The entire student body expects much of the senior Night of the Stars (NOTS) movie. For one, they have four years of experience and therefore have a deeper knowledge of the editing process. And, after winning the Homecoming float competition in the fall and multiple NOTS awards last year, including Parents’ Choice, Best Actor and Best Actress, the class has a lot to live up too.

This year, the senior class is recreating Crazy, Stupid, Love. Seniors Jacob Williams and Kendall Wheeler will play the lead roles Cal Weaver, a divorced, middle aged man and Emily Weaver, his cheating ex-wife, respectively.

This year, returning NOTS actress Wheeler steps up from supporting actress to the spotlight. At first, Wheeler was unaware that her character was the lead, but she is simply happy to participate in the movie again, no matter the role.

“The main difference this year is having a few more lines, but there’s also the pressure to step up and be better than in previous years,” Wheeler said. “[At first] I didn’t really know that I had the lead role, but I’m happy to do it and glad to be doing it.”

Director David Casuga, ’12, especially advocated this movie, as he appreciated its interesting plot and the claim that certain students fit the characters well.

“This year it’s easy to direct because people know how to act,” Casuga said. “[Senior] Trevor York is just the kind of person that Ryan Gosling plays. Then casting Kendall as one of the lead actors is appropriate because she’s good at acting.”

After hearing rumors that underclassmen are unprepared for their movies, Casuga believes that the seniors have the upperhand this year. Additionally, he considers experience the key to success. However, the class faces certain difficulties because the majority of the editing, directing and writing falls in Casuga’s hands.

“Besides the fact of the situations of the other movies, we have amazing actors and supporting actors,” Casuga said. “Plus, we’ve had the most experience. This is the first year that I’m directing. Actually, I’m doing almost everything, but [seniors] Zed Fries, and Austin Rurik are both helping me edit.”

Despite these technical changes, Casuga’s one real goal is to make seniors proud of their class’ efforts.

“I want to make a movie that our class can be proud of,” Casuga said. “But, it will also sweep all the awards.”

Though not all students participate in the actual movie-making experience, many of them, like Victoria Hindes, simply enjoy watching the final project on formal night.

“I like to see all of my classmates’ hard work and even though I don’t participate in the actual movie, I appreciate their hard work and dedication to the class,” Hindes said. “But I think there’s a lot expected from high schoolers who also do extracurricular activities, but despite all of these, they still put it together.”

After winning Best Actress last year, senior Austen Houts will continue to act in a supporting role this year. She enjoys her time spent with her classmates and hopes that the upcoming movie will come out terrifically.

“Acting last year was very fun and winning Best Actress was a great experience because it made me feel like our hard work had been rewarded,” Houts said. “I think our movie has the potential to be really terrific this year because all of the actors are doing an admirable job. We’re putting a lot of thought and effort into making the scenes as fantastic as possible by paying attention to the little details.”

For more information on NOTS, read the Jan. 26 article, New approach revamps NOTS movie.