'Blended' Star Bella Thorne On Working With Drew Barrymore & Adam Sandler, Being a Latina with a 'Loud, Unattractive Laugh'
When actress Bella Thorne joined the cast of "Blended," she gained a "blended" family on set with some of the best comedians in the business, who have been doing stand-up before she was even born, including "Saturday Night Live" alumni Adam Sandler and Kevin Nealon ("Weeds"), Joel McHale ("Talk Soup," NBC's "Community") and Wendi McLendon-Covey ("Bridesmaids").
While the Disney Channel star of "Shake it Up" may be significantly younger than her "Blended" co-stars — she's just 16 years old — there is no age limit when it comes to laughter.
Having seen "SNL" skits from the past, she was thrilled to work alongside the comedic actors during the filming of the family-friendly, romantic comedy, "Blended," which also stars Hollywood sweetheart Drew Barrymore. Thorne, who is of half-Cuban descent, said she especially related to Nealon's sense of humor.
"He has more of my comedic timing. More of a dry humor. I love when he speaks. The rhythm that he speaks in is very interesting. He doesn't speak in complete sentences. And he just says random statements and somehow just puts them together. He just makes it work," she told Latin Post. "These actors are hilarious, and they all do it live. They just spit out all of these random jokes.They are all just so talented."
"Blended" reunites the adorable Barrymore and the quirky yet loveable Sandler in their third film together, after "50 First Dates" and "The Wedding Singer."
"After a disastrous blind date, single parents Lauren (Barrymore) and Jim (Sandler) agree on only one thing: They never want to see each other again. But when they each sign up separately for a fabulous family vacation with their kids, they are all stuck sharing a suite at a luxurious African safari resort for a week." While on the trip, they see each other in a different light and eventually fall in love and become a family.
"It's about being a good parent and being there for your kids," Sandler told ABC's Robin Roberts.
"They [Barrymore and Sandler] are exactly how you think they would be on-screen as offscreen. They have fun-loving personalities," Thorne said. "They have such a great vibe when they walk on. Everybody is having a good time on our set."
In "Blended," McHale plays Lauren's (Barrymore's) ex-husband, Mark, and Wendi McLendon-Covey ("Bridesmaids") is her (Barrymore's) best friend, Jen. Jessica Lowe (Funny or Die's "RobotDown") and Nealon play an overly romantic couple also vacationing at the resort. Terry Crews ("The Expendables 2") is the resort's singing host.
Thorne plays Hillary, Sandler's onscreen daughter, who is facing the perils of puberty and has been given the moniker "Larry" by her dad, who refuses to come to terms that his oldest daughter is becoming a woman. Thorne is joined by her onscreen siblings, Emma Fuhrmann and Alyvia Alyn Lynd. Kyle Red Silverstein and Braxton Beckham play Lauren's sons.
While she said wearing a track suit and an incredibly tomboyish short wig "threw her for a loop," Thorne — who always looks pretty and feminine on the red carpet — also said that she's actually more of a tomboy herself and loves to wear T-shirts and jeans and Converse sneakers.
"My voice was already low, so it wasn't too hard to play a tomboy," she said.
The cast filmed in South Africa, where they were able to embark on safaris and take in the culture for two months. Thorne, an avid social media user, admits that it was tough to not have Internet access and be away from her family. But she says it was all worth it. She also visited orphanages and connected with the beautiful children of South Africa.
"It was my first time [in South Africa], and it was crazy cool," she said.
Thorne, a family-oriented person whose father was Cuban, said that in everything she does she incorporates her Latin roots.
"I love being Latina. Us Latinas and Latinos have very big personalities and very big laughs. That's one of my favorite things about being Latin, I love my laugh. It's loud and obnoxious and very unattractive, and I love it," she said.
"Blended," hits theaters Friday, May 23. Watch Bella Thorne interview her castmates, Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, below.
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