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JOEY GAYDOS (Zack, lead guitar):
“I was playing rock guitar at a music camp, and the Paramount people saw me there and said, ‘Hey, this kid might be good for School of Rock.’ It was a great experience to be in the movie and to play the instrument I love.”
REBECCA BROWN (Katie, bass guitar):
“I was on [classical radio program] From the Top and I was asked to audition for School of Rock. I played a Lenny Kravitz song on my guitar.”
ROBERT TSAI (Lawrence, keyboard):
“I only had to audition once. I didn’t want to be in the movie, because I didn’t think acting was so pleasant, but I was encouraged by my parents.”
MIRANDA COSGROVE (Summer, band manager):
“I’ve been acting since I was 2, so I’ve been doing it for about 7 years. I did the screen test for my fourth audition and I met Jack Black, and I really wanted it, and two weeks later I got the call to pack my bags and come to New York.”
JACK BLACK:
“I hung out with the kids a lot off camera. I have a fear of being boring, especially to kids. It’s my biggest fear, so it can be a little exhausting hanging out with them, and it’s my own fault because I’m always thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a long silence. I have to think of something funny to do to keep them entertained.”
KEVIN CLARK (Freddie, drummer):
“I’d say for kids we’re a pretty good rock band – and Jack’s great. He pushed it up a notch. If we had instruments here we’d rock it out.”
BLACK:
“I watched my ps and qs with the kids. I tried to keep it clean, nothing fascist, I was still myself, and I definitely brought my heavy comedy artillery. I didn’t want this to be one of those kid movies, I wanted it to be a funny one.”
COSGROVE:
“Being in the movie was really cool. Sometimes we had to do takes over, but Jack always kept us going. He was fun.”
BLACK:
“I didn’t teach the kids how to rock. They were really ready to rock and most of them were rock prodigies. Robert Tsai had never played rock before, but he was probably the most accomplished musician of all of them. He would perform in front of thousands of people in concert halls doing Mozart concertos. I tried to turn him to the dark side, I gave him some records that I thought maybe would bridge the gap between rock and classical music, but it’s too late for him. He’s too deep into the classical.”
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THE CONCEPT:
