Sleepover shenanigans! The Slumber Party is Disney Channel’s latest original movie, and it’s full of teenage antics, the cast told J-14 exclusively in our September 2023 issue.
“Getting to work with an ensemble of all kids was a blast,” Darby Camp, who stars as Megan, shared with J-14, recalling her days on set. “We made truly-special friendships and I believe we will always have a close bond.”
Aside from Darby, the film — which premieres on Thursday, July 27, and streams on Disney+ the following day — stars Emmy Liu-Wang as Paige, Valentina Herrera as Anna Maria, Alex Cooper Cohen as Veronica and Ramon Jose Rodriguez as Jake Ramirez. In The Slumber Party, this group of friends attempts a sleepover birthday party hypnotism, but it goes horribly wrong. When they wake up with no memory and a missing birthday girl, the hijinx ensue as they retrace their steps!
In one scene, the four girls “try to toilet paper Jake Ramirez’s house,” Emmy recalled, sharing some behind-the-scenes secrets. “The whole scene was us having fun and running around like crazy with rolls of toilet paper trailing behind us.”
Another stand-out moment was the fictional Chattahoochee Onion Fest scene. Alex teased that her character “gets to compete in the Annual Onion Munch, which is an onion eating competition.” While the budding star had “so much fun” shooting the competition, she “ended up eating three raw onions that day!”
Alex joked, “After that, I don’t think I can ever look at an onion the same way.”
Naturally, there’s also a “motorized parade float” named Hedgie the Hedgehog who makes a special appearance in the movie. While Darby didn’t get to drive the float, she did tell J-14 about what it was like from her vantage point.
“In the scene, we are out of control and terrified, but, when it picked up speed, it was actually pretty fun!” the Big Little Lies alum shared before teasing another “iconic” moment from the movie, which includes her digging for trash.
“Filming in a Dumpster was surprisingly one of my favorite memories during shooting … don’t worry the trash was all fake! Wait until you find out how I got in there,” Darby shared. Ramon, of his part, added, “[It’s] Dumpster diving at its finest!”
All in all, the cast had some major memories from their time on set. However, Caroline Valencia, who plays Penny, will remember the movie for one major reason.
“I have so much love for our director, Veronica Rodriguez,” the actress shared. “She is a huge role model for me as a Latina in entertainment.”
Amid all the on-set antics and crazy scenes they filmed, the cast definitely formed a close-knit friendship that can never be broken.
“One of my favorite memories from filming The Slumber Party is when, while on standby, we all just started singing, dancing and laughing so hard,” Valentina remembered. “There was never a dull moment when we were together.”
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