Selena Gomez Checks into Hotel Transylvania

By: Lynn Barker 

What is more sick and cool than giving a voice to Dracula’s daughter? Selena Gomez voices the pale, animated beauty in this September’s release of Hotel Transylvania in which the famous blood-sucker’s daughter Mavis falls for a human at her 118^th B-day bash.  Kidzworld caught up with Selena at Sony Pictures Animation to get the goods on her voice role and how she’ll celebrate her own upcoming 20^th B-day July 22^nd.

 

Kidzworld: How do you feel about playing Dracula’s daughter?  

• Selena: That’s a lot of pressure to be Dracula’s daughter. There’s never really been a story that’s been about that and their relationship. I think the way she was structured and the way I read her, was exactly the way I thought it would be. I hope we don’t disappoint anybody on how she is.

Kidzworld: With this film and your work on “Wizards of Waverly Place”, do you like the supernatural?

• Selena: I guess so [laughs]. I hadn’t thought about that. With my show, and I guess it applies with this too, I like to bring kids’ imaginations to life a little bit. With my show we were able to be invisible and fly and walk on walls. That is stuff that every kid wishes they had the ability to do. We’re able to bring that alive and I think that’s what we’re doing with this movie too. All the characters from Frankenstein to Dracula, to new characters. It’s just fun to bring that alive.

Kidzworld: When doing voice over, did you watch yourself recording in the booth on video? Did they use any of your movements for Mavis when they animated her?

• Selena: The first couple of times I didn’t. At first I came in my sweats. I got to see everybody else’s part on it. I got a feel of it at first. But, I think I do have some of her mannerisms and the way she talks and how she mumbles a little bit.
  Selena at the "Hotel Transylvania" event

Kidzworld: How do you put some of your personality into Mavis?

• Selena: (I relate). I’m in that place a little bit. I’m nineteen. It’s fun for me to grow up and I want to see places too. I get to travel and I’m very lucky to get to go to the places I get to go to, but I never have been to these places alone or with my friends. Now I think I’m going through what she is going through doing things on my own a little more. I am getting a little bit of that freedom. I’m kinda quirky like Mavis.

Kidzworld: Whose advice did you seek out and how did you prepare for the role?

• Selena: I went in and they showed me some of it first. I’m not big on being influenced by others. I have a lot of people who influence me. I just wanted to go in and do my best with this. They (film director and producer) were my influences, helping me, guiding me… I was lucky to have them.

Kidzworld: We heard that they wanted you to take breaks, but you wouldn’t…

• Selena: I think once I got in there, they asked me to take breaks, but I wanted to stay in it, it’s hard in that mode. You want to feel what (the characters) feel.
  Selena at the event

Kidzworld: Is doing animated roles a way to stay connected to the family audience while growing into older roles?

• Selena: Yes, that’s exactly one of the reasons why I did it. To be honest, I am not that great with animation because I feel like sometimes it’s harder to act with your voice than to act with your actual self. But, this was such a great experience and they were wonderful to work with. It was a good thing for me to do in that area because I was doing a couple movies that were out of my comfort zone. I felt this was a nice way to go back to that.

Kidzworld: Was there any part of you that wanted to try a Transylvanian accent?

• Selena: [Laughs] No. But there is a part where I make fun of my dad (Adam Sandler) and that was hard. I’m definitely not as good as Adam when it comes to that.

Kidzworld: What do you think of Adam Sandler as a father figure?

• Selena: He’s awesome. He’s so cool. He was there almost all of my sessions. He was really nice. That to me, would be a cool dad -- somebody who’s really funny and just makes everybody laugh.
  Selena's character Mavis

Kidzworld: What does scare you?

• Selena: Not a lot, to be honest. I love scary movies, I love being scared. I go to Knots Berry Farm every year for Halloween. I like being scared I guess.

Kidzworld: Will you do a song for the soundtrack?

• Selena: I haven’t, but we did a song in a musical number. It’s very funny. Adam Sandler raps. Enough said.

Kidzworld: Have you ever stayed in a haunted hotel?

• Selena: It was for my birthday. This sounds a little weird. But, I like being scared. We were on tour and they had me stay in a hotel in Utah. They gave us this whole spiel, but nothing happened so I was a little bummed. But, it was cool.

Kidzworld: You have another birthday coming up. Do you know how you will celebrate?

• Selena: I will be at the Teen Choice Awards on my birthday. Which isn’t a bad thing, cause they’re really fun. I’ll probably go to dinner with my family. I’ll be 20, it’s not that exciting.