'Fame' Director Tancharoen Grilled

Twenty-five year old Kevin Tancharoen wasn't even alive when "Fame" -- the classic 1980 film about a group of aspiring performers at a high school -- was released. But Tancharoen was immersed in his own glamourous world as a teenager himself, dancing and choreographing for the likes of pop stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

It was that background that attracted producers to Tancharoen, who directs MGM's reimagined version of the film, out Friday. Next up, he'll take a turn away from music-based film with Universal's "Arcana," a science fiction film comparable to a live-action graphic novel being produced by Brett Ratner.

TheWrap talked to Tancharoen about what Spears is really like, how his dance background impacted his filmmaking and the national obsession with music-based programming.

How do you overcome the stigma of people who think, "Ugh, another remake?"
I know it's called a remake, but I feel like that word is thrown around. You can't consider "Batman" and "Star Trek" a remake. The core idea of the first film is all we took: four years and New York Performing Arts school and tracking them from auditions to graduation. Other than that, all the characters are different. We kept "Out Here On My Own" and "Fame" and the cafeteria scene.

This is MGM's only film this year and they've had a bunch of exec upheaval this summer -- there's gotta be some pressure there for you.
I've thought about it, but I can't let that kind of pressure get to my head. All I had to focus on was making the best version of the movie possible and I really hope it does well for MGM because they've been so supportive of the film.

Music-based films can often get pretty cheesy and kitschy. How'd you avoid that?
I lucked out because the first "Fame" is not a musical -- it's a drama that has music, but it's not a musical. Musicals turn to camera and sing their emotions. We don't do that. All of the songs are integrated into the story line, so if they are singing, they are in singing class, or dance is at a performance. We don't have the taxi cabs. We wanted to make sure everything seems organic.

You're 25 -- you weren't alive when the original came out. What was your familiarity with the film before you signed on?
I first saw the movie when I was 12 and loved it ever since. I held it up on a pedestal and thought it was one of the first of its kind ot be about young people but also be realistic. Whoever wrote that damn "Fame" song, I don't know how they made such a catchy chorus, but it caught lightning in a bottle.

 

You have a background in dance, right?
When I was around 15 I danced for Britney Spears at the VMAs, and a friend of mine, Wade Robson, was choreographing for her at the time.

 

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