Reported by Hillary Atkin exclusively for Current Attractions
Current Attractions interviewed Bobby Edner, age 15, who has appeared in Spy Kids
3-D: Game Over, Haunted Lighthouse, The Muse, and Alien Ant Farm’s Smooth Criminal.
His parents are Bob and Cindy Edner, and he has a 13-year old sister, Ashley.
Here's our interview.
CA: You’ve done everything from dancing to voice-overs to singing
and acting. How did you get started in show business?
Bobby Edner: I was doing a dance show about five years ago, when I was 10, and an agent approached
me and said I should be in acting. I started with commercials, doing a Bissell vacuum spot and then did two Toys ‘R
Us commercials, dancing as part of a group. About half a year later, I did my first TV show, Step by Step.
CA: Your performance on that ABC show as a guest star earned you a Young
Artist Award in 2000. What was it like working on your first film, The Muse, with Sharon Stone and
Albert Brooks?
Bobby Edner: It was a great experience, and a lot of fun working with big time actors. Albert Brooks
was the writer/director/actor. That’s what I want to be. I took notice of that and how he was able to do it and I thought
that was really cool.
CA: It’s obvious that education is important to you. What are your
favorite subjects right now?
Bobby Edner: I've been home schooled for the last three years, and I've been taking Spanish and chemistry
classes at a local college for three semesters. I definitely want to go to UCLA or USC. I want to study film and I like music.
I took a music class at the college and I play the piano.
CA: How does all of this affect your life as a kid?
Bobby Edner: I am still basically a normal kid. I play basketball on the Hollywood Knights, a celebrity
basketball team. I’m the youngest one on the team. But I’m on another team at my gym. They’re friends I
hang out with on a weekly basis. I’m in 11th grade. I don’t really miss going to a high school, but I love going
to a community.
CA: How is your music progressing, after you performed the song “Heart
Drive” with Alexa Vega on the soundtrack for Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over?
Bobby Edner: Right now I’m working on my first CD. I want to get a Mac music setup so I can
record my own music. Right now I’m going to different studios with different producers. I sing and rap. The music is
pop hip-hop, Justin Timberlake style.
July 3, 2003 -- credits to: SCIFIFX
Daryl Sabara, who reprises the role of Juni Cortez in the upcoming sequel film Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over,
told SCI FI Wire that several new characters will join him and the rest of the returning cast. "Everybody helps everybody,"
Sabara said in an interview. "Bobby Edner plays Francis the Brain, Ryan Pinkston plays Arnold the Strong, and then Robert
Vito plays a leader [Rez]."
In a separate interview, Edner described his character. "I help Juni through the virtual-reality
game," Edner said. "We're trying to find his sister Carmen, who is trapped by the Toymaker." Sylvester Stallone plays the
Toymaker.
Sabara added that his character shares scenes with the Toymaker, but Sabara himself never worked directly
with Stallone. "I wasn't in any scenes with him, except it looks like [I was]," Sabara said.
The film's visual effects
have the kids performing seemingly dangerous stunts while in the safety of a soundstage. "Lava surfing was my personal favorite,"
Edner said. "We were hanging out on wires and doing some surfing on surfboards."
The film was shot in 3-D, and the
actors had to adjust to the restrictions of cameras with two lenses. "We couldn't look in [just] one camera lens, or our eyes
would look crossed," Sabara said. "So we had to look dead straight in the middle." Spy Kids 3-D opens July 25.
THE BETA-TESTERS: - credits to: HollywoodJesus.com
Fifteen year-old Bobby Edner, who plays Francis the Brain, is not unlike
his character. “I love video games,” he admits. “I have five or six different systems, and I like playing
all the different kinds of games from sports to mystery to adventure and action, just like the five levels of the Toymaker’s
game. To me, they’re all fun to play.”
Edner describes Francis as “a book-smart guy who’s not
a nerd. He’s really cool but he’s also pretty smart and he has a lot of knowledge about the game. Kind of the
way I am!” Edner also did all of his own stunts, learning for the first time how to use a safety harness. “I definitely
loved flying around,” he says. “It’s pretty exciting.” Above and beyond the action of the film, Edner
also was intrigued by the story. “It’s really about looking after your family and friends – because if you
do, it all seems to work out,” he summarizes.
