Moviefone Editorial

Tag: interview

Why HBO’s ‘Vice Principals’ Is a Danny McBride Fan’s Dream Come True

Few TV shows arrive on with the kind of pedigree as “Vice Principals,” which is clearly a direct descendant of “Eastbound & Down”: same star (Danny McBride), same creative brain trust (including McBride, David Gordon Green, and Jody Hill), same network (HBO) and the same unfettered, creatively spun stream of profanity (all of the swears, and maybe some you’ve never heard before).

And this time it might be a little easier to really root for McBride’s character, Neal Gamby, a divorced high school vice principal engaged in a war of internal politics, personal ambition and, yes, strategically deployed curse words with rival vice principal Lee Russell, played by Justified”).

“I think his heart is in the right place,” says McBride. “He’s a guy who’s played by the rules and kind of thinks he should be rewarded for it, but learns that life doesn’t really work that way.”

“It was chance to tell a different type of story,” he adds, noting the series is in the vein of some of the “weird dramatic stuff in ‘Eastbound.’ We weren’t aware we were going to do stuff like that originally when we first started doing the show, but as the show developed, we started just taking it there. That was some of the stuff we liked the best in the show. It was the most challenging to make. So we really wanted a chance just to do another story where we could kind of surprise ourselves in all the weird detours we could take.”

Adding to challenge: telling a complete story to unfold over the course two seasons. “We set it up as an 18-episode show,” McBride reveals. “Not just like a pickup of 18 episodes. It was a complete story in 18 episodes. So the idea of hitting a story that way was kind of interesting, trying to crack the whole thing and sell it as a whole piece.”

“Danny doesn’t play the worst character in this,” says co-creator Hill. “He really cares about his school, so there’s a lot of differences between Neal and [‘Eastbound’s’ central character] Kenny Powers, who’s more like a narcissistic nihilist — it was all about his ego. With this one, there’s a bigger cause.”

“I think this character was born with better intentions,” agrees executive producer Green. “He’s just like anybody that’s susceptible to the power mindset and charisma of others. Maybe he’s a little more openly vulnerable than Kenny. And he’s got a family, he’s got a child — he has things that root in him a likable reality in a way that we’re rooting for him. And Kenny, you kind of want him to get punched in the face.”

The public school landscape is territory McBride is intimately familiar with. “I’ve been to high school as a student and as a substitute teacher, so I had seen both sides of the coin here,” he says of witnessing the power struggles inherent in high school. “Maybe not to this extent, but power is a very dangerous thing. It can corrupt people. Big time.”

Goggins says he simply couldn’t miss the chance to cross swords on screen with McBride. “I genuinely have been a fan of his for so long, and I’ve just admired him from afar,” says the actor, who was pleased to venture further into comedy territory than ever before. “I think that this opportunity has eluded me until I could get into the ring with somebody like Danny. And really, if you’re going to go, go big or go home.”

“We knew for the tone of the show we wanted somebody that wasn’t just a comedian,” says McBride. “We wanted someone that had dramatic chops because we knew that it was going to go to some places that was going to require that. And Walt was one of those great actors that is extremely funny and very talented and dramatic. He hadn’t had a chance to really show a lot of that comedic side, so we were excited to give him the opportunity to.”

Remembering the first fierce on-set showdown between the in-character actors still brings a wicked smile to the faces of the team. “I looked at him and he looked at me and it’s like, ‘Here we go man,” grins Goggins.

Hill still marvels at the combustion: “Danny is the best when it comes to bad words and laying the smackdown,” he says. “And Walton was on him so hard … It was like two dogs fighting over a bone. It was amazing!”

Of course, the vitriolic spew of four-letter-word insults could potentially create awkward moments on a set populated by several teenage actors. “It was really nice to know they actually cared about that sort of thing,” says Maya Love, who plays Janelle, the daughter of McBride’s character. “They didn’t really want to curse around me. In the show, obviously they were saying the F-bomb every which way, but off-camera they were censored, and there was less cursing and less sex talk.”

“We were making very sure nobody was lured into something that was going to freak anybody out,” chuckles Green. “It goes into the charisma of Danny and Walton. They’re so likable as human beings and the vibe on set is so wonderful that you almost are seduced into the vulgar backdrop without realizing that you’re walking into the nastiest, vulgar, naughty world in town.”

And it’s also not unexpected, adds Hill, who co-wrote and directed McBride’s breakout film “Foot Fist Way” a decade ago. “We’ve been saying bad words in front of little kids since we started our career, so I think it’s par for the course.”

“Vice Principals” premieres Sunday, July 17th at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.

July 13, 2016
‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Star Tyler Hoechlin Can’t Wait to Play Superman

Tyler Hoechlin‘s trading in his ’80s mustache for a slightly more fashionable red cape. And maybe some bondage gear.

After first making a major impression as a teen actor opposite no less than 7th Heaven,” Hoechlin later demonstrated his more mature skill set as alpha lycanthrope Derek Hale on MTV’s “Teen Wolf.”

This year, the 28-year-old performer has emerged as a talent to keep an eye on, first with his role as the uber-competitive college baseball standout McReynolds in filmmaker Supergirl,” and his stint fleshing out the only-mentioned-in-the-books character Boyce Fox in the sexy sequel “Fifty Shades Darker.”

With “Everybody Wants Some!!” making its Blu-ray debut on July 12th, Hoechlin chatted with Moviefone about how his career is moving faster than a speeding bullet.

Moviefone: There are acting jobs, and then there are true experiences, and I imagine that “Everybody Wants Some!!” was an experience.

Tyler Hoechlin: 100% an unbelievable experience and a dream job to the fullest extent!

What was special for you to have the kind of time you had together, to create that sense that you are a group of guys who are establishing these bonds?

Yeah, I think it was definitely the most important part of the process. I think we pretty much all agree on that. The timing is comfortable, and also I would say, Rick [Linklater] is the most creatively encouraging and inspiring person that I’ve worked with as far as a director goes. Just because … from the time we showed up, he made it really clear that it wasn’t a pressure in rehearsal to perform or to get it right.

It was really a time to explore who these guys were, who they were to us, and then as a group, kind of find how they work together best. So that time was really invaluable, and it gets you past that comfort level where you are kind of questioning, “Can I insult this guy without offending him?” or “Can he take a joke?” You kind of get to know that about each other really quick. Everybody was just on that same page. So we all developed a really great rapport really quickly.

With this much distance after the movie’s been finished, do you still feel a special kinship with these actors?

Well, I live with one of them! [Laughs] One of them has become my roommate. We have a group text chain that goes off just about every day to every other day. Yeah, it’s still a really, really close group of guys. So that experience, as you said, has really kind of carried over which is definitely a rare thing that we’re all really grateful for.

