Welcome to Danielle Panabaker Source at D-Panabaker.Org, an unofficial fansite dedicated to the beautiful and talented young actress Danielle Panabaker. You may know her from projects such as Friday the 13th (2009), Mr. Brooks, Sky High, the short-lived TV drama "Shark" or even her upcoming projects: The Crazies & The Ward.
We're here to bring you the latest news, information, photos, videos and more of this rising star. Remember to come back often since our updates are constant. We hope you enjoy your visit!
The Crazies
The Crazies opens in theaters on February 26th!
Medium
Check out exclusive photos and clips of Danielle's appearance!
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is now available on BD and DVD!
Photgallery
Looking for Danielle Panabaker photos? click here!
Bloody Disgusting sat down with director Breck Eisner, along with stars Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell and Danielle Panabaker to chat about the remake of the classic George A. Romero thriller.
Co-star Danielle Panabaker, who plays Becca Darling in the film, went straight from battling Jason Voorhees to taking on the Trixie Virus in CRAZIES. But the young actress says she still doesn’t feel overloaded on the blood and guts. “Well, after THE CRAZIES I did [THE WARD] with John Carpenter, so I don’t think I’ve quite had my fill yet,” Panabaker laughs.
In the trailer for CRAZIES, it looks like Panabaker meets her end by being ripped out of the back of a car window in a car wash. “I can’t tell you that,” the actress says playfully. “You’re going to have to go see the movie.”
The car wash scene is one of THE CRAZIES’ biggest and most intense sequences, shot in multiple locations over three days. “That scene seemed to take forever to shoot,” says Panabaker. “It’s a combination of working in really wet circumstances, wet and cold and soapy and a lot of moving pieces, particularly being inside the car wash. We were shooting in an actual car wash so things break and you have to watch where you step and it’s slippery. It was quite an undertaking, but I think the ultimate result is it’s a really scary, terrifying scene.”
Panabaker adds that the car wash scene was far from the only intense moment she had on set. “The whole film is really filled with them. There’s a scene where my character’s strapped to a gurney and that was really difficult. You feel very vulnerable. You can’t go anywhere and everyone’s just moving around you. There’s a scene where our characters are hiding in a barn that was quite intense and frightening. There was plenty to go around.“
More info about The Crazies and Danielle’s character, Becca Darling, can be found here.
The Crazies opens in theaters this Friday, February 26! (US, UK and Canada. To check more release dates go here.) The Los Angeles premiere will be held at the Vista Theatre later tonight so be sure to come back for image and video coverage!
Yet another interview! PopStar spoke to Danielle Panabaker about The Crazies (opens this friday!) and Weakness:
How bloody and gory does it get? Does it earn its R?
Oh, yes, the movie definitely earns its R. I did a film about a year ago, the remake of Friday the 13th. That film had a lot of blood. It was really grotesque and it was almost back to those films from the ’70s and ’80s, the horror films with the low budgets that were just blood squirting everywhere. The Crazies doesn’t have that. It doesn’t have that campy, “Eww, blood everytwhere, that’s gross!” thing going, but it’s still terrifying. We definitely earn our R rating. I think it’s more about how scary these people are, the infected people, the Crazies. They’re terrifying, and what they do to people looks so real and authentic. Watching this movie is so difficult because, despite the fact that I’d read the script and was there when we made it, it’s so scary. There’s a scene in there where I really was concerned that Timothy might get hurt, because it’s grotesque and intense and scary. It’s pretty hardcore.
What was the toughest moment for you?
I have to say, being strapped to a table is a little claustrophobic. You can’t get up, and that’s scary. I was actually strapped in and I had to hope that if a fire alarm went off that somebody would remember that I was strapped down to this table. You’re going to ask why I’m strapped down, and it’s because the government has come into the town, the water has been tainted, people are turning into crazies, and they’re testing to see if Becca has become a crazy. So I have to be strapped down because you never know, for protection, more than anything.
One of your next films is called Weakness (2010). What’s that?
