More Pictures of Isabella Rice on the Set

8 year old Isabella Rice (Young Jerrica) was back on the set of Jem & The Holograms last week and filmed in Santa Monica.  We had a hunch she was there, based on something a crewmember tweeted, but we have confirmation from pictures just added to IMDb.

That means that Young Jerrica has a fairly 
substantial part in the movie.  Based on the pictures from Isabella's IMDb page, she filmed at least 3 days at the locations in Van Nuys, Simi Valley and Santa Monica.

Cool Trash's guess is that flashbacks will be used used for more than a quick introduction to the characters. 

The story is suppose to be a musical treasure hunt with messages left by Jerrica's father.  That could be a much longer hunt for Synergy (more on that topic in a post later this week) then what was in the cartoon.  It's possible that each of the locations is tied to Jerrica's past and there are flashbacks related to them - which could be why Isabella has to be at so many locations.

Stunt Double Confirms Juliette Lewis as Erica

Juliette Lewis' stunt double, Jenn Elizabeth, confirmed on Twitter that Juliette's character indeed is named Erica:

While many have speculated that Juliette is playing "Erica Raymond",  this isn't exactly confirmation about her character's last name since Jennifer only tweeted that the character name was "Erica" and not "Erica Raymond". 

The picture of Juliette with E! News' Jason Kennedy has the name "Astral Recording" behind her, and it seems like from her attire that she's playing a record executive type character like Eric Raymond.  Could her last name be something else, like Gabor or Benton? With Jerrica and Kimber being minors, then they could have an "evil" relative controlling their inheritance (which might explain why there is a Jerrica and Erica if they were related)  Or Erica could be completely unrelated to any existing Jem character.

Stefanie Scott Posts Video Following Santa Monica Beach Filming

Stefanie Scott posted a video on Instagram of the girls celebrating completing three days of filming at night on the Santa Monica beach.

It's hard to tell much from the video, but you can see that Stefanie and Aurora have colored streaks in their hair.  Here are some screencaps:

 

 

More of Molly Ringwald On Set

Molly tweeted a picture from the set yesterday with Aubrey Peeples, but it looks like it was taken back in April.  It's very clearly taken at the yellow house they filmed at on Peach Street in Van Nuys CA that we posted about on April 24.

Molly refers to her outfit as "vintage" Todd Thomas NYC and that could be for a reason.  Aubrey is wearing the same clothing as she wore in a picture with the actress playing Young Jerrica, Isabella Rice:

From Google Street View, you can tell another picture of Isabella with Stefanie Scott was taken at 6648 Peach St (the yellow house), so Isabella filmed there.

So, it looks like Molly filmed a flashback scene with young Jerrica.  Considering all the emphasis on Jerrica being an orphan and that flashbacks will be when she was around 8, it's possible that Jerrica and Kimber's backstory could be changed.  Rather than their mother dying when Jerrica is around 12, leaving their father to run a foster home by himself until his death 8+ years later which precipitates Jerrica becoming Jem, perhaps both of their parents die when Jerrica is 8 and she and Kimber go to live at Starlight House which is run by Molly Ringwald's character?

A photo from the wardrobe department from April 29th shows a label with the character name "Aunt Bailey", which has led to speculation that Molly is playing Jerrica and Kimber's aunt.  Her character could be a sort of hybrid between Mrs Bailey and Jacqui Benton.  With Jerrica and the Holograms all under the age of 18, they would need to have a parent/guardian involved and aren't old enough to run a foster home, and that would be Mrs (or Aunt) Bailey.

Jem & The Holograms Make One Final Splash

On the final day of filming Jem and the Holograms, the action moved to a large water tank located at Tank One Studios in Signal Hills CA near Long Beach.

Jon Chu posted the following photo on Instagram:

This looks very similar to a photo on Tank One's website:

This followed three day of nightshoots on the Santa Monica Pier.  While we hope that they were filming a live action reenactment of the Come On In (The Water's Fine) video, chances are the two shoots were related.  We know Zipper was at the pier location due to Nathan Moore's incredible sunset photo he posted on Instagram.  The pier location has to be more than just a quick scene with so many days spent there, so it could be an action scene with Zipper doing something and someone ending up in the water sounds likely.

