'Amber Alert' Exclusive Interview: Hayden Panettiere

Moviefone speaks with Hayden Panettiere about producing and starring in the new thriller 'Amber Alert'. "It was a story that I felt needed to be told."

Hayden Panetteire as Jaq in 'Amber Alert'. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.

Opening in select theaters and on demand September 27th is the new thriller ‘Amber Alert’, which is a remake of 2012 film of the same name and stars and was executive produced by Hayden Panettiere (‘Heroes’, ‘Nashville’, ‘Scream VI’).

Directed by Kerry Bellessa (‘Immanence’), who helmed the original, the cast also includes Tyler James Williams (‘Dear White People’), Saidah Arrika Ekulona (‘Bob Hearts Abishola’), and Kevin Dunn (‘Transformers’, ‘Veep’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with actress and producer Hayden Panettiere about her work on ‘Amber Alert’, her reaction to the screenplay, her character’s motivations, playing a real-world hero, the friendship she forms with a stranger, working with Tyler James Williams, building suspense, and collaborating with director Kerry Bellessa on set.

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Hayden Panetteire stars in 'Amber Alert'.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and as an actress and producer, why you wanted to be part of this project and see it get made?

Hayden Panettiere: After I read the script, my emotions were all over the place just as a human being, not even reading it as a character to play. But it was a story that I felt in my gut needed to be told, that the people in the world need to keep this in mind, including myself. I felt at first ashamed of myself for getting these Amber Alerts and not taking more time to look around me, and being of the mindset that the chances of me being the person who runs into this abducted child, or this car are slim to none. But realizing that if I thought that way, even as a mom, then how many other people are thinking that way? How many other people have just turned that alert off on their phones? So, I not only did it because I thought it could be an amazing movie, and a scary one at that because it's so real, but also as like a PSA, basically and to hopefully change people's perspectives on Amber Alerts.

MF: Can you talk about why your character risks her life for someone that she does not know and what her motivations are in that situation?

HP: The thing that Tyler's character questions a lot throughout the beginning of the movie is, "You don't even have a child. You're not a mom. Why are you making such a big deal about this? Why are you going crazy about this? I mean, he's in a car that's the most-driven car in America. We don't even have a license plate. The chances of that being the car are slim to none." But maybe I can save this little girl. Even if the chances are slim, I won't be able to live with myself if I don't at least check." We're going off so little for them to ever put out Amber Alerts. They don't do it without having at least a license plate. So, it's even slimmer to none. But she convinces this stranger, who is on his way to something that is so important, and has to do with being a parent, because he has his kid, and he can't let his kid down. But she convinces him that we must, at least (try). "We're here and nobody else is looking. Nobody else is looking at this car. I don't see anyone else following it. We have to." As a mother, I will say I had a very difficult birth, and it almost took my life. But I was okay once she came out and I heard my child cry. I was so okay with the idea of that being the end of life for me. If my child was okay, I was at peace and that feeling just stays with you. Jaq doesn't care if anything bad happens to her, if there is a child that needs help and isn't going to get it from anybody else.

(L to R) Hayden Panetteire as Jaq and Tyler James Williams as Shane in 'Amber Alert'. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.

MF: Can you talk about the connection Jaq makes with Shane, and working with actor Tyler James Williams?

HP: A lot of projects are not shot in chronological order. Those are for reasons of location, weather and all that kind of stuff. But I really loved that they made a conscious decision to shoot this movie in chronological order as much as possible. We were able to build our personal relationship at the same time as our characters, in the same way. So, what you're seeing is not falsified. It's not us hanging out afterwards and really knowing each other and being buddies, then having to pull ourselves back into these situations. It's raw and real.

MF: Can you talk about tone and building the movie’s suspense through your performance? Did shooting chronologically help with that?

HP: Well, that was Kerry, the director. That was important to him, and it became important to me. It was like how I learned how to play a character in a horror film, because my first experience and my first teacher was Wes Craven himself. Sometimes the timing in scenes to get that scare, that jump, that make the audience feel what we want them to feel in that moment, means that we must slow down, and it almost feels like acting in slow motion. Then when it's edited together, you bring the music in. As actors, we read a script, we fall in love with it, we fall in love with our character, and we do our best. But then it's in the hands of other people, and we really have no idea what the outcome is going to be and how it plays. Music has always been important to me as a viewer of anything. When I saw it for the first time, the music just helps so much in taking the audience on the adventure. The roller coaster rolls the way we want it to for the audience.

(L to R) Tyler James Williams and Hayden Panetteire in 'Amber Alert'. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.

MF: What was it like working with director Kerry Bellessa, both as an actress and as an executive producer?

HP: He is amazing. He's incredible: both him and his wife, who were very passionate about this project. I mean, they lived with this project for years, because this is a remake. Now they were finally, after all these years, able to truly make it a great film that everyone hopefully goes out to see. It's not just a movie, but it's a PSA. It's a movie that we were all in the same mindset of wanting it so badly to change people's minds, and how they look at the world. If they've turned that notice off on their phone, which we can do, turn it back on! Even though it's so easy to think, "The chances of me being the person to find this abducted child are one in millions," that it's still going to be one of us. If we all had used our eyes and took a second to look around when we got that alert, if everyone thought the same way, then we could save so many children from just horrific deaths and torture. I mean, those few that have come back to us after years and found a way to escape and shared their story, we as human beings don't want to believe that such horror is possible, that people out there can commit these acts. But that's the cold, hard facts of life. So be that person. Be that person who takes two seconds, even if you're in a rush, to just look around.

MF: Finally, you played a superhero on the TV series ‘Heroes’, but what was it like portraying a real-world hero in ‘Amber Alert’?

HP: I loved it, because my father's always been my hero. He was a lieutenant in the fire department in New York City for twenty-one years and retired nine months before 9/11. The firehouse he retired from; they were the first on the scene. They lost their entire crew, their captain, everyone. He lost so many friends. I have this shrine to him of saving children, pulling children out of fires. I felt like I got to be him. I got to at least play him. Every time he went into a fire, they don't know if they're going to come out. But their focus is getting everyone to safety. "Even if I have to take the ceiling falling on me, I'm getting you out of here." So, she's determined, even if it's the death of her, to save this one child.

Amber Alert

"Two strangers are her only hope."

PG-131 hr 30 minSep 27th, 2024

Showtimes & Tickets

An ordinary rideshare becomes a high-stakes game of cat and mouse when Jaq (Hayden Panettiere) and Shane (Tyler James Williams) receive an alert of a child abduction... Read the Plot

What is the plot of ‘Amber Alert’?

An ordinary rideshare becomes a high-stakes game of cat and mouse when Jaq (Hayden Panettiere) and Shane (Tyler James Williams) receive an alert of a child abduction on their phones. Quickly realizing they are behind a car that matches the description of the kidnapper’s, Jaq and Shane desperately race against time to save the child’s life.