EPIC Arrives on Blu-ray and DVD!!
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An "EPIC" Adventure Unfolds on Blu-ray and DVD!
The backyard holds a magical secret! A forest filled with mythical creatures, ruled by the beautiful Queen Tara, has remained hidden from the human world (for the most part), until a teenager named Mary Katherine (M.K.) is magically transported into their tiny world. She's just in time for an EPIC battle where the good guys (The Leafmen) must fight evil warriors who are trying to take over.
See the movie trailer here:
This beautifully animated feature boasts an all-star cast with the likes of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Steven Tyler and Collin Farrell lending their voices to bringing this story to life. Showcasing all of her talents, international Super Star, Beyonce, also has a beautiful musical number "Rise Up," featured on the movie's soundtrack.
Pick up a copy of this fast-paced, fun-filled adventure for the whole family. Bonus material on the Blu-ray plus DVD Combo pack includes several behind-the-scenes featurettes that introduces you to the artists and filmmakers that created this incredible story. There's also access to an Epic Coloring & Storybook App for Android devices. Create and color your own Epic adventures over and over again! You can find this full-length feature at most places where home entertainment is sold. You can also order on-line here:
Meet the Voice of Epic's "Marigold!" We Chat With Emma Kenney!
Meet the Voice of Epic's "Marigold!" We Chat With Emma Kenney!
Fast-talking Emma Kenney is wasting no time making a name for herself in the acting world. The soon-to-be- 14 year old (Her birthday is September 14) is already a series regular on the Showtime hit series "Shameless." She can also be heard as the voice of "Marigold" in the animated feature "Epic" that has just arrived on Blu-ray and DVD (as well as digital download!).
The teen recently took a break from her summer vacation to call and give us the scoop on what it was like to be part of an all-star cast in one of this summer's biggest home entertainment adventures. Here's what we learned from this sweet, New Jersey resident.
"When I was about five or six, I started to do acting classes in New York, just for fun, like any other kid would do soccer or tennis or something," Emma begins about how she got started in acting. "From one of the showcases I got a manager. I started to audition and stuff. I really started to love it! I did improv classes. When I was nine, I booked a part on a TV show called 'Shameless.' Then I started to really act from there. "
A couple of years ago, Emma heard about a new project called "Epic" that was in the works. "I found out that they were making the movie in November of 2011," she recalls. She began to prepare to audition. "I read my sides. It was an audition part like for somebody who idolizes Kate Middelton, like my character in the movie idolizes Queen Tara, Beyonce's character. I did it at my agent's office in the studio. I thought it was really fun. I had fun doing it. About a week later, found out that I booked the part. I was so excited. We started recording for the first time in December."
We asked the teen talent to describe the film for people who haven't seen it yet. "It's about a magical world in a backyard in like the forest-y area... with magical flowers and magical little queens and army men and that kind of stuff. It's basically about what happens when Queen Tara, the queen of the forest, when she dies. The villains try to take over. It's basically how about the whole forest gets back into action. It's really a fun movie! I play a little Marigold flower. She's just s little flower that idolizes Beyonce. She's really sweet."
The movie is voiced by some big name talent including Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Jason Sudeikis, and Steven Tyler. "For animation they don't really have actors record together, so I didn't get to meet any of them unfortunately," Emma admits. "But it was still really fun! Sometimes during the sessions, recording, I'd be able to listen to some of the characters voices."
Emma had a blast making the movie and had no problem adapting to the differences between on-camera work and voice-over animation. "For on-camera work, I always prepare a night or two before filming. I memorize my lines. I just go over them and rehearse them the night before. But for animation and voice over, you don't get your sides until the day of so it's... you go in the studios, they give you the sides, you kind of just have to do it on the spot. It would take a little but longer to nail, live five minutes longer or so. It's kind of like a rough-draft almost. You have to run over it with the director a bunch of times and say it out loud just to see how it sounds and how it comes out."
We wondered if the movie came out the way Emma imagined it would while she was recording? "The first time I'd gone there, I didn't really see anything. After that, I got to see stills and clips and little sketches of the characters in the film, while I was recording it. I kind of assumed that's how it was going to look because of the sketches and stuff. It came out just how I imagined or better! It was really exciting!"
Even though she is four seasons in to the job, it is still exciting for Emma to be a part of "Shameless" as well. "It's so much fun!" she gushes about working on the show and interacting with top notch actors like William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. "Honestly, they're so nice! We have such a fun time on set. They're all, obviously, such great actors. I don't think that they verbally teach me things. But just really watching... even people who aren't as famous as Bill and Emmy and Joan... like Jeremy Allen White, he plays 'Lip' just watching him work, you learn so much! He's such a fantastic actor. I can remember back in season one, it was the pilot episode. I don't have any siblings. All the Gallagher's except for Jeremy, are only children. So Jeremy knew how to play it I guess. So he was kind of like joking around with everybody. I just kind of started to do that because he was. Then I learned that's how you react around your siblings. Just watching Jeremy helps you build as an actor. We're all so close now! Today is Cameron's birthday, Cameron Monaghan who plays Ian. I tweeted him Happy Birthday!"
Her character is really changing through the seasons Emma tells us. "Debbie is one of the middle Gallagher children. If you seen this previous season, she's just really growing up! We started off back in season 1 with Debbie kind of being a Daddy's little girl. She's kind of babyish almost, sweet and innocent. But as the season's progress, she really grows up with the storyline. I think she's really coming in to her own person and becoming a Gallagher."