That was a really fun project for me. It was with a theater director out of New York named Michael Melamedoff. He wrote and directed it, and he’s such a wonderful individual. I had a great time working with him and really collaborating with him. It was on a much smaller scale than The Crazies. We made Weakness for very, very little money. It was more of a passion project and I was really excited to be working on it. I was in New York for a month in the summer, saw some shows. It was a great experience. I haven’t seen the finished cut yet, but I can’t wait to. I have a lot of faith in Michael as a director. That will probably be on the festival circuit when it’s done.
You’ve also wrapped another horror movie, The Ward, directed by John Carpenter. What can you say about your character?
She’s one of the patients at an institution, and the story is about six young women who are in this institution. She’s probably the most promiscuous of the women. She’s constantly flirting with the orderlies, and I think some of her deeper issues are seen through her acting out sexually.
This is one of my favorite interviews so far, read the whole thing here!
More info about The Crazies and Danielle’s character, Becca Darling, can be found here.
The Crazies opens in theaters this Friday, February 26! (US, UK and Canada. To check more release dates go here.)
Be sure to check our Upcoming Events section -> for important dates this week!
IESB.Net talked to Danielle Panabaker about The Crazies and The Ward. Pretty much the same as the last two interviews, but there are a couple of nice extras:
IESB: What made you want to get involved with The Crazies?
Danielle: I became involved with the film because I read the script and really liked it and thought it was really scary. And then, I got the chance to meet Breck and I was really impressed with him. He had a really specific idea of what he wants and he was really able to communicate well with me. Fortunately, I got hired to do the project.
IESB: Does the action kick in right away?
Danielle: One of my favorite things about this film is how quickly it moves. From the minute you sit down and the film opens, you can tell something is not quite right. Everything seems like it should be perfect in this quaint, small town, and it’s just not. People are a little off. There’s a very wholesome baseball game going on, but you understand that things are not quite right in the small town of Ogden Marsh.
IESB: Does this film rely more on all-out gore or does it go for the scares?
Danielle: That’s a great question. This movie is really terrifying. I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in other horror films that I think are certainly scary, but you know the scare is coming and you’re screaming at the characters in the film, “Don’t go there! Don’t do that!” The difference with The Crazies is that you don’t know what’s coming. That’s what makes it such a really enjoyable movie. You don’t know what’s around the corner and you don’t know who’s going to jump out and say, “Boo!”
IESB: Do you enjoy this type of physical work?
Danielle: I do actually enjoy the physical aspect of this kind of work. I think it’s really important for actors to remember to use their whole body. There’s a lot more that happens than just what’s going on in your face. I really enjoy it and I think it also contributes to my performance as an actor. The more I can get into it, the more believable it is.
IESB: When you work on something as intense as this is, do you like to keep things light between takes, or is it difficult for you to shake things off when you’re done?
Danielle: Between takes, I think it’s actually important to maintain the intensity and the integrity of the scene that you’re shooting. For me, it was helpful to stay in the moment and stay present in that, in order to give what was hopefully a very authentic performance. I think it’s better to stay in that head space while filming. During our off hours though, that certainly wasn’t the case. The thing about being in a very remote location is that the people you are working with, you’re working very intimately with, so it’s really fun because you make a lot of new friends.
IESB: You’ve been involved with the horror genre before, with Friday the 13th and Mr. Brooks. Is it something that you’re normally a fan of, or was it just these specific projects that were attractive to you?
Danielle: My parents were really conservative and didn’t let me watch R-rated movies growing up, and mostly not even PG-13, so I wasn’t actually really exposed to the genre until more recently. Particularly with the experience of working on Friday the 13th, I feel like I have such respect for these filmmakers and their ability to make a really good horror film. And, the reason I’ve done so many recently is because they are the kinds of films that people are going to see and that are getting financed. I really love working and I feel like I’ve been fortunate enough just to work, so working in these films has been great.
IESB: What can you say about The Ward and who you play in the film?
Danielle: It’s about six young women in an insane asylum. I play one of the women who is a bit more promiscuous and flirtatious. It’s certainly going to be scary, and it’s going to be really exciting to see what John does.
ShockYa spoke to Danielle Panabaker about three of her upcoming films: The Crazies (opening this friday!) The Ward and Renaissance Girl (sorta bad news for this one). Here’s what she had to say:
SY: You’ve got a thing for horror remakes don’t you?
