Photographed by [Andi Elloway](https://www.instagram.com/andi.elloway/?hl=en).
I grew up in Beverly Hills with my mother warning me, “never go to the valley!” We were sworn enemies 310 vs 818. Now in my 20s the valley isn’t so bad and I often shun thoughts of BH, calling it the Westside for fear of judgment. Though it is this classist draw which has been well depicted in the height of 80s San Fernando chic in _Valley Girl,_ the classic tale of boy on the wrong side of the track making moves on a suburban princess. An 80s classic that movie is now being brought back with a new sheen in remake form, this version of _Valley Girl_ sees a bold 80s aesthetic as the musical take on the Martha Coolidge directed classic infusing all the greatest hits of the new wave generation.
With English babe [Josh Whitehouse](https://www.instagram.com/joshuawhitehouse/?hl=en) taking on Nick cages studded vest we see a heartthrob become fully envisioned as the quintessential bad boy with all the most fabulous chemistry along side preppy galleria gal Jessica Rothe. The films high-gloss take of the 80s classic is one well worth a viewing, the release now in a new world thrives from the dreamy escapism of pre social technological constraints.
As for the musical performances, this was not the first time Whitehouse has presented his delectable tenor on screen. His musical flair has extended from his bands More Like Trees and High Cross Society which made it all that easier when he acted int the British comedy _Modern Life Is Rubbish_ where he not only performed but wrote six songs for the movie. Collecting quite an amount of the claim from the BAFTA nominated film _Northern Soul_ set in the mid-70s, most people are more acquainted with his role in hugely popular historical drama _Poldark_. As the multitalented Brit readies to continue to swarm into the realm of music we caught up with Whitehouse about his to multi dimensional music talents, 80s playlist, and that all American accent
**Firstly congrats on the film! Big shoes to fill, what was it like when you found out you got the role? What process was it that you took to get into character?**
Thanks so much! Big Shoes indeed. I will never forget the day I found out I got _Valley Girl_, after many back and forth’s over Skype with the Director Rachel and around 6 self-tapes later I flew out to LA to do a screen test with Jess Rothe. I was in town for 3 days and was told I would know whether I got the job or not within 24 hours of my screen test so I woke up at my hotel the next day, ordered myself a large breakfast in bed and nervously sipped a bloody mary trying to calm my nerves watching movies and trying desperately to pass the time. As the clock ticked closer to the 24 hour mark I decided I would run a bubble bath and if I got the job I would sit in it and open a bottle of champagne from the fridge. If I didn’t I would simply take a deep breath, have a nice warm bath and get ready for my flight home.
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> A post shared by [Josh Whitehouse](https://www.instagram.com/joshuawhitehouse/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading) (@joshuawhitehouse) on Dec 19, 2016 at 12:54pm PST
To my delight I got the job and popped that bottle of champagne and sat in that bath with a very big and silly grin upon my face. If you deep dive on my Instagram to around 3 years ago you can actually find a picture of me sat in said bath with a bottle of champers saying “Just had some very exciting news” - I’m not someone who regularly buys jewelry but I took myself across the road and bought a small airplane on a necklace to represent my first job overseas. It was a very happy day. Though I didn’t really know many people in LA back then so I just had a very happy little bubble for a bit and before I knew it I was on a plane back home to London.
To get in to character I went though all sorts of ideas. I watched the original a bunch but I wanted to make sure I brought my own twist to the character. I had a huge playlist of 80’s music given to me by Matt Smith our producer which I listened to daily in the gym to familiarize myself with the music of the 80’s, I started working with Bob Garrett a singing and dialect coach, I printed out the script and cut out every single line of dialogue I had and stuck it to a board which I had spray painted, I started making my own punk acoustic cover versions of songs from the soundtrack and I actually turned the entire script in to an audio book where I played every single character complete with sound effects and music, if they say its ok once the movie is out I might even release that too for fun. Once I moved to LA to work on the film I started dressing up as randy and going out around town pretending to be American and seeing how that felt. It was scary but fun too and it really helped me get a feel for being Randy.
**What was the filming like translating the story into a musical?**
It was a wild experience! I had never been in a musical before but always wanted to and wondered what that would be like so seeing it all come together was awesome. Our days were really long but everyone was so excited to be there and the vibe on set was always fun and lively. I think as a singer of various bands myself (More Like Trees, High Cross Society) it was an unusual shift to get my head in to a place of ‘singing through feeling’ as an actor in a scene as opposed to ‘singing to perform’. The method on screen is so different and the focus is on the acting, using the music and lyrics to express your feelings or have a conversation as opposed to just hitting the notes and ‘playing the tune’ which I found really interesting. A lot of the numbers in the movies were really complicated to shoot but seeing it all come together was so gratifying. I’m so pleased people are finally going to be able to see what we did!