Richard Linklater is one of the most down-to-earth human beings anyone could encounter, and also a gifted artist. Having worked with him now, what’s your insight into why he’s such a great filmmaker in so many different genres?

I think because of exactly that: I think he’s such a down-to-earth guy. He hasn’t lost any of that connection to just people and what people do and go through and how they experience life.

One of the things we talked about with this film was, even though it’s 1980, you can kind of take that pressure away by saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Yeah, the clothes are going to be different, and some of the expressions will be different, the dance and the music will be different than it is now, but really growing up as a young guy and going through this time in your life, it’s really, it’s not all that different. We all kind of have those similar experiences.

So the pressure to play 1980 was really gone. I think that’s why it comes off as genuine as it does. I think that’s why it happens in all of his films. I think he just … he finds people that also understand other people and can bring those experiences to the screen in a really honest and genuine way without really pressing the issue.

So many cool things are happening in your career right now. Let’s start with Superman: I have a hunch that you’re just as excited to play Clark Kent as you are to play the Man of Steel on “Supergirl.”

Oh, absolutely! Absolutely. I think it’s a part that you can’t really … it’s not complete without him. So I’m definitely excited to see both sides of him.

What did it mean to get this great role, be the next in this legacy, and to figure out what you’re going to do to make it your own interpretation of this great American icon?

It’s definitely incredibly humbling and flattering to even be given the chance to do it. And I think, I’m just going to do as much as I can to see how to bring the true spirit of the character to the show.

I know they have instructed me not to talk about it too much before I actually get there and actually do it. I’m excited to just kind of look at it from doing it with a clean slate and not trying to replicate or duplicate anything that’s been done, but just being honest to the story and how they’re writing him.

Did you take your workout up to 11?

I have definitely been in the gym more than I have been in the last two years, yes! That’s definitely been happening.

What was the exciting opportunity you saw in coming into the “Fifty Shades” movies? And was there anything daunting about joining that particular franchise?

I think having been a part of something that has such a passionate fandom; it’s different in the fact that I’m going into something that already has that, as opposed to a show that kind of created it on its own from the beginning.

Yeah, I love James Foley. “Glengarry Glen Ross” was one of my favorite movies. So the chance to go and work with James was a really great thing. He and I have talked about other projects as well, so it was a fun time to get up there and finally work with him.

We’ll bring it back to “Everybody Wants Some!!” Give me the pros and cons of an ’80s mustache.

The pros of the mustache: it’s definitely an ice breaker. It’s definitely a conversation starter. The con is that I got caught with it when I had to renew my passport, so it’s now my passport photo. Which makes going through customs quite interesting sometimes, depending on where I’m coming back from.

July 11, 2016
‘Arrow’ Star Echo Kellum Can’t Wait for ‘Terrific’ Season 5

Curtis Holt is about to show “Arrow” fans just how terrific he can be, promises actor Echo Kellum.

It took just about the entire fourth season of The CW‘s superhero series to see Kellum’s former Olympian-turned- super-genius-inventor go from being a standout employee of the Felicity-led Palmer Technologies to a fully integrated member of Team Arrow by the time the dust settled on the finale episode.

The character, as die-hard fans know, was derived from DC Comics’ Mr. Terrific, a.k.a. Michael Holt, the peak-human-performance hero who took the mantle of the Golden Age character of the same name as well as his place in the Justice Society of America. On the show, viewers have seen a glimpse of Mr. Terrific’s signature tech-tool, the T-Sphere, and heard his commitment to staying in and defending Starling City with his husband at his side.

So how much longer to we have to wait to see Curtis finally suit up in full superhero gear — especially now that Kellum has been named a series regular for the upcoming fifth season? The actor strongly hints to Moviefone that — assuming executive producer Marc Guggenheim is been listening to his persuasive pleas — the long wait will finally be over.

Moviefone: You’ve got to be excited about next season; you know for sure you’re going to be a big piece of it.

Echo Kellum: Yeah, I’m super pumped. I can’t too get nitty-gritty with the team, you know?

What have they told you that you can put out there about how you’re going to fit in?

I can’t really say too much, outside of that it will be “terrific”! That it’ll be a lot of cool things happening, and just buckle up and get ready for an awesome ride. They’re really going for it this season, and I think they’re going to bring a lot of cool elements that made the series so great. It’s just going to be such a cool cast to work with, with all the new additions this season. I think it’s going to be the best.

As soon as you got hired and found out who this guy was in the comics, were you like, “Where’s my costume”?

Yes, yes. Second that! Where is my costume? Guggenheim, if you’re listening, or reading, whatever: Where’s my costume? No, I definitely want to suit up really bad. But I understand. It’s this arc. You’ve got to build up to it. But I definitely hope — and I believe, hopefully, within this season we should see Curtis Holt get there in some capacity. So I’m really looking forward to all that’s happening.You’ve had time to dig into the comics and look at the Michael Holt iteration, and maybe the Golden Age iteration Terry Sloane as well. What fascinated you about this character and his legacy?

I think it’s just his commitment to science. It was kind of fascinating to me that he kind of turned off every kind of religious spirituality aspect in his life and became an atheist. It was just like, “It’s about this. This is how we forward humanity. This is how we figure out what the hell we’re doing here.” So it’s just his undying, un-wilting basis of going to science.

That’s something that’s really fascinating about the character, because everything that we know and have as human beings is all predicated through science. So whether he’s going through dimensions or whatnot, it’s just really cool to see someone really delve into that. Because we need more scientists. We need more people helping forward humanity.

Would you like to do a good run on “Legends of Tomorrow” as well, if the opportunity was right?

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, I’d definitely get on “Legends of Tomorrow.” I’d be thankful to be on any of these shows, to be honest, because they’re so well done and I’m a big nerd. So for me, it’s just like a dream come true to even be a part of “Arrow,” or any of it. To have a potential to be on the crossovers is, like, “Wow!” It’s mind-boggling.

Let’s get you a costume!

Let’s do it!

“Arrow” Season 5 premieres Wednesday, October 5th on The CW.

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July 5, 2016
Steven Spielberg Reveals the Magic Behind Disney’s ‘The BFG’

A new journey into the whimsical world of Roald Dahl makes its way to the giant screen this week with Disney’s “The BFG.”

Director Steven Spielberg returns to his child-at-heart roots in his first collaboration with Disney, and, during the movie’s press tour, Spielberg shared what attracted him to the adaptation of the classic children’s book about a Big Friendly Giant who takes a young girl along with him on an adventure to a land full of dreams.

