Shared Darkness

She reflects neither of the titular attractions of the campy Piranha 3DD, director John Gulager‘s follow-up to 2010’s surprise, $80-million-grossing Piranha 3D, but Danielle Panabaker anchors the movie nonetheless, starring as level-headed graduate student Maddy, whose visions of a happy summer working at her stepfather’s water park get dashed, in bloody fashion. It almost certainly helped that Panabaker had hearty, previous genre experience, in the form of Friday the 13th and The Crazies. I had a chance to speak to Panabaker one-on-one recently, about the movie and its production, her admirable dedication to education, and a certain T-shirt she might have liberated from the wardrobe department. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.

Matt Bush made quite an impression in Adventureland, as Figo, the impish, nut-punching co-worker and torturer of Jesse Eisenberg’s character. He’s now making impressions in a less throbbing manner. Bush has a wonky, out-there leading man June two-fer, appearing in both Piranha 3DD and John Stalberg‘s High School. In the former he’s a shy guy whose balls finally descend, as he swings into action to help his longtime crush (Danielle Panabaker) battle a piranha invasion at a water theme park. The the latter, he plays Henry, a straight-laced, would-be valedictorian who, after first sampling marijuana, teams up with estranged stoner pal Breaux (Christopher Marquette) to try to throw the test results of a mandatory drug test for the entire school, and thus preserve his academic standing. I had a chance to speak to Bush one-on-one recently, chatting about both films, his own adolescent success with the ladies (or lack thereof), his fall film with Clint Eastwood, and whether he needed to conduct any chemical research for his High School role. The conversation is excerpted over at shockYa, so click here for the full read.