Video Interview: Bella Thorne On a Well-'Blended' Life and Career

– By Beau Behan, Film Critic & Entertainment Reporter

Originally published at 8:51 a.m. May 23, 2014. Edited to move video to top of the page.

• Blended (2014), PG-13, 117 min, Comedy

• Opening Nationwide (USA), May 23, 2014

• Stars : Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Bella Thorne

• Director : Frank Coraci

• Writers: Ivan Menchell, Clare Sera

In the movie Blended, Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler co-star as single parents, Lauren and Jim, who go out on a blind date, which goes awry and disastrous for both of them. They can only agree to disagree with one exception – time to take the final vow, do a graceful exit and write this one off.

Recently divorced, Lauren is raising her two boys (Braxton Beckham, Kyle Red Silverstein). Jim, on the other hand, is widowed, and has three daughters (Bella Thorne, Emma Fuhrmann and Alyvia Alyn Lind). With a twist of fate, Lauren and Jim unknowingly book the same vacation packages to South Africa.

Upon arrival at their hotel, Lauren and Jim meet again, alongside each other’s families who end up sharing the same luxury suite. What happens next is a series of squabbles, embarrassing moments, and revelations between the two families until Jim’s eldest, Hilary, played by Bella Thorne, finally warms up to Lauren. This time around, the possibility for Lauren and Jim and their families to ‘blend’ is no longer that remote—things are looking up.

“Hilary is a tomboy but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a girl too,” remarks Thorne. “She’s a little shy and self-conscious and just wants to jump out of her skin sometimes. Her hair is kind o f a curly, frizzy bowl and she’s always in track suits, which doesn’t help.”

This unflattering look, unfortunately, does not win the attention of her secret crush, young Jake (Zak Henri). Lauren comes to the rescue with a 360-degree ‘do makeover on the young woman; finally, Jake notices Hilary.

Blended is now the third collaboration between Barrymore and Sandler. The other two previous occasions are in 50 First Dates (2004), and The Wedding Singer (1998). The two obviously have great chemistry both on-screen and off-screen.

According to Thorne, both of them are so “funny and amazing”: “You’ll never know whom you’re working with when you walk onto a movie. You could really have a bad experience; both of them just made such a great experience, and set the vibe at a high bar on the set.”

Thorne has a huge cult following as the star of the hit Disney Channel original series “Shake It Up,” which originally premiered with 6.2 million viewers – well known to her fans as the aspiring dancer Cece Jones. Believe it or not: dancing was originally not Bella’s cup of tea. She did not have any formal training in dancing.

Thorne reminisces, “Before I started the show, I had two left feet. I was the worst dancer; it was embarrassing.” However, this did not stop the young star to do the hard work and persevere.

“I took three dance classes every night for six months,” adds Bella. “I would be ending at midnight and going to work at 2 in the morning because I refuse not to learn. I was gonna be a good dancer if that was the last thing I did.”

Albeit young, she has already found her key to lead a successful life: “You always have to be around positive people who really love you and want the best for you,” says Thorne.

That sounds like a well-‘blended’ life’s recipe!

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Blended :

1. The movie was filmed mostly on location in South Africa.
2. Blended ‘s director, Frank Coraci, also directed Barrymore’s and Sandler’s first film together, The Wedding Singer.
3. The ostriches that Sandler and Silverstein were “riding” were not real.
4. Barrymore was raised 40 feet off the ground for the parasailing sequence.
5. A small baseball field was built entirely for Blended.

About this column: Beau Behan’s claim to fame is that his last name being the same as that of the Irish novelist, Brendan Behan. He sees himself as a romantic Rudolph Valentino type, but realizes you probably don’t. As a film critic, his work has been featured in NBC Bay Area, NBC News and Boston Globe, and can be seen on the TV show, “Beau’s Flicks & Nix,” on the Comcast Hometown Network. A “Flick” is a movie, and a “Nix” is just an opinion, nothing more. (BeauBehan.com)