Joined by leads Ruby Barnhill (Sophie) and Mark Rylance (The BFG), we discovered the magic behind the making of a Spielberg film … straight from the man himself.What made “The BFG” appealing to you … to come back to the kind of story where a child meets a being, like in “E.T.”?

Steven Spielberg: What appealed to me was the protagonist was a girl, not a boy. And a very strong girl. The protagonist was going to allow us, at a certain point, to believe that 4 feet tall can completely outrank 25 feet tall. I got very excited that this was going to be a little girl’s story. Her courage and her values were going to, in a way, turn the cowardly lion into the brave hero at the end.

Do you feel like you still learn something on every movie?

Spielberg: I learned something, I guess, I learned before working with child actors. That it has to be fun. All the movies I’ve made about history, it’s not really fun because you’re trying to get it right and you’ve got history telling you how it was. My imagination tells me how you’d wish and I wish it had been but I can’t go there so I have to kind of censor myself, thinking about kind of stopping myself from creating history that never occurred. This movie for me was a tremendous release. Where all I needed was my imagination and my respect for Roald Dahl’s writing to be able to say that this is going to be the most fun I’ve had in a while and it was.

The screenplay is really wonderful, because it’s a special effects-driven movie, but it’s so conversational and it doesn’t follow those same kinds of traits that can be prevalent in film right now. Can you talk about whether that provided for a challenge, or was it more freeing?

Spielberg: I was complaining about it a little bit to Melissa [Mathison, screenwriter]. I said, “It’s gotta go faster. It’s gotta go faster.” And Melissa, she kept saying, “Now, Steve, you know that this isn’t one of your Indiana Jones movies. You should just relax because this is going to be a story where pauses are going to be as important as the words I’ve written and words Dahl’s written. The pauses, the spaces, the patience of the story telling, don’t rush it, because it doesn’t work rushed. It only works unfolding the way it’s unfolding.” And that was the best advice she could give me, and she was absolutely right. Film has its own biorhythm, and you can’t push it. You just can’t.With finding those pauses in the story — can you talk about how Ruby and Mark were the perfect sort of companions to express that, to voice those discoveries for you?

Spielberg: They hit if off immediately. What was that like when you met him?

Ruby Barnhill: I actually thought to myself, Whoever gets to work with him is going to be so lucky. He’s such a nice and gentle guy and that was good. He, like Steven, made me feel really comfortable because I was also really nervous meeting him.

Spielberg: They teased each other all through production. There was a whole life that was occurring while their characters were having their own lives. It wasn’t that different — the characters from the players. They spent a lot of time together when we’d be setting things up. They’d be playing table tennis, they’d be playing basketball.

Mark, can you talk a little bit about working with Ruby?

Mark Rylance: I find kids inspiring, because, for me, the work is to be spontaneous, you know, to appear to — that nothing’s ever written — nothing’s been written down, no one knows what’s gonna happen next. That’s the job. And she’s just a natural. She’s just gifted at that. So she’s not a trained actress, but she just really brought herself. And so I — I don’t know what, how to explain it, but she just — she just keeps reminding you of how simple it is, really, and how natural it can be.

It was also fascinating because, the relationship between Steven and her was much more important, really, than my relationship with her. The person she really needed on the set was Steven. Every morning she would run and jump into his arms, and he was the one who had cast her, and was helping her with the emotional scenes, and with the different things. I was just her tennis batting partner, in a way. I was just the person she was hitting the ball to. But Steven, I mean of all directors working with children, he must be the most fascinating one to watch. So I got a very close-up, you know, I was the close-up witness of how he works with children; how much he truly adores the imagination of a child, of a young person.Mark, can you talk a bit about the use of practical methods to get you and Ruby working together despite shooting for scale separately? How important was it to be able to work off her as much as possible?

Rylance: Ruby would be kneeling behind a table so I could actually have eye contact with her. So we’d film something like that, and actually, it was very sensitive. Initially they were worried that Ruby would get tired. And they had another wonderful, young actress doing the off camera work for me. But when I acted with Ruby, I said to Steven, “This girl’s great in the morning, but Ruby’s unique, and she makes me laugh, and moves me in a totally different way. So if the film is about a kind of friendship between these two, I think we should always be together.” And he did that. So, from then on, we always worked together — very much in the same space. And then Steven would be looking at his screen that had a composite, a very rough composite of my performance from the morning here; with the actual image through that of Sophie, and trying to get our eyesight, our eye lines together, and also our performance matching. So that was the kind of nature.

Ruby, can you talk about meeting Mr. Spielberg for the first time?

Barnhill: At the time, I didn’t really know how famous Steven was, because I was like, sat on the plane, and obviously my dad knew. And he was like, “I know. It’s so exciting.” But I’d only seen, like, the Indiana Jones films, and “E.T.,” and so that — they were kind of like my main ones that I’d seen, and I hadn’t really, like, experienced any others at the time. But I was still really excited to meet someone like that. And then, at first, when I met his wife, Kate, I recognized her from “Indiana Jones.” When I met Steven, the great thing was that he made me feel so comfortable, and so relaxed, because I’m sure most of you know, like, when you’re feeling nervous, it’s really nice to have someone there to calm you down and help you stop feeling nervous. When I met him, it kind of felt like I had known him a long time, which was quite nice.

Disney’s “The BFG” is in theaters now.

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July 1, 2016
Simon Kinberg Talks Star Wars Canon, Teases FX’s ‘Very Different’ X-Men Series ‘Legion’

“It’s like writing books of the Bible,” chuckles producer Star Wars Rebels,” the “X-Men” films) as he ponders the increasing trend toward tying various film and television projects with a big-name franchise together with a nearly unprecedented degree of shared continuity and canon. “You’re just writing one book, but it’s going to interconnect to all the others.”

There was a time not that long ago when, if you were a fan of a TV show adapted from a hit movie, or a movie adapted from a hit TV show, you pretty much had to accept that each incarnation was an alternate universe version of the other. But today, as franchises, spinoffs, and shared universes rise to even greater prominence than ever before in the Hollywood business model, creative crossover possibilities have become more essential than ever.

For ages, “M*A*S*H” was the TV-to-film model Hollywood wanted to recreate: filmmaker Robert Altman‘s 1970 pitch-black comedy set in the Korean War was considered in and of itself a masterwork of satirical allegory on the Vietnam experience, as well as a huge commercial success — but it seemed a complete, finite story, with little obvious sequel or franchise potential.

