John Swetnam, who wrote the billion-dollar box-office hit movie “Step Up: All In” and multiple Grammy Award winner John Legend team up as director and producer in “Breaking Through,” a dance movie filmed for the YouTube generation about a young woman thrust into the world of fame after being discovered online.
Starring Sophia Aguilar as Casey, “Breaking Through” follows her story as a young dancer who is discovered on YouTube by an up-and-coming talent scout. When Casey gets thrust into the modern world of internet celebrity and culture, she must find a way to balance her true identity with her online persona, or risk losing herself and everything she cares about.
Art imitates life, Sophia Aguiar (Casey), a dancer, choreographer and actress was discovered via YouTube after performing with Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo, Usher, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and Britney Spears. She has also been part of the movie sequel “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” and is currently performing on the superstar’s Las Vegas residency “Piece of Me.”
Swetnam marks his directorial debut and has rounded up a fully talented cast along with Aguiar in “Breaking Through” that includes Jordan Rodrigues, Robert Roldan, Taeko McCarroll, Marissa Heart, Jay Ellis, Brina Marquezine, Les Twins, Anitta and the all-male Poreotics dance crew.
“I weirdly got in to dance movies, but I’m not I mean I like to dance when I’m having a good time but I’m not a dancer by any means,” recalls Swetnam. Coming from the hugely popular dance movie franchise “Step Up: All In,” Swetnam further relates that Breaking Through is difficult to film, “Since Step Up had such incredible production value and was done on a grand scale. I actually loved Saturday Night Fever and Flashdance, the first Step Up. So I kind of wanted to do my own version of a dance movie.”
“If you go on YouTube, you have all these people who have hundreds of thousands of followers and they make and post these amazing dance videos, and there’s kids from all over the world with huge followings. So I wanted to tell that story, so I could merge the Internet with dance.”
Opening this September 23 in theaters nationwide from Axinite Digicinema, “Breaking Through” will also feature original music from John Legend who is also the executive producer of the film.