Five Fun Facts About the Maze Runner #MazeRunner

By Erin

*I attended as a guest of Fox to see this movie and to sit in on the press junket, all thoughts and opinions remain my own.*

Just imagine if you were a kid who woke up in an elevator lift, its pitch black, and you had no memory other than the fact that your name is Thomas. When the doors fly open, Thomas is pulled into a huge glade by a bunch of teenage boys who also have no memory besides what they should be called. They all share a strange vocabulary and mysterious fate from being tossed into a prison-like world colonized by young men where a giant ever-changing maze, could kill you as no one has ever survived the night there in the maze. Inspired by the first book in James Dasher’s thrilling young adult series, The Maze Runner, and directed by Wes Ball. Lets watch as they attempt to break free from the dangerous maze.

Last month I got to listen in with cast of the film as they told us what it was like to be on set and create this world that was to become, ‘The Maze Runner.’ So here are 5 fun facts from the cast, that you might not otherwise already know about!

1. The cast created a world without adults. Do they think it runs better, with or without adults now?
The mean the age range of the cast was kind of crazy. The youngest guy on set was Blake Cooper who was playing Chuck; he was 12 years old, considered to be very mature for his age, gave an amazing performance and was quite confident in his abilities. Aml Ameen was the oldest.

They became a real kind of family, very close indeed and kind of looked after each other. There was varying levels of experience in terms of life and acting. They all really looked out for each other. Some adults helped them make this movie, they had a little help in that respect. 😉 But it was an amazing kind of experience.

2. If the cast could choose a movie and take that movie’s ensemble of characters and put them in the maze along with their characters, which movie would it be?

Dylan O’Brien thinks the cast of “E.T.” could help them out. Will Poulter thought the “Stand By Me fellows” would be fun. Kaya Scodelario wanted some girl power in the picture and suggested “Bring It On!” or “The Spice Girls.”

3. Kaya was the only girl in the cast, what did she think of being on set with just a bunch of dudes?

Kaya replied that they’re not dudes, to be fair. She grew up in London with quite a mixed group of friends, and as human beings, they just all got on. She never felt like the only girl. They never changed the way they acted around her, which she really respected. She didn’t feel like when she walked in the room suddenly they were really polite. They were still dirty and rude and fun. This group just had so much fun as a group. Kaya never felt like the only girl. And a lot of the boy’s girlfriends came on set and sisters and stuff like that. So, there were females to interact with. But in the words of Aml, I am quite laddish anyway.

4. The cast had to film a lot of stunts in this film. Which was their most challenging or the most fun?

Will Poulter had fun doing the wrestling thing, he thought that was kind of fun. Dylan O’Brien agreed that it was great and was one of his favorite scenes in the movie. Dylan, loves the physical stuff. He’s really good at it. Dylan and Will would get into pushing matches with each other. Will said Dylan would be like, dude, you can push me harder than that. He’d push him a little bit hard. The wrestling was fun, and the push according to the boys. Dylan O’Brien also mentioned climbing on the vines and on the wire, that was always like a whole 12-hour day where they were just hung up on a wire. They would just bring him food. They didn’t want to lower him because it would just take a lot more time. And Wes Ball would literally come over because it was real like ivy and stuff that they used on those walls. Then there’s the part where Dylan is running away from The Griever, and The Griever jumps on the wall over him. So they shake the wall. All this debris was shaking down. They had a shot where he’s looking up, and it kept just getting in his eyes. “I’d be like, Oh, there’s something in my eye! Wes would just be like, I got it, baby. You don’t need a medic.” And he’d literally just take it out of his eye. Before that, he was never someone who was comfortable having someone touch their eyeball. But now he is.

5. There’s no romance in this movie, which is kind of different than most teen movies. Was that relief or was that a disappointment?

Kaya Scodelario replied quickly that there’s hormones everywhere else. Ki Hong Lee chimed in that the movie has a lot of bromance. Dylan O’Brien added that funny enough, they were all in little relationships on the side with each other, and in the film it’s so unromantic. Him and Kaya always loved that about the storyline. It’s so realistic, just appropriate for the circumstances. It’s so cinematic to just kind of add a relationship to something. These kids would not just be like smooching and flirting in this situation. They do have a connection, and they maybe have feelings of like for one another, but that’s it.

Kaya Scodelario also mentions how there is no time for it. What she liked was the honesty of it. And as a woman, that it was so nice to be able to go into a project and know that she wasn’t going to have to play that side. “I mean it is a huge part, being a teenager and falling in love for the first time and everything. But I feel like we haven’t explored that so much. It was interesting to explore a young woman who’s put into a situation. She’s not trying to make friends with anyone. She doesn’t need them all to like her, that’s so brave and so kind of against the grain nowadays with female characters in films. So, I really liked that. And it’s like Dylan said, there would be no time for them to be like, oh, let’s go for a little walk in the forest together.”

Thomas Brodie-Sangster added in that “There’s enough love and emotions going around just within The Gladers themselves. I mean not every teenager is in and out of love all the time. I certainly never fell in love as a teenager. I never even had a girlfriend as a teenager. So, I don’t think you have to put that into every teen film. I personally loved the fact that that was never present.”