The television incarnation of “M*A*S*H,” refitted in a sitcom form complete with laugh track and with only a single holdover actor from the film in the same role, debuted on CBS two years later and defied the odds to quickly became not only one of the highest-rated, longest-running, and awards-honored shows in TV history, but a pioneer of the dramedy format. It also supplanted the film in the public consciousness, and there was virtually no bleedover between Donald Sutherland‘s Hawkeye Pierce and Alan Alda‘s.

Thus most film-to-TV adaptations of that era were essentially re-workings, rather than continuations, of the source material, from the improved and refined (“Alien Nation,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Hannibal”) to the ill-advised (“Planet of the Apes,” “Casablanca,” “Working Girl”); rare others like “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” seemed tenuously set in the same universe as their cinematic progenitor, yet stylistically very different.

Conversely, nearly all in the avalanche of TV-to-film projects that populated the multiplexes from the ’80s onward were complete revamps, ranging from successful, often radical reinventions, like “The Fugitive,” “The Brady Bunch Movie” and “21 Jump Street” to poorly received re-imaginings like “Lost In Space” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

There were very few unique instances of small degrees of continuity: a handful of shows like “Dragnet,” “Batman” and “The Munsters” had one- or two-off big-screen ventures while still on the air; later, others like “The X-Files” would follow suit, or offer singular closure to immediately off-the-air series, as in the case of “Twin Peaks.”

But it really took the film revival of TV’s “Star Trek,” which brought the original cast and its concept from small to large screen intact, to demonstrate that a direct continuity between both incarnations (most notably with the second film and its 15-years-later villain, Khan, played again by Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

For a long time, “Star Trek” stood, as it so often does, as a unique phenomenon … until very recently.

The Marvel-produced series — both the ABC-broadcast shows like “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Agent Carter” and the Netflix-streamed series “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones” — are set firmly, if in specific corners, of the Marvel Cinematic Universe of the super-heroic movies, with supporting characters like Phil Coulson, Peggy Carter, Nick Fury, and Lady Sif crossing between the film and TV camps to gain greater prominence, while seasonal plotlines both referencing and directly reflecting the big, game-changing events of the blockbuster movies.

Now things are changing even more radically, as film and TV properties grow even more interconnected, in very intriguing ways. For example, the upcoming film “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” as well as referenced in the subsequent series “Star Wars Rebels” and a book tie-in property.

To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, it’s a first step into a great shared universe.

Kinberg is an architect in this new era of emerging cross-continuity between TV and film brands, both as one of the top creative forces behind “Star Wars Rebels” and a key member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, a group founded in 2013 and dedicated toward establishing a clear and consistent “Star Wars” canon between the films, TV shows, comic books, video games, and other storytelling formats.

“I’m very excited,” Kinberg says of the emerging cross-pollination of characters, concepts, and content between “Star Wars” projects. “I think part of the fun of the way they’re building the universe is that it is interconnected between the different movies and even beyond the movies … It’s something that was true in comic books going back, the way that you’d have interconnections between characters and stories. Even sometimes from DC to Marvel. I like the way that those stories are told in the larger tapestry.

“And, also, getting to work with other artists and filmmakers and writers, and use their talents — I like not being by myself in a room when I work,” he adds. “I like having other collaborators. You’re with some of the world’s best.”

It’s a plan that’s been put to very effective use on “Star Wars Rebels,” with the carefully crafted inclusion of characters from the classic films — including Darth Vader, Lando Calrissian, C-3P0, and R2-D2 — and breakout personalities from the animated tie-ins — such as Ahsoka Tano and the Clone Trooper Rex — with more slated to appear in the upcoming third season.

“What’s lovely is, obviously, we’ve brought in characters from ‘Clone Wars’ in the second season, and we keep sort of bringing characters from the original movies and sort of deepening the relationships between our core characters, the Ghost crew,” says Kinberg. “So it’s trying to balance the two different things, like the original cast from the first season with ‘Clone Wars,’ with characters from the original movies, and maybe even feeding into future movies.”

“Star Wars” isn’t the only franchise under Kinsberg’s stewardship; he’s also an executive producer on the “X-Men” films, and, after broadening its reach with the smash “Deadpool,” he’s also got an eye on expanding the universe into television with FX’s upcoming series “Legion,” which has vacillated between being directly tied to the films’ (admittedly shifting) continuities and occupying its own distinct subset universe.

“The success of that movie showed the studio that not just the mainline ‘X-Men’ movies, but there are characters — and characters with different tones and different vibes, that can justify their own movies as well,” he explains.

“So ‘Gambit,’ and ‘Deadpool,’ and ‘New Mutants,’ and even others … we’re really serious about making, and then, like the way Marvel has done so brilliantly, the Marvel Studios have done so brilliantly, feeding them in and out of each other’s stories,” Kinberg adds. “Building these larger tapestries that you can watch one movie and enjoy it, and that can be your only experience of an ‘X-Men’ movie, but if you watch all of them together, you get a deeper, richer experience.”

“Legion” marks the first step to bringing a direct connection to the cinematic X-verse to television, and is overseen by FX series with two distinctive season-long story arcs both interconnected with one another and, slyly and subtly, with the original movie.

“Tonally, it’s very different,” says Kinberg. “Noah is a genius — he wrote and created and directed the pilot to ‘Legion’ — and it is a very different sensibility than anything we’ve done with the ‘X-Men’ movies. Almost, I would say, as radically different as ‘Deadpool’ was from the mainline ‘X-Men’ movies. ‘Legion’ is, again, in a different direction: really character-based, really granular in terms of getting inside the details of the characters. It stands as part of the ‘X-Men’ universe, but it stands apart from it as well.”

“Legion” is currently slated to premiere on FX in early 2017.

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June 30, 2016
‘Legends of Tomorrow’ Star Caity Lotz Teases New Girlfriend for Sara in Season 2

Is there a softer side to on “Legends of Tomorrow’s” martial artist extraordinaire, the White Canary? Caity Lotz would love to find out.

The actress, who currently stars as Sara Lance on “Legends,” reveals that, with four different series set in the DC TV Universe now airing on Arrow,” “The Flash,” and “Supergirl” when they all return in the fall. She’s especially stoked to encounter the devilish Earth Two incarnations of a couple of familiar faces — and wouldn’t mind playing a sweeter take on her butt-kicking heroine.

She also hints that that there may be a new love interest ahead for Sara, and reveals how she stays in super-heroic shape … even when the show’s between seasons.

Moviefone: What’s got you most excited about the new season of “Legends of Tomorrow”? You’ve got four great shows on one network now. Everybody can crisscross. You can bring in anybody to your crew.

