Eighteen-year-old Zoey Deutch has come a long way from playing Maya Bennett in 'The Suite Life on Deck' with the Sprouse twins. You can now catch her on the big screen playing Emily Asher in 'Beautiful Creatures' in theaters this Wednesday, February 13! The California native plays Gatlin, South Carolina's mean girl, in the upcoming Valentine's Day flick. We recently got the chance to talk to her about filming, costars, and a crazy little thing called love.
J-14: What made you want to play a mean girl?
Zoey Deutch: The character has a lot more layers than you would expect. I mean, everyone -- especially bullies, especially mean people -- they always have a reason behind everything. It's important to remember that everyone does things for a reason. And I really took the time to understand where she was coming from and to figure out a way to not judge her. Once you judge someone, it's really hard to play them because it doesn't feel honest. It doesn't feel real. I took a lot of time to understand where she was coming from, which is a place of hurt, a place of having a broken heart and not knowing the tools to deal with it and being entitled and feeling like you deserve everything. All these kind of recurring themes are really fun to play. You see them everyday and it's just a very human story.
J-14: When you were in school, did you encounter any girls like Emily?
Zoey: I think everybody feels, especially in high school and middle school, small and belittled and there's a lot of pain and anger. I really internalized a lot of it and I didn't speak with many people about it and I think the best advice that I could give to anyone is trust the people that love you and tell people how you're feeling. It feels really good to express yourself and tell people what you're thinking.
J-14: What was your first impressions of Alden and Thomas when you first got on set?
Zoey: Really great. They're wonderful people. They're really fun. We were in New Orleans and it was like camp on the weekends. We would just do weird stuff and go to alligator tours and just hang out and go to shops and go to jazz fest. I look back on that time really fondly and I hope it happens again. It was really wonderful.
J-14: What would you say was your favorite scene to film?
Zoey: There's a scene where I tell my teacher that I can't read this book because my church doesn't allow it. I start praying in class and end up blaming everything on Lena Duchannes and she gets so fired up, she ends up breaking glass. Richard LaGravenese (director) did an amazing job of trying to make everything real. Like, most of the effects that happened in the movie, we actually saw it. It was real. They made it, so the glass actually broke and it really felt like, "Oh my God!" I really did not have to act. I really genuinely, in that moment, was like, "Oh my God, the glass is breaking!"
J-14: What's the craziest thing you've ever done for love?
Zoey: I think being able to really fall in love with someone is the craziest thing that could ever happen. You know, allowing yourself to really go there and really feel those things is extremely scary. It's extremely painful, sometimes, and you expose yourself in such a way. I think just falling in love alone and giving someone else a chance to fall in love with you and jump into your life is crazy enough. Along with all the beautiful things that come with it in a relationship, I think just falling in love in general is just crazy.
Are you excited to see Zoey Deutch playing a mean girl in 'Beautiful Creatures?'