Interviewing Bella Thorne About Her Role in The Alexander Very Bad Day Movie #VeryBadDayEvent

I was invited for an expenses paid trip to LA by Disney to cover the #VeryBadDayEvent and #DisneyInHomeEvent in exchange for my posts of the trip experiences. All opinions are my own.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is in theaters! Hopefully you have taken your whole family to see it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you go.

In the movie, Anthony is Alexander’s older brother. Bella Thorne plays Celia who is Anthony’s needy girlfriend. We had a chance to interview Bella.

So, what drew you to this film?

Bella: First of all because it’s with Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. I wanted to be part of this film, because I like the script. I like what it stands for. I like the message of the film at the end.

What was your most fun scene to shoot?

Bella: The most fun scene to shoot was probably when we were in the car with Steve and everybody’s making those loud noises. Steve’s obviously funny and everybody knows that, but, in this scene, it was just so weird and so funny. It was so weird that I’m sitting in a car with Steve Carell and he’s just being ridiculous. And it’s so funny. I’m the one that’s supposed to be really not laughing, and it Dylan starts laughing. He starts like kind of cracking up. Then Ed. And then comes me laughing — because they’re right next to me, and I just can’t help but laugh now. And I was like guys, stop, stop, you’re making me laugh. It was so funny. It was actually really fun to shoot.

How familiar were you with the book?

Bella: When the book was really, really famous I was young and I was really uncomfortable having dyslexia at that point. So, I didn’t read it, because I didn’t want to read. And now I’ve read it, and I’ve read the script, obviously.

Did you go to a traditional high school?

Bella: No, I, stopped public school at third grade.

What was that like for you to play a traditional student?

Bella: It’s not really the context that gets me. It’s being in the school and seeing all those lockers. Man. I love me a locker. Oooh. I love looking at those lockers. I love looking at kids turning those little things on it. I really like looking at those lockers [she laughs].

Why?

Bella: So I’m dyslexic. My first language is Spanish. I had to drop Spanish to learn English to then learn how to read. You can imagine how hard that must’ve been. I was bullied so much in school that and everybody would tell me “you will probably be popular in high school”. So I was always looking forward to high school growing up as a kid, and those lockers. You didn’t have lockers in third grade so when you look at the kids that are older than you and they have lockers, it was really cool. It was so cool to have those lockers. And I never had those lockers.

In the movie your character Celia wants the perfect prom. What would the perfect prom be for you?

Bella: Well, I’ve been to school dances. What’s really weird is they have you go there at six and then you can’t leave till 12. I go to bed every night at 10:30. Okay? I’m not a night owl. I don’t like staying up at night. The only reason I’m up at night is to watch Netflix or read a script. That is the only reason. I don’t like to go out. And for these kids, they love getting dressed up and putting on heels and hair and makeup, but I do that every day. It’s not special to me to wear a big dress and heels and, you know, a lot of makeup and hair spray. That’s not a big deal for me. I’d rather not have all that and be in sweat pants without makeup and without worrying about how I look and what angle I’m being shot from. That’s not what I find necessarily that fun. So, when you’re from six to 12 like that, it’s almost like working a long day on a movie set. So, when I went, I was like, oh, my gosh, you guys, can we get outta here? Can we go hit In and Out? I really need a burger. [She laughs] I really need it in my stomach. I’m not kidding. They’re serving salad. Who eats salad? What’s going on here, guys? This is weird. They’ve got fish. I don’t eat fish. I don’t eat fancy food. Let’s just go to In and Out, I want it animal style.

What kind of message do you want, as an actress, to tell teenage girls who look up to you?

Bella: I’m gonna give them a piece of advice that I was given and I wish I would’ve taken it. Growing up, on TV, and I really grew up mostly on Shake It Up. I always tried to be perfect for everybody and I wanted everyone to like me. For some reason, I really cared what other people thought so much and I would do anything to get someone’s stamp of approval. And now that I’m 17, I really don’t care. I don’t. And I wish I would’ve cared so much, because I changed who I was as a person to be who everybody wanted me to be, and that’s not a cute look. You have to realize, I don’t care who you are; I don’t care if you’re in high school and you have glasses and braces and you don’t think you’re cool, people will like you for being you, no matter what. It’s impossible for people not to like you when you’re just being you. It really is. You will find your match, and I have. I have a great group of friends now and we don’t have to impress each other. I’m not wearing makeup when I’m with them. I look ratched. I’m looking ratched when I’m with them. I’m in sweat pants. I am oily, greasy, sweaty. I don’t care. And we don’t have to prove anything to each other. And that’s what’s cool.

That’s great advice.

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Here is our group photo with Bella Thorne after the interview.