Caity Lotz: Yes, crossovers are what I’m most excited for, just because the potential of that! I want to go on “The Flash.” I want everybody to come on to our show. I want to see, like, especially with Earth Two on “Flash,” I think it’d be really cool to kind of see the Black Siren, which is Katie Cassidy. I want to see Katie Cassidy and Danielle Panabaker‘s evil alter egos. I want to go head-to-head with them.

How much fun would it be for you to get an evil alter ego?

Ooh, I’d love that. I would love that. Or I think my alter ego should just be, like, something really lame. Or not lame, but chill and simple. I’d be, like, a librarian, or I knit scarves. That’s what Sara does in Earth Two.

Have they given you any hints for next season, about what you’re going to get to do?

I think Sara might get a new girlfriend!

Any old girlfriends going to show up in the picture at any point?

You know, I sure hope so. Training Day,” so hopefully we can steal her away. She worked it in her deal so that she could come and see us!

When you get done shooting a season, do you let all the stuff you’ve got to do to stay in shape for the role go, or do you keep it up?

No, I keep it up. I know some people, they don’t do that. I don’t know. Maybe in 10 years ask me and it’ll be different. I love movement and physicality, so my body just kind of stays. But there is a next level, and I just started retraining again. You can check out my Instagram, there’s some cool training videos on there.

Since you got the role, what’s the coolest thing you can do that you couldn’t do before you were Sara, physically?

Gosh. I don’t know. I did all this stuff before. I was a martial artist before I was an actress, so all that stuff I’ve kind of always done. But I’ve never done that stuff in a superhero costume before, so that’s a new thing!

What lured you to martial arts? What was the thing that made you say, “Yeah, this is my sport”?

Well, I started with dance. And I used to go to this gym to go flip around and breakdance. There were martial artists at the same gym, and I started teaching them to dance, and then they started teaching me martial arts. And I was like, “Ooh, this is fun.” Then I thought maybe I’d want to be a stunt girl.

Have you surprised any of your costars with how badass you can actually be?

They’re so sweet. They’ll always give me a nice pat on the back. They’re amazing, too. I mean, everybody on the show is like … they’re awesome.

And you’re helpful to walk with down a dark alley.

Yeah, I don’t know what I’d actually do. I don’t want to find out. So nobody mug me in an alley, please!

“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” Season 2 premieres October 13, 2016.

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June 27, 2016
Samira Wiley Wants ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Fans to Put That Anger to Good Use

NOTE: If your binge of “Orange Is the New Black’s” phenomenal fourth season isn’t complete, we suggest — no, insist — that you log into your Netflix account and see it through to the end before diving in here.

Again, SPOILERS AHEAD.

Samira Wiley understands that you’re angry about the whole Poussey storyline that went down on “Orange Is the New Black” Season 4. In fact, she’s happy that you are.

Not only is she pleased that viewers felt something so strong and painful when they watched Litchfield inmate Poussey Washington’s tragic fate — and here we are with the big SPOILER — as she was accidentally killed by an in-over-his-head guard, she also knows fans of the show can put that anger to good use when faced with the reality that this sort of thing is happening to real people in the real world far, far too frequently.

But we’ll let Wiley tell you more about that — and everything else about that heartbreaking exit that was nevertheless great television, the impact the show’s had on her, and just how soon you’ll be seeing her on your TV screen again.

Moviefone: I was not happy to see you go, but my goodness, the material they gave you to go out on was amazing. You have to have all kinds of feelings about that.

Samira Wiley: Oh man, thank you so, so, so much. I’ve had a long time to process and a long time knowing this huge secret that I’ve had for a long time. To know that it has come out and it has come out so well, I’m extremely proud of me and my castmates and the rest of the people involved with the show. Couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.How did that first conversation go, when you were given the news? And did you know that it was going to have, when the time finally came, it wasn’t just going to have significance for Poussey, it was going to have this even bigger resonance on a social level?

I had no idea! Honestly, like in the beginning, all I knew was that I was going to die this season. And I didn’t know why, I didn’t know how, I didn’t know anything. I remember being really shocked, a little confused, and of course with time came more understanding.

I knew in the beginning that it had something vaguely to do with Black Lives Matter, so that made me feel better that it was having to do with a cause and bringing social consciousness, awareness to something that is important that is going on in our world right now. But I didn’t really know at all the details until the script came out.

How did you feel about it simply as the exit for your character? What did you think her story ultimately meant once you saw how it came to an end?

Honestly, I think Poussey’s life that we have seen in these last four years of this show, she’s really just become this amazing, amazing role model for people, and for young girls. It’s interesting because she exists in prison, and what we think about that immediately is that a prisoner is “bad,” but how much good we have learned, and how much good we gleaned from Poussey?

For her story to have this tragic end, it’s horrible. It is completely a tragedy. And there are people out there who are so mad and so angry about it. A lot of them are taking their frustrations out on the show itself, saying, ‘How could this happen? How could you do this to Poussey? This is horrible!” I’m happy that people are mad. I want people to be angry, but I want their anger to me more directed at the world, that this is someone’s actual true story.

It mirrors Mike Brown and Eric Garner’s death, and that is something that we cannot look away from. Especially now that people are being so affected when it’s on a TV show, and I want people to remember that this is actually happening in real life, and let’s be mad at that.I’ll tell you, it felt like such a gut punch as I was watching it happen, but also, throughout her whole story, to my mind, prison had totally ruined her life in ways that were more profound than other people’s. Prison was really, really destroying her in many ways, and this made a tragic kind of sense.

Yeah. I mean, prison is supposed to be there to, I don’t know, reform you. But it’s turned her into an alcoholic. It ended her life. She ended up there for a small drug offense. And this happens every day. People are having their lives, even if they die in prison or not, if she was still alive, she still had her best years taken away from her for something, a crime that I do not think matched her sentence.

Still, we got to see her have a little taste of love and happiness in the lead up to her exit. What did that mean for you to get to play those more serene and centered scenes with her?

That was great. I’d been waiting, honestly, Scott, for that since probably the very first day of being able to bring Poussey to life. We see her in Season 1, and she has a thing for her best friend, Taystee, and it’s never reciprocated with Taystee, and she never receives any love for three whole seasons.

So to finally, finally, finally, the thing that I’ve been wanting forever, to get, and tragically we see, and it makes it hurt so much more because she finally gets the thing we’ve been wanting her to get for so long. And then, it’s all for nothing because she’s gone.Let’s talk about the fact that they gave you that additional final episode flashback to really show that one special evening that she had, one of those unique memories in the world that she had. And to close out on that, and on that specific image of Poussey — and of you — what did that mean to get that opportunity?

