Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker star on Descendants: The Rise of Red. In this interview, Kylie and Malia talk about their characters and about how they prepared physically for their roles.Descendants: The Rise of Red follows the story of Red, the rebellious daughter of the Queen of Hearts, and Chloe, Cinderella’s perfectionist daughter. When the tyrannical Queen of Hearts incites a coup against Auradon, Red and Chloe must join forces and travel back in time to undo the traumatic event that set Red’s mother down her villainous path. The film stars a new ensemble of Villain Kids (VKs) and legacy characters, including Kylie Cantrall as Red, Malia Baker as Chloe, Brandy as Cinderella, Rita Ora as the Queen of Hearts, Dara Reneé as Ursula’s sister Uliana, Ruby Rose Turner as Bridget/Young Queen of Hearts, Morgan Dudley as Ella/Young Cinderella, Joshua Colley as Young Hook, Peder Lindell as Morgie, Grace Narducci as Fay/Young Fairy Godmother, Jeremy Swift as Principal Merlin, Paolo Montalban as King Charming, and Leonardo Nam as Maddox Hatter. China Anne McClain is back as fan-favorite Uma and the new principal at Auradon Prep. Melanie Paxson also reprises her role as Fairy Godmother. Descendants: The Rise of Red premieres Friday, July 12 exclusively on Disney+.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I really took away and what was my favorite was the musical numbers within this movie.
00:04They're always so, so exciting to watch and really explode on screen.
00:07And I think with my character is, I've had a lot of fun with their sword fighting
00:11and watching her grow into this young woman that doesn't actually know everything that she thought she would.
00:16So I admire her in a lot of ways.
00:18For me, I loved the costumes.
00:20I think that really just brought every character to life in this film.
00:26Yeah, just getting to put on that red costume for the first time.
00:28I was like, I'm her with the red wig.
00:32It's like, this is fab and I've become her.
00:35And yeah, she gets to do a lot of cool stunts too.
00:37She's a badass getting to do the parkour and the dancing.
00:41All of that was just so fun.
00:44I think the thing that initially stood out to me about Red was the fact that she's kind of an anti-hero
00:49and she's battling between these two worlds of her mom expecting her to become this queen one day.
00:55And then she was like, but I don't really want to do that.
00:58I want to follow my own path.
01:00So I just think that naturally is such a fun and interesting story to tell and it is complex.
01:05But it is the reality for so many people.
01:08They're stuck doing something that they really don't want to do.
01:11And I think that I felt like I really wanted to tell that story and I resonated with it.
01:16So yeah, I just did an audition on Zoom one day and got the call like, hey, they loved it.
01:23You're going to play Red.
01:24It was a pinch me moment.
01:26The challenge of this set, I feel like, honestly, was trying to imagine everything that was happening in the script.
01:34You know, those eel moments or being in these realities that we didn't get to see.
01:40But you guys all get to see what the movie is.
01:42This green screen.
01:43So we were literally just staring at this green screen.
01:45Yeah, a lot of green screens.
01:47Wow, this is incredible.
01:48In reality, it was just kind of like, okay, well, I guess we'll just imagine it.
01:52Gotta use our imagination.
01:53Exactly.
01:54And so seeing it come to life has been so crazy and so special because it really is such a passion project.
02:01I mean, that's like the number one thing I tell anybody who's like, I want to get in the industry.
02:05I'm like, get in dance class.
02:07Get your butt in dance class because we'll help you with everything you do in the industry.
02:11I think it's like truly what has just prepped me the most for everything I do that involves, you know, this line of work.
02:19It helps me even with my acting and just my physicality and knowing my body.
02:23I think that that helped so much from growing up as a competitive dancer.
02:26So, yeah, and the fact that I get to have dance numbers on this film that I perform.
02:32And it really was so cool getting to also tap into that aspect that I love so much.
02:37For sure.
02:38How about you?
02:38I feel like the exact same thing.
02:40I grew up competitive dancing as well.
02:41And I think having that as a base has been so beneficial to this industry.
02:46I mean, they really, you never know when they're going to say, okay, now do a little snakey leg.
02:50Do a little snakey leg.
02:52Have you even asked that at an audition?
02:53No, I haven't actually either.
02:55But like either, you know, can you break out into song or can you break out into a dance?
02:59It really is so special and impactful to have with you as a tool throughout this journey.
03:04But with this project in particular, they actually flew us out a month earlier to when we were going to begin filming.
03:09And we trained for a month every single day, which was a great bonding experience.
03:14Learning the choreography and just getting in sync with everyone.
03:17It was great.
03:18We put in a lot of time into it.