[Laughs] Well, it’s been really great to be able to work and keep working. So, yeah, I guess I’m the horror remake girl right now.
SY: What scares you more, a slasher wielding a giant machete or an insanity-inducing virus?
I really loved working on Friday the 13th and it certainly has an ionic horror character, but to me, The Crazies is actually a lot scarier. It has more of a thriller aspect – I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I feel like with Friday the 13th you know Jason’s coming to get the stupid teenagers, but with this film you don’t know where the crazies are and who’s really crazy and how crazy they are. I think that this was actually scarier for me to experience because even having read the script, I knew exactly what was coming but it was still really scary.
SY: Can you tell me about your character?
My character Becca is a resident of the small town Ogden Marsh and she is still in high school, she has a high school boyfriend and as her after school job she works for Judy Dutton (Radha Mitchell) as her medical assistant and receptionist at her practice. So she is just a really good, wholesome, good-natured young woman.
SY: Were there any scenes that were particularly difficult to film?
There were a lot of scenes that were difficult to film. The scene where my character and Radha’s character are strapped into a gurney was really intense. It’s very difficult to be strapped to a gurney all day and a little claustrophobic and confining. The car wash scene was very difficult and collectively [it took] seven or eight days to film all of the different pieces of that and we were wet for a lot of it, we were shooting in really small confined spaces. We shot in an actual car wash so that was a really intense – you’re riding on the elements of an actual moving car wash: the soap, the water and then the crazies are attacking you from every angle and you really can’t see where they’re coming from.
SY: You’ve got The Ward coming up which sounds like a great film. Another horror movie?
It is, it is! It was actually a really great opportunity. I think one of the primary reasons I decided to do the film was to get the opportunity to work with John Carpenter who hasn’t made a film in probably about ten years, if not more! The man is not only an icon but such a gifted and talented filmmaker and I was so excited to get to work with him.
SY: Has filming wrapped?
Yes! We finished last September.
SY: Will we get to see a trailer soon?
I don’t know. Hopefully soon. I actually haven’t heard anything. I think John is probably finishing his cut right now and then from there hopefully there will be more movement. I think the movie will be great though.
SY: You’re going in the complete opposite direction with Renaissance Girl. Are you looking forward to doing a romantic comedy?
Yes! At this point in time I don’t know if the film is actually going to get made. I would love it if it could get made. The movie is so funny. I think it’s a really cool quirky script and yes, I would absolutely love the change of pace to do a romantic comedy.
SY: So what’s keeping it from getting made?
Money! I need lots of money!
SY: Oh, of course! Isn’t that always the case?
I think the film just needs to get financed.
SY: Do you know who’ll play the love interest?
I don’t. I don’t think anyone else has really been cast. I’ve been attached to that film for several years now and would really love to see it get made.
SY: Do you have a wish list?
No one really comes to mind. I think there would be a great opportunity for a young male lead. I think it’s a particularly difficult age range for men; it’s that cross from teenage into manhood. It would be a great opportunity to discover some really new exciting talent.
More info about The Crazies, The Ward & Renaissance Girl can be found here.
The Crazies opens in theaters this Friday, February 26! (US, UK and Canada. To check more release dates go here.)
Be sure to check our Upcoming Events section -> for important dates this week!
FearNet spoke to The Crazies director Breck Eisner on how he went about remaking a cult classic, and getting the blessing on the film from George Romero (creator of the original) himself:
How did you get involved with The Crazies?
Breck Eisner: Michael Aguilar and Dean Goergaris – two of the producers – had a deal at Paramount. They had optioned the rights to The Crazies directly from Romero, and had a draft written by Scott Kosar. I was approached at that point. The thing that really drew me was the fact that they optioned the story directly from Romero, which meant he was going to be an executive producer, and he supported the idea of remaking this movie. That appealed to me. I liked the script, although I had a somewhat divergent take on it, so I hired another writer, Ray Wright, to do a rewrite. I really enjoyed the original movie and felt it was ripe for a reinvention.
What changed from that first draft of the script to what we will see on screen?
