Adam Shankman Talks ‘Step Up: All In’ & How He Discovered Ryan Guzman [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

Step Up: All In producer Adam Shankman, who also judges on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, believes in the power of good music, good dancing and a lead actor with an “it” factor.

Ryan Guzman reprises his role of Sean from Step Up Revolution in Step Up: All In. With no acting or dance lessons under his belt, he somehow managed to win over producers with the intangible quality possessed by movie stars. “Ryan has one of those ‘it’ factors. I remember when we cast Channing Tatum. You know, there is just an ‘it’ thing going on there that I found really, really compelling,” Shankman explained to uInterview.

“I mean, he is an authentically passionate guy, he’s super talented,” Shankman added. “He’s a cage fighter who auditioned pretending he had dance lessons, and he won us all over and he’s pretty remarkable.”

While Shankman is quick to laud the star of Step Up: All In, he’s hesitant to say which of the dancers he’s brought back into the cast is a cut above the rest. “Like I would ever say who is the best dancer among them—are you out of your mind?! I would have dance shoes, Nikes with bricks attached to them, flying through my windows!,” Shankman joked, adding, “They’re all incredibly talented.”

Despite all the talent on set of the Step Up movies, which includes former So You Think You Can Dance contestants, Shankman claims that there’s little ego drama to deal with. “I think these movies are a little too hard to have big egos in. Making them is not easy,” he told uInterview. “The hard work that gets poured into the rehearsal process, because it’s very, very condensed. And then the actual shooting of it makes it pretty impossible for egos to flare up, which is not to say they haven’t ever.”

Step Up: All In, starring Guzman and Briana Evigan, is currently in wide release.