Jem & The Holograms Head to the Beach

After wrapping at LA Center Studios on Monday, Jem and the Holograms finally headed to classic Los Angeles landmarks and were filming at Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier according to tweets from the cast and crew.

The weather unfortunately wasn't cooperating.  After enduring a heat wave, they faced temperatures in the 50s for a nightshoot on the Santa Monica Pier.  Both Hayley and Stefanie posted pictures from the set on Instagram and complained about freezing their "butts" off.

We knew this was a potential location since Jessica Hall had posted on Instagram back in early April about location scouting there.

No word on what was filmed at Venice Beach or which cast members were involved.

It's surprising that the filming at the pier happened at night and all of the nightshoots makes you wonder how dark the movie is going to be or why so many of the scenes happen at night.  But with the 5 week shooting schedule, it makes sense that they filming as much as possible with the available time.

Juliette Lewis On Set

A few images have popped up today following the casting announcement that Juliette Lewis has joined the cast of Jem & The Holograms (to be clear, she has been filming since at least the first week of May so who knows when these pictures were taken).

The first is from E! News' Jason Kennedy who has a cameo appearance in the film, probably as a reporter.  He only mentions working with Juliette, so he must be interviewing her.

My movie debut and I get to act alongside @juliettelewis!!! Thanks for the cameo @jonmchu.… http://t.co/6abA26Ap3D
— Jason Kennedy (@JasonKennedy1) May 20, 2014

The sign behind them appears to include "Astral" which is the codename for the film.  The logo seems to be "AR" which could be Astral Recording.  

The second is from Scooter Braun:

An image was also posted on Instagram by Juliette's driving double with a Rolls Royce at what looks like LA Center Studios.

Updated to add: Molly Ringwald posted this picture from the set with Juliette Lewis, which is the first look at what Mrs Bailey will look like:

Juliette Lewis and Molly Ringwald Officially Join Cast

After filming for weeks, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis were finally announced as part of the Jem cast.  Deadline broke the news that Lewis has been cast in a "mystery" roll last night and Hollywood Reporter announced Ringwald joined the cast this morning.

As Cool Trash reported in April, Ringwald will be playing the Mrs Bailey character who was labeled "Aunt Bailey" in a picture posted on in Instagram by the wardrobe department.  Speculation Mrs Baily will have a much larger roll since Jerrica has been deaged several years and likely will be around 16-17 years old.  It's possible Mrs Baily is the Benton's aunt and runs a foster home.

Juliette Lewis' character likely will be different from the cartoon as well.  She may be playing the mysterious "Erica" character that was seen on a trailer door.  She could be the Eric Raymond type of character. 

Having characters named "Erica" and "Jerrica" in the same movie seems odd, so this has led to speculation that perhaps the characters are related.  Perhaps even Mrs Bailey's first name is Erica.

One thought is if Emmett Benton's death happens while both Jerrica and Kimber are minors, then the events in the first five episodes of Jem, Truly Outrageous, would be considerably different.  The plot of the movie involves a sort of scavenger hunt around LA to find something left by Jerrica's father - possibly Synergy.  In the cartoon, Emmett hides Synergy because he dies before the patents could be completed.  In the movie, perhaps a someone is involved who would be in control of his assets following his death.  This could be an Eric Raymond type of character or a relative of the Benton's who is the villain of the movie.  All of this is speculation and only time will tell how the story will play out.

Is This What Aja Looks Like?

Just Jared Jr posted some photos of Hayley Kiyoko performing at Biola University, right in the middle of filming Jem & The Holograms.  So this is probably what Aja will look like:

Wynter Perrineau Cast As Young Shana

Aurora Perrineau's six year old little sister Wynter was cast to play young Shana in Jem & the Holograms according to Black Celeb Kids.

Wynter joins 8 1/2 year old Isabella Rice who plays Young Jerrica, so some version of Out of the Past seems likely in the film. While in Out of the Past, Jerrica, Aja and Shana were all a similar age, Wynter being over 2 years younger than the actress playing Young Jerrica may change the dynamic of the characters and Shana may be Kimber's age in the film or the youngest Hologram.

