christalcornish: Justin Bieber's 'Never Say Never' Director Explains Movie's Plot

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Justin Bieber's 'Never Say Never' Director Explains Movie's Plot

'It's not just the concert ... this is a musical movie,' Jon Chu says.
By Jocelyn Vena

Justin Bieber in the trailer for "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never"
Photo: Paramount

With the trailer out, fans can now begin counting down to Valentine's Day weekend 2011 when Justin Bieber's 3-D flick, "Never Say Never," hits theaters. And the movie's director, Jon Chu, explained just how he plans to integrate the concert footage, shot earlier this year at Bieber's show at Madison Square Garden, with the behind-the-scenes footage and interviews that he will also be using in the film.

"We had this sort of hyperlink idea through the film, which is what makes it really an interesting movie," Chu said. "It's not like the other concert films where you are onstage and then go backstage and then onstage and go backstage. It's not just the concert ... this is a musical movie, when words aren't enough in telling the stories of his life, [we use music]."

For example, Chu continued, "You know, if he's talking about his youth and talking about his magnetic smile, you start to hear 'U Smile' start to creep in the background and the underscore ... you see images from his life, and at the end of that song, the spotlight from the number connects with the spotlight of his tour bus and he goes back into his bed," Chu explained. "And there [are] hyperlinked ideas. It's kind of like 'Chicago,' when we're weaving in and out."

And for the haters, Chu says that this film will prove that Bieber is the real deal. "The number-one thing we wanted was the honesty in this," he explained. "People have a very preconceived notion of Justin Bieber and people can think whatever they want, but we wanted to show the honest other side of Justin."

So, who is the Bieber that Chu believes the film will show? "It's a crazy thing to see a kid from Canada, in a town like Stratford that's obsessed with Shakespeare, that this kid can know and be obsessed with R&B and be anointed by sort of the hip-hop, R&B world, that he is sort of blessed by them," he explained. "That's very, very special and interesting."

Related Videos