Selena Gomez plays “The Kid” alongside Ethan Hawke in her first action film “Getaway.” Credit: Getty Images
Selena Gomez holds up her own car with a gun, hacks into complex computer systems and gets caught up in an everlasting car chase as “The Kid” alongside Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) in Courtney Solomon’s new movie “Getaway,” in theaters Aug. 30.
Being the female lead in an action movie was a quite different experience for this “Wizards of Waverly” place pop star. Here’s what we learned about her at the press conference for the new film:
She learned how to use a gun
“Courtney kind of wanted me to figure it out on my own because I was supposed to be a young kid and I wasn’t supposed to be a professional at that. I did learn how to hold it properly, but I was scared! It was, like, the weirdest thing, but I kind of felt like a badass.”
She was excited to be in her first action movie — and dye her hair black
“I’ve been wanting to do different things, and I wanted to do an action movie, so the opportunity to be able to be a tomboy that knows about all this stuff that I don’t know about — I got to dye my hair black! [The film] just gave me an opportunity to kind of be someone else, and obviously being able to work with Ethan is an honor.”
She didn’t exactly have a rebellious phase
“I stole, like, a Chapstick when I was 7 at a store.”
She didn’t drive her first car for two years
“I got my first car when I was 16 but I didn’t have a license. It was a Ford Escape and I just let it sit there for two years because I enjoyed having my mom drive me. But when I was 18 I finally got my license and then I drove it. I’ve been driving it ever since [until] this year.”
She’s not a road warrior
“I cannot drive that well. I drive slow and try to be safe because I’m in LA so it’s crazy.”
She was scared of her co-star’s driving
“I didn’t think he’d actually do it, but I’m in the car and he’s doing freakin’ donuts around, and I’m like, ‘Oh great,we haven’t even started filming and I’m gonna die.’He told me, ‘I’ve never done this before,’ but he did! He was just making me even more scared. But it was fun.”
Her grandparents benefit from her fame
“I don’t know cars that well. I feel lame. I have a BMW now. That was the first nice car I got and the first person that rode it was my grandparents.”
She loves being a tomboy
“I’m very casual, especially on tour, I’m on my bus and I’m in sweat pants. On my way here we landed at two in the morning and my cousin looked at me and she said, “You look like a boy” because I had on my baggy clothes. I love being comfortable when I can!”
She’s gonna take a break from music
“I’m in the middle of music at the moment. I’m a woman so I change my mind all the time, so one day I just want to do acting and then one day I just want to do music. So it kind of changes, but this is my last record for awhile. I’m going to tour it and then just kind of get into acting for a really long period of time, hopefully. That’s what I would like.”
Follow Julie Kayzerman on Twitter @juliekayzerman.
