Monte Carlo star Selena Gomez
Although not yet 20-years-old, Selena Gomez has the world at her feet. A successful pop star thanks to her band Selena Gomez & The Scene, she has also conquered the small screen with the hit TV show Wizards of Waverley Place. She has also broken the hearts of a million teenage girls by dating teen idol Justin Bieber.
Her new film project is Monte Carlo, a romantic comedy in which she plays Grace, a recently graduated Texan girl whose dream of touring Paris turns into a nightmare when her touring coach abandons her and her friends. While hiding from the rain in a posh hotel, she is mistaken for an heiress and whisked away to Monte Carlo, where she lives the high life, and falls in love, but must keep her true identity a secret.
Gomez reveals she chose the role because she felt an empathy with her character. “Like Grace, I grew up in a small town, and I was determined to branch out and do something that I love,” she revealed. “Being at home is wonderful, but I think you need to be prepared to push yourself out of your comfort zone and explore all your options if you’re going to achieve your dreams. I think that’s something that I share with Grace."
It’s a landmark in many ways for Gomez, not least because it was her first role as an adult actress. “Because I graduated this year, this is the first project I’ve been able to work on as an adult,” she said. “That means working 17-hour days, which can be quite intense! It’s also been one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on. Monte Carlo is a beautiful place to work, and I’ve got some amazing people around me – Cory (Monteith)’s so much fun, and Leighton (Meester) is like a big sister."
The teenager plays another role in the film, spoilt British heiress Cordelia. Texan-born Gomez admitted she found perfecting the British accent quite an obstacle. “I trained for about a month, and then I had two and a half weeks of dialect coaching for the accent. Apparently there are over 20 different kinds of British accents—I had no idea."
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