change them...It just hit my heart and I was like, I have to make this movie."

Finding Naomi

It took a few years to secure financing and actually start production. In 2013, the cameras were ready to roll. And casting was underway. Hanggi had quite the challenge ahead of her.

She recollects: "For Naomi, I was looking for someone who had that take your breath away beauty (described in the book) but could also understand a deep insecurity and vulnerability. For me Naomi and Eli are like the Velveteen Rabbit. They're both a lot of persona in the beginning and then they become real by the end of the movie. So it's about how they let their real-ness out."

She found beauty and "passion" in Victoria Justice, best known for a Nickelodeon series, "Victorious." "Victoria read the screenplay and it resonated with her," Hanggi explains. "So the fun became how deep can you go. Let's tear down this Nickelodeon actress persona and see what's underneath. She was incredibly brave and fearless."

Finding Ely

For Ely, Hanggi sought an actor who was "incredibly attractive to boys and girls."

The director elaborates, "I had a gay guy friend when I was in college my freshman year who was the most head turning beautiful guy in my school. He had that thing where it felt like the sun was always shining on him -- like he was the star of his own music video. There was an easy-going-ness and a fluidity. So I had that reference in mind as we were casting. I was looking for the person who would come into the room and have that breezy, effortless, coolness to them. Pierson is such a great actor and so good looking. But he was raised on a farm, so inside he has this really wonderful, sweet farmboy charm. And confidence. And when it's wrapped up in that body, you're like, 'What? What is happening there?'"

Fode recalls that he had a "bad" audition but bonded with Hanggi who felt he had "the right energy for the role." He was asked back and was much more prepared. "And once Victoria and I read, they (the producers) knew we had really good chemistry together" (a chemistry that has, apparently shifted into their real life since the two have been a couple for a while now).

The ridiculously handsome actor was initially apprehensive about taking on a gay part, but not for the typical reasons. Fode explains: "I've never played a gay character before and I honestly was very hesitant to take on the role. I just wanted to be sure I did a good job and not make him a caricature, to ground him in reality. I needed to create a backstory for him. I needed to create the life that he lived that was outside of the book and outside of the script. So I took two of my best friends and mentors in Hollywood and sat them down and took parts of their life stories and incorporated it into Ely's life. They're both gay and from two totally different generations of gay as well. My one buddy is 75 and he came out a long time ago when it was a lot more difficult for him. And my other buddy is in his 40s so I was getting a history of what it was like -- all this information that I plugged into Ely's story."

Creating a role model

One of the film's joys is how Ely is portrayed as a guy who wholly embraces his sexuality. "I wanted him to be somebody that I would look up to if I was a young gay kid," Fode imparts. "I wanted this character to be out there and confident. He had his mind made up about a lot of things. You kind of want to follow him. He's a leader of his pack."

Fast shifting views on LGBT issues have made the refreshingly not-conflicted take on coming out quite timely. "I showed this film to a lot of 15 and 16-year-old girls who have their gay best friends who have been out since they were 13," Hanggi explains. "It's just not an issue. And I feel it's a really exciting time because there are now new stories that need to be told."

Fode offers his views on the move towards acceptance: "I think we've taken some really big steps from where we were 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 year ago. And we still continue to take steps. New York and LA are much more evolved than (other) parts of the U.S. and the world and I think the world itself has a long way to go towards being accepting and understanding and knowing how to handle situations. I think we have a long ways to go. But we've taken some really cool steps. The U.S. is now a gay country. We passed the right to be married so that's really cool."

NYC eye opening

Shooting on "Naomi & Ely" began in the fall of 2013 in New York City, which acts as a vibrant main character in the film, a deliberate move on the filmmaker's part. "I have a love affair with New York City," Hanggi shares. "I wanted to show that really specific NYU experience, really let the Village be a character. I wanted you (audiences) to feel the excitement of being young and in the city and the aliveness and that anything was possible... to enjoy the romance of it. I'll never time the first time I came to New York and my heart was bursting out of my chest, I can't believe this place is real and why doesn't everyone live here? I wanted to capture that feeling of being young and alive in a city that feels limitless."

For rural boy (Fode grew up on a farm, raising his own cows), coming to New York was eye-opening. "I grew up on a farm in Washington so I had never been to New York. So I had a crash course of getting to know the city, understanding where things are. It was like a magical experience. Filming a movie is a magical thing itself, plus filming a movie in New York is even more surreal."

