Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

By Erin

*I attended the press junket for this film as a guest of Disney for purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions remain my own. All photos and videos are courtesy of Walt Disney Studios*

We all have bad days. Some more than others, including myself a lot of the time I feel like! As a child, I adored the book, so I am thrilled to see this one in theaters. I still have the book and enjoy taking a look back at it every now and then. Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is such a funny movie starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. Alexander is a young boy who at 11 years old experiences one of the most terrible and horrible days of his young life! After making a wish that he soon regrets, he begins to find out that he isn’t the only one who has bad days. The movie has a good message about family coming together and having each other’s backs, even when things are going terribly wrong. It is the perfect family movie that we can all relate to while enjoying a good laugh.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the film and see what tid-bits the cast has to share with us about making the film. In attendance was Jennifer Garner, Bella Thorne, Dylan Minnette, Ed Oxenbould, Kerris Dorsey, and Steve Carell.

Did the cast have any bad days on set?

Jennifer Garner told us about a miserably hot day shooting outdoors on location when the temperatures out were getting unbearable. Steve Carell was humorously mocking her answer and you could tell instantly that the cast really enjoyed working together.

What did Jennifer Garner think about getting to work with Dick Van Dyke during his cameo in the film?

She said he could do whatever he wanted since it’s Dick Van Dyke, even if he was screaming at her. She wished the rest of the cast could have been with her though. As this was the only time they weren’t all together.

Has Jennifer cracked what it takes to make a good mother?

Jennifer: “Gosh, have I cracked what it is to be a great mom? Nooooo! But that’s the great thing about being a parent, it’s that everyday is a fresh start. You always can say “Today we’re going to try this.” And if it goes horribly, you say “Today we’re throwing that out, we’re trying this.” That’s part of what I like about being a mom in general.
But I do, I have enjoyed this new world of playing moms. This little kid whose mom is a teacher at my child’s school said, “Mrs. Affleck is a lot like my mom, she gets to have a lot of other kids.” (laugh) You feel that way. You form these relationships.”

The Cooper family in the film is overly positive and support each other most of the time, is there any danger to that positivity at all in the real world?

Jennifer: “Of course. Your kids need to be allowed to have a bad day and you need to show them that it’s ok to have the whole range of emotions, you should have it all, you have rage and anger and sadness, so there’s a lot of room for joy and happiness as well.”

The next question was for Steve Carell. What was it like working with a bunch of little kids after working on ‘The Office’?

Steve: “It was the worst experience (sarcasm). I know in print that will play really well. Since you cannot read irony in print. Great. They are so much fun and including the babies that were in this movie, who we all fell in love with. I have nothing but love for these special little ones.”

For the kids: What do you think about your movie parents?

Ed Oxenbould said that his movie parents are better than his real parents. They were incredible. Kerris Dorsey also agreed, since she’s such huge fans of both of them. Being able to have them as parents was pretty cool to be a family with them.

A couple of the kids have their music featured in the film.

Kerris Dorsey and her sister wrote and perform a song for the end credits while Dylan Minnette’s band The Narwhals have a song on the soundtrack as well.

Bella Thorne also shared how hard it was to play a mean character. The cast and crew loved working together and you can see that chemistry in the film with how well they function as a family unit. Steve Carell hopes this sets a trend, reinvigorating live-action family films as a successful genre.

As a special surprise to end the day, we were entertained with a performance by Thunder From Down Under.

In the movie, Alexander has an obsession with the continent of Australia and his dad accidentally books Thunder From Down Under as a special treat for his son’s birthday party, thinking they were Australian cowboys…. but in reality they are a hunky male revue performed for mostly female audiences. In this case though, they keep it very family friendly.