EXCLUSIVE: Laura Marano Talks The Royal Treatment, the Original Version of “Worst Kind of Hurt” & More

Laura Marano has become a staple name in homes all across the world. From her hit Disney Channel show, Austin & Ally to her solo music, Marano has made a name for herself all over the Entertainment world.

Yesterday, January 20, Marano’s newest piece of work, The Royal Treatment was released to Netflix. To celebrate the release, as well as the release of her two songs, “Dance With You” and “Worst Kind of Hurt”, we sat down with the hard working gem.

During our chat, we talked how she became attached to The Royal Treatment, how two of her songs came to be a part of the movie, working with her sister, Vanessa, and her mom, and so much more. Check out what she had to say below.

How did you come to attached to this movie?

“I got sent this movie Fall 2019, and I loved it. I loved this character. I thought Izzy was so much fun and we really worked to make her and make her family and make her community in New York. I feel very representative of what I know of New York and my family in New York. So she just felt like a character that I certainly was connected to, which is always really lovely and special. And so we were meant to film it in 2020, which obviously didn’t happen.”

I’ve got to know is what was it like working with your Mom and sister, Vanessa, who were also executive producers, on the movie?

“It was so much fun. It was so much work, but it was so much fun. We had produced another movie before. The first movie we ever produced was a movie called Saving Zoe. Could not be a more different film. I mean, Saving Zoe is Rated R and is an intense movie about grief and online sexual exploitation. So, this is a very different project than that one, which I think represents all of us in a weird way. We have many different interests and genre loves and all of that jazz. And so it’s funny because when we did go to New Zealand to film it, the first movie we ever did produce Vanessa was acting in it with me. So it was a little bit like we were both acting and both producing and doing this thing. That was the biggest difference with this one. I was just acting in it. And so being by myself in that way of wearing both of those hats was a little tough sometimes.

But it was really special to have the support system of my mom and sister as my mom and sister, but also my fellow collaborators and fellow producers. It really was an experience that was so intimate and so special and so challenging for sure. But it was really, really fun. And honestly, being able to film in a country like New Zealand during the pandemic, where at that point, I mean, COVID essentially didn’t really exist there. That was also incredible. And I’m obsessed with New Zealand and obsessed with Kiwis. I think they’re all the greatest people.”

You can read the rest of our chat below the jump. The Royal Treatment is currently streaming on Netflix and Laura’s new singles, “Dance With Me” and “Worst Kind of Hurt” are now available on all musical platforms.

Photo credit: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix

How did you end up shooting in New Zealand? Was that always the game plan from the beginning?

“Not at all. I think we were planning on filming in Europe. Honestly the fact that New Zealand had such low COVID numbers, I mean, literally zero for a period of time, was a huge reason because I know, I think we were all freaked out, the three of us, to film in a place that had a high COVID rate or anything like that. Netflix obviously was as well. But Netflix also has a bunch of projects filming all through the world as they do. So they as well as us really wanted to make sure the location we’re filming in represents the project as well.”

So how did you end with New Zealand being the location for this movie?

“Vanessa actually looked up castles. Both her and I were talking and we were like, ‘There have to be castles in New Zealand because we really needed a castle.’ That was our big reason for potentially going to Europe. So we looked up castles in New Zealand, Australia. And sent those emails to the whole team. And we’re like, ‘There’s a castle.’

Literally that is what jump started, the journey to filming in New Zealand. We were able to film our New York set up there and film Lavania, the made-up country there. One of my things is anyone who watches it is always a little bit like, ‘Where is this country supposed to be?’ And I really love that because it feels like no other country they usually see. Well, we’ve obviously had made-up countries before. They always end in ia. We have Lavania, we have Aldovia, we have Genovia. But this does feel like a made-up country that we haven’t necessarily seen before, which I love.”

But it feels like it’s a place where you could just step out your back door and be right there.

“By the way, not only was it all in New Zealand. It was all primarily in one city in New Zealand. I mean, we got so lucky. The locations were gorgeous. Our production designer was ridiculously talented, obsessed with him. The whole team was just incredible.”

Let’s talk how you found the movie’s leading man, Mena Massaud.

“To be honest, like I certainly knew. And I say this with saying, I wasn’t alone in this. We all really were very much on the same page. I certainly knew I wanted to have Mena a part of it pretty early on as Prince Thomas. We had talked about the fact that we wanted to make this feel like no other movie we’ve seen before. And we certainly do have a history of those princes being white males, and that is totally fine. But I think we definitely were like, ‘We want to make this world feel diverse, and feel like it’s full of different people from all over.’ That’s the thing people keep saying, ‘Where is this country?’ And I love that. It’s this made-up magical place.

