‘Crater’ in Baton Rouge: Disney+ films bulk of lunar adventure inside Celtic Studios

When “National Treasure: Edge of History” from Disney+ filmed in Baton Rouge in early 2022, cast and crew were visible at shooting locations downtown and beyond.

Contrastingly, when “Crater,” another original Disney+ project, set up shop inside Celtic Studios  from April to August 2021, few knew the majority of the cosmic caper was taking shape inside its facilities off Airline Highway.

Nonetheless, production for the 1 hour, 45-minute movie “Crater” infused $28,052,187 into state coffers, with an estimated $12,346,986 spent on its Louisiana payroll, according to Katie Patton Pryor, executive director of the Baton Rouge Film Commission.

“I am so excited to see this on screen. It was almost entirely shot at Celtic,” Pryor said. “It is a beautiful example of movie magic.”

The magic to which she’s referring is the project literally shooting for the moon in transforming the Celtic space into a lunar landing pad for filming the coming-of-age sci-fi adventure.

“Crater” tells the story of Caleb Channing (played by Isaiah Russell-Bailey), “who was raised on a lunar mining colony and is about to be permanently relocated to an idyllic faraway planet following the death of his father (Scott Mescudi). But before leaving, to fulfill his dad’s last wish, he and his three best friends, Dylan (Billy Barratt), Borney (Orson Hong) and Marcus (Thomas Boyce) and a new arrival from Earth, Addison (Mckenna Grace), hijack a rover for one final adventure on a journey to explore a mysterious crater,” the film synopsis states.

Before its debut Friday on the streaming service Disney+, the five cast leads gathered virtually on Monday to speak to the media and enjoy an informal reunion of sorts, saying they hadn’t really seen each other since production wrapped. After exchanging pleasantries (and a little joking), it was time for some questions.

As you’re preparing for these roles and getting into character, what would you say is the biggest difference between you guys and the characters that you play?

Russell-Bailey: I feel like one of the bigger challenges in playing Caleb was putting myself in the mindset of someone who has lost a parent or a very close family member. Fortunately, I haven’t had to deal with a major loss like that, so I had to do a lot of work to prepare for that aspect of my character.

I got advice from family members and friends who have experienced that pain and grief, because I know there are a lot of levels and layers to grieving someone so close to you.

Grace: Gosh, I have to follow that. I mean, it’s funny. I feel like, Addison and I are pretty similar. I’m probably not as smart as she is. She knows a lot. I don’t live on the moon. That’s a big difference. But, I don’t know. I find myself pretty similar to her.

I really enjoyed playing her. I felt like it was the most similar character to myself I’ve ever gotten to play. I feel like I learned a lot. 

Hong: I’m kind of in McKenna’s (Grace’s) boat. I feel like I’m similar to Borney. I feel like very little acting was involved to kind of get in the mindset of the character.

Being the youngest in the cast (at 13), I did feel that dynamic playing Borney. And so, yeah, I feel pretty smooth.

Boyce: I love playing Marcus. I think I’m the most different than my character than anybody else in the cast.

Marcus, he doesn’t talk a lot. He’s very simple and he’s so incredibly selfless. I wish I could be as selfless as he is. He takes it to another level. He’s just kind of really just the heart and soul of the group. A very, very simple guy, very kind. I kind of describe him sort of as like Lennie in “Of Mice and Men.” Like, he’s just, he’s just kind of a lovable bear. And I’m not quite as “go with the flow” as he is, but yeah. So sweet.

Barratt: We’ve got some similarities and we’ve got some differences, but I think the similarities are that he cares for the people he loves, and he’ll do anything to make sure that they’re OK and happy and treated well.

But the differences are that I don’t think I am as cool as he is, because I think that’s probably a character that he tries to portray and be that sort of guy in the group. But that was something I work toward, so that’s great.

You have such a wide range of brilliant characters in your career already. What was it about ‘Crater’ in particular that drew you to the project?

Grace: Reading the script, I mean, of course it’s really cool to be able to do something on the moon, but I think that all of the characters had such a unique bond. And I think that this film is (done) in a way that surprises me, and it felt like it had a lot of heart in the script. And I think that it’s quite hard to take a film that is a bunch of kids going on a road trip on the moon and make it feel grounded and make some of the scenes and dialogue feel quite real. But I think that our director and Mr. Kyle (Patrick Alvarez) did a really good job of that.

I don’t cry during movies or scripts very easily, but this script just felt really special.

The movie has some of the same energy of some classic adventures for young adults, like “Stand By Me,” “The Breakfast Club,” and even “The Goonies,” but with the sci-fi theme. But those movies were popular from before you all were born. So what preferences did you seek to create on this lunar road trip?

Russell-Bailey: Oh, they came out before we were born, but I love all those old movies. I love old music. So yeah, I particularly just watch actors act, I just watch how other actors sort of, while they’re doing their thing in a movie, how they would relate to other people.

I also incorporate actual life experiences with people when I’m acting. So, I watched “Stand By Me” in preparation for this film, and I watched it to kind of see who Caleb related to in the film, and I felt like he related River Phoenix’s character and Will Wheaton’s character. And I tried to add a bit of their characters to Caleb, so I can make Caleb more well-rounded as a character.