Joanna ‘JoJo’ Levesque Faces Her Fears: The dolphins in “Aquamarine” are real – not CGI – and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing for Levesque. “…They were real dolphins and we did it at Sea World then, with movie magic, they put them in looking like it was the ocean. But they were real and I was really scared because I’m kind of afraid of animals, actually. I’m afraid of animals. I’m afraid of sea creatures and things that could potentially bite me. My dad’s friend had her arm bit by a dolphin and, ever since then, I was so frightened.
Of all of the girls, I was the one that had to ride the dolphin. I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re going to bite my neck and I’m gonna die. I’m gonna bleed!’ Thank God they were nice, but I took it really emotionally. I was really scared.”
Levesque’s anxiety was eased when she discovered the dolphins were very easy to work with. “We had no problems, no, and the trainers were really nice and eased me into it.”
JoJo on the Mermaid Legend: “I think every little girl is fascinated with mermaids whether you are familiar with ‘Splash’ or ‘Little Mermaid’ or things like that. I did remember the film but I didn’t watch it going into ‘Aquamarine.’
…I am ashamed to say that I didn’t read the book [for ‘Aquamarine’] going into it. I’m ashamed to say that but I didn’t. I just read the script. It was probably not a conscious thing but a lazy thing that I didn’t read it, so I’m going to front and say it was a conscious thing because I wanted to connect with my character from the script. That’s my lie answer (laughing).”
Bonding on the Set of “Aquamarine:” The three stars of “Aquamarine” became good friends on the set and have remained close. “We’re really good friends. I think that’s one of the most special things that came out of this film is that we got two other awesome friends. It was magical. I just love that and I take that off set. I was just with them last night after interviews. I was in Sara’s room until two o’clock last night just talking. It was really good.”
JoJo on Shooting in Australia: “I had my mom with me all the time. I feel like home is where my family is, but Australia was beautiful. We were in Queensland and we were staying right across from the beach. We would go shopping all the time and hang out with the locals. We made some local friends and that was fun. We went to the beach a lot, too.”
Joanna ‘JoJo’ Levesque Shares Her Reaction to Seeing Herself on the Big Screen for the First Time: “It was really weird to see myself on there. This was a year ago that I shot it so, first of all, I was ten or fifteen pounds heavier. I had no make-up on. I was wearing very ill-fitting clothing and I was like watching myself with my hands over my eyes, like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this!’ But as far as the acting, I was very pleased with the way the girls were portrayed and the way that I was portrayed and the jobs that we did. As far as the vanity thing, I was like, ‘Dude, I need to look cute in my next movie!’ (laughing) I think it’s good to separate the artist of JoJo from acting and play different roles.”
JoJo on Her Music Career: JoJo may have a hard time watching herself act, however she doesn't have a problem listening to and analyzing her singing. “I can. I don’t know why. I listen to it all the time so I can critique myself and so I can understand what is most flattering to my voice and what is something I should stay away from – [what] sounds are best for me. I listen to everything. I have a pretty good ear for things like that.”
JoJo on Transitioning from Music to Movies: “It is different. There is a different responsibility that you have. As an artist, you can be whoever you want to be. You can be yourself, or portray yourself any way you choose. When you’re playing a role, you obviously have to play that person who is different from yourself. I took that very seriously and I tried to make my character of Hailey different from who I am. I’m not shy and she was kind of uncomfortable with herself. She covered up with baggy clothes and I’m not like that.”
JoJo on Learning the Tricks of the Trade: JoJo admits she hasn’t studied acting formally but did have a little help on the set. “I hadn’t done that before but I had done professional theater in Massachusetts and in L.A. as well. We had an acting coach on set actually, and she helped me find my character more; do some exercises like that which was really beneficial.”
Page 2: Joanna Levesque on Music and Her Upcoming Album
