For many '90s and 2000s kids, Sky High was an introduction to the superhero genre. Sky High centered around a high school for teens with powers, and the class structure between the "Heroes" and "Sidekicks."
The film, released in 2005, was fun, lighthearted, and packed with a cast of comedic legends like Bruce Campbell, Dave Foley, and Cloris Leachman. Honestly, who didn't grow up dreaming of having superpowers?
One of the film's most memorable characters is Will [Michael Angarano]'s initial arch-nemesis, Warren Peace, portrayed by Steven Strait. To celebrate 20 years of Sky High, I hopped on Zoom with Steven to hear all about portraying the brooding bad boy with a heart of gold.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
BuzzFeed: Sky High was an introduction to superhero movies for so many kids growing up. Which superhero movie introduced you to the genre?
Steven Strait: The first superhero film that really kind of grabbed me was the original X-Men film. I was a huge fan of comic books growing up. I collected all kinds, and even met Stan Lee once as a kid, which was amazing, and he signed one of my books. That original X-Men was mind-blowing. It was the first time I really saw the genre in a more serious way.
What drew you to the role of Warren Peace?
A lot of things. Sky High is a very different kind of tone, and it was my first film. I'd never done a movie before, and I was just a couple of months out of high school. I remember reading the script and loving it so much. It was so clearly a riff on a John Hughes-style, Breakfast Club-esque movie with superpowers, which I thought was so cool. So many people in the cast were folks that I grew up idolizing, whether it was Kurt Russell, Kevin McDonald (I was obsessed with Kids in the Hall growing up), Dave Foley, Bruce Campbell — I mean, all these comedic legends.
Then you have these wonderful younger actors who are also getting their start around that same time. Obviously, Mike Angarano, but also Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Nick Braun, and Danielle Panabaker. All went on to do really wonderful work over the last couple of decades. It's wild to say decades!
The director, Mike Mitchell, was also an incredible animator and ended up doing one of the Shrek movies after Sky High. [He directed Shrek Forever After in 2010]. He and Andrew Gunn, who produced the film, were so generous with their time. I mean, I would show up on set even on days I wasn't needed, just to see how it worked.
I had been in acting school for years, but they don't teach you how to be on a big set with all these wonderful people. I was thrilled! It was a huge deal for me, booking that job. I remember doing the audition for it and them calling back and really liking the way I interpreted Warren. And, you know, I was still a kid. I was 18 years old, and it was just incredible for me.
There were so many incredible actors in the film, like Cloris Leachman and Lynda Carter. Even Tom Kenny and Jill Talley [voices of SpongeBob SquarePants's SpongeBob and Karen] made an appearance! Were there any actors that had you a bit starstruck?
Kurt Russell is someone that I grew up idolizing and have continued to absolutely love his work, like Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, and Tombstone. I mean, the list goes on forever. He was someone I was nervous to meet. I was really disarmed almost immediately, because he's such a lovely man and was just so kind with us. For him, it was a return to Disney, where he started as a child actor, decades and decades before.
Like you said, the depth of the comic roster in the cast is mind-blowing. I mean, Cloris Leachman and Bruce Campbell — just amazing stuff! I couldn't have found a more wonderful environment to just soak everything up. If we had questions or anything, they made us all feel really comfortable. It was a fun set, and people were always laughing a lot. I couldn't have imagined a more perfect introduction into the business and into the process of filmmaking.
Diving into Warren's character, I thought he had the coolest fire powers. Were the fire and special effects put in after scenes were filmed? Or were you working with pyrotechnics?
There were pyrotechnics done. I was not the one who did it; the stuntman who was working with me did the pyrotechnics stuff. I did most of the wire work, like being thrown through the wall. The first stunt I ever did was Will Stronghold hitting me through the wall, and hitting that pillar, and the pillar collapsing. I think we had the same stunt team that had worked on The Matrix and one of the Spider-Man movies. It was so cool, especially as a teenager, to walk into something like that.
I remember Warren had this cool power-up move, where his arms would light up in flames!
When I went in to originally audition, I had this concept of the arms almost being like a Zippo lighter. It was like the motion of the arms powering up gave me the energy and the aggressiveness that I wanted out of Warren. He was a really fun character to play. The whole film doesn't take itself too seriously, and there was a wonderful opportunity with Warren to be this counterpoint. It made the scenes funnier, you know, to have a guy who was super intense.
You had the glare down perfectly!
