BOP Interview: Selena Gomez - Part I
By Ryan Mazie
June 27, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
In Monte Carlo, Gomez plays Texan waitress Grace, who goes on a self-funded, self-searching trip to Paris with her best friend (Katie Cassidy) and stepsister (Leighton Meester). While in the City of Lights, Grace gets mistaken for the snooty British heiress Cordelia (Gomez plays both roles) and imposters her way into the lap of luxury. The trio quickly gets in over their heads as they get whisked away by the wealthy teen’s handlers to the titular city.
On a 10-city mall tour to promote the film, Selena Gomez took part in an afternoon roundtable interview at Philadelphia’s Four Season hotel.
Looking healthily slender (not “malnourished’ as per the tabloids after her recent hospital debacle), it was amazing how bright and chipper she was, especially after hosting a mere few hours earlier the Much Music Video Awards 2011 in Toronto (the Canadian equivalent to the VMA’s). “I was so terrified,” said Selena, “I never hosted a thing in my life. There were thousands of people there and I was so, so nervous. But I had a great time. It was really fun... The traveling part when you are on two hours of sleep isn’t the fun part, but it’s fine.”
Soft-spoken, but certainly not shy, Gomez spoke on topics ranging from playing three roles in one film, working with Disney, tabloids, and which Friends character she gets her comedic timing from.
How did you get started in acting?
Selena Gomez: I started when I was about seven. I was an only child and very dramatic - still dramatic to this day. I love entertaining people, I love singing and dancing, and I asked my Mom if I could be an actress. She took me to a few auditions and always made sure I did it because I wanted to and had fun with it. It kind of stuck on me.
What part did your parents play in your career?
SG: My Mom was actually in theater, but never did television or anything – just theater. She’s also my manager. Every choice I have made in my career has been between me and my Mom discussing it. How I want it to be and how I envision my career… but she is my mom first, before manager. She is also my biggest fan, and very supportive in everything that I do. But she also catches me and makes sure that I am being a good person, and disciplines me, which is nice. So I think we have a good relationship with that.
My biological Dad doesn’t really want to know about the business. He is back in Texas, because he is a very protective Dad, and gets very overwhelmed. So as long as I am happy and healthy and doing what I love, that’s all that my Dad cares about.
My stepdad runs all of my charity organizations. He is in charge of my financial things with my business partner and helping us run the production team. So he is more involved with my career. I am very lucky with my system.
Tell a bit about making Monte Carlo.
SG: It was really fun. We got to shoot it all on location, so it was all in Europe. We shot in Hungary, Budapest, Paris, and Monte Carlo. Most of the film took place in Budapest, which was interesting, and very weird, but in a very good way.
I liked shooting in Budapest, because no one really knew who I was there so it was nice to be able to just walk around, meet and talk to people. That was really fun. Not that I can’t do that anywhere else, but I didn’t have to have my Mom worrying about me and stuff.
I loved Paris, but to be honest, Monte Carlo was a little too fancy for me. It was very extravagant. My cousin came to visit me and she was in shorts and just her bikini top as we were going to the beach, and we were frowned upon wearing that about. So that was a little much for me (laughs).
I saw some interesting names during the credits, Nicole Kidman for one, and Forest Whitaker for another. Also, how did you become involved with the film?
SG: I did not meet Forest, but I did meet Nicole. She was extremely supportive. I got to go to dinner with her before the film and she was just very sweet in talking about how she couldn’t wait for me to play the role, so I was very lucky to have that over me. That felt better.
I worked with Fox on a film called Ramona and Beezus and I guess they really liked my work and were sweet enough to think about me when Monte Carlo came. So [Monte Carlo director] Tom Bezucha, Fox, and I all had a meeting. They asked me about the role and told me that it would be a good step for my movie career, and it was perfect, so I took the role.
This is a Fox production, so did you not want to do a movie with Disney right away to break from that or is this what happened naturally?
SG: No, no this just happened organically. No, not at all. If a film came in and it was distributed by Disney, I would not judge it by that.
In the future, would you be willing to collaborate again with the Disney company?
SG: Of course. I owe a lot to the channel. I don’t want to leave them, to be honest. They’ve given me everything. I’ve been very lucky. I still have a very close relationship with them and am open to do more things with them.
In the movie, you play essentially three characters: Grace, Cordelia, and Grace impersonating Cordelia. Which part did you find most challenging?
SG: Challenging would be Cordelia. She was so much fun. She was evil, but a fun kind of evil. She was an evil that didn’t necessarily use her words; it was about her actions and the way she carried herself. But it was very fun to play both characters. It was weird to play the scenes that we were together in, like doing the whole tying myself down scene was very weird. But that was a learning experience. It was funny most of the time.