**What was your favorite track to perform?**
I think I had the most fun doing ‘You Might Think’ by the cars, firstly I love that song! But in the movie it was a particularly complicated montage - complete with roof slides, car jumping, juggling, breakdance and bar swinging! We really went all over town for that one which meant with shooting by location we were shooting 10 - 20 seconds of the song at very different points in the shoot so it was all very spread out. That made it confusing and hard to picture exactly how it would all play out but our wonderful director, choreographers and DP/ editor did such an amazing job and its been so cool to see that one back. Truthfully I have a big soft spot for all the songs in our movie but I think this was one of my favorites for sure.
**Tell us about your favorite scene you shot, the sets and choreography looks so intricate and lush!**
I loved shooting that opening scene to the ‘land of the punks’ where we sang ‘bad reputation’, I loved the dark and grungy contrast to everything that had happened in the movie so far and creating that vibe with everyone was so much fun. I also really enjoyed playing the scene where randy is throwing looks at Julie through the sparkly tinsel at Mickeys party, it looked so pretty! I love how colorful and energetic this movie is from start to finish, its all such a lot of fun.
Photographed by [Andi Elloway](https://www.instagram.com/andi.elloway/?hl=en).
**Originally shot in 2017 why do you think it is important for this to come out now?**
Because the world has waited long enough for this and so have all of us! Also I mean, right now we are all undergoing a world wide pandemic and though I know that this was set for release in May long before any of this - I think the timing works out really well in that I feel like people really could use a movie like this at the moment - this movie is the perfect little shot of joy and happiness, love romance and drama - not to mention music singing, dancing and humor that everybody needs right now to brighten the mood.
**You have previous experiences singing and performing was it a venture you look forward to in displaying it in film form?**
Oh absolutely, I have spent my life first and foremost writing and performing songs - then as I was getting in to my 20’s I started acting and basically every success that has ever come to me because of acting has always come as an immense shock and an insurmountable honor, I never really truly believed that I could land any more jobs after my first one, but I just kept trying as hard as I possibly could to bend those rules and try to make it happen. The opportunity to be in a musical doesn’t come along very often, for anyone! So to think I got to be a part of it and bring an element of what I had already spent a large portion of my life doing as a musician on to the screen in one of my roles was such a wonderfully fun task. I think the nicest thing for me with playing a musician is that a lot of my character prep is kind of already done because I spent a lot of my life living that ‘struggling musician' world, so I get it - it gave me a lot more confidence in some of those performance scenes knowing that the core of what Randy was about before he meets Julie is something that I understand very well which gave me more time to work on the sides of Randy that I didn’t understand so quickly
**What are some of your favorite songs from the 80s?**
I love “You Might Think’ by “The Cars’, “Blondie - Call Me” “Bad Reputation - Joan Jett” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cindy Lauper” and “Boys Don’t Cry - The Cure”… I love the whole soundtrack to our movie…. “Take On Me” is dope too
**You mentioned your next role set in the 70s and where are you had to play with the bass. You mentioned you are allowed to talk more about it what can you tell us about it if so?**
I’m really excited about this project “Daisy Jones and The Six” its a take on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s book and Amazon are creating a TV show for it. The book follows the story of a fictional band in the 70’s who make it to superstardom and I am playing the bass player Eddie - he has always wished he could be the frontman and has a chip on his shoulder toward Billy who leads the group because deep down he doesn’t understand what Billy has that he doesn’t. I can tell you that Amazon are doing an incredible job with this production and that authenticity is going to play a big factor, we are all learning to actually be able to play an entire album of amazing original songs together written for the show and before we step on set we are going to be a real band which I think is going to bring a very powerful dynamic to the screen, the cast and team behind this are incredible and I feel extremely lucky to be a part of it.
Photographed by [Andi Elloway](https://www.instagram.com/andi.elloway/?hl=en).
**Picking up instrument seems so easy for you, is there any specific instruments you’ve been toying with playing this Quarantine?**
I like learning any new instruments and playing with whatever sounds I can find to make! During quarantine I have been writing a lot of new songs mostly with my guitar but I did do a small mission just before quarantine started and I found myself a very cheap old Yamaha keyboard in a charity shop with some really old school sounds on it so I have been entertaining myself with writing songs on that! It’s fun to play with older instruments, everyone these days is so obsessed with the new. So I like taking inspiration from what came before, which is a perfect reason to go and watch our new movie Valley Girl - and ode to the original and a love letter to the 80’s. While I am out here I hope to write a whole new More Like Trees album but in the mean time we have a new album just out in January called _Don’t Disturb The Garden_ available everywhere
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