Jem and the Holograms Wraps this Week According to Backstage

The production listings on Backstage.com for Jem and the Holograms updated with this tidbit: "Shoots through May 16 in Los Angeles."

With a $5 Million dollar budget and the Blumhouse model of making low budget horror flicks, it makes sense that they would only be filming for a month. What this means for the characters that have not been cast yet - such as The Misfits - remains to be seen. Either they have been kept a very tight secret, their role in the movie is very limited or they are not in the film entirely.

Juliette Lewis in Jem & The Holograms?

The latest casting rumor is that Juliette Lewis (best known for the movies Cape Fear, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Natural Born Killers) has been cast in Jem & The Holograms in an unknown role. Lewis is also a singer and has had colored hair at various times (including bright blue).

It's possible she is the mysterious "Erica" character whose name was spotted on a dressing room trailer door. She could be playing a female version of Eric Raymond. Since she is a singer, it's possible that has something to do with her involved. Maybe she could be playing Jacqui Benton in a flashback. Could she even be playing Pizzazz?

Week 3 of Filming

Here at Cool Trash we are busy trying to get caught up from the third week of filming Jem and the Holograms and will be updating with several stories this weekend.

The week started at Lacy Street Studios - where a concert scene was being shot outside in a very industrial looking area. Early Thursday morning, an impromptu call for more extras was put out after midnight Pacific time.

Production moved to Los Angeles Center Studios later on Thursday where it appears that scenes are being filmed without the Holograms. Nathan Moore tweeted about filming through the night, so it appears Zipper is involved. LA Center Studios has a number of pre-existing locations that can be filmed at such as court rooms, police stations, hospitals, generic offices, laboratories, and so forth. It's a large studio complex with multi-story office buildings with production offices that are used in many tv shows and movies for exterior establishing shots. So this could be "Starlight Music" or where Eric Raymond works (if it's not Starlight).

We've heard that the Jem & the Holograms crew are set up near the corner of Beaudry and 6th next to a little park and a large office building.

Who is Erica?

A Jem fan spotted the dressing room trailer at Lacy Studios this weekend and posted some photos on Instagram. Each of the doors is labeled with the name of the character the actor/actress is playing and "director" presumably for Jon Chu.  From left to right, the trailer doors are labeled: Jerrica, Kimber, Shana, Aja, Rio, Erica and Director.

Our question is: Who Is Erica?

Big Late Night Shoot

The Jem cast and crew changed filming locations and Friday night shot at Lacy Street Studios a complex of old warehouses near downtown Los Angeles. The exterior of the buildings look like old rundown warehouses and/or factories and interiors are set-up to look like a variety of residential and commercial sets.

The location was given away by the fact that Sugarpill Cosmetics, who are located next door to Lacy Street Studios, tweeted about giving away free makeup to the Jem makeup crew and they also posted on Instagram picture of the exterior:

Britta Phillips (Jem's original singing voice) was on set to film a cameo appearance and there were many execs were in attendance including Scooter Braun, Jamie Kapili (from Blumhouse) and Hieu Ho (President of  Chu Studios).

Costume Designer Soyon An posted on Instagram a picture of a more brightly colored orange/red/pink-ish hair/wig, which possibly could be Kimber's if Stefanie Scott's hair color seen previously is Kimber's natural hair color.

Our speculation is that this possibly could have been a Jem & the Holograms performance that was being filmed.  Scooter Braun mentioned choreographer Nick Demoura in a tweet.  We have heard that there were dozens of extras on the set, so that would fit with an audience.

Meet Young Jerrica

Eight year old actress Isabella Rice has been cast as Young Jerrica and recently filmed scenes on the film. She has previously appeared in minor roles on Glee, True Blood and Two and a Half Men and has appeared in ads for Barbie.

Her agents Nicole Jolley and Milton Perea posted this picture of Isabella with Aubrey Peeples on Twitter:

And this picture of Isabella with Stefanie Scott on IMDb:

There appears to be a younger girl cropped out of that photo (how rude) that perhaps is young Kimber.