(Steven laughs) Yes, that's right, the glare, and also that was my real hair! We flat-ironed it, because I just had really curly hair. We wanted him to be kind of shadowed, like he could hide behind his hair. It helped aesthetically, to get into the right emotional place as well. But yeah, Warren was a blast to play.
There were some great action scenes in the film, my favorite being "Save the Citizen." Are there any specific scenes that stand out to you?
The initial fight in the cafeteria was some of the first stuff I had shot for the movie. It was this big sequence, and I was nervous coming into work. Mike Mitchell was so good with me to help me calm my nerves.
I just kind of directed all that energy into Warren's intensity, just taking a bit of that anxiety and laser focusing it. I remember that sequence vividly, and I remember it standing out because it was so new, and it was so different from the handful of jobs I had done before. We're in a huge studio, and there's all this wire work and fire, and people are being thrown all over the place. And it's like, wow, we're really doing this! I was pinching myself the whole time.
Most of your scenes were filmed with Michael Angarano and Danielle Panabaker. What was it like working with them?
So great! I worked with Danielle again years later, and have stayed friends with both of them over the years. They were the loveliest human beings as kids, and still are today. They had both worked a bunch already before Sky High, so they were veterans in a strange way. Having them as my scene partners was kind of stabilizing and grounding.
They were incredibly generous with what they gave on the other side of the camera, even when it wasn't on them. And so smart! I could be wrong, but I think Danielle had already graduated UCLA at that point, and she was only 17. And Michael, Michael has always been and still is hilarious. I mean, he's just such a funny guy; his wit is just incredible. We had a blast! We had such a great time.
Did you get to keep any props from the set?
I wanted to keep that jacket so badly! It was such a cool jacket, and they fitted it to me. They kept it for memorabilia sake, so I didn't keep anything. But the friendships we made were, of course, the most important thing.
Are there any behind-the-scenes memories that stick out to you?
I remember Nick Braun and Michael Angarano just having people rolling. I mean, they were just making everybody laugh the entire run of the movie. Nick, who has obviously done wonderful work with Succession, was kind of the on-set prankster. I can't remember exactly the specifics, but I remember everyone just loving him because he was so funny and charming.
I quite vividly remember meeting Kurt Russell the first time. He had just rolled up in his car, and I introduced myself, and he must have taken half an hour out of his time to talk to me. He was so grounded and down to earth. It was really informative for me as a lead going forward on how you set the tone on a set. He leads with kindness; he leads with a sense of collaboration, that this is an incredibly safe place to take creative risk, and we're here to have fun. That initial meeting for me was really special.
I also did the vocals on a cover of “One Thing Leads To Another” for the soundtrack! It was one of the many ’80s songs Mike Mitchell wanted in the film as an homage to John Hughes movies.
Pivoting to the present, you had great success as James Holden in The Expanse. When you get recognized, is it more for The Expanse, or do you still get recognized for Sky High?
You know, it's a mix. I actually didn't realize how much Sky High had meant to a slightly younger generation than me in their formative years. I only really got the feel of it doing press for The Expanse at comic cons, and folks came up to me with Warren Peace pictures to sign.
I've been incredibly fortunate over the last couple of decades to work on wonderful stuff with great people. I've always tried to have each project be different from the last, as best I can. So I would say I primarily get recognized for The Expanse because it is the most recent big commercial project that I've done, and it was on for so long. But Sky High is still very much something that I get approached by a lot, especially if I'm clean-shaven!
The Expanse was an incredibly special project to me, too. It was the first project I'd ever been a producer on. I was a fan of the books before we even started, and before I knew it was being adapted. Because the seasons are based on books, I had the ability to track Holden's arc from that first season to the sixth. You can really tack out your character arc very specifically, because you're aiming at a very specific spot in the distance.
This was so much fun, but my last question for you: if given the opportunity, would you reprise your role as Warren?
Oh, absolutely! I loved that whole experience. Sky High really was so ahead of its time in many ways. I think it would be a blast to think like, "Where is Warren?" I wonder if he's a professor or something at the school. I would jump at the chance to work with that group of people any day of the week. Wonderful, wonderful people and just such a talented group.
I'm really grateful that I've managed to remain in a place where I can do work that means a lot to me, and I really do owe a lot of that to Sky High. Twenty years ago — it's such a trip!
Thank you so much, Steven, for chatting! Keep an eye out for Steven's upcoming film Serena, currently in post-production. For sci-fi fans, check out The Expanse, currently streaming on Amazon Prime!