Those scenes sound intense! Have you ever gotten hurt or had a stunt go wrong while filming?
“Luckily, that’s never happened. We’ve never been injured or anything, but there have been times when I’ve been super scared to do something. Of course, we have our stunt doubles for like, crazy stuff where we could hurt ourselves. There was one stunt I had to do where I was on these two cable wires, and I don’t think this episode has aired yet. They had to pull me back, like ten feet up into the air, and I had to do a flip backwards, and somehow land as if I had fallen. It had to look like I wasn’t trying, but I had to try to make it look like I was falling. I was just terrified to do it. The first time I did it during rehearsals, I bent my arm a little to the left and it got caught on the cable. I was freaked out and I was like, ‘I cannot do this.’ I ended up doing it a couple of times, though, and it worked out. Other than that, I’m not injured and I’m good!”
What was it like on set the final day of shooting?
“Oh my gosh, there were so many tears on the last day, it’s not even funny. Everyone on this show is like family to me, and everyone feels that way as well; the cast, the crew and every single person. Knowing that Billy (Unger) and I were coming back to do Elite Force, but Spencer (Boldman) and TJ (Williams) weren’t, was really hard for me to handle on that very last day on set. The last scene we did on the last day was a very emotional scene, and it’s where they explain where Spencer and TJ are going to go. It’s sort of sad, because in the scene we were saying goodbye, but in real life we were saying goodbye, too. They told us to keep the first two takes clean, and then the last take we could let all our emotions out, and everyone on set was crying so hard. Luckily, I’m working with the same crew I have for the past four years, so it wasn’t a goodbye with them, but to be saying goodbye to two people that are so dear to me was really hard. But, it’s not like I’m never going to see them again in real life; Spencer actually stopped by set the other day, and it was a huge surprise to everyone. We’re still able to see each other, but it’s weird when that small part of your family isn’t there anymore. It’s all good, though.”
Are any of the sets the same?
“Everything is different. It takes place in an entirely new setting, and of course we have our new characters. I think I would get in so much trouble if I even mentioned what the other sets were (laughs). It’s super secretive right now, but I will say that it is different from the Bionic Island, and it’s very different from the first house we lived in for the first three years of the show. It’s something totally opposite to both of those, so figure it out, I guess! I can’t say anything (laughs).”
Did you keep anything from the original set?
“You know, I actually thought about that. I never took an item with me from the set, but I did take a lot of my wardrobe with me. I really liked everything my character wore, so I took a lot of her wardrobe. In the first two seasons, my character’s thing was Dr. Martens; I wore them every episode and in every color, even super obnoxious colors, so for the sake of old times, I took a pair with me. I don’t know if I’ll ever wear them, but I had to take one pair. There was also a cute floral skirt that my character wore in the first episode that they still had, and even though I would never wear it, I had to take it with me.”
Our readers are super excited for Lab Rats: Elite Force. What has it been like working with some of our fave Mighty Med stars? Has the atmosphere changed at all?
“It’s definitely different, because half of the cast is completely new. I honestly wasn’t sure what it would be like coming into this, because I’m friends with all these guys in real life, but sometimes when you start working with someone, it’s different. Honestly, it’s been so great, and I’ve gotten close to people that I’ve never thought I’d get close to; I’ve gotten really close to Bradley (Steven Perry), who I was always acquaintances with. Now all of us just joke around all the time on set. Of course, Paris (Berelc) is one of my best friends, and it’s nice to have another girl on set after all of these years, especially someone that I get along with so well. It’s fun having Billy (Unger) there, because he’s someone that I’ve been used to working with for so many years. Jake (Short) is awesome, and I honestly can’t say enough good things about this. We all have a very good character interaction going on, and I don’t think any of us have to try to like each other on set.”
Did you guys do anything fun to kick off the merging?
“We actually had a cast dinner that Disney arranged for us; all of our parents were there and our director and producers were there, too. A lot of it was for the Might Med kids because, we’ve worked with this crew, but they haven’t. It was nice to welcome them into our world and talk to everyone about how awesome it’s going to be. It was a really great night and a good idea to kick off the season.”
Do you have anything else you can share about Elite Force or other projects you’ve been working on?
“We have our season finale of Lab Rats coming up, and I’m not exactly sure when Elite Force is going to premier, but definitely sometime next year. I also have a movie coming out called, Raising the Bar, that I filmed last summer in Australia. It’s about gymnastics and it’s super cute. I was a dancer growing up, and along with dance I did a little gymnastics, so I was able to do my own stunts in the movie. It was an awesome filming experience, so I think all the fans of Lab Rats will love this movie as well, because it’s a cute, little story about teamwork and believing in yourself. That comes out next year.”
