This may be hard to believe, but The Duff premiered more than five years ago! It feels like only yesterday we were Bianca Piper’s love story unfold on screen for the first time, but the movie actually hit theaters in 2015.
For those who forgot, the classic romantic comedy starred a bunch of our favorites, like Mae Whitman Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Bianca Santos, Skyler Samuels and Allison Janney, too. Based on the book of the same name by Kody Keplinger, the movie was all about a high school senior, named Bianca, and journey after finding out she’s the DUFF — Designated Ugly Fat Friend — in her friend group. So, in order to change who she is, Bianca teams up with the most popular boy in school, Wesley, so he can give her a makeover. In the end, she accepts who she is, and they fall in love. Honestly, this film is a total classic and, years later, we’re still obsessed with it!
When it came to being cast in the role, Mae opened up to Refinery29 in February 2015 about why she loved playing Bianca.
“I related to almost the antihero situation, where you’re like, ‘She’s messy and kind of just does her own thing and is not really self-aware and just is sort of who she is.’ I also relate to remembering the first instances of being in school and having that challenged or being made to be self-aware about things I had never had to be before,” she said the time. “Once that kind of categorization and labeling started, it made it difficult to confidently be who you were and deal with your emotions in a healthy way. Those are your peers, and you want to be liked and have it be a good time, and it’s scary when they’re like, ‘Well, we don’t like you because of the clothes you wear.’ You wonder if there’s anything you can change to make it easier to not get bullied, but then you realize how ridiculous that whole concept is. I was excited to tell that story and [help] other people who feel that way feel less alone.”
Of course fans of the movie know, the star has gone on to accomplish some pretty major things in the entertainment world. What about the rest of the cast? Scroll through our gallery to see what the stars of The Duff have been up to since the film first premiered.
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