Francia Raisa: Fire & Ice Premieres Tonight!

Today is the day!

Francia Raisa and Brendan Fehr are the newest team in The Cutting Edge franchise and JJJ can’t wait to see the movie!

We recently caught up with the two stars of the flick to chat about what they like about each other, skating and getting in trouble with their teachers. Check it:

JJJ: What did you two like most about working with each other?

Francia Raisa: Brendan, go first.

Brendan Fehr: You just want to copy my answer! I enjoy working with new people. I always enjoy finding out how new people work and what they do. We both have personalities where we said what we wanted to say. You talk about the scene and you say, “I’m trying to do this.” It was easy to communicate with her. You had to learn, obviously she’s more of a dancer than I did, so you get tips from her in terms of when we’re skating and all the choreography. It was a good relationship. She had already done the third film, so she knew her character and I was coming in new. And if we had differences, then obviously we worked those out with the director in terms of figuring out if I do this, and then you can do this, but that doesn’t work for me.

It was an easy process that way, I think. She was relatively easy and enjoyable to work with, so that’s always what it comes down to: having fun and making sure you get the work done, but having fun while you’re doing it.

FR: For me, I enjoyed that he was a hard worker. He was really into just making a good movie and working hard at making it as good as possible, I guess you can say. He worked really hard at the figure skating, even though he wasn’t, like he said, wasn’t a dancer, he was a hockey player and let me critique him a bit and just let me teach him how to be graceful. But, mostly I enjoyed watching him do ballet. That was the highlight of my experience with him, ballet lessons. And, like I said, other than that, he was just a hard worker and it’s important for me to find that in a costar.

(Click inside for more of JJJ‘s interview with Francia and Brendan…)

JJJ: What did you all have to do to train for this movie to prepare for the ice skating?

FR: We trained about three or four times a week for figure skating and partner skating�”we had to do lifts any time we could. Like I said before, my favorite part were the ballet lessons where Brendan failed miserably.

BF: Skating, we would do anywhere between two and four times a week. We would throw in a lift session in there once or twice if we could, just in terms of doing lifts on dry land and getting used to those. And because Francia has taken dance before, we did ballet together as well. I also went a few times on my own just because I was a little behind in the flexibility department�”

FR: I got in trouble by the teacher, too.

BF: The ballet was actually possibly my favorite. We just had a blast in there.

FR: Yes, because we kept getting in trouble, both of us. Even through I’m a dancer and I knew what I was doing, I still got in trouble and got yelled at.

BF: We had this hard core teacher who I believe was Eastern European. There were no soft spoken kind words in that room. She was there to mold you and to break you, which was was great. We all loved each other, and it was a lot of fun. That was probably a whole movie unto itself, I think.

JJJ: With what ABC Family is doing — taking a popular film franchise and turning it into a TV movies that keep going, what do you think about it?

BF: There’s a place for it. You’re always looking for something original that hasn’t been done before. We have those, but just like there’s a gazillion different types of genres from horror to comedy to whatever else. I think there’s also, there’s different ways to get material out there and to take a successful franchise. I think that’s one way of doing it. I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong. Some people like it, some people don’t. And sometimes you don’t want to remake or add upon a classic and I understand that as well. But I think there’s a time and a place for it and when it’s done right, it gives people jobs and an opportunity to whether it’s provide for their family or to get out there or to launch a career or to kick start one or to help a network get some original programming, I think it has a bunch of positives there.

It’s not something I’d like to see done with every successful film. Like I said, some need to be just left alone and as they are. But, yes, there’s absolutely a time and a place for it. I appreciate that I got this opportunity, so obviously nothing but positive stuff came at it from my end. But I could see the time when it’s like no, no, let’s not do this. I think it’s a smart thing. It obviously has been very successful for them, so that would be my particular take on it.

FR: Like Brendan said, not every movie should be turned into a sequel and then some should just be left alone. But me myself, I was a big fan of the first Cutting Edge movie, so getting the opportunity to be a part of it and participate in it was almost like a dream come true, because I also did a sequel to Bring it On. I remember being ….if only I was old enough to do it and then I was able to, so making it is a girl’s dream come true. I guess I appreciate that ABC Family did do this. I think it’s smart for ABC Family to bring these TV movies to life. It’s good for the movie because there are fans for ABC Family. I think they’re very smart with that they’re doing and they’re picking the right movies to continue making, like the Cutting Edge. So I don’t think there’s a right or wrong to it, but this is definitely not one of those movies that they should have stopped at. It could have almost continued from the previous ones.

The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice premieres TONIGHT @ 8PM ET/PT on ABC Family.

TELL JJJ: Are you going to watch?