And Mena, I loved him in Aladdin. I thought he was so good. And so charming. I’d never met him before, but I know some people who had met him and they were like, ‘He’s so, so lovely.’ So I was like, ‘Oh my God, if we could get Mena Massoud as Prince Thomas, I think I would actually freak out.’ And we did. He was like super excited about the project, and loved the script. He is so, so lovely. Such a good actor. And having him a part of this project was so special. I also love that we really got to bond while we were both in quarantine in New Zealand. So we would FaceTime each other while we were both in our quarantine hotel. It was just really, really cool.”

Do you think the quarantine period before filming gave you a little bit more of an opportunity to actually get to know your co-stars rather than pre-COVID where you really met your cast when production began?

“100%. And that’s actually a really good point because the last few movies that I’ve done, the guys who played my romantic interest, I had known both of them. Unless I’m missing a movie, which I totally could be. I don’t think I am, I guess. Okay. Not including Saving Zoe, but The Perfect Date and the A Cinderella Story Christmas Wish, I knew Noah [Centineo] and Gregg [Sulkin] respectively for years, both of them. And so I already really did have that rapport. We still bond on set. But Mena I had never met before. We literally met on FaceTime during the pandemic talking about the role and talking about the movie. So I think having that time in quarantine was really special and was really helpful in building a bond between us and getting to know each other. We obviously would go over lines and talk about the characters, but a lot of it too was just getting to know each other and talking about each other, which was awesome.”

I have to ask. Was the line referencing Genovia in the original script or was it added later?

“Well certainly it was in the script pretty early on. But I will say, I don’t think it was in the original script I read. I think we all were like, ‘We want to make a joke of the fact that they all always are these made up countries that end in I-A.’ There’s no sonic way to say that, but so we had brought that up with our writer, Holly Hester, who is so wonderful. And we brought up an idea of that, so she implemented that in the script and killed it. It was hilarious, but I love those moments. Because I feel like I definitely am aware that we’re not reinventing the wheel here. This is a rom com that I’m so proud of and is so sweet and joyful. I am excited because people love this genre and love this type of movie. So there’s no punches that we’re pulling that you’re not expecting with the movie. However, I think it’s really fun to allude to other movies in the past who have done a similar thing. So that was very much a thought process behind that.”

What I also liked so much about this movie is how the movie pokes fun at a lot of things. Was that always the goal?

“I think that’s exactly it. I think we just really wanted to have fun. And I think it’s not about making fun of anything or anyone by any means. If anything, on the contrary. It’s just honoring other movies and other tropes that you see, and just having a blast the whole time. I mean we just all, cast and crew, had such a great time. And I think it’s funny thinking about it because the beginning of the pre-production was a bit stressful for a few reasons, and particularly because of the pandemic and all these different things. I just remember a few times just having to remind myself like, ‘This is supposed to be fun. We’re supposed to be having fun.’ And I think that’s exactly what we did while we were filming it. We just were like, ‘Let’s have fun.’ I personally think I am certainly biased when it comes to this movie, by every mean, because I’m in it and I produced it and I have a lot of parts in it. But I think that joy and that fun does come across when you watch it.”

The music in this movie plays such an important part of the story. How did you decide what music to use in the movie?

“Oh, I’m so glad you brought that up. I’m just really proud and happy of all the music in this movie. I love our score. John [Graham], our composer, absolutely killed it in the best way. I love all of our songs. Tess [Castro], our music supervisor, killed it. I love the Italian music. I think you have to understand. I grew up with a lot of Italian music. My dad would always play in the car our cassette tapes, later translated to CDs. We haven’t gotten really past there. But I loved having that layer to it because again, it was something I felt really connected to. A lot of that Italian music, this classic Italian pop, I love it being in the film, and I think it just adds this really fun layer in the film.”

But the thing is you didn’t just star in it, you didn’t just produce it, you also have two of your own songs in the movie. Can you talk a little about how the songs ended up being in the movie?

“It was just going to be one. It was just. Can you imagine if I was like, ‘It was actually all just Laura Marano music.’ And then everyone was like, ‘This is too much. No, no, no.’ So Laura Marano, the Royal Treatment. No, you know what? I was just really pushing for one. I was very vocal about it in the beginning before even having written the song. I let everybody know and I really wanted to have a song in the movie, and I sometimes cringe thinking about how vocal I was. But I think there was a level for me where I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that I didn’t want it to come after the fact, where we already decided music and thoughts. So obviously it was on the condition that everyone liked the song, and that it was good.”

No pressure.

“Totally. So I was like, okay. I was very inspired by this dance moment in the film. I think you know what I’m talking about. It’s one of my favorite scenes, plural, in the film. I just remember when we were editing that. I’m just smiling the whole time. It was actually one of the last scenes and things we worked on when we were filming. And so someone on my team works with the original writers of Whitney Houston so ‘I Want To Dance with Somebody’ was brought up like, ‘Just so you know, if you wanted to sample that song, we could get that cleared.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing.’

