'The Maze Runner': A look at the mysterious world of the YA movie adaptation
'The Maze Runner' is based on the books by James Dashner and stars Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Kaya Scodelario.
'The Maze Runner' stars Dylan O'Brien.
Ben Rothstein/20th Century Fox/AP
鈥淭he Maze Runner,鈥� an upcoming movie that鈥檚 hitting theaters on Sept. 19, is based on a young adult trilogy, but 鈥淢aze鈥� director Wes Ball says the movie doesn't need to be pigeonholed as a children's movie.
鈥淚t鈥檚 totally a PG-13 movie, so a lot of kids are going to go watch this movie, but they鈥檙e not going to feel like they are getting talked down to,鈥� Ball told a group of reporters, according to the website . 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a kid鈥檚 movie, it鈥檚 just a cool movie that kids can go see.鈥澛�
鈥淩unner鈥� centers on protagonist Thomas, who wakes up as he is being transported to a place called the Glade with no idea how he got there. The area is inhabited by other children his age, who tell him that surrounding the Glade is a large maze that no one has ever solved.听
The movie stars 鈥淭een Wolf鈥� actor Dylan O鈥橞rien as Thomas; Thomas Brodie-Sangster of 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� as Newt, second-in-command to Alby (Aml Ameen), the leader of the group of boys; Kaya Scodelario of 鈥淪kins鈥� as Teresa, the first girl to arrive in the Glade; and actress Patricia Clarkson.听
The book by Dashner that the film is based on was first released in 2009 and the first book is followed by two other works, 鈥淭he Scorch Trials鈥� and 鈥淭he Death Cure.鈥� Dashner also released a book, 鈥淭he Kill Order,鈥� in 2012 that was a prequel to the 鈥淢aze鈥� series.
O鈥橞rien said he鈥檚 excited about the possibility of playing Thomas over multiple movies.听
鈥淲ith a possible potential trilogy like this, it's sort of a blessing for us as actors to be in a film but also get to keep expanding our characters,鈥� the actor said, according to .听
Ball also spoke about the personality of the lone girl in the group, Teresa.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what separates us from all of the other movies out there with this young adult craze that鈥檚 happening right now,鈥� he said, according to Collider. 鈥淲e are kind of the only, at least for now, boy adventure, like the kind of stuff I grew up watching鈥� a really fun boyhood adventure that happens to have our one girl who kind of becomes one of the boys. We don鈥檛 do the damsel in distress thing. She鈥檚 tough.鈥