Ben Platt didn’t simply play Evan Hansen. He grew to become him, once more. When Pricey Evan Hansen made the soar from Broadway to the massive display screen, Platt returned to the title position with a mission: make it actual, make it uncooked, and make it 17. And that meant some critical transformation behind the scenes.
The movie adaptation of the Tony-winning musical hit theaters in 2021 with a $15 million funds and sky-high expectations. Platt, who originated the position off-Broadway in 2015 and helped form Evan from scratch, was now 27 years outdated. However the emotionally fragile teen on the coronary heart of the story? Nonetheless very a lot purported to be in highschool.
So Platt rolled up his sleeves, and grabbed a razor.
In an interview with Leisure Weekly, Platt admitted, “I’ve a number of facial hair,” and stated he shaved thrice a day simply to maintain a baby-faced look on digital camera. And that wasn’t all. “I at all times noticed Evan as a ganglier one that didn’t eat a lot meals,” he stated. So he dropped 18 kilos earlier than filming started, tightening his body to match Evan’s anxious power. He even shaved his forearms and grew his hair out, simply to totally lean into the phantasm of teenage awkwardness.
Platt wasn’t simply ticking off containers. He was chasing emotional fact.
This wasn’t simply one other position for him. He’d workshopped Pricey Evan Hansen, constructed the character from scratch, and watched it change into a cultural phenomenon. The present crushed it on Broadway, opened to record-breaking gross sales, and took house six Tony Awards in 2017, together with Finest Musical and Finest Actor for Platt himself. His efficiency, each vocally and emotionally, had change into the soul of the present.
However theater is one factor. Movie is one other. So when the digital camera got here calling, Platt knew he couldn’t cellphone it in. He introduced again extra than simply the voice and the vulnerability. He introduced the footwear.
That pair of beat-up gray New Steadiness sneakers that Evan wore on stage? Platt wore the very same ones throughout filming. Not a duplicate. The identical dusty pair from Broadway.
That dedication confirmed. Each nervy twitch, each hesitant breath, each lonely be aware in Waving By a Window – Platt made it rely. He wasn’t simply reprising a task. He was channeling a model of himself he had already stated goodbye to years earlier.
And possibly that’s what made the entire thing hit tougher. As a result of Platt didn’t simply need to act like Evan Hansen once more. He needed to really feel like him.
So if three shaves a day, forearm razors, and 18 kilos misplaced had been the worth of that authenticity, he paid it in full.
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