Publicity about the Feature Film Lisa Frankenstein
The following interviews, articles, and reviews mention Lorin’s mime coaching and movement coaching for the feature film Lisa Frankenstein or comment on Cole Sprouse’s performance in the film, for which Lorin coached him to play the non-speaking co-lead character, The Creature.
Focus Features Press Notes
Sprouse knew that his physicality would be the key to the role, and as he began to work out how the Creature would move, he studied the silent films of legendary comedian [Buster] Keaton and trained with movement coach, mime and actor Lorin Eric Salm, founder of Los Angeles’ Mime Theatre Studio. Sprouse ultimately altered Creature’s movements to reflect the various stages of decomposition/rejuvenation he undergoes—the more time he spends with Lisa, the more human he becomes. “Physically, we wanted him to feel like a decaying corpse desperately trying to pull himself back into some rigidity now that his muscles and legs and bones and things were working,” Sprouse says. “For me, it was an attempt to reach some more universal physical language about how we perceive emotions through gesture, through movement, which was fun.”
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Cole Sprouse on Mastering the Art of Playing Undead
By Kara Warner | Vanity Fair (online edition)
[Director Zelda] “Williams says she wanted the character to be ‘part Mr. Darcy and part Buster Keaton, with just a sprinkling of Edgar from Men in Black‘ and knew Sprouse could make the most of the non-verbal role.
“‘Since he doesn’t have lines, he had to be a good listener with a lot of longing and a sort of sad boy sweetness, while also having killer comic timing and a love of old school monster physicality. No small ask!’ says Williams. . . . ‘I sent him off to mime school, and by the time he was on set, he already had endless ideas for Creature’s voice and physicality.’
“Sprouse connected with movement and mime coach Lorin Salm, who helped him develop the character’s physical evolution over the course of the film, from rigor mortis-restricted beginnings to a slightly more mobile denouement.
“‘I wanted Creature to feel like this genteel silent movie star, so we broke down the character into the different stages of physicality, according to how much more of his body was a function,’ Sprouse explains. ‘It was a lot of fun. I had never really had any formal movement training as an actor before, which was nice.'”
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麗莎的科學怪人 Lisa Frankenstein Q&A with Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Zelda Williams & Diablo Cody 2/9/24. (Video interview)
Eric Chu | YouTube — Moderated by Perri Nemiroff
Perri Nemiroff: “I’m also a big believer we need to shout out the unsung heroes in this industry as much as possible, and this individual, Lorin Eric Salm, is an absolute movement magician on so many projects. Can you tell us what he does and also maybe some specific things he taught you that we can now see in your finished performance?”
Cole Sprouse: “. . . He’s an incredible miming instructor in Los Angeles and he’s a student of Marcel Marceau . . . He taught me some real cool stuff. Mime is a deeply rich art form and I’m so grateful to have worked with Lorin.”
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Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse on Their Fearless Performances in ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ (Video interview)
Rotten Tomatoes | YouTube — Moderated by Perri Nemiroff
Cole Sprouse: “I was working with a movement coach, and I said, ‘You know, hey, a lot of the emotion of this character relies on his physicality being seen.'”
Perri Nemiroff: “I have to ask you about working with Lorin on the movement coach stuff. Can you tell me maybe one specific thing he taught you that wound up being a pillar to the performance and we can see in the finished cut?”
Sprouse: “Absolutely. You know, when you think of miming, you think of the invisible rope or you think of the box, but he was a student of Marcel Marceau, and Marceau had a teaching called the Attitudes, which I really liked, and the Attitudes were an attempt to discover a kind of universal language for how we understand emotion physically . . . I found that just fascinating and it was so much fun.”
Nemiroff: “Fascinated by his work. I was just talking to the team behind Sasquatch Sunset and I’m like, my G-d, this person needs to be in the spotlight more for how he contributes to someone’s performance.”
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Welcome to Cole Sprouse’s Next Chapter
You might remember him as the kid in Big Daddy. Now, he’s the leading man—or monster—in Lisa Frankenstein.
By Evan Romano | Men’s Health
“The longer you go without speaking in the movie, the more interesting your performance becomes. How did you prepare for that? . . .
“‘I worked with a mime for about three months, and we focused on emotional, physical movement work, and that really helped get me into character. We broke it down according to how human Creature was throughout the script, so certain limbs, certain movements would get a lot easier over time.
“‘And this mime and I—his name is Lorin Salm—we tried to make sure that every movement felt curated according to how much of his muscles and bones were working and what was reattached. . . . It was a brand-new set of challenges and a lot of fun.'”
