"Lovely" graces the big screen with AJ Michalka
BY Lucia Tran for InspirePublished: December 10, 2009
"I was already a huge fan of the book," she begun, "It's such a moving story!" With an "element of imagination," Amanda Michalka, who goes by "AJ," stars in the movie adaptation of the novel, "The Lovely Bones."
There are films based on novels that never seem to satisfy the audience, but Michalka guarantees the movie "stayed very true to the book. There’s [just] so much pressure that goes into adapting the screenplay from ["The Lovely Bones"]!" She feels that the crew "did an amazing job with capturing all the emotions of the Salmon family."
The plot is a blend of "sad circumstances" that revolve around a young 14-year-old female victim who "ends up creating her own heaven, therefore is still able to live in happiness and feel the power of love even though she’s no longer on earth." The story begins with Susie Salmon's murder.
Upon learning that she booked the role of "Clarrisa," Michalka was "thankful and extremely happy." Michalka said, "Clarissa is very much a part of a big turning point in the book and film. There’s a maturity and a bit of a wild side." Despite her already enormous and overwhelming success of her band with her older sister Alyson, she remains grateful for the opportunities that seem to fly towards her and never exploits her success.
"The Lovely Bones" contains incredibly talented actors including Mark Walkberg (The Happening, Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Stanley Tucci (Devil Wears Prada), and Rachel Weisz (Definitely, Maybe). Michalka praises her "dear friend" Ronan as she said, "I had seen Saoirse Ronan in Atonement, she is so talented!"
The cast and crew "shot the film in Pennsylvania and New Zealand." The Director Peter Jackson ran the "shoot...very smoothly," since he is "so down to earth." Overall, Michalka exclaims it was "such an incredible experience."
Michalka has always been known as part of the name, "Aly & AJ," since 2004. Now the two sisters are shifting directions and have already made headlines with their new name, "78Violet." The derivation came to be as "Aly’s favorite number has always been 7 [and] A.J. Michalka's has always been 8." After googling the combination of the numbers, they discovered the chemical element "Platinum" that is "resistant to corrosion." Michalka went on explaining, "The color violet has always been very poignant in our lives. It has the highest vibration of all the color rays. It is the color of 'creativity and intuition.'"
With her busy career of acting and singing, she still manages to have her 'normal' life and obsess over the new addition to her household. They rescued a puppy that she named, "Moneypenny" after the character in "James Bond." In the limited time she has to spend relaxing, Michalka enjoys her quick views of her favorite show, "Dexter" and also loves watching "Extras, Weeds and House."
Since her appearance on MTV Cribs with her sister, Michalka is now driving, and sporting it well. She owns a " Mercedes Benz C350" that is "sexy" and "fun to drive." Scoring the perfect vehicle from "Saks Fifth Avenue," Michalka owns one of only a 1000 of these cars and her proud purchase went to Breast Cancer research.
"The Lovely Bones" is released nationwide on January 15, 2009 and the "78Violet" album can be purchased in 2010.
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