Since my girls are soon to be 17 and 15, the Disney Channel isn’t regularly on our TV anymore. So when I was invited to cover the McFarland, USA event and saw that we’d be meeting Leigh Allyn Baker of Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie, I mentioned it to my girls since that was a show that they had watched for years, they gave me a very nonchalant, “oh, that’s cool”. I was surprised at their lack of interest, and wondered if her new Disney Channel movie would be appealing to them.
When the other bloggers and I arrived to the Disney Channel offices where we’d be screening Leigh Allyn’s new movie Bad Hair Day, I instantly girl crushed on the adorable actress. Dressed in a black leather skirt and an oversized grey sweatshirt with Mickey Mouse on the front along with a personality bigger than life, I instantly felt as if I had a new friend.
She made it obvious how over the top excited she was to have us there to screen the movie, and admitted that she had been stalking our blogs and seemed to have a real interest in the bloggers that were there as much as we did in her.
I will be sharing more about the movie in a later post this week, but I can share it was fun to watch Leigh Allyn’s reaction to our reactions of the movie. I loved seeing her laugh at herself, and she was quick to tell us as soon as the screening was over what watching it with us was like for her.
****WARNING****
Some portions of this interview contain spoilers for the upcoming movie.
Leigh Allyn Baker: Bad Hair Day Interview
It was really fun for me to watch it with all of you because I’ve never seen it with an audience so it was, it was really refreshing for me. I mean I sat for six weeks with an editor for this movie and so you see it so many times and in the middle of it you think oh, this is a great movie, it’s so refreshing for Disney. And then after you’ve seen it a hundred times you’re like eh, it’s okay. So you totally don’t know. You lose perspective. So it was such a fun ride to watch it with you guys and feel your energy and hear you kind of predict different things or get a kick out of things. It was really interesting.
After working on Good Luck Charlie for 5 years, what made you want to take on Bad Hair Day?
There was as script that was originally taken to Disney channel. It was quite different from this but it was a teenage girl and a male cop and what I hear from Disney Channel is that they thought well if there is an adult that we would like to try something new with a film that has an adult heavily in it for the first time let’s try with Leigh Allyn, see if she’s interested.
So really then that’s when the inspiration started forming on what we wanted to do with this movie and first and foremost, we wanted to make people laugh but really secondly it was really important to us to grab people’s heartstrings and give a really good, unique and empowering message. As you can see I feel like this film is fraught with comedy and heart and great messages for girls. You know, she doesn’t end up with her prince charming. She chooses MIT. Heck yeah, she does, you know.
So yeah, that was it. Just to have, you know, a film for Disney Channel that adults can watch with their kids that has a unique different message. Like let’s go out on a limb and do something really different for the channel and see what the response is and Disney Channel was brave enough to do that because this is very different for them.
What made you decide to take on the role as a producer?
As my husband said they’re finally gonna pay you to micromanage everybody else. (Laughing at the thought) I felt it was very tempting to see if I had it in me to see something build from the ground up and to really be brave and be bold to put my vision, you know, and not hide behind somebody else’s vision but put my own out there and see how it went. I mean you guys know Amy Duncan is — I’m sure you can tell when I ad-lib or when I riff on Good Luck Charlie. You can tell in here too. I know you all laugh when I do certain, silly things. So I just wanted to see what other creative elements I could bring to this.
Taking only 22 days to shoot, Leigh Allyn shares that it was not an easy task.
Most people they say with film it’s hurry up and wait and you sit around. This was hurry up and hurry up and as you can see it’s mostly Laura and I through the whole film so there was no time to kind of sit back and relax. But, I would say the most fun was just ad-libing. It was the first time we worked together but we hit it off so well.
Laura Marano, star of Disney Channel’s television series “Austin and Ally”, does such a phenomenal job and the chemistry was real, did you already have her in mind for the role?
There are so many talented young actors in this town but Laura Marano has a certain maturity and skill set that I think was really necessary. We needed a girl who could pull off being in the lead for prom queen and miss pretty perfect and could also pull off knowing how to work that computer and, you know, have the smarts and the thinking and the brain stuff going on. And Laura just came in and she just knocked it out of the ballpark. It’s not easy to find young talent that can go toe to toe in comedy with an adult. You guys saw it on Good Luck Charlie and now you see it here. That’s what it looks like. She did a great job. And isn’t she beautiful?