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Celebrating Weird On The ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ Red Carpet
By Shannon McGrew | Dread Central
“Not only did Sprouse have to physically transform for the role but he also had to perform mute as his character hadn’t yet developed its ability to speak. When discussing taking on this unique challenge, Sprouse stated:
“‘I think you get to realize all the crutches you have with good dialogue when you don’t have any. I worked with a mime named Lorin Salm for about three months and he was a student of Marcel Marceau. The stuff that we were focusing on was kind of emotional, physical work which was nice and really helped.'”
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Lisa Frankenstein Stars Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton Talk the Power of “Winging It”
By Tara Bennett | SYFY
“Sprouse gives a fully committed performance as a reanimated dead body trying to gain his faculties again. It’s both gruesome and hilarious as The Creature slowly evolves through the film from full-on corpse to sorta human once more.
“To achieve it, Sprouse said he worked with a movement coach for three months before production to establish The Creature’s breadth of motion, or lack of it. ‘We worked on gestural stuff and movement and posture . . . . Zelda and I were joking around before the movie even launched into production, saying, “Wouldn’t it be great to study miming because it would be such a perfect art form?” Then we were like that is a great spot to land, so she helped me find this guy named Lorin Salm out in L.A. And we studied miming for a bit.'”
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Lisa Frankenstein: Una comedia de terror romántica que revive la diversión de los 80
Por Mavi Gangi | DUPAO News
“La producción de la película presentó desafíos únicos, especialmente para Cole Sprouse, quien interpretó al reanimado cadáver del siglo XIX. Con horas de maquillaje prostético diarias y sin líneas de diálogo, Sprouse tuvo que comunicar las emociones de su personaje a través del movimiento. Con la ayuda del coach de movimiento Lorin Eric Salm, Sprouse creó un lenguaje corporal único que transmitía el humor y el anhelo del personaje de manera efectiva.”
Translation of above:
Lisa Frankenstein: A romantic horror comedy that revives the fun of the 80s
By Mavi Gangi | DUPAO News
“The film’s production presented unique challenges, especially for Cole Sprouse, who played the reanimated 19th century corpse. With hours of prosthetic makeup daily and no lines of dialogue, Sprouse had to communicate his character’s emotions through movement. With the help of movement coach Lorin Eric Salm, Sprouse created unique body language that effectively conveyed the character’s humor and longing.”
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‘Lisa Frankenstein’ Creators Reveal Favorite Horror Movies (Video interview)
The Kelly Clarkson Show | YouTube
Kelly Clarkson: “That is interesting, you don’t speak in it, right?”
Cole Sprouse: “I don’t.”
Clarkson: “So that’s kind of fun, like physical comedy, like physical acting, like all that. I heard you went to mime school as well.”
Sprouse: “I worked with a mime. . . . He’s an incredible instructor. His name’s Lorin Salm, over in L.A. . . . We worked on movement coaching and all that for about two to three months . . .”
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Cole Sprouse Trained With a Mime for His Role in “Lisa Frankenstein” (Video interview)
LiveKellyandMark (LIVE with Kelly and Mark) | YouTube
“I did train with a mime. . . . His name was Lorin Salm. He’s really incredible. . . . He was great. . . . Miming was great. . . . It was a lot of fun.”
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Interview with LISA FRANKENSTEIN actors Kathryn Newton & Cole Sprouse (Video interview)
Convo x Fango (Fangoria) | YouTube
Interviewer: “Was there anything that you were referencing in particular when you’re talking about movement?”
Cole Sprouse: “Oh, you mean, like, in the physicality that I did? So, we started the film as more of a zombie and then ended up over time getting more human and—I don’t know how evident it is in the shots or in the actual film, but we started with a creature that had a lot less mobility and ended up getting more mobile over time. And so we broke that down into stages like, okay, after this tanning booth session he’ll be able to move his right leg a little more freely. So, we were just kind of trying to figure out that movement work.”
Interviewer: “I will say it is very evident, so that’s a testament to your performance. . . . This is a wordless performance, so how does that—what is that like, being able to emote with no words?”
Kathryn Newton: “But yet it’s still a very witty character.”
Interviewer: “It is. There’s still humor, and it’s witty, and it’s clever, but there’s no words, but you’re still able to convey that.” . . .
Cole Sprouse: “The mime helped. I worked with a mime. But not like this kind of mime. [Gestures as if doing an invisible wall illusion.] It was a lot of the emotional, gestural work from miming, which is . . . one, it was really fascinating, but I think it managed to keep a lot of the emotional context of the character still intact.”