Well, in the beginning, when I was first told about the fate of my character, all I knew was that I was leaving in Episode 12. I had no idea I was even going to be in Episode 13 at all. So number one, just knowing that I was going to be in it, I was like, “Oh, that’s great.” But then, getting the material and seeing what the story that they were trying to tell, it’s again, against the grain. It’s against what you think what actually happened. It’s not some sad story. It’s not about something horrible that happened to her. It’s just this awesome best-night-of-my-life night backstory.

Especially the last scene that you mentioned of her looking into the camera, that was, well, one of the strangest things I’ve ever done on “Orange” because no one ever looks right into camera. And I remember we were on the set, and it’s not in the script. It’s not in the script at all that I look in the camera. I look off into the distance. So we filmed it, I thought we were finished, I’m getting ready to go home. Someone runs down and they’re like, “Hey, Jenji wants you to look into the camera.” And I honestly thought they were kidding. I was like, “What? No, she doesn’t.” That’s just the genius of Jenji Kohan. I just followed what she said, and even though I felt like “Maybe this is wrong, this is a weird choice,” it ended up really, really working, and I’m happy that I trusted her. I’m happy that Netflix trusted her. Because it ends up being something really powerful.

It really struck a nerve. It made me realize how much we love this character, and know at the same time we’re not going to see this character again. It was so effective.

Wow, yeah. Actually I haven’t watched it yet. I can’t really watch the last … I’ve only watched maybe, say, the first four or so episodes. I’m taking my time with it because once I watch it, then it’s really over.

Yeah, I think that’s a smart move on your part. Watch it when you know you’re ready. “Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner comes in and directs this exit episode. Tell me what that was like to have him come into Jenji Kohan‘s show, and to work with him as you’ve got really your biggest moment in the show to deliver as an actor.

Yeah. Well, number one, Jenji and Matt are really good friends in real life. It was nice to just know that and know that Jenji handpicked him to come in and say that, “I want you to handle this one.” My first conversation, the first time I ever met Matt, he pulled me aside and he told me, he said, ‘Hey, this is just another episode of television. That’s how I want you to think about it. That’s how we’re going to shoot it. You know how to do this. You know how to shoot an episode of television, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Which was the opposite of what would have been so hard for me: if he came in and said, “Hey, this is going to be the biggest episode of your life — don’t f*ck it up.” I wouldn’t have been able to handle that. I don’t know how he had the wise words to tell me what he did, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. And working with him, having that first conversation really built our trust, or at least my trust in him, from day one.Once it was all said and done, after that particular day — and I’m sure everybody took care of you on set as you were leaving and lots of hugs and crying and stuff, but once you had time to yourself to sit with it, how were you feeling?

On that day — that day, actually, was not the very last day that I shot on the episode. There was another day after that, which was more … it was actually really interesting. The very last scene that I shot on that set was the scene where I ask Judy King to help me out. I ask her for a job. That’s the very last scene I shot on that set. That almost ended up being more emotional for me because there is the hope there in that scene, you know what I mean? You think she’s going to get out and you think she’s going to be okay. So there was that.

Then also, that was the very last time I was ever on that set. I remember walking around that set and grabbing different things. I grabbed my prison boots and my sweatshirt. I went and grabbed a cup from the cafeteria. Just little mementos I wanted to be able to bring home with me because it was the very last time I would ever be there.

But on the day of, on the day of that scene, it was just so great to have every single person there. We’d never had my whole cast there at the same time like that, maybe since season one. And even then, our cast has grown so much. There has never been as many people as were on set as that day. I think away from the extras, just the principal cast members, there were probably over 50 of us.

So the love that was there that I felt was just … it was just great. It was really great to have everyone there. Our set is so fun and loud and boisterous, and everyone’s always walking around and cracking jokes. It was different that day. It was more quiet. But it felt like we were all telling a story as one. I didn’t feel alone.I can’t imagine a work experience that had to be more rewarding and challenging than “Orange Is the New Black.” How has the run on the show changed you?

Wow. I feel like I’ve really grown into the person that I am, into a young woman, on this show. I was 24 or 25 when I first got this show, and I’m 29 now. I feel sort of like a different person. I was a bartender, and just trying to remember to put sugar on this glass and salt on that glass, and don’t mix them up. Now, I’m talking about social issues and Black Lives Matter and trying to make a change in the world through art and through acting. I can’t walk down the street like I used to anymore even because this show has changed my life so much.

People love this show in a way that I have never experienced before. I’m still dealing with it, still dealing with all of the changes. A lot of it is still so new for me. But I know that I have never, ever, ever experienced anything like “Orange Is the New Black,” and I probably never will, and I’m so, so, so thankful for it having come into my life and changing me for the better.

“Orange Is the New Black” Season 4 is streaming now on Netflix.

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June 24, 2016
Bryan Fuller Reveals New ‘Star Trek’ Details, Says Series Will ‘Eventually’ Revisit Characters

Fifty years after the dawn of its original five-year mission, it’s clear that there’s very likely no final frontier when it comes to “Star Trek.” And even as fans celebrate its rich history on the 50^th anniversary, Bryan Fuller is ready to captain “Trek’s” Next Iteration into an even bolder future.

Following its debut in 1966 and an abbreviated three-season network run, creator Gene Roddenberry‘s “Star Trek” has become, in the intervening five decades, the most singular (and profitable) phenomenon ever spawned by the television medium, and holder of many unique distinctions: one of the earliest series ever given a second shot at a pilot when the first outing proved a bit too cerebral but showed great potential; cancelled not once but twice, after a massive, organized fan letter-writing campaign earned a reversal on its first axing; one of the first bona fide syndication sensations, broadening its cult audience into legions of viewers; one of the first series to be adapted into animated form, reuniting the bulk of the live-action cast; and the first-ever series to spawn the fan-centric convention culture and eventual online communities that reign today, attracting and uniting the passionate fanbase, both literally and virtually.

There’s more: A sequel series was conceived to launch a fourth broadcast network that never came to be in the 1970s, but (with a little help from the sensational popularity of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” proved the durability of the concept beyond its beloved original cast — it won Peabody Awards, built a merchandizing juggernaut and launched a profitable first-run syndication market that subsequently gave birth to hits like “Baywatch” and “Xena: Warrior Princess” before ending on its own terms after seven seasons and moving into its own film series.

Additional shows like “Deep Space Nine” built the brand, predicting dynastic TV like “Law & Order” and “CSI,” and with “Star Trek: Voyager” the franchise got around to launching a new broadcast network, UPN. After a period of cultural oversaturation and subsequent dormancy, “Trek” was successfully rebooted, reimagined, and re-youthified by former TV wunderkind J.J. Abrams into a faster, flashier, and equally popular new film series, proving yet again that “Star Trek” could continually go where no TV series has gone before.

