Yey! Brand new pics of Jemma that you will definitely enjoy. I will add more as soon as photos comes out. Credit Jemma Online for this if you post elsewhere.
Yes, and I’ve been doing that since I was eleven.
Was that difficult, though? It must make you quite independent.
Yeah, I always have been independent really, you know. I always wanted to do my own thing! But, yeah, I get up at four o’clock on Monday morning. And after four years I’m used to it. (LAUGHS) Getting the train down from Doncaster to London and then London to Hull.
Was it hard when you were eleven or twelve? It’s very young to be leaving the family behind.
You’d think so, but it wasn’t. I was like “drama school! Yeah, woo!” And my mum was ringing me every night and I was saying “I’ve gotta go! I’ve gotta go and do this!” “Oh… okay.” After about three weeks I started to miss home, but I’m totally used to it now. (LAUGHS) I’m Miss Independent!
Do you find auditions fun, or are they quite stressful?
Some people think they’re stressful, but I’m just like - I read the script three or four times, make sure it’s in my head and then just go and have a good time. It kind of shows if you get stressed in an audition; if you walk in and you’re like (NERVOUS VOICE) “Hiiii… I really want this part,” you know, instead of you just treat them like your friend. It’s just easier to get along and less awkward for everyone. I think it’s fine.
Some young actors get quite stressed by being judged all the time in auditions.
But everyone gets judged. Even walking down the street - ‘look what she’s wearing!’ Just ’cause they don’t say it to your face, you know, it’s the same thing!
With something as big as High School Musical were you going back for more and more auditions? ‘Now you’re down to the last one thousand…’
Yeah, I know! It was like that.
How do you get it out of your head and get on with everyday life? Were you thinking about it all the time?
No, I didn’t. Obviously I went home and thought, right, I need a really good dance, I need a really good song for the auditions, because it’s a big opportunity. So I found a song that suited my voice. I prepared a dance and went and did it in a tiny room in my school, in the school library, the only room they had free. And most of the girls in our school auditioned. And there was a recall where the director Kenny Ortega came over - that was at the DanceWorks in London, and you know, similar things: another song, another dance, more scripts to read…
How many auditions in all were there?
Three. Oh no, well there were them two, then I went to LA. And there were about thirty girls on the first day, then we did a workshop, thirty girls and thirty boys, and about seven girls and seven boys on the last day, and that’s where I got paired up with Matt Prokop.
And don’t tell me you went to LA by yourself!
(LAUGHS) No, that would be too much! That would be crazy!
How aware were you of High School Musical before all this?
I was quite aware. I was eleven when the first one came out.
Which was the right sort of age to be into it.
Exactly. I was a big fan.
Were you a ‘Zac poster on the wall’ kind of fan?
(BIG LAUGH) I did! I had a Zac poster on my wall! I took it down when I was about twelve. And I think I replaced it with a Jesse Metcalfe one. But that’s down now. It’s a McFly one now.
I might have to tell Zac.
No! You can’t! Nooooo!
Did you buy the official annuals?
I didn’t. I got the McFly annuals! No, I didn’t get anything actually. I got the DVDs!
So you knew the High School Musical characters. Were the actors like you thought they’d be? Were they like their characters?
Oh gosh, no. Especially Ashley. She’s nothing like Sharpay, you know. Vanessa is as sweet as Gabriella but she’s cool, she’s more grown up. They’re all just really nice, genuine people with their own personality traits. And some of them they put into the characters - but not with Ashley. Actually, Sharpay’s quite funny and Ashley’s quite funny, too, so that’s one thing they have in common.
I expect you got closest to Ashley because you were acting with her the most.
Yeah, I did a lot of my scenes with Ashley, so I spent a lot of time with her.
The funny thing about the Sharpay character is that, obviously, she’s supposed to be a bit of a horror, yet so many of the fans really adore her and say ‘I want to be just like Sharpay’ or, proudly, ‘I am just like Sharpay.’ But she’s supposed to be…
Evil! I think she comes across more fabulous than evil. Even her little evil plans are still quite funny. I think she’s got everything, you know - the rich lifestyle, the cool outfits… the little cute dog. (LAUGHS) So fans think ‘oh, wow, she’s so cool, let’s be like Sharpay,’ and they don’t see the evil part!
Doing a film like this makes you world famous almost overnight, and you’ve already got one or two fan websites about you, haven’t you?
Yeah, I know!
How are you dealing with all that?
It’s really weird. I think it’s funny! (LAUGHS) It’s like there’s rumours that I’m dating Matt Prokop as well. But I think it’s funny.
Have you started appearing in the gossip columns, then?
No, it was on Wikipedia. My friend Heather found it on Wikipedia. She was like “I didn’t know you were dating Matt.” I was like “I’m not dating Matt.”
Are you tempted to get your friends to drop rumours like that…
No - because it’d probably turn into something bad if I did something like that. They’d find out that I told my friends to do it…
But you could pick your favourite McFly member and…
(SIGHS) Oh - Dougie and Jemma! On holiday abroad!
Have you met some famous people yet - at Premieres, maybe?
I met Tom from McFly! That was kind of cool. He was at the Camp Rock Premiere. I met Jason Donovan. Gordon Ramsey. You know, those were cool people. There’s lots of people I’ve met. It’s so exciting!
And what’s your favourite memory of making High School Musical 3?
I think just meeting everyone. There’s so many fun memories. The bloopers are funny. You know, there’s always something funny that happens every day.
Are you quite happy for your bloopers to turn up on the DVD?
Yeah, I think they’re all fine. There’s some funny ones. It’s mainly when I forget my lines or I fall over, or I slip. Or drop something. I’m so clumsy, I drop everything.
They should get you all in to do a commentary track for the DVDs. To give us lots of anecdotes.
Yeah, that would be good. I’ll put a word in!
High School Musical: Senior Year was released on 22 October. Actually, some of you have probably already seen it ten times!
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