KJ Apa and Britt Robertson play a young couple burdened by tragedy in I Still Believe, which recounts the story of Christian musician Jeremy Camp. The film, which premieres on March 13, journeys through Camp’s (Apa) college years and his rise to fame as well as chronicling his romance with his first wife Melissa (Robertson).
The chemistry between the two actors is pivotal, and they shared with Screen Rant how they prepared for their scenes together and took the work one day at a time.
First of all, amazing job on the film. I am not the super emotional guy, but...
Britt Robertson: But?
It had me in tears a little bit. I wasn't very familiar with Jeremy Camp's story, but I actually knew his music. What got you guys on board with this project?
KJ Apa: For me, it was like any other project. My agent called me up and said, "We have a really cool script we want you to read." I read it; I cried. I thought it was an amazing story. And at first I was a little hesitant, but then over the course of a couple of weeks, I spoke to Andy and Jon. We talked about the project, and I decided to go for it.
Britt Robertson: Yeah. I think, for me, the script was exactly that. It was just a - you read so many scripts, and you go through a slew of stories, and you're like, "What am I trying to do? What is this?" And then you read something like this script, and you know that it's a real story. I was, like you, familiar with this music but not his story. And then to know where he's gone in his career and his life after the fact, it seemed like a really cool project to be a part of. And then, obviously, everybody who was involved.
How involved was Jeremy on set with you guys, with telling his story? That has to be kind of hard to do.
Britt Robertson: Difficult, for sure.
KJ Apa: Yeah, I mean, he was on set almost every day. And with his family too, which created a really nice family kind of vibe, which was really important for everyone. I think it helped everyone. And he was there just for like moments, I think. There were certain moments where he was really helpful. But for me, at least, it was more me, Andy and Jon, our directors, that I was working closely with for the character.
A lot of this film hinges on your chemistry. Can you talk to me about portraying these roles in such a personal experience? Because even when you read the script, I'm sure it's emotional, but seeing it onscreen and doing it. live is a completely different experience. Could you talk to you about that experience?
Britt Robertson: I think it was really useful to us just being in the same space for as long as we were. I mean, we were in the same hotel. We were right next door to each other, and we would go over the scenes on Sundays before we'd work. So, we knew everything sort of backwards and forwards. And we had a really good understanding of how we work.
And so, every scene, we sort of just took and separated it and focused on on that particular scene that day, and tried to stay in the moment. I found that that was maybe the most useful, because we never sort of were thinking big picture. It's just like, "Let's do this one thing. And if we get through this, we can get through the next thing," and so on.
KJ Apa: They're all big scenes, you know? So, you can't really think about - every day was one big scene. For me, I had to take everything out and just have that one scene in my mind. Then after that, I can put that behind me and get through the next one.
A lot of people go through their own personal storms, and I'm happy that this story is told. What are you hoping audiences take away from this film?
Britt Robertson: I think it's exactly what we've been sort of talking about, and what we've gotten out of the experience. Just this idea that it allows you to sort of ask yourself questions about who you are and the things that are important to you in your life, and putting things into perspective in that way. So, I hope that's sort of useful to the audience, and they can feel the love and feel the magic of this story.
KJ Apa: Yeah. I think people are gonna want to fall in love after this movie, too.
KJ, last question to you. You've been fan cast a lot as the Human Torch for a fantastic for a Marvel remake. Is that something you would be interested in at all?
Britt Robertson: What's that mean?
KJ Apa: Yeah, for sure.
Britt Robertson: They cannot do another Fantastic Four.
KJ Apa: As long as my hair doesn't have to be red, I'll be good.