And this is merely the show business pedigree. The social impact of “Star Trek” over its 50-year mission — from including a multiracial crew with minorities in command roles at the height of the Civil Rights struggle to TV’s first interracial kiss; from the innumerable fans it inspired to pursue careers in the sciences and the arts to its fictional technologies turned fact today; and from William Shatner‘s musical career to the Internet dominance of George Takei — is, quite frankly, without measure or precedent.

Which brings me to Bryan Fuller, recently anointed at the next television caretaker of the “Star Trek” storytelling legacy, which once again pioneers new ground as the flagship original series of CBS’s All Access streaming service.

If Fuller’s pedigree as the creator of beloved, creatively adventurous series — both original, like “Pushing Daisies,” and building out pre-existing lore, like “Hannibal” — isn’t enough to excite fans looking for a return to the “Trek” tradition of provocative allegorical storytelling, consider that not only has Fuller already worked in the show’s universe as a writer for “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager,” he’s assembled a dream team of supporting creators from “Trek’s” diverse history to work on the show.

Among them are filmmaker Fringe,” “Hawaii Five-0″ and ‘Scorpion”; writer-producer Joe Menosky, a veteran of three “Star Trek” syndicated series; and Roddenberry Productions’ Trevor Roth and Rod Roddenberry, the son of the former airline pilot-turned-LAPD speechwriter-turned-TV writer-producer who created it all.

While visiting the Saturn Awards, the sci-fi/superhero/fantasy equivalent of the Oscars and Emmys, I had my first chance to chat with Fuller since the new “Trek” series was announced, and as our conversation reveals, the as-yet-untitled new series he’s working on may be exploring even more new worlds, new civilizations and, perhaps most importantly, new philosophical questions about human existence at the furthest reaches of the galaxy. The series will never travel far from the legacy he hopes it upholds.

Moviefone: You have a history with the franchise, you’re going to have more history with the franchise. As we approach the 50^th anniversary, what has “Star Trek” meant to you over the years?

Bryan Fuller: Oh, well, it’s the promise of a better world. Not only is it wonderful high-concept science-fiction storytelling, but it is the promise that we’re going to get our sh*t together as a species, fix our planet, and move out to the galaxy as a team. I think that’s the most exciting … that’s the most promising thing that “Star Trek” offers, is a vision of the future where we do all get along.

You have a dream team assembled — creative people plucked from various eras in “Star Trek” history. What has that aspect brought to the table for you, in terms of who is putting the show together?

I think it’s really about making sure that we maintain authenticity. One of the things that I am so excited about is working with Joe Menosky again, who I worked with on “Voyager,” and who was a pivotal writing in “Next Generation,” and a mentor of mine. So it’s wonderful to be working with him on “Star Trek.”

It’s wonderful to be working with Nicholas Meyer, who I’ve admired for a long time. I pinch myself from time to time just being in the room and having the conversations that we’re having.

Nick in particular is known for, arguably, the best of the movies, really: “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

I agree.

What has he brought to bear on the new series, with that distinctive dramatic sensibility that he has?

Well, a clarity and a cleanliness to the storytelling. An ability to ground science-fiction in a relatable way, and also making sure that we’re telling character stories.

There’s been a lot of speculation about the format and setting of the new series. What would you like to put out there now, to wet the appetite for the audience?

I mean, it’s funny. I’ve read that we’re [set] before “Next Generation,” after [“Star Trek VI: The] Undiscovered Country,” which is false. I’ve read that it’s an anthology show, which is not accurate. So it’s interesting to see those suggestions, and seeing the truth mixed in with them and going like, “Oh, they got that part right…” But it’s sort of on the truth-o-meter on PolitiFacts. It’s sort of like some truth, and a lot of like, “No — pants on fire! That’s not true.”

People got excited about the word “crews,” plural, in the teaser trailer.

Yeah.

Does that have a specific meaning? Or was that sort of a word that was used?

No, I think we will be seeing lots of crews in the story. One of the things that is exciting for me is that we are telling a “Star Trek” story in a modern way. We’re telling a 13-chapter story in this first season. It’s nice to be able to dig deep into things that would have been breezed passed if we were doing episodic and had to contain a story to an episode.

Would you like to revisit any characters? Is there a window open to bring in characters that have been established in the canon?

Eventually. Eventually.

Is the streaming aspect of it — is that going to affect it at all? Are you going to drop them all at once? Do you even know yet?

No, it’s going to be weekly. And what it does allow us is, we are not subject to broadcast standards and practices. So we can have profanity if we choose — not that I want to see a “Star Trek” with lots of profanity. But we can certainly be more graphic than you would on broadcast network television.

Tell me about the allegory element that is so potent in “Star Trek” storytelling, and what you want to do, what boundaries you want to push in this day and age.

Well, I think that “Star Trek” is a show of firsts. And in researching the characters for this new iteration of “Star Trek,” I’ve been talking to Mae Jemison, who’s the first black woman in space, and who saw “Star Trek” in the ’60s and who saw Nichelle Nichols [as Lt. Uhura] on the bridge of a ship and said, “I see myself in space.”

So there’s something wonderful about the legacy that Nichelle Nichols represents as giving a gift to people who weren’t previously able to see themselves in the future. We are going to be continuing that tradition of progressive casting and progressive character work to be an inclusive world.%Slideshow-219909%

June 23, 2016
Mahershala Ali: You’ll Be ‘Inspired, Educated’ by ‘Free State of Jones’

In the Civil War drama “Free State of Jones,” Mahershala Ali plays escaped slave Moses, who finds an ally in white farmer Newt Knight (Matthew McConaughey), who also has no love for the Confederacy.

When we first meet Moses, he’s hiding out in the swamps and wearing an impossibly medieval-looking metal-spiked collar that is — sadly — all too true to history. The actor (who you likely know from “House of Cards” and “Crossing Jordan” or “The 4400”) sat down with Moviefone to talk about the emotional and physical challenges of filming and his family’s story.

Moviefone: This was a very tough movie to make, I imagine. Just having to wear that metal collar.

Mahershala Ali: Yeah. That part of it, the metal collar, was part of the costume. But I think it was more difficult for the cast and crew. I found myself very inspired by the opportunity to embody a character who is reflective of so many experiences, of so many African-Americans that lived and died during that time. I found myself excited to embody him in any way possible because I was very aware of the possibility and potential of those elements and those layers of the character, how deeply those things could resonate for an audience. If we didn’t have those things, that would soften it. So I was excited by that.

It was probably a relief to finally take it off, though.