The first draft followed the structure of the original film a little more closely. The original and the first draft both had this bifurcated view: the movie was half from the point of view of the military and half from the point of view of the townspeople. I felt that by putting any of the movie in the military’s point of view, it turned the movie more towards action and less towards horror. I worked with the writers and we excised the military’s point of view and focused on the point of view of the hero and the townsfolk. I think it makes the movie scarier, and makes it a darker, more mysterious journey.
Do you consider The Crazies to be a zombie film?
It’s definitely not a zombie film. That’s one of the things I like about it. Obviously, when you say “Romero,” you associate his name with zombies. When you see the TV ads, it feels like a zombie movie, if only due to the pure power of montage. But zombies are – in theory – undead human beings who are decaying. They all have a collective conscious. They all want to eat brains or infect, and they all act as one. The concept of the infected in The Crazies is that they all maintain some sense of their deep psyche. They all act differently, and they may act out based on their own deep-seated desires. That is what keeps it distinctly different from zombies.
DreadCentral.Com had the opportunity to chat with Danielle Panabaker, here’s what she had to say:
Panabaker discussed why right now horror is the best film genre to be working in.
“Working on three horror films in a row wasn’t a conscientious decision for me actually,” explained Panabaker. “Right now, though, the horror genre seems to have better movies coming out these days, and I just responded to these three scripts when I read them. There’s a great quality to horror films today, and it’s just a different feeling when you’re working on a horror set. It’s a great acting experience.”
Panabaker spoke about how she connected to her character of Becca and what it was like collaborating with director Breck Eisner.
Panabaker said, “Becca is just your typical small-town girl. She’s very grounded and like any girl you’d see walking around in any of the places we filmed even. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t like a lot of the teenagers you see in horror films these days that you can’t stand or want them to get killed off. I wanted people to root for her.”
“We didn’t have a huge budget for The Crazies so I think the cast and the crew really banded together to make this work. Breck was great to work with; he gets so protective and involved with his actors. It was wonderful to work with him,” added Panabaker.
With The Crazies invading theaters next week, Panabaker chatted briefly about working alongside legendary director John Carpenter for his next thriller, The Ward.
“It’s still hard for me to believe I was in a John Carpenter movie,” explained Panabaker. “He’s such a great director who has always had a great vision for horror films, so to be a part of this project is amazing. It’s going to be an unbelievable movie. He really is an icon.”
More info about The Crazies and The Ward can be found here.
The Crazies opens in theaters on February 26, 2010. The Ward opens in theaters on September 24, 2010 (TBC).
Both The Crazies (coming February 26) and The Ward (coming September 24) are considered interesting 2010 material at the pictures. Especially the latter, and that’s no surprise. Not only is the cast leaded by Amber Heard and Danielle Panabaker but the director, John Carpenter, is a horror legend!
Following on from a year of big hits (stand up Star Trek) and equally big misses (we’re looking at you GI Joe), Matt Thomas takes a look at what 2010 has in store at the pictures…
SEPTEMBER
Ben Affleck writes directs and stars in edgy thriller The Town (10th) while horror maestro John Carpenter flexes his shock muscles with return-to-form The Ward (24th).
More info about The Ward and Danielle’s character can be found here.
Fangoria Entertainment has released a set report for The Crazies. Read below:
Blam! Brains and blood splatter the windshield of a big rig as the character who just took a shot to the head flies backward, slamming down on the concrete. Elsewhere in the truck bay/workshop, the smell of burning flesh hangs heavy in the air (actually, the chemical stench of a previously safely-on-fire stuntman). Gunfire echoes in the hangar-sized building; “Cut!” is called, playback watched, and then on to another setup on the remake of George A. Romero’s THE CRAZIES.
It’s a slightly nippy March night in Georgia, and day 12 of the nine-week shoot on the latest gruesome facelift of a ’70s horror movie, being directed on a significantly higher budget by Breck Eisner (whose credits include SAHARA and FEAR ITSELF’s THE SACRIFICE). Having an estimated $25 million to play with gives Eisner the opportunity to take Romero’s core concept and give it an action-packed approach the original could never achieve due to its low budget (shot in 1972, it cost around $220,000). Overture Films (the theatrical arm of Starz Media, which owns popular genre-centric DVD label Anchor Bay) releases the new CRAZIES February 26.
