It's like 'Grease' on the beach with music and choreography
By Leslie Gray Streeter
COX NEWS SERVICE
Palm Beach Post (Florida) June 17, 2003

MOVIE stars usually keep the specifics of their big new movies very hush-hush. But if you lean in a little closer, "American Idols" Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson are going to give you this exclusive scoop on their new movie, "From Justin to Kelly."

"It's like "Grease" on the beach, with music and choreography," Clarkson says.

"My character is a party guy, the king of South Beach," Guarini adds.

"He's a butt," Clarkson interjects. "And my character's friends convince me to come to spring break. I don't want to be there. I'm not looking for romance, especially from a butt."

Wait, wait, we know! He's a bad boy, she's a nice girl, and at first they don't get along. But quicker than you can say, "Olivia Newton-John," there's a spark that's almost put out by a big misunderstanding. And all the while, people are breaking into song for no good reason, and everything turns out happy in the end?

"Hey," Guarini says, cocking his eyebrow. "How do you know this? Have you seen this movie before?"

You don't have to tell the stars of "From Justin to Kelly" that their new film, which opened Friday, is a big, not-deep musical spectacle of the feel-good variety. Hey, even heart throbby Guarini admits "the plot is a little tired."

Still, on this spring morning in Miami, the almost criminally cute "AI " runner-up and Clarkson, the winner and owner of a hit album, are excitedly talking about the project. There's something so funny, so sweet, so gosh-darned nice about them that you buy into their sunniness about the movie and their new lives as honest-to-goodness celebrities.

"I'm completely the same person, and so is he. The only thing that changed is our jobs," Clarkson says, her eyes wide and earnest. "I still talk to my friends, eat pizza at 2 a.m. I'm just in a different environment."

She says this, of course, sitting in a conference room at a swanky Miami hotel, in front of a camera, while several stunning women fluff her and Guarini's hair, check their makeup for maximum glow and basically fuss over them, big time.

"We want you to look fiiiiine," a makeup artist coos in a silky British accent as she dabs at Guarini's glowy face.

Still, it's hard to believe Guarini, his golden curls smoothed under a skull cap, and Clarkson, in a low-slung blouse, are just faking the nice act. Even when they say stuff like this.

"My first job was at a movie theater. It's going to be awkward for me to see my face up on the screen. I'm going to have to sit like this," Clarkson says, slouching exaggeratedly in her chair. "We have pretty big faces on the screen."

Awww

The plot of the movie, shot in Miami over six weeks in February, is standard summer movie fare. Guarini's character, a college student named Justin [!], comes to South Beach with his buddies because they've basically exhausted the supply of honeys elsewhere.

Clarkson's character, a sweet Texas bar singer named Kelly [!!], is dragged to SoBe by her buddies, one of whom [Katherine Bailess] with designs on Justin.

Having quickly become accustomed to the hectic live atmosphere of "AI," the two had to master just as quickly the repetitive, hurry-up-and-wait nature of filmmaking.

"When you're in front of a live audience, you have to get it right the first time around," Guarini says. "In a film, you do a scene, sit for half an hour, and maybe have to do it again."

As maddening as that seems, Guarini says he prefers it to the nerve-wracking nature of AI. "The show is designed to put you off balance," he says. "There are things they throw in, like Simon, that are there so they can capture your reaction."

Speaking of the devil, what was Simon Cowell, the show's notoriously blunt English judge, really like?

"He means business," Clarkson says. "But he's a nice guy."

Cowell, for all his quirks, was a vocal supporter of Clarkson, and it turns out he was right. About a month after this interview, Clarkson's album, "Thankful," debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts. [Guarini's album was released this month to less fanfare.]

Clarkson's CD was originally to have been rushed into stores just months after her "American Idol " win. Some wondered about the wisdom of delaying its release.

"If the album had come out right after [winning on "American Idol"], it wouldn't have been any representation of me," Clarkson says. "They might as well have called it Not Me."

Guarini describes his album as a mixture of genres that reflect his musical interests, which range "from Mozart to Motown. I want my album to say something."

And that would be ...

"I'm working on that!" he laughs. "It's who I am, and how I feel about the world. There's so much I've learned in the last year, and that's going to make this album so much stronger."

Friends and family have been key to staying sane, Guarini says. So has the perky girl sitting to his left.