He started out modeling ("I figured I would use that as a way to get to LA and tell my parents I had a job") and graduated to Nickelodeon's "iCarly" and the Disney Channel's "Jessie," before booking features. He was recently cast in the CBS soap, "The Bold and the Beautiful." "It's like actors boot camp. We shoot eight episodes in four days. Two episodes a day. Sometimes more. I'm memorizing between 20 and 50 pages a night. I work with people that have been doing this for a long time and I am allowing them to import their wisdom onto me."

Working with Kristin

Both director and lead actor have nothing but terrific things to say about each other and the experience.

Fode: "Kristin is probably the best director I've ever worked with. She understood the craft. She's been an actress herself. She's been directing a long time. She speaks the actor's language and understands the delicate nature of what we're doing. She isn't bossy. She just gives us suggestions. She would let us play around and improv and start off days by having us connect with each other-getting us connected as a group...it made us more connected as actors and more connected to our crew. We created a family and she spearheaded that."

Hanggi elaborates on her style: "There's a lot of information and knowledge inside the actor. Their instincts are the most valuable tool that you have. And then I also listen to my own instincts and then let the two dance. I consider myself an actor's director where I really want to nurture them and bring the best out of them and create a safe environment, where they feel free to express themselves. I think that's very important on a set for an actor to feel comfortable and encouraged to take chances and take risks. And it's the director's job to set the tone for that to happen."

New projects

The film World Premiered at Outfest this past July where audiences "resonated" with the characters and the story. "I happen to be in love with Outfest," Hanggi gushes. "I think it's one of the best festivals out there. I think the programmers are wonderful. They take such great care of their filmmakers. And what's exciting to me is to be in dialogue with other filmmakers. And I feel like the films this year are just really cutting edge...with real heart and soul in the storytelling."

"Naomi & Ely" marks Hanggi's second feature film. Most of her creative work to date has been onstage. She directed "bare," in 1999, a musical about coming out. ("For me it's just mind blowing how far we've come in just 15 years.") "Rock of Ages" brought her a Tony nomination for Best Director. And she is currently working on two new musicals based on '90s films.

"I've been working with (bookwriter) Amy Heckerling for the past two years on "Clueless." Working with her is a dream come true. She is so smart and so funny and such a mentor. And the Dodgers are producing and they're the producers behind 'Jersey Boys.' We're in the workshopping phase, getting all the kinks out and making sure it all works before we go into full blown production. With musicals you don't get a second chance to get it right."

The second project is "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion." "We're just about to do two concert versions in Los Angeles. And we are looking to go into regional production next year. I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be able to work on both of them."

Film or theater?

When asked what she loved most about each medium, Hanggi responded, "I love rehearsal for theatre. I love being with actors where you can play and discover try things out and there's not consequence...I love that incubation process that you have in theatre."

"With film what I love is the immediacy of it. I love how it feels like a scavenger hunt where hopefully you've done enough homework and enough prep work that you can set the moment up for something magical to happen. And it's like a divine accident that can make a moment special."

In 2001, Hanggi directed the LA premiere of Terrence McNally's "Corpus Christi," a haunting play that portrays Jesus and the apostles as gay men. It was quite a baptism for the then 24-year-old.

"I was not ready for all of the hate that we got. We had protesters. We had groups chanting outside the theatre. We had people that would buy a ticket, come in and ruin the show and start screaming at us in the middle of it. We eventually had to get security for the cast. I remember getting a letter that someone wrote on my car, right after 9/11 that said 'You're as evil as the person who blew up the twin towers.' I was like really? Do you know I'm just a little girl. And (the play) has the message that all men are divine and that speaks to me. So I wanted to do it and you're telling me that I'm horrible and I'm a murderer? I don't understand? I wasn't ready for it. But it taught me a valuable lesson: be willing to do work that you know is true and you care about. And you're not responsible for anyone else's actions."

"Years later," Hanggi remembers, "I was at a restaurant and the manager came up to me and asked if I directed 'Corpus Christi.' He had lost his lover and he said that after the show he went home and called his mom -- he was a grown man -- and he said, 'that play made me less mad at God.' You do this work and you never know who it's affecting."

"Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List" is available on iTunes.