So now that you’ve had a taste of producing, do you feel you want to continue on that path along with acting?
Honestly I can’t see one without the other. I really can’t. I mean I’m not really, I’m not ready to not be acting because as you can see I have so much fun. I don’t know what happens to me but there’s this other thing that takes over my brain and I’m just having a blast and I just start saying things. Sometimes I think did that just come out of my mouth? So I really can’t see one without the other at this point.
How much creative liberty did you have?
When that camera’s rolling and I’m standing in front of it I have all the liberty I can handle. There’s nothing they can do at that point. I would say that, you know, after working with Disney Channel for five years that they have a lot of trust in me and I have a lot of trust in them and so it allows me quite a bit of liberty. And, you know, they gave me a lot of freedom and yet there were times where I was afraid to push the envelope and they were like no, go. They encouraged me. Go further. Where can you go with this, you know? So and not just with my performance or with the comedy but with story development, too. They were really willing to — I was so proud. They were really willing to, to push the envelope on this one.
You said you’ve been with Disney for five years. Are you turning down other roles to stay within the Disney realm?
I have turned down certain roles. I will say that I’ve become a prude since working with Disney Channel. I haven’t become a prude but I will say this. There are a lot things on television like murder, sex. It’s like it makes up the television on prime time television. And there have been parts that that people have expressed in interest in with me and it just didn’t feel right given where I worked to do those roles. But as soon as I finished Good Luck Charlie we, actually right before I even finished we had been in talks about doing this spin development for a while so I knew immediately that I was gonna go into this and honestly I just felt really comfortable putting my whole heart and my whole focus on to this and my kids. You can get too busy and it’s not worth it.
Leigh Allyn is a mom of 2 boys, (Griffin, 6 and James, 2). She took time after the interview to share some photos of her beautiful family. She certainly loves her role as mom most in life.
So what is next?
We shall see. I would like to develop my own series, actually and I’m working with another gentleman my age who used to be on the Disney Channel.
Do you think you’ll be sticking to comedy?
You know what? I love comedy. I found myself the other day going on an audition for something and I thought oh, my gosh it’s about a family who’s like about to be murdered. You know, to me life is short and I wanna have fun. If I’m gonna be away from my kids to be working I’m gonna be having fun or I’m not gonna do it. And, as you can see in this I can do drama. It’s easier than comedy, way easier but comedy just fills up my bucket and why not go to work and laugh. Who wants to go to work and cry?
Do you think you put a lot of yourself into your characters?
Absolutely. I’m a little bit embarrassed to say that about Amy Duncan’s behavior. [LAUGHS] But, yeah, you know, Amy Duncan is really my most, most, most feminine side and then Liz is, Liz is really me at home. I mean I have two boys. I know how to get down and dirty and, you know, run a muck with the guys, so and it’s just really fun for me also to show that I am an actor and, you know, every actor says I’m not a one trick pony. You know, I can do other things. So that is one of the things that really intrigued me about this is how different can I show myself? Wash all the makeup off, change the hair, put some schlepy clothes on me and let’s go to town.
I know with older teens balancing work and being a mom can be a challenge, so how does she do it?
I learned that in season one of Good Luck Charlie. I remember going to work and just missing my baby. I just had a baby, Griffin, my oldest and I remember just missing him terribly all day and then when I got home I was rocking him to sleep at night, my favorite part and I remember looking at him and I was thinking oh, I can’t believe that I missed that at work and I missed that and I should have been focused. And I realized oh my gosh, I’m not a hundred percent there at work and I’m missing the enjoyment there and I’m not able to be a hundred percent with him here. I’m missing the enjoyment here. From there on, simplicity rules.
When you’re at work, you’re at work. When you’re home, you’re home and that’s how you do it. That’s the only way I can do it. And I love doing sitcoms. Honestly as far as acting goes there is no, there is no greater job for a mom in the acting world than half hour multi-camera sitcom work because you actually have a life. There’s a regular schedule. You don’t shoot crazy odd hours except for one day a week. You shoot three weeks on and one week off. You get five month hiatus in between seasons. I mean I know what it’s like to be a full time working on and I know what it’s like to be a full time stay at home. I do both of those within a year, you know.
