Choreographer turned filmmaker Kevin Tancharoen has inherited the principal's chair at the New York Academy of the Performing Arts. Clint Morris talks to the director of - the all-new - "Fame".

I understand you're a choreographer. I take it that's how you got the gig to direct "Fame"?

Yeah. I started as a dancer, and then turned to choreography, but I did a lot of music producing at the same time. And because I come from that world it just meant I had an authentic look into this planet. I'm such a fan of the genre - obviously I love movies that are musically-driven, but my tastes are more skewed towards the Jazz world, or the Sweet Charity world or the stuff that Bob Fossey, Gene Kelly, or Stanley Donnen did. Of course now the [musical] genre is extremely popular - all the way from Television to Film; whether it's So You Think You Can Dance, Australian Idol, Dancing with the Stars, or even movies like Step Up 1, Step Up 2, and High School Musical, but I think the reason the original Fame spoke to me was because of how realistic it was. It was unapologetic for trying to show a bit more of a realistic view. And that's why I was very attracted to this one. I thought with all those other products out there that this one could be a little bit more mature.  It could be a little bit more realistic. It could give a glimpse into the real lives of real characters as opposed to just being a straight-forward musical.

Now when you went in to pitch to the studio, did they tell you what they wanted or did you tell them what you wanted?

No, I basically went in saying everything I just said to you - in a little more detail - telling them, ‘I'm a fan of all those movies coming out right now, and I get why they're entertaining, and why people love Step Up 1 and 2, and Stomp the Yard, and High School Musical. But I got to tell ya, those kids are older now - so I really, really think this movie should be more mature, more realistic, more authentic, and grittier.  And let's just showcase some real, raw talent. Let's not make this a straight-forward musical'. They really did like that I wanted to make it more realistic.

Now is it a direct remake of the original film?

I'm glad you asked that. It's actually a reinvention of it. We've definitely updated it, but we've changed all the characters [too]. What we've kept is the core idea and the structure of the movie - it's four years in the New York Academy of the Performing Arts, you meet our ensemble cast in their auditions and then you watch them right thru to their graduation. Other than that there's no Coco, there's no Leroy, there's no Bruno. We had a whole school of students to pick from - I didn't think we should use the same characters as the original. For instance, in 1980 Leroy was the angry black kid that couldn't read - that story just doesn't exist anymore. We really had no choice but to update it.

A lot of the cast are fresh-faces. Was that intentional?

I thought that was also a necessary step in making the movie as authentic as possible. I think everyone can assume there was a version of Fame that could've starred the Miley Cyrus's and Zac Efron's of the world, however, if you want to keep it as grounded and as organic as possible there's no way you can cast superstars. It's no longer authentic. I thought this was the perfect movie to create stars. I wanted audiences to watch the characters as they watched the movie - as opposed to watching Miley Cyrus or whoever.

But wasn't Thomas Dekker from "Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles" onboard at one point?

He wanted to do the movie. He got cast. But then Sarah Connor Chronicles got picked up for another season, so he had to go and honour his contract.

And how did you cast the teachers?

They were all cast for very specific reasons. Megan Mullally plays our singing teacher and if you look her up you'll see she's a Broadway singer. She does shows here and there, and she has a great show tune voice. She's trained in vocals and knew how to authentically portray that. Kelsey Grammer went to Julliard, and knows how that works, and has a music background - has extensive knowledge in music - and he plays our music teacher. Charles Dutton plays our acting teacher - he use to teach an acting programme for inner-city kids after school and at one point, he even taught Tupac before he was famous! Bebe Neuwirth plays our dance instructor who's hardcore, very tough - and Bebe comes from that hardcore dance world. She's Fossey-trained too. And also, a tough New York chick herself.

And I hear you have a couple of links to the original film though?

Oh yeah, definitely - we nodded quite a bit. We did the ballad Out Here On My Own, which I think is a timeless ballad, it still holds up til today and it's such a beautiful song. We also have the Fame theme song but we put it in the credits because it's such a catchy song, but also the melody is very 80s. We put it in the credits because it's arguably the most known thing about the movie. And we did the cafeteria joke - we had to do that!

I'm glad to hear the iconic song is back!

Oh yeah, definitely - you can't do Fame without that song. You mention the title and everyone automatically thinks of that song.

And Debbie Allen is back?

Yep, she plays the school principal. Debbie Allen arguably is Fame. She's our badass principal that gives our students the hard-core reality.

Have you screened the film for anyone yet?

We've had some test screenings and it's got wonderfully - everyone really loves it, and everyone's been very entertained by the musical numbers.

Is it opening up doors for you?

Definitely. Everyone is very curious about this remake. I'm very impressed to see that the brand is still alive. In terms of the demographic, we've got those that were fans of the original movie, TV show and Broadway musical but also we've got this whole new generation of young people that are so entertained by this genre that I'm hoping they're gonna like this movie as well.

What do you think - "Fame 2"?

It all just depends on how well it does, but I'm pretty sure we can guarantee that there's gonna be some other things. Now it's all about the sequels or the television show version.

What do you think about a new TV series spin-off?

I actually think that it could be quite cool. As long as you keep the core integrity that it has to be grounded in realism and not gimmicky. You can tell some real life human drama in these performances as well.

And can you tell us anything about your next project, "Arcana"?

I'm first a comic and video-game nerd .... Who got into dancing somehow? Arcana is a unique blend of the graphic-novel backdrop - like Blade Runner - and shot like 300, and has a little bit of Warriors mixed in there, with a little bit of martial arts, so it's got a lot of crazy elements in there. It's going to be really cool. We're writing it right now actually - a guy named John Ridley is writing it; I'm very happy we got him.