Prom Dates Interview: Julia Lester's Lessons Learned from High School Musical

Teen comedies are oftentimes at their best with the perfect blend of raunchy humor and heart. Since its release, Hulu's Prom Dates has been drawing comparisons to last year's Bottoms and 2019's Booksmart, both of which are regarded for their unapologetic jokes and dynamic best friend duos. The streamer's latest team-up with American High Productions sees that one-two punch knocking it out again in Prom Dates, a buddy comedy starring Julia Lester (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) and Antonia Gentry (Ginny & Georgia) in a sharp coming-of-age story about two best friends who make a blood pact to have the best prom night ever.
Collider was fortunate to have the opportunity to host an advanced screening, where our own Perri Nemiroff sat down with first-time feature writer D.J. Mausner and director Kim O. Nguyen, who orchestrated the behind-the-scenes success of Prom Dates, as well as Lester and co-star, Terry Hu, who reunited with Nguyen after working together on Netflix's Never Have I Ever. During the interview, the cast and creatives were quick to pinpoint their off-screen chemistry as the backbone of the production, with Mausner stating, "The heart of this film is friendship, and we were lucky to have a very strong friendship that grew over the course of making this movie."
Prom Dates also marks the first feature for a number of its members, including co-lead and Tony nominee Julia Lester, who broke out on the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. During the Q&A, Lester shares the qualities she learned on that set that allowed her to bring her best to the top of the call sheet, as well as sings the praises of their director, Nguyen. We learn how the movie changed from the very first draft to the final film we see on screen, how Mausner and Nguyen's shared "fucked up humor" benefited the story, and tons more. You can watch the whole conversation in this video!
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