So there's movie work, and a TV show, and friends and family to keep Emma busy. How does she work school in to the equation? "When I'm filming on set, I have a tutor on set. I go to regular school. I live in New Jersey when I'm home. My teachers, they email my set teacher, they put work together. I just do my school work on set."
"When I'm back home, I go to regular school. I'm a freshman this year in high school! I'm very excited! We start shooting season 4 at the end of September. So I actually get to have a first day of school, my first day of High School! I haven't had a first day of school since Fifth Grade!"
Like most girls starting High School, Emma is wrestling with the "What to wear?" question. "We don't have uniforms, but I was hanging out with my friend today and we were talking about what we were going to wear. I think I am going to wear a dress. I have this blue-ish polka-dotted dress. It's pretty! It's like casual! I think I'm going to do that. I'm going to go back to school shopping! Finally! I haven't done that in four years! You've got to make sure you make a great first impression for high school so I'm not sure!"
"My favorite subjects are English and Writing," she says as the school discussion continues. "I love writing! I'm really into writing scripts and stuff, cause I just love the movie business. I like to write stories. I love doing that. I love reading too! I'm a huge reader!"
"I was at Barnes and Noble yesterday, and I saw the new 'Pretty Little Liars' book 'Crushed' came out and the new 'Lying Game' book. So I'm reading that too! I love Sara Shepherd! So I'm so excited! I love both TV shows too!"
"I like to make movies like on iMovie on my flip video camera... that stuff. I love to hang out with my friends! Who doesn't? I play tennis. I'm on the tennis team at my school, really just things that everybody would do," she says about how she fills her spare time. [I] just go see movies and stuff."
What does she watch when she has time? "'Pretty Little Liars' is my number one. That will always be my number one. This sounds really weird, but you know how Cory Monteith died? That is so sad! Ever since he died, everyone has been tweeting about Glee a lot. So I hadn't actually seen the show, so I decided to start watching it. Now it is my absolute FAVORITE show... my second favorite show, next to 'Pretty Little Liars.'"
"It's literally what I've been watching on repeat. And the guy who plays 'Kurt's' Dad, Michael O'Malley, he's one of the writer's on our show... Mike! He's so nice too! I knew that he was on 'Glee,' but I just kind of blanked on it until I started watching it! I was like, 'Mike! Hi!'"
"It's so amazing that Lea Michelle still wants to go back to the set and stuff so the crew members aren't out of work! I think that's so nice! It's so sad! 'Finn' is my favorite character on 'Glee!'"
"I'm on Season Two, episode 14. I've literally downloaded every single episode on Itunes and I'm just waiting. My friend was telling me all of these spoilers about it. I was like, 'I don't want to hear about it!' I want to be surprised!"
Emma is checking goals off her list, "Epic" was her first voice work and first movie. What else is on that list? "I want to do a comedy! I know that Shameless is counted to be a comedy. But I feel like is more a drama-dy. You know, in the middle of drama and comedy? So I want to do a comedy. But my dream movie to do is an action movie! I want to do one so badly!!"
"I want to do all my stunts too! That would be awesome! For this season of 'Shameless,' I had to do an underwater stunt. It sounds really crazy but my character had to drown a girl. I did my own stunt and I was very proud of myself. It was actually kind of scary though. Our DP and everybody, they were all under water. We had a stunt double for the other girl because it was more dangerous for her than it was for me. I didn't want to hurt the stunt double. She was so nice about it. She was like, 'Emma, just go for it! Don't worry! I'm fine! It's my trained job... I'll be okay!' It was very fun to do too!"
The talented teen does see herself moving behind-the-scenes someday. "I'd love to! When I was nine, I directed a movie. That sounds really weird, but I wrote a script and I directed a movie. I [was] a finalist in the New Jersey International Film Festival. I made it as a finalist and that was really exciting! I loved doing that! So I want to do that! I want to definitely direct more. I love to write and I'm very into photography and cinematography. Today, my friend Erin and I were making a music video for Katy Perry's new song, 'Roar.' We used the 8mm camera app on the iphone. It is such a cool app! I was going to edit it later today. I'm really into that, really everything behind-the-scenes I guess, now that I think about it."
Emma also schedules time for her four-legged friends too! "I'm such a big animal activist, I love animals! So I work with 'Best Friends' organization which is an animal shelter. It basically kind of helps get animals off the streets. It's out of an animal shelter that tries to get people to adopt, rather than buy. It's a no kill shelter. I think it's just amazing. When I'm in L.A., I go there a couple of times a week, to volunteer there. [I] walk the dogs and pet them and play with them. And the cats are so cute. It's just really fun to do that! And you feel really good about yourself afterwards. My house is a zoo! I always convince my parents. My Mom is a lawyer. I don't know how I convince her!"
If you think you will love acting and movie-making as much as Emma does, she offers this advice: "Just to fully go for it! I just love to make movies! Even on my hiatus, I just like to make them. I make iMovies with my friends! Just act whenever you can! Go on auditions. Watch really classic movies to get ideas on how to play characters and to learn from it."
Emma is definitely a talent to keep an eye on! We're sure you'll be seeing a lot of great stories from her in the future, whether she is in front of the camera, behind it, or calling all of the shots!
Fun Activites!
Print Out An "EPIC" Coloring Page! Click here!
Connect the Dots for an EPIC picture!
Can You Find the Two That are Alike?