And so I started an idea that was essentially a play on ‘I Want To Dance with Somebody’. And it was ‘I Want to Dance With You’. It’s not just anybody. I really want to dance with you. And I wrote this whole idea about that. I recorded it while I was in New Zealand. I was very much like I need to give this to the director while he’s editing some sort of version, because I really didn’t want it to come after the fact, after all of the editing and everything.. I worked with two collaborators in Australia. We worked on it. I went to Australia after I was filming in New Zealand. And from there we sent a demo to the director and he really loved it and put it in and was like, ‘This really works.'”

How did Grey come to be a part of the song?

“They had heard it. And really liked it. So I went to Los Angeles. We recorded the vocals. Michael [Trewartha] did his verse, they reproduced it. It’s so good. I remember hearing that Pre-chorus for the first time, their version. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love this so much.’ So then I sent that version to everyone. And everyone still really liked it. Because I also, I was always on the cusp of, I just hope everyone likes this but I couldn’t imagine why they wouldn’t because I do think Michael on the song, and that production really elevated it. The vocals and all the things. So I was super excited that everyone, again, still really loved it. And I was good. I was like, ‘Have a song in the film. I love the song. I’m great. I’m done.'”

If it was only supposed to be one song, how did “Worst Kind of Hurt” come to be in the movie?

“In July, I’m going through a breakup. I say present tense, even though it happened a few months ago. Because it feels a consistent- So in July I was in the thick of it, and I wrote just a bunch of music. And I was really for my project. I only had my project in mind. And we were also in the thick of editing. So our director, Rick Jacobson had score in that moment in the film originally. And he was like, ‘Do you have a song for that moment?’ And long story short, we actually had another song that we were looking at before, so I sent him that song and he thought it really worked. And Netflix thought it worked. I had to change the lyrics a little bit because the original version was very specific to my relationship and about being four years with somebody, which certainly didn’t work with the film. So I rewrote those verses and the director was like, ‘I still would love an aspect of having a duet because of the fact in the scene, you are getting both, especially the beginning of the scene, both people’s perspectives.’

So somehow my team contacted Wrabel’s team. And got Wrabel on the song, which is insane because he is such an insanely talented artist. I don’t know how I lucked out getting Grey, who are so talented and so successful and amazing, and Wrabel, who is so talented and so successful. I’m just a little indie artist. Just I’m really feeling grateful and lucky to have everyone into it. So he got on the song, it worked so well for the movie.”

I don’t know if this was your intent, but you can hear the excitement in your voice when you’re singing the song. And it helps elevate the scene because especially your facials and Mena’s facials when you’re doing the dance and you’re like two kids in a candy shop. You’re having so much fun. And I think that is what makes that scene. It’s not only the song, but your facials.

“Honestly, that makes me so happy to hear that you say this because this is also really my first time doing something like this. Obviously I’ve had TV shows and movies that had music a part of it, but it was always part of the plot of the movie or the TV show. So this is my first time. In The Perfect Date, the producers were lovely enough to have my music in it as well. But it certainly wasn’t a featured. To this day, I have no idea where one of the songs that I have in the movie is. I know where one of them is, but they were just so sweet and lovely and excited to have me do music. But this is the first time that I have songs for my artist project, that are part of me as an artist, Laura Marano, that are really featured in a movie that I also happen to be in as well. And so I’m really excited because I hope it’s not distracting to people, and I don’t think it is. And I’m really excited the music just works really organically with both of the moments. It’s really cool, I’m excited.”

Is it something that you think you would like to do more for other films? Write music for movies?

“Certainly. 100%. And I think at the end of the day, it’s always going to be about is it working well together. As much as I wanted to make sure I had a song in the film I was open and everyone did know that I did not want to ruin a moment. Because music can elevate a moment, and it can also really ruin a moment, and help a moment in movies or TV shows. So I certainly want to make sure that both of the songs I had in it elevated it. So I think it’s always going to come from that standpoint, but I loved this experience. It was so much work, but I loved it. I would totally do it again.”

So for my final question, what are you hoping fans get from the movie?

“I really hope they feel joy. I hope in this time that we’re in, that has stretched for our a longer period of time of anxiety and sadness and frustration and all of these valid feelings for the time that we’re in, I really hope this movie serves as an escape for people to feel joy and happy and get lost, not only in the story, but honestly, in this beautiful country and place that we were in. That’s one of my favorite aspects of the movie as well is I just think New Zealand and our Lavania is so beautiful. And so I hope people get to escape and disappear in that world with us.”

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity