Milo Manheim & Meg Donnelly on Getting To Executive Produce Zombies 4

Let's go. Hello. Victor and Nova, the newcomers. We're out here. In this Zombies franchise. Milo and Meg. Hi. What's up? You're back in your roles. Can't believe it. Yay. But now you're wearing another hat. EP.

I know. Executive producers, what? I know, it's really nuts. But you know what? I like to consider it, it's the same hat, it's just a little different now. Cuz I feel I it's not like we're like switching modes. We're just like always there on set trying to make it the best we can be.

Yeah.

Take me back.

Yes. Being new on the set. Yes. Got the Disney magic around you. I feel like the I feel like the magic of Disney is such a special thing. I've been very, very fortunate to have been in the Disney world since I was 8 years old. But I feel like this was just different. You know, it was my first musical. It's such a legendary franchise. I feel like the magic started literally in this room.

Yeah. The magic started in this room that we are currently sitting in. This is where me and Freya met for the first time. So, we met for the first time. She was sitting right there. I was sitting right there. And we awkwardly made eye contact and we're like, hey, we should go run lines together.

Lazy. What does that hat look like as an EP?

Oh, the hat looks like a giant umbrella with every like cast and crew member standing under it to protect you from rainfall.

Yeah. I like the little spinny one. Yeah. That was so beautiful. Your characters. Tell me about how you get into it. Getting into the wardrobe and the hair and the make-up and being surrounded by all of the other people because that's something that I feel like really immerses you in it. But I think I did a lot of kind of work with getting to know Nova, I guess. So, I would write down a couple questions about like, what she would do on her day off or like, what she would want for breakfast, just so I felt like I really knew her the way that we all know ourselves. That's good.

100%. I remember we did we did that one, the Spotify playlist thing. Yes. Where, um, we basically made playlists from art. So, I made a I made a playlist for Nova, and then she did the same thing for me. Um, so like coming into work, I'd listen to my Victor playlist and like get into the the vibe of music that I think Victor would listen to. All of the sudden, you're in a shuttle and you're going to a beach. And like the second you enter a a cave in the middle of New Zealand, it's like it doesn't it doesn't feel real. So, you feel like you're on you feel like you're a character. I think that me and Meg made great producers if if I can say so myself. Um, we really love this franchise. We care about it deeply. We get it. We get the vibes. And also, you know, I think because of the other producers, they were so helpful in like, you know, the flow of things and how this gets done. But I feel like we made some really great suggestions and, you know, even if we brought something up, it was just a good lesson of like, this is why we do it this way.

Okay, you're on number four now. Could you ever have imagined?

No.

The journey that you're on with Zombies.

I think about a conversation I had with Chris Scott at the end of Zombies 1. We were like choreographing something. And I was and he was like, are you excited for the second one hypothetically? I was like, dude, this is going to play on Disney for like two weekends, and then it'll be over with. Flash forward, 10 years later. We're sitting right here.

So true. I feel like as a as a fan of the Zombies movies, growing up as a viewer and seeing it from that perspective, Yeah. It was so like immersive but in a different way, but as soon as I stepped onto the set, there's like hardly any green screen. So, you're immersed in it in a way that feels so real. It's easy to kind of transform into our characters and like, you know, feel like the stakes are so high and stuff. So, that was really immersive. That was a moment where I was like, wow, this is actually happening. When we were doing this audition process and all the kids came in, they were like, hi, Meg and Milo, like, it's so nice to meet you. We're like, what?

Yeah. We're like, what? That was nuts to think that we had actual fans of age ready to audition to be characters in this franchise. That was crazy. So surreal. When Freya walked in the first time, it was very clear she was a big Zombies fan. She even her jacket was like Seabrook colors.

Yeah. Yeah, it was really cute. Yeah, it was amazing.

Well, we have a new monster rivalry going on now. I know. Take me into Z4. Talk to us, Meg.

Well, you got vampires, you got Daywalkers. Um, yeah, and and you have like old familiar faces as well, Zed, Addison, Willa, Eliza on their way back from college. And they kind of stumble upon these two towns who have a huge discourse and they do not like each other. They've been taught to fear each other their whole lives and that's just, you know, they've they do what they've always known to do. And I think Victor and Nova have this thing in the back of their mind where they're always longing for more or longing to, you know, know what it could be like if everyone wasn't so scared all the time. And they don't want to live in fear. The four of us kind of use everything that we've learned from Seabrook and kind of help these kids out as well.

You get to be on location in New Zealand. Unreal.

Unbelievable. It was an unbelievable experience. Seriously. Yeah, someone like was watching the place to be and they were like, you went all the way to New Zealand and you green screen? I was like, it's not. It's not even it's just that beautiful. Yeah. New Zealand is like arguably one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Um, it was A, it's just stunning to look at. We think that there's a problem because everybody watching the movie is going to think that it's CGI. Which it's not. These are real locations. But also just as a film nerd, there's been so many cool things that have shot in those locations. So, it was just cool to think like, the air we're breathing was once breathed by the last Samurai or something. The people are so, so, so genuine out there. And like the crew members are just every every day they show up to work. They are so happy to be there. They love what they do. When you show up and it's like, hey, how are you? Like, how was your weekend? How was last night? All this type of stuff and you're just you're friends with the crew. And that honestly, I feel like more than anything, really helps us to be able to give the best performance that we can.

There was so much that we learned about, um, just about New Zealand and the Maori culture was really cool. I forget. I forget what it's called. I think it might be called the Karakia or something like that. They pray over they bless what you're shooting basically. Um, and there were there was a morning where like some of the crew went at like 4:00 AM because they had to do it all before the sun came up. Um, but it's really cool. Their connection with the the land is definitely felt when we're shooting there. It's really beautiful. And where we shot our duet was like on this mountain that's definitely closed off to the public. So, there's so many places that we went to that's like protected. Um, and we were able to film there, which was just really cool.

It's a summer road trip.

Yep.

Yes. So, take me into any personal road trips you guys have taken that are super memorable, maybe a hiccup here and there along the way. I took a road trip one time with some of my school spirits cast and we drove up to San Francisco in this really cool RV. We stopped in like Santa Barbara. Then we dropped half of them off and then me and Rainbow picked up Owen, my best friend, who was going to Berkeley. And then we came back down. And simple, simple but good times. And an RV is like a cool way to do it.

Me and Drake actually went from New Orleans to LA. And on the This was the craziest. Yeah, it was really far. We were in Texas and literally cuz Texas goes forever. And you're in the middle of nowhere on the Southern border and we the gas tank was empty. The car was like going out of gas as we got to the gas station.

Oh, you made it?

Yeah, we made it. In like the nick of time and we were in the middle of nowhere. I remember the town. It was Ira and Texas. Shout out. Shout out. Um, I think there might have been like eight people there, uh, in the whole town.

They saved you. They saved you.

So, thank you, Ira and. We love them.