By: Lynn Barker
In the Dec. 2nd Disney Channel special “Good Luck Charlie: It’s Christmas”, the Duncan family has a wild adventure as they struggle to get together for the holiday. The boys end up in a paintball war and Teddy and mom are stuck in Las Vegas! Think Home Alone 2 combined with the funny movie classic Trains, Planes and Automobiles. Kidzworld is at the Disney Channel digs in Burbank, Ca. to start the holiday cheer early with the cast.
Bridgit looks gorgeous today in black pants and a white jacket over a pretty silver and white cami. Her hair is up and she’s wearing a pretty silver and black necklace. She’s class all the way as she talks about the new TV movie and her own holiday experiences. We are learning that “Lemonade Mouth 2” is in the works.
Kidzworld: The holidays are a messy adventure for the Duncans. Have you had any bad holiday travel mishaps of your own?
- Bridgit: I haven’t had anything too extreme. My family runs pretty late, customarily to things, so we’ve definitely had the similar experience to the Duncans where you’re running through the airport diving practically to your gate and you almost miss the flight. But, it’s good exercise especially if you have a lot of carry-ons [laughs].
Kidzworld: You and Leigh, who plays your mom, do a really cute and funny dance in Las Vegas in the movie to get money for dinner. Talk about that.
- Bridgit: That was a very comedic dance which was really fun to do because I hadn’t really done those too much before. I’ve done “bad” dancing and my attempts at good dancing but doing comedic dancing is a whole different thing and it’s really fun. We were working on that from the very beginning of the movie. Even in pre-production so it was really fun to see it all come together.
Kidzworld: Were you able to suggest some choreography for it?
- Bridgit: Yeah. We had a free-form approach. We worked with choreographer Christopher Scott who also worked on “Lemonade Mouth” and we chipped in with our own ideas because we know the characters and had an idea of what they would do. He was really helpful also. I think we came up with a cool thing.
Kidzworld: Can you talk about singing and performing “I’m Gonna Run to You” for the movie and music video?
- Bridgit: Working on the song was so much fun. I worked with Jamie Houston and we came up with the idea of people being apart and trying to reunite. We wanted it to be sort of a holiday-related song but something you could listen to year-round hopefully. I hope people like it.
Kidzworld: Do you have a favorite holiday song?
- Bridgit: I really like “Santa Baby”. It’s one of those more like suggestive Christmas songs but I’m such a fan. Come on. It’s great. It’s a classic!
Kidzworld: Who are you really into musically right now?
- Bridgit: Lately I’ve been listening to The Fugees. They’re really fun. I’m really getting into ‘90’s rap which I never thought I would but it’s really cool. I’ve been a Salt N Pepa fan for like the past year too.
Kidzworld: The guys get to be involved in a paintball war game and you don’t. Were you bummed out about that?
- Bridgit: That looked like so much fun. We actually did play paintball one time when we were out there shooting and I didn’t get hit for the first three rounds of the game. We played four rounds. I was a little sly Ninja throughout that game. So much fun! Then I wound up getting hit at the very end and I experienced the pain that a paintball hit sometimes causes. I love being sly and sneaky like that. It makes you feel like you are in an action movie.
Kidzworld: Was Jason Dolley the big “killer” in the game?
- Bridgit: In those early games I was in my prime. I knocked him down a few times but he ended up getting me. And, the second time we went to play paintball, I was not an on top of things and he was pretty good at slaughtering people that time. But, he’s an athlete. He knows what he’s doing. He’s good at so many different things.
Kidzworld: Any fun family holiday traditions at your house?
- Bridgit: Yeah. Every Christmas my dad reads “The Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve so it gets all of us ready for the spirit of Christmas. We leave out our cookies (for Santa). It’s all the traditional, magical experience.
Kidzworld: Do you have some favorite holiday foods?
- Bridgit: I’m a big fan of the apple cider and pumpkin pie. I like all that stuff… and anything chocolate wins in my book. [excited] Peppermint bark!! Have you tried that? It’s a dream! [Yum! We want some NOW!].
Kidzworld: Teddy shoots a lot of video for Charlie but do you and your family shoot a lot of video over the holidays?
- Bridgit: I was really into making the videos about the time when we first started working on “Good Luck Charlie” and even a little bit before coincidentally. I’ve kind of lost track of it lately, but my mom is a really big photography person. She will take pictures at every family gathering until everyone is exhausted from it. She’ll perch cameras in weird locations too. She’ll stack up a bunch of books to get the right angle. She gets creative with that.
Kidzworld: Do you have a fave holiday memory?
- Bridgit: We had one fun holiday where we went to Puerto Rico for Christmas. I remember it was all my dad’s side of the family and there were a lot of people there. Both of my parents came from five kid families so if everyone was coming, it’s a whole big hullabaloo. But it was really fun on the beach on Christmas Eve. We had a blue, blow-up Christmas tree. It was a very tropical Christmas but it still felt Christmassy.
Kidzworld: And favorite holiday movie?
- Bridgit: I just saw It’s a Wonderful Life for the first time last year and I was all about it. I really like it. It’s a really sweet movie. They did such a great job.
Kidzworld: What is the best Christmas gift you have received?
- Bridgit: I got a guitar for my 16th birthday. My birthday is a week before Christmas so I was enjoying experimenting with it in that week before. I got some guitar chord books on Christmas that year and that is what really set me off on learning how to play the guitar. I never got any lessons. I kind of just taught myself so having the base information of knowing those chords was really helpful. That was my awesome gift.
Kidzworld: What’s at the top of your Christmas wish list this year?
- Bridgit: I have a lot of different interests but I’m mostly focusing on music this Christmas so I would really like to get a Wurlitzer piano keyboard thing. That would be a pretty big gift so if it was a birthday/Christmas gift combined, I would be so set.
Kidzworld: Hope Santa or your parents read this!! Did you do any stunts for this movie, because Teddy falls out of a car! Was that you?
- Bridgit: No. That was my stunt double. They did such a great job. There were times when I was confused about my own identity. I was lying down on the ground and they cut back to when she fell and you see me get up so that is the real Bridgit Mendler. It’s a rough job but I think she was padded nicely.
Kidzworld: What was your favorite scene in the movie?
- Bridgit: I really like the ending when everyone comes together. It’s a nice culmination of all the events in the movie. It was nice to be with the family too because I have a lot of scenes with just me and Leigh( Allyn Baker who plays mom Amy) which were awesome and so much fun but I just liked being able to work together as a family. We always like it as a cast when we’re all together.
Kidzworld: How are you like Teddy in real life?
- Bridgit: I think, when Teddy’s more nerdy side comes out, that’s probably when it’s closest to myself. When she’s doing her bad dancing and when she has moments trying to be funny and it doesn’t really work out. Or, trying to be smart or she trips, those sort of things. Those are pretty realistic experiences that everyone goes through and, especially myself. I don’t really have things together a lot of the time. She’s probably better at being responsible than I am and having things organized and together. But, I think we both care a lot about our families and we both like to have fun and be spunky.
Kidzworld: There is a big change in this movie that will affect the family in the future series. I know you can’t talk about it, but how do you feel about there being that change?
- Bridgit: I’m excited to see what it means for the show and for the Duncan family. I’m curious to see what they do with it. I don’t want to reveal anything but it will be exciting and a good opportunity for the fans to get involved.
Kidzworld: What can you tell us about “Lemonade Mouth 2”?
- Bridgit: I don’t know much about it at this time but I do know they are working on writing the script and I’m really excited to see what they do because we had such a fun time making the first movie and to make a second one is gonna be such an awesome adventure.
Bridget Mendler Shout Out to Kidzworld