Oh, for sure. It was uncomfortable. I couldn’t imagine living with that. I’m shooting with it a few hours a day, and anytime they could, they’re trying their hardest to unscrew it and take it off of me. I can’t imagine someone having to wear that thing for years. And some of [the escaped slaves] had [collars with] bells and designs that were even more uncomfortable than what Moses had to endure.Did you do a lot of research for the part?

I did enough research for me. For me, what tends to happen is if I get too academic about it, I feel removed from the spiritual aspects of the character. I can’t think about it. When I think about it, it doesn’t go too well. [Laughs] I make it too heady, and I’m not an academic actor in that way. Some people read everything under the sun when they do a project and they feel really informed, but that gets in my way. I did read Steven Hahn’s “A Nation Under Our Feet“ and W.E.B. Du Bois to get familiar with what was going on in that world.

And I’m really informed by wardrobe. My wardrobe for me is always my first rehearsal. You can’t go to work without having gone to your first wardrobe fitting. Then I know what I’m getting into a few days later. The wardrobe and the beard and the hair, those things are such a departure from who I am and what I experience and how I move around in the world that it did a lot of the work for me.

And being on location in the Louisiana swamps helped, I imagine.

All of that. Just wearing the environment. Because I’m a relatively porous person, just taking in where I am and who I’m with … I think all of that gave me something to put out.Why does this story matter today?

I think it’s an opportunity for people to be not only entertained, but inspired, educated, and informed about a time that I think we have this perception that we know about, but we really don’t. Most people think that, in terms of the black experience, after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, that there was this sense of joy, celebration and freedom, and that we had the opportunity to go pursue the best life that we could.

What the vast majority of Americans — black, white, and in between — don’t get is that there was a process of re-enslaving African-Americans very quickly. These local laws were passed. There were black codes, there was terrorism, and the KKK. Tens of thousands of African-Americans trying to participate in the Democratic process were murdered. Schools were burned down. There were all these things going on in that time that [director] Gary [Ross] touches on in a really fantastic way. It’s an opportunity for people to see and be educated about the things that happened after the Emancipation Proclamation and get a vision of this other tile in the mosaic of our history.

There are still a lot of parallels with today, unfortunately.

You can say that. I don’t know. I know the freedom that I get to move around in the world with is very different. My grandfather was a sharecropper, so essentially an extension of slavery for that time. He didn’t graduate from high school until he was 20 because the boys had to sharecrop and pick cotton. So you go back to his father, my great-grandfather, he was 98 when he passed in the early ’90s, and just getting to be around him and know what he came from … the further you go back, the more you see that they had less breadth of opportunity and less range. But you still see what people were able to achieve. You go back to the 1860s and people were being murdered — literally murdered — for trying to vote. I can take that for granted.

The time is very different. I don’t have to worry about dying or my family dying because I want to go vote for Hillary Clinton or something. I don’t have to worry about that. That, in and of itself, it’s a very different world that we live in. There’s a long way to go and a lot of progress that needs to be made in any group that finds themselves oppressed and not enjoying the same freedoms that this particular man who sits in this office at this desk may enjoy, but we’ve made amazing strides. The fact that I’m sitting down with your right now is a sign of that progress.Sounds like you have a really rich history that’s been handed down through your family.

I know I have to really dig in and get my grandmother to talk. My grandfather was president of the NAACP for several years in the Bay Area and local chapters in Alameda and Hayward. I just knew that he went through certain things and some of [my relatives] were more politically active and some were just more laypeople who were going through difficult times or being laid off from jobs for reasons of discrimination. There is a history there for all African-Americans, but me seeing that journey personally of people having to strive and struggle and traverse a certain set of circumstances that are related to color.

“The Free State of Jones” opens June 24th.

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June 23, 2016
‘Adventures in Babysitting’s’ Sabrina Carpenter Isn’t Quite Ready to Watch Your Kids

Sabrina Carpenter makes for a pretty compelling next-gen take on Elizabeth Shue in Disney Channel’s upcoming remake of the 1987 teen classic “Adventures In Babysitting,” but she admits that, in real life, she might not be the girl you want to hire to watch your own offspring.

In the TV remake, debuting June 24th, the 17-year-old actress plays the uber-responsible Jenny Parker, who squares off against a rival, wild-child babysitter (“Disney’s Girl Meets World” star reveals how both she and the new movie hope to deliver fresh twists along with some nostalgic nods, even as she questions the current state of her own child-care skills.

Moviefone: What got you excited about “Adventures in Babysitting,” and what got you most excited when you saw the original?

Sabrina Carpenter: I think how classic movie is and how important it was to so many people and their childhood. But also the fact that it wasn’t like your stereotypical family movie. There was definitely some scary parts in it, and it was very realistic, and we wanted to keep that sort of excitement and adventure and keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout our entire movie.

It’s a non-stop cat-and-mouse chase, and the kids are so talented. You’ve seen some of them, you haven’t seen others. For the world to meet them, I’m very excited.

How is it different — at least for your character? Is there a different sort of edge to it?

Well, I get to wear the same jacket as Elisabeth Shue, but there are definitely differences in the fact that I am a little bit more of a control freak. I like to stay inside the lines and just try to be the best babysitter I can be, but I learn throughout the movie that life’s a wild ride and you can’t always predict what’s going to happen. It’s very exciting how it goes down.

Have you babysat?

Nope. I’m the worst person to be in this movie! No, never babysat. I wouldn’t trust myself. I love children, but I don’t know if … anyways, I don’t want to make myself sound like a bad babysitter! I’m just unsure as of right now.

Were you a good kid when you were being babysat or did you cause trouble?

I want to say yes. I really do. I think, the thing is I was weird, so I used my imagination a lot. So maybe that caused trouble sometimes. But I would never like purposefully get in trouble, it would be accidental.

When you sat down and watched the original movie, was there one scene or one element of it that really jumped out for you? Something where you were like, “I love this part!”?

“Don’t eff with the babysitter” — which I got to kind of remake, which was really cool. And that’s kind of an iconic line for a lot of people, so it was very exciting.

On the topic of nostalgia, in “Girl Meets World,” you work with a couple of folks — Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel — who did this gig at your age.

Absolutely.

And then, in this age of familiar brand-name entertainment, they got to came back and revisit their roles. Is that something you can even imagine? In 25 years, do you think maybe you’ll get to play this role again as an adult?

No! [Laughs] Sort of because we’re the next version of them, so I feel like it would be incredible if people were still interested. But, then again, they probably thought the same thing when they were younger. No, but I think honestly, if any character lasts that long, it must have been a pretty great character. So they’re very lucky to be such iconic roles. It’s incredible.

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June 23, 2016