You talked about there being several messages from this movie for young girls. What’s the one message you would like them to take away from this movie?
Your identity, who you are comes from the inside. It doesn’t come from what’s out here. That’s the main message I think. You know, a lot of people like to toss around believe in yourself but this is more than believing in yourself. It’s knowing yourself and being okay with who you are and not looking for approval from others and knowing when to call for backup. There’s two ladies — there’s two lessons, you know. They start out as polar opposites in this film and then through this crazy day with each other, they learn from each other how to fill in their weak spots. They really do help each other grow immensely.
Have your boys expressed any interest in acting?
Yes. My five year old, now six year old, just turned six, he really just wants to be like Mia. He wants to know why Mia goes with me on the red carpet all the time. He has said I wanna be Charlie and I said you can’t, Mia is Charlie and he said, well then I wanna be good luck. Honey, you are. So, he’s really great at pretending, at make believe. We’ll see. When he’s old enough to drive himself I guess he can go to an audition. Till then he can be a kid.
Has he seen the movie yet?
He has seen clips of the movie. He thinks everything I’m in is the most boring thing under the sun. In fact his quote to me one day was you being the Good Luck Charlie girl is the worst thing that ever happened to me because it was his first day at kindergarten and all these kids started swarming me and he was like, oh, bummer. There are certain times that my kid doesn’t wanna share me with the world. But then I explained to him that we don’t actually have to wait in line at Disneyland and he was like oh, I love you being the Good Luck Charlie girl. But he’s seen elements of it when I would be looking at dailies when we were in Montreal. I took the whole family to Montreal and he would see me looking at dailies and basically what he took away from this movie is don’t ever touch the red button.
Do your kids influence the roles you choose?
Yes. I mean, becoming a parent, it changes your whole being forever.
Since you are a mom with boys and this film has so much girl power, what drove you to want to do something with girls?
Okay, so here’s the thing with this one. It is girl power. Like it’s taking them in a more empowering position but there’s also something in this I think for boys to love. You know, show me another Disney Channel that has a car chase in it, right?
With 5 years of the Disney Channel under her belt, it looks like Leigh Allyn may be thinking of spreading her wings a little bit.
I still am interested in doing things for the whole family but maybe branching out to network television, you know, to see how I might do there. It’s interesting you know, when I first moved out here I got a pilot right away after I got out of college and it was in competition against this little show called Friends, which my mother says to me Leigh, why didn’t you do Friends? Well, you know, they called me and asked and I was like I’m too busy. I don’t wanna be on your silly show. (Laughing) It doesn’t really work that way in this town and I have learned that. Families, children, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents have a real appreciation and respect for what I do but this industry does not always have that respect. I’m a mom on a kid’s network to them so that’s when you take the reins and develop your own show.
I know I am curious as to what Leigh Allyn has waiting in the wings for her. One thing I found is that she is very active on social media. Even to my surprise, sharing a photo of the two of us on her feed.
At the beginning I mentioned about my girls not being over the top excited that I was interviewing Leigh Allyn. When we had a few minutes to chat, she shared photos of her sons and I shared one of the girls. She was so kind to mention them on the post, and wouldn’t you know it, they now care, enough that they will be watching Bad Hair Day this Friday, 2/13.
To keep up to date on the latest for Bad Hair Day and for what Leigh Allyn has going on, make sure to follow all these social media links.
BAD HAIR DAY (Premieres 2/13/15 at 8:00pm ET on Disney Channel)
https://www.facebook.com/DisneyChannel
https://twitter.com/BadHairDayMovie (#BadHairDay)
https://twitter.com/DisneyChannel
https://twitter.com/DisneyChannelPR
http://disneychannel.disney.com/bad-hair-day
https://twitter.com/l_a_baker
https://instagram.com/l_a_baker_13
*I was invited by Disney to be part of a press trip for McFarland, USA and part of this trip included a visit to the Disney Channel to screen Bad Hair Day and interview Leigh Allyn Baker. All opinions are my own.
Read more
- You Have to Remember – 9/11, 20 Years Later - September 11, 2021
- Creating the Perfect Look with a Maxi Dress - October 20, 2020
- Brand Better Giveaway - October 6, 2020
Leave a Reply