Amber Heard digs horror. Fact. And we love her all the more for it.
The All the Boys Love Mandy Lane star can be seen in The Stepfather, which hits theaters tomorrow, and she tells us she had a blast playing one of the undead in Zombieland. Up next, John Carpenter’s The Ward which she recently wrapped shooting and told us a bit about on the phone today.
“I think it’s awesome,” she enthused. “John is a legend and rightfully so. I love that I got to work with him.”
Heard co-stars alongside Danielle Panabaker and Jared Harris in what is Carpenter’s first feature film since Ghosts of Mars. “My character is arrested and thrown into an institution in the ’60s,” she explains of the supernatural thriller. “She meets all of these other characters and things start happening in the institution. You have to second-guess your main character, me, because she is in a mental institution. There are a lot of things that are coming in and out of the story and you don’t know what to think. It’s pretty intense. The film’s in post-production and it will hopefully honor the script, but it was fantastic and a thrilling story.”
Here’s an early review of Danielle’s new film The Crazies, a remake of George Romero’s classic horror opening February 26, 2010. It’s a pretty positive review, and even though it’s still a work-in-progress I must say I can’t wait! Additionally, a very 80’s horror new teaser poster has been realeased, clik on the thumbnail to view the full high resolution version:
While there have been a few good remakes, or re-imaginings, or whatever you want to call them (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes to name a couple) the majority of them have come across as generally pointless cash-ins on franchises that haven’t even had much monetary or cultural relevance these days. So when I was invited to check out a remake of George A. Romero’s The Crazies, even though I hadn’t seen the original, my hopes were more or less pretty low to non existent.
My tune quickly changed… the towns sheriff (Timothy Olyphant), his deputy (Joe Anderson), a doctor (Rhada Mitchell); who also happens to be our young sheriff’s wife, and her young assistant played by a veteran in progress of the remake game, Friday the 13th’s Danielle Panabraker, fight for survival as they search the small, heavily military occupied, town for a way out.
All key actors do an above adequate job in their roles with Anderson providing a lot of laughs as the situation gets more and more dire.
Read the whole review (caution: may contain a few “spoilers”) : Arrow In the Head
Medium: She Sees What Others Can't (TV)
Danielle Panabaker as Summer Lowry (Guest Lead) Episode: Psych (Season 6, Episode 13) Premiere Date: January 29, 2010 Network: CBS Information | Photos | Official Website | Videos
The Crazies: Fear Thy Neighbor
Danielle Panabaker as Becca Darling (Co-Lead) Release Date: February 26, 2010 (US) + Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Action, Drama, Thriller Directed by: Breck Eisner Status: Completed Information | Photos | Official | Twitter | Facebook | Videos
Weakness: A Film by Michael Melamedoff
Danielle Panabaker as Danielle (Female Lead) Release Date: TBA 2010 Genre: Drama, Comedy Directed by: Michael Melamedoff Status: Post-Production Information | Photos | Official Website | Videos
The Ward (John Carpenter's The Ward)
Danielle Panabaker as Sarah (Co-Lead) Release Date: September 24, 2010 (TBC) + Genre: Horror, Thriller Directed by: John Carpenter Status: Post-Production Information | Photos | Facebook | Official Website | Videos
Renaissance Girl: Who says life's not Faire?
Danielle Panabaker as Kimber (Lead) Release Date: November 13, 2010 (US) Genre: Comedy, Romance Directed by: David Jackson Willis Status: Pre-Production Information | Photos | Official Website | Videos
Feb.23.2010 | Pre-Oscar Suite of 100 Stars
Feb.23.2010 | The Crazies Los Angeles Premiere
Feb.24.2010 | The Crazies X Screening
Feb.26.2010 | The Crazies Opens in Theaters
Apr.06.2010 | Home of the Giants DVD Release
Sep.24.2010 | The Ward Opens in Theaters
Nov.13.2010 | Renaissance Girl Opens in Theaters
Danielle Panabaker has got a bad case of The Crazies IESB.Net talked to Danielle Panabaker about The Crazies and...