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Cole Sprouse was coached by a mime for’Lisa Frankenstein’ (Video interview)
Etalk | YouTube
“I talked to Zelda [Williams] about the idea of using a movement coach to kind of stay frosty on the skills a little bit—on the gestural stuff—but I also thought it would be fun at the same time to get to learn some of this. So we found a mime in Los Angeles. He was great. His name is Lorin Salm. He’s a great mime.”
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Dylan Sprouse and wife Barbara Palvin support his twin brother Cole Sprouse at the Lisa Frankenstein premiere in LA
By Cassie Carpenter | DailyMail.com
“Cole trained with mime coach Lorin Eric Salm for several months in order to more authentically portray a reanimated Victorian-era corpse called The Creature in Lisa Frankenstein . . . Sprouse had no dialogue as the decaying monster . . .”
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Cole Sprouse Trained with a Mime for His Non-Speaking Role in Lisa Frankenstein | The Tonight Show (Video interview)
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | YouTube
“I did train with a mime, though. . . You think miming, it’s a lot of the invisible box or, like, the rope or whatever. It was interesting. He was a student of Marcel Marceau. . . . It was fascinating.”
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Lisa Frankenstein Is The Campy Horror Movie You’ve Been Waiting For
By Chloe Williams | Brit + Co
“He also got to work with mime coach Lorin Salm to ensure his onscreen presence was as emotionally complex as it was hilarious. ‘When people hear mime they think like, “Oh no, I’m stuck inside an invisible box,” but the stuff that we did was much more emotional movement work,’ he says.”
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Cole Sprouse finally ‘got to shut up for a little bit’ as a reanimated corpse in ‘Lisa Frankenstein’
by Kelsey Weekman | Yahoo! Entertainment
“His inspiration was Buster Keaton, a silent film star known for his physical comedy. Sprouse trained with the founder of Los Angeles’ Mime Theatre Studio to hone his movements as a Victorian zombie.”
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Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton Are the Screen Duo We’ve Been Waiting For
By Anna Laplaca | Who What Wear
“I worked with a movement coach for three months. He was a mime, which I thought was a fun way to play with [my character’s] voicelessness. He is a great dude. . . . We built on a lot of Buster Keaton, the old silent-movie stars.”
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On Cole Sprouse’s performance
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“Lisa Frankenstein” is the horror rom-com you didn’t know you needed
By Louis Howley | Slice of SciFi
“The star of this production is without a doubt Cole Sprouse as the Creature. He has to convey through movement, gesture and vocalizations the character of Frankenstein. The production notes indicate that he studied mime for the part and his success in this role shows the results of that effort. He is completely believable and enables the viewer to effortlessly suspend disbelief.”
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Lisa Frankenstein Review: A Twisted Treat Of ’80s Horror Comedy Pastiche For Teenage Weirdos
By BJ Colangelo | SlashFilm
“Playing opposite is Cole Sprouse, . . . who plays the silent, undead corpse known as ‘The Creature’ by way of Charlie Chaplin with perfection. Sprouse delivers some of the best comedic buttons of the whole film and does so without saying a word. His performance is very reminiscent of Doug Jones in ‘Hocus Pocus’ as Billy Butcherson, with the haunting attraction of a young Johnny Depp in ‘Edward Scissorhands.'”
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‘Lisa Frankenstein’ Review: Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse Lead Ridiculously Brilliant Spin on a Timeless Story
By Lex Briscuso | TheWrap
“It’s always fun to see how actors handle complicated roles and Sprouse’s turn as the non-speaking corpse hunk of the film is honestly one for the books. Fresh from the ground to barely passing as a hip ’80s teen, he embodies the role in the physical, using gestures and sounds to build a truly charismatic corpse.”
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Film Clips: February 8, 2024 – Lisa Frankenstein
By Lisa Miller | Shepherd Express
“Sprouse employs marvelously expressive mime, grunts and body language in a manner reminiscent of a young Johnny Depp.”
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Review: Lisa Frankenstein Is Far Better Than Box Office Returns Suggest
By Toni Tresca | Westword
“The interplay between Newton and Sprouse is a testament to their acting prowess, with Sprouse’s mute performance speaking volumes and Newton’s evolving confidence anchoring the film’s emotional core.”
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Review: Looking for good boyfriend material? In ‘Lisa Frankenstein,’ try the cemetery
By Katie Walsh | Los Angeles Times
“Sprouse, as the wordless, devoted Creature, delivers a physical performance that is surprisingly moving and romantic.”