EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Expelled stars Cameron Dallas and Marcus Johns

By: Lynn Barker

Calling us from a car enroute to yet another interview on behalf of their full length film Expelled, Vine and YouTube stars Cameron Dallas and buddy Marcus Johns have multi-millions of eagerly-following fans happy to learn that the guys costar along with other popular Viners Teala Dunn, Matt Shively (on Nick’s “True Jackson, VP”) Andrea Russett, and Lia Marie Johnson in a feature film that, yes! lasts longer than six seconds!

Expelled, borrowing heavily from the classic ‘80’s comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, focuses on Felix (Cameron Dallas) a cute and cocky prankster expelled from high school after a long line of stunts, jokes and pranks forces his fed-up Principal to kick him out. Keeping his parents in the dark becomes a desperate mission involving friends and foes.

Felix has an older bro named Ben (Marcus Johns) who has been sent off for a while to a Military Academy-style school for doing pretty much the same thing as little bro! When Ben escapes and comes back to town, will he help or hinder Felix in his quest to party on outside of school?

You can see the film via digital download on iTunes, Google Play, Comcast, Amazon Instant Video, Target Ticket and Walmart’s Vudu and it will go out on cable VOD Dec. 30^th. It will also be released theatrically briefly in a limited number of cities.

As we talk to the guys, someone in the car keeps moving the phone so, even in the midst of our interview, pranks are being pulled!

Kidzworld: How did you guys first meet in person?

• Cameron: We met the first day (of production of the movie) at the table read. It’s really funny because we have a lot of mutual friends. All my friends know Marcus and all of Marcus’s friends know me but we had never met so it was cool. Now we’re like brothers so it was easy to (portray) that on film.

Kidzworld: Did you guys go on Vine as a career-building move or just for fun and it snowballed into a career? Seems that now many established actors are hitting social media and you did it backwards.

• Cameron: Yeah. For me it was really for fun. I would just film tiny videos of me and my friends. People were posting comedy skits and I thought “Why not try it?” I got the big push from one of the businesses I started which was Madcon (fashion, tours, etc.) then I met my manager.

• Marcus: I shot a Vine about two years ago from my house in Florida and, after that hit a million followers in the summer of 2013, my manager basically hit me up and said “I’d like to meet you” and we met up. I used to babysit for this couple who happened to know someone at UTA (talent agency) and Kendall Ostrow, my point person there, knew me from this couple so she signed me from knowing me on Vine. I had done acting in Miami as a kid. This kind of restarted the whole acting gig.

Kidzworld: Sooo, since you had acted on the big screen (he was in The Punnisher), did you help Cameron with any acting advice?

• Marcus: No, not really. He was great on set.

• Cameron: Wow, thank you Marcus!

• Marcus: We helped each other out. It was more of saying “Are you comfortable with this? Do you want to run the scene again? Do you feel like you could do better?” Stuff like that.

Kidzworld: Who was the most severe prankster on the set of Expelled?

• Marcus: Probably Cameron.

• Cameron: Yeah. I’m always jokein’.

Kidzworld: Tell us about a prank you pulled.

• Cameron: Mr. Truman (school Dean) in the movie, Emilio Palame in real life, was sleeping in this room and there were a bunch of flies flying around and nobody wanted them to land on them. He was concerned about that so when he fell asleep I stuck something up his nose and he ended up smacking his own face! I leaned in and he wakes up and goes to swing at me and ended up hitting his funny bone. He told me he was going to prank me back.

Kidzworld: That’s a good one! Had either of you even seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off before making the movie?

• Marcus: Yeah, of course. Both of us had seen it. It’s a classic and it had some elements that tied into this movie well. But Expelled is definitely its own movie and has its own plotline.

Kidzworld: On the more personal front, what must a girl never do on a date with you if she wants a second one?  

• Cameron: I hate it when people are on their phone. It doesn’t happen a lot but that would be annoying.

• Marcus: For me, I’m very selective. I just won’t randomly take a girl out. I feel like I would want to know them for a long time, get to know their personality before dating but sort of like Cameron, I think (it’s rude) when they are inattentive or just not interested.

Kidzworld: Describe a joke or prank you might have pulled in middle or high school.

• Marcus: Well, in our student government room there was a back closet where we would work on banners and do art projects and a lot of times people would be in there working. There were roof tiles that if you went through the roof you could get from one room to the other and a lot of times I would go up and sneak to the other rooms and throw a water bottle or something at people and go from room to room.

Kidzworld: Hey, that is sort of in the movie.

• Marcus: Yeah.

Kidzworld: Marcus, you are quite the physical comedian; falling, tumbling etc. Does that just come naturally? I assume you don’t have to train for it.

• Marcus: No. Yeah, pretty much comes naturally. All my Vines have had a lot of physical comedy. It’s just kind of part of my personality. I like trying sports and just doing crazy, insane things. Comes naturally I guess.

Kidzworld: Neither Ben nor Felix has much of a life goal or career plan and that’s part of their problem in the film.  What is your career or life goal?

• Marcus: I think our characters reflect how we are to some degree but both me and Cameron are very intentional with the things and projects that we choose. We both want to have long acting careers and I know Cameron is interested in other avenues in media. He’s into storytelling and music maybe.

Kidzworld: Both guys need tech friend Danny to pull off any technical pranks. Are either of you very techie or super computer savvy in real life? Could you do any of the things Danny does in the film?

• Marcus: Well not like hacking but I’m really into editing and all the aspects of filmmaking. I went to school for media production. I can do some special effects and what not. Well, I guess I did so some hacking because I put up the first ever edited Vine before it was allowed on the platform…if you call that hacking.

• Cameron: I’m pretty into computers. I used to be a lot more into it when I was younger. Now, I’m not into it as much.

Kidzworld: Of all the pranks Felix and friends pull in the movie, which one would you come closest to pulling in real life?

• Cameron: Probably shooting the teacher but with the net gun not the dart gun that knocks him out.

• Marcus: Yeah, with a net gun. I have a history of getting onto roofs so I think I would probably work that.

Kidzworld: What is your message to fans or newbies as to why they will really enjoy watching Expelled?

• Marcus: I think they’ll enjoy the movie because it’s our first theatrical exposure. We’ve been on social media and I think the fans have been waiting to see us do something outside of six seconds and it’s also a relatable movie about a guy like Felix.

• Cameron: It’s about learning to put in some work to accomplish what you want to do but it’s a funny, light film. They’ll enjoy our cool little film.

Check for details on the film’s release at ExpelledMovie.com!