A new article on the new wildcats including Jemma McKenzie-Brown. Check it out:
and looked ready to face the questions that were about to be hurled their way. It should be mentioned that they were genuine, funny, talkative and brilliant … oh, and not to forget - an intelligent young lot.
“No!” they shouted unanimously when asked if any of them had expected to be part of the HSM phenomenon.
“I screamed (when I found out that I was accepted for the role of the English girl, Tiara Gold). I was walking home from school (when I got the news), so I ran as fast as I could from the train station (to get home) and tell my mom.
“She didn’t believe me at first. She thought I was joking, but yeah, I was so excited,” said Jemma,
The British actress who currently attends the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School in London was cast from thousands of hopefuls to play the new sophomore transfer student at East High School in HSM3.
Joining her as sophomores in the new Disney movie are Matt Prokop, 18, and Justin Martin, 14, who play best and unlikely buddies, Jimmy “The Rocket” Zara and Donny Dion.
Donny looks up to Troy and Chad; Jimmy is obsessed with Troy and wants to get Troy out of school and take his spot on the Wildcats; and Tiara is an English girl who becomes Sharpay’s assistant. She sort of wants to be Sharpay herself one day.
Naturally many perceive Tiara, Jimmy and Donny to be the next Sharpay, Troy and Chad, but the newcomers don’t think that there is any chance for that to happen.
“Our characters are very different from theirs (the seniors). But you never know what they (the producers) have planned for them in the future,” said Matt, whose role Jimmy is a rocker-wannabe.
Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush, the producers, put the rumour to rest by saying that when they thought about introducing new characters, the one thing they agreed upon was that they didn’t want to find the “new Troy” or the “new Taylor”.
They wanted to find new characters, without cloning anyone because that isn’t how school or life really is and that is not how they wanted the new actors to be perceived. The director, Kenny Ortega, had only praises for the newbies.
“From the first day they arrived, they came in ready and excited. I felt like we made really great choices. All of them come from good schooling and experience. In a matter of hours they were part of the team,” he said.
It was easy to become one of the team because the original cast members made the newcomers feel totally at home and at ease.
“They really accepted us. There was no tension and we all became like one big High School Musical family. We even bonded a little too much because on the last day (of the shoot), it was very emotional for all of us,” said Justin.
The newer actors had a lot of fun with the seniors. “We always hung out in Corbin’s hotel room and played games,” said Matt, referring to actor Corbin Bleu who plays Chad in the movie.
However, they also had time to get some advice from their senior counterparts, who obviously have had more experience dealing with fame at young age.
“I don’t think you can be prepared (for the fame) but we’ve been given a lot of advice from the cast. They tell us to keep ourselves grounded and not to read blogs because usually they twist our words and make things up,” said Jemma.
It may still be early in his career, but Matt said that fame had already messed things on his recent trip the happiest place on earth €“ Disneyland.
“I attended Miley Cyrus’s Sweet 16 birthday bash and barely saw any of Disneyland. We were sneaking in and out of emergency exits and only got to see what went on behind it,” lamented Matt.
Nevertheless, the young actors are happy to be part of the phenomenal franchise and have no further complaints. They had a blast shooting the movie.
“The real challenge is whether the fans accept the three new characters set in an idea they’ve been so used to and fell in love with,” said Jemma. “Hopefully they accept us. Hopefully they like us.”
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