An emotionally charged "Midnight Sun" takes on the serious topic of being in a relationship with someone with a terminal illness in a respectful manner which doesn't engulf the entire story.
Patrick Schwarzenegger is entrusted to play Charlie, the love interest who unknowingly falls for the terminally ill Katie, played by Bella Thorne.
The emotional task Schwarzenegger takes on was massive and due to the shooting schedule became much more challenging than what the script called for.
"Unfortunately for this movie its in Vancouver and you never know when you will get sunshine, so we had a sunny day on the second day, so we filmed the whole end on the second day," Schwarzenegger said. "All the boat scenes, the car scenes, all the stuff was filmed the second day, so that was tough."Finding out the end to a story driven by emotion and leading to the emotional climax which ties the entire story together which couldn't have happened if not for the trust Schwarzenegger had for Thorne and the way they worked together to best come to the the right emotions needed for each scene.
The work between the two main stars helped to make a connection, to push each other to a new level of acting which worked for the emotions they each needed to convey.
Building a trust with director Scott Speer also made for an easier time getting into the mindset for the emotions as shooting went along, Schwarzenegger said. Allowing the director to dig into life experiences made it easier to get to the emotional state needed.
"I love a romance, a love story and obviously this isn't your ordinary love story," Schwarzenegger said. "It deals with a character, which is portrayed by Bella Thorne, that has a real rare genetic disease called XP, in which even the smallest amount of sunlight can be proven deadly."Schwarzenegger was thrilled to be the character to pull Katie out of her world and help her feel like a normal person.
Although there is precautions that Katie takes to not be in the sun while keeping a semi-normal relationship with Charlie, the movie doesn't treat Katie's disease as a crutch to make the audience feel pity and treats Katie and the relationship with dignity.
MIDNIGHT SUN
In Theaters Now
