Disney Society Exclusive Interview with Jason Dolley

In celebration of the release of the Hatching Pete/Dadnapped DVD, which is today, I had the opportunity to chat with Jason Dolley. Jason plays Pete Ivey in “Hatching Pete” and he was a blast to talk to. He is so sweet! Enjoy the interview and thanks to the twitter community for submitting some great questions! Enjoy.

Disney Society: So, you play Pete Ivey in Hatching Pete. How did you get the role? Did Disney approach you, or did you have to audition?

Jason: Disney approached me about it. It sort of worked into the whole Cory in the House deal and same with Minutemen too. They showed me the script and said ‘What do you think about doing this?’ and I read the script and was like ‘Yeah. I’m happy to.’

Disney Society: Pete is a very shy guy and the chicken costume helps him break out of his shell a little. Can you relate to that at all in real life?

Jason: Yeah, especially when I was in elementary school and the beginning of high school and junior high. We all kind of have that awkward stage where you’re not really comfortable in your skin, or who you are. So, I definitely dealt with that. It also falls into the being nervous with girls category. That was kind of a big thing for me in elementary school for sure. I totally can relate to that.

And as far as breaking out of the shell in the chicken suit, my chicken suit is kind of like my acting career. Because as an actor you’re forced to stand up in front of people and be confident, but you deal with a lot of adult situations, like talking to people. Like interviews, which is a perfect example. You have to feel competent and confident with who you are. That’s kind of a big part of it. So, you are forced into situations that you might not normally be comfortable in.

Disney Society: What was it like working with Mitchel Musso?

Jason: Mitchel was awesome. I kind of knew him a little bit before hand from the Disney Channel games and other things. You run into a lot people from the Disney Channel and you kind of get to know everybody. So, I knew him before a little and I knew we would be friends through this.

We both take acting very seriously. We had scenes where we would just get it done, crank right through it and have a lot of fun too, of course. But we could be very efficient at the same time. Afterwards we would hang out and go see movies, go out to dinner, go go carting. The last night of filming, we got the director and the producer to come out with us and go go carting. At the time, High School Musical 3 was just about to start filming, so Corbin [Bleu] and a couple of the dancers were in town and we ended up going out…the whole group of us. It was a lot of fun. On set we would play Guitar Hero, we would just hang out. We really had a lot of fun.

Disney Society: I heard you had to go to an actual mascot school to get some training. Tell me what that was like.

Jason: Well kind of. That was exaggerated a little bit. What basically happened was we had the San Diego Chicken come out and he’s being doing this for like 20 years, so he’s a professional chicken. So, he got into his costume and showed us the basics of being a mascot. We got into mascot suits…I got into a lion suit and I think Mitchel was in a dolphin suit and we got used to being in a suit and got comfortable with it. We had to get used to things like…they can’t see your face and you have to make big body motions for you to be able to communicate. That was a big part of it was being able to communicate through the costume. You actually have to move really big in order to really communicate through the big chicken suit. The smaller moves which would normally work, didn’t in the costume. You have to amplify it to make it work.

Disney Society: Is there a scene in the movie that was your favorite to film?

Jason: This scene didn’t actually make it into the movie, but we had a scene where it was me and Mitchel and we were in the bakery that my parents owned. There was this giant rooster cake and it was this big rooster with a basketball. It was probably like 3 or 4 feet high…this like designer cake and we got to destroy it basically. We got to knock it over and splatter it everywhere on the ground. I was disappointed it didn’t make it into the final cut. It was a lot of fun.

Disney Society: Let’s