Celebrating young love on and off screen! Newcomer Frankie McNellis had her first onscreen kiss while filming Netflix’s 13: The Musical, and the entire moment was “awkward,” she tells J-14 exclusively.
In the movie, the actress is in the midst of a love triangle between her character Lucy, Brett (JD McCrary) and Kendra (Lindsey Blackwell). While things weren’t weird for the actors when the cameras stopped rolling, Frankie recalls her internal monologue during her first-ever kissing scene.
“For me, it was my first kiss on camera. So I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is different,'” Frankie shares. “Then, there were, like, three cameras filming at the same time and extras on the side, watching closely. I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so awkward.'”
She adds, laughing, “I remember there were some extras laughing on the side.”
Lindsey, for her part, says it was harder for her to make things weird onscreen since they bonded so much when the cameras stopped rolling. “There weren’t any awkward moments between, you know, in real life, but on camera you had to make it awkward,” she explains.
The stars filmed the movie in Canada and were able to become close amid their quarantine period.
“I think, we all can agree that when we first got to Canada, we were on House Party doing the video calls for hours, because we were in quarantine for two weeks,” Lindsey recalls. “So, I felt like all we had was like each other. So we had to — I think we all got each other through quarantine. That’s probably one of my favorite memories.”
Frankie adds, “We didn’t know anyone else from Toronto — or at least I didn’t — so, all I had was them. I’m very lucky that I got along with everyone and we all had the best time ever filming. I didn’t want it to end.”
JD and Frankie were neighbors amid filming, Frankie remembers. “Sometimes, he would come over and we’d play guitar and piano together.” JD adds, “Everybody in the cast was just really cool. I really enjoyed being with them.”
13: The Musical is now streaming on Netflix.
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