This Is The Year's Alyssa Jirrels Spills on Meeting Exec Producer Selena Gomez

Hello. Hey, how's it going? Sorry there's a plane that just flew right over my apartment. We interviewed David and Lorenzo, um, a couple days ago. Awesome. So we were like, oh, we got to throw the whole basically cast in the in the segment.

Yeah. That's awesome.

Are you excited for uh, the film to finally come out?

Yeah, I'm really excited. It's been two years since we shot it, so it's been a long time coming. I'm really pumped.

I didn't know that it had been two years. How much do you think that you like, are you excited to see yourself, you know, as two years later?

It's, yeah, you know, I feel like it's better that it's coming out this much later because like, it's hard, it's weird, it's a weird thing to watch yourself on the screen. And when I saw the movie, it was like, it very much registered as, okay, I look exactly the same, but it's still just registered as like a very different person to me, so it made it it makes it like easier, kind of removes you a little bit.

Yeah, for sure. And what did you do, how was the casting process and what did you do when you found out you got the role?

Um, it was really cool. It was kind of like last minute. Um, I was, I was like, probably I ended up getting cast like a week and a half before we shot, um, and I originally auditioned for Vanessa Marano's role, Molly, and there was somebody else who was supposed to play the role that I ended up playing and we just, we had like a very similar look and I remember like looking at her being like, ah, that's probably not going to work. But I ended up getting good feedback on that tape and then like two weeks later they were like, actually, we're now looking for Zoe because the other person had a conflict. And so then I, I did tape for that and then I went in for the casting director and Skyped with David Henry, um, and we just chatted a little bit and then, uh, did a tape and then the next day they told me I got it and then I went to Alabama.

When you read the part, so you're like the popular, you know, girl in high school.

Yeah. Every movie that has like a theme where you're popular, like it's like the iconic role of each movie. It is. Yeah, it is a very iconic role and I think like, it was interesting because that wasn't really like how it was prefaced to me. Like it's, she's, the cool thing about this character that I, you know, really connected to and I think is like what is different and what I know, um, like, yeah, what I think makes this movie different is that she's a very like, she has that label, but she is self-aware of that label and kind of like has been, I guess not really milking it, but really attaching a lot of who she is and her value to that label and it's just found that it's like, that's a really unfulfilling way to live life.

You, um, so when we asked Lorenzo or whatever, obviously you can't reveal because like who he ends up with, but would you ship, who would you ship do you think if you were watching the movie?

I mean, like, it, there are moments, there are really cute moments where you definitely like ship Zoe and him and like, there's a scene by by the pool which we shot, which I remember being like, I'm rooting for these guys. But, you know, him and Vanessa just had like really awesome chemistry and I love watching, like just in real life too, they're just like, they're such a funny duo. So, I mean, I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to go with with that pairing, but it's a hard choice for sure.

For sure. And just what were the vibes like behind the scenes like working with Selena and David and like everybody?

Oh, it was so cool. Um, Selena I didn't get to meet until a little bit later, um, but that was like, I mean, she's she's Selena Gomez. So she's like, she's an incredibly authentic, like very heart-centered person and you can really feel that when you meet her. Um, and it was she was really, really kind to all of us and her and I had a really like heartwarming conversation and where we just kind of talked about, uh, we, we talked about that label of this sort of like popular girl role and how it can sort of, I guess, box you in as an actor as well and we talked a lot about how, um, it was just different this time and she really connected to that and felt that and David is just like an really truly incredible director and, um, like is a wonderful mixture of like your friend and somebody who's kind of like his presence is very like, he can command a set without ever like raising his voice. Like he's a very, very like gentle, patient, yet driven, uh, director and just like a very cool guy and it was really good vibes.

Yeah, that's so nice though to like, did you watch Wizard of Waverly Place growing up?

Yeah. Yeah, no, yeah, of course. Oh, like to now like have been like done a movie with them. I would have died if I had known when I was like, like 11-year-old me who, I don't know if you ever saw this website, but there was like a website where you like make like outfits for people. You know, like, it was some website where like you could like drag different brands and like make like little like Pinterest collages and I would like I I I would literally like in my spare time like I would want to dress like Alex Russo, like Selena's character on that and I would like make little outfit boards for that character. Like that was what I did. So it was it was it was really like a childhood dream come true. It was really cool.

Well, we can't wait for it to come out and thank you so much for talking to us too.

Ah, thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm so excited.