Walker Scobell and Momona Tamada star in the new Paramount+ Original Movie SECRET HEADQUARTERS. Scobell and Tamada play Charlie and Maya and are FIRE. At the recent press day for SECRET HEADQUARTERS, I ad an opportunity to interview this teen power duo about their roles.
Walker Scobell and Momona Tamada INTERVIEW for SECRET HEADQUARTERS
If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
Scobell: I think I'd want to have I know. I know a lot of people have I like to fly. I think it'd be really good.
Maya: That would be sick. I feel like teleportation would be like, really handy. Like, you could just like, go anywhere you want.
Momona Tamada as Maya in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
If you could create your own superweapons, super gadgets, or a signature move, what would it be?
Scobell: If I could have any from the movie, the peace magnet rod is pretty cool.
Tamada: Oh, yeah. It's sick. The portal and the rod together?
Scobell: I liked Maya's jacket too.
Tamada: I liked how it was kind of like, you can wear it like just out but also have it as a gadget. I think all of them were kind of like that. It's like, functional but also like, yeah.
Walker Scobell as Charlie in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
What drew you to the roles that you have, and what are your favorite aspects of playing them?
Tamada: I thought something cool about Maya was like, she was a character that I never really had the chance to portray before. Like, she's very opposite from like, you know, Claudia, for example. So that was like, “Oh, like, that's interesting.” I kind of saw that as a bit of a challenge, which was fun. And like, kind of overall for the movie. I thought it was really cool that like, each of the kids kind of got to be a hero. Like I thought that was a really cool concept. So that's something that definitely drew me to the script.
Scobell: Oh, for me, I know I started acting because I wanted to be an Avenger. And these are like the closest you can get to that kind of stuff. So and yeah, I guess they just liked me for roles with the idea of that or something.
Walker Scobell as Charlie and Momona Tamada as Maya in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
What was your favorite scene in the movie?
Scobell: Just a lot of great ones. Yeah. Maybe in the end find a lot. That was really cool. With the car, maybe the seamen were like interrogating Michael Pena. That was really fun. He's really funny as it was like, it's really hard not to laugh.
Tamada: Oh, yeah, that was it was really fun. I really liked the scene where we're like hitting the glass. And like it was really cool. Because on the day, it was just like one-panel glass, we had to pretend that we were about to get crushed by the 3d printer. So that was really fun.
Owen Wilson as Jack in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
Did you get any advice from any of the veterans like Owen Wilson or Michael Pena on comedic timing? Was there anything that you learned from them?
Scobell: A lot? Yeah, yeah. I think like when we had a funny line or something, and it was our coverage for that line. Oh, and we would like stand by on the camera, and say a bunch of different ways. And then we try to copy them. It's really fun.
Tamada: Yeah, Michael, he would like always improv stuff. So like, no matter what, it was always something new, which was really fun. And I think that let us kind of play around and it pushed us to do our own improv too.
On the set of Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
Were you allowed to do any of your own stunts? And what was your favorite mover fight scene?
Scobell: We were allowed to do a lot; It was super fun. We did a bunch of stunt training and stuff. My favorite stunt, I think we both did it, for me it was when we both jumped on the platform 3d printer, and across it, that was pretty fun.
Tamada: That was really fun. It was cool because like both of us actually got to do it and like got to like jump in slide it was really cool shot, too.
Walker Scobell as Charlie and Keith L. Williams as Berger in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
Who is your favorite superhero and why?
Scobell: My favorite superhero is Deadpool. I don't know. I just love how he's basically insane. And he says whatever comes to his mind doesn't hold anything back.
Tamada: That's pretty heavy. There are just so many out there. I feel like I don't know. I think Spider-Man is really cool. I also just kind of like really like him personality-wise too. So I think yeah, Spider-Man.
Top: Momona Tamada as Maya and Keith L. Williams as Berger; Bottom: Abby James Witherspoon as Lizzie and Walker Scobell as Charlie in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
Are there any Easter eggs that you guys are aware of that got put in or that you were part of putting in that the audience should be looking for?
Scobell: We didn't really put them in. But in the lights, you know that they're flickering when we were running to the elevator. They were in Morse code. Yeah, it was our birthdays in real life.
Tamada: That was the flickering pattern. Yeah. And then another one. I don't know if you caught it, but in like the baseball photo, our directors Henry [Joost] and Ariel [Schulman] are in the back, which is really cute, I think.
Michael Peña as Argon in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
I know you love comic book movies. Walker, you've already worked with Deadpool, Hulk, Gamora, and Elektra. Did you have a moment when you realized that you're adding Luis and Mobius to your Infinity Gauntlet of characters?
Scobell: I did it just, I don't know. It's weird to think about though, because like, I've always wanted to be an Avenger. And so to get to work with all of them is super awesome.
Tamada: I think yeah like they were super open and like to have any conversation with us. I didn't ask any but did you ask him anything?
Scobell: I asked him a bunch of questions about “Loki” and stuff. And if Mobius ever gets to ride a jet ski. I don't know. I don't think he knows.
I guess we all have to wait until “LOKI” Season 2.
Watch the SECRET HEADQUARTERS Interviews
Watch the SECRET HEADQUARTERS Trailer
About SECRET HEADQUARTERS
While hanging out after school, Charlie and his friends discover the headquarters of the world’s most powerful superhero hidden beneath his home. When villains attack, they must team up to defend the headquarters and save the world.
Abby James Witherspoon as Lizzie and Momona Tamada as Maya in Secret Headquarters from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Paramount Pictures.
Rating: PG for violence, action, language, and some rude humor
Runtime: 104 minutes
Genre: Action, Comedy
Directors: Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman
Story: Christopher Yost
Screenplay: Christopher Yost, Josh Koenigsberg & Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, p.g.a. Chad Oman, p.g.a.
Executive Producers: Scott Lumpkin, Orlee-Rose Strauss
Cast: Owen Wilson, Walker Scobell, Jesse Williams, Keith L. Williams, Momona Tamada, Michael Peña, Abby James Witherspoon, Kezii Curtis
Premieres Friday, August 12, 2022, Exclusively on Paramount+
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