EXCLUSIVE | This is the Year's Alyssa Jirrels says playing Zoey was 'cathartic' as it's similar to her life
There's no wrong time for a feel-good coming-of-age story, especially after Netflix keeps sequeling one awful teen romcom after the other, the mere fact that former Disney siblings, Selena Gomez and David Henrie, are reuniting to offer their own spin on the genre comes as a joyous relief. Titled 'This is the Year', the story of Josh (Lorenzo James Henrie) and his high school buddies going on a road trip adventure to chase after his sweetheart might seem familiar to fan of John Green's 'Paper Town'. Who knows, perhaps this would do the story more justice than the book's film adaptation could. But if you ask Alyssa Jirrels who plays the role of the ultra-cool popular girl Zoey in Henrie and Gomez's film, the whole experience was nothing short of cathartic. Busting the mean popular clout chasing queen bee stereotype, Jirrels's Zoey is multifaceted and a firm reminder that with great popularity doesn't come great bitchiness.
We caught up with Jirrels ahead of her grand debut's digital premiere two years after the film was shot. And looking back at the time when she played Zoey, the 19-year-old actress can't stop gushing about just how different everything was back then. "It was very cathartic," Jirrels tells MEA Worldwide, explaining: "I was going through something similar at the time, like getting out of relationships." What made the whole experience even more fun was the "[...] Amazing vibe on set. We were in Alabama, in the deep South, just like a family and it was my first film that I'd ever done and that was just a whole different ball game. I learned a lot."
But two years is a long time, and while Jirrels has plenty of 'I don't remember that' moments, looking back at it, she reflects how she too would follow a lot of the same patterns Zoey indulges in. However, she clarifies "I didn't go to regular school, and didn't necessarily have that sort of group identity in that way. So I definitely feel like I had a freedom that she did not, but overall you try not to judge, right?"
Zoey, in Jirrels' words, is "going through something a lot of young women go through at that age, when you're about to go to college. There's this new looming identity she's identified herself with and how she had put herself in a box is no longer working for her anymore. So over the course of the movie, we get to see her go through a shift in what she values about herself, and more. She starts as somebody who has really gone by the label of the popular girl, identifying herself with relationships, looks, and what people think of her, and that's not really fulfilling for her anymore. It's a cool role with a bit more in depth into the object of desire."
Zoey factors into Josh's journey as his friend Mikey's (Jake Short) cousin who used to be close to our hero but eventually grew apart. It's a classic case of reuniting at an older age after the facades of image and reputation fade and while Jireels didn't spoil it further, it's obvious something is brewing between the two. The other exciting aspect was working with Gomez and Henrie of course."Childhood me would have been out of her mind," Jirrels gushes, adding "She couldn't even breathe" surrounding by such a star studded cast and crew. But that said, Jirrels adds how theatre and the stage was her inspiration to get into acting and considering "The most incredible drama. happens on TV," she wouldn't mind shifting screens in the long run. In the mean time, as long as Jirrels has "a creative outlet and a roof over my head, I'm doing okay."
'This is the Year' premiers on digital theatres and will be available to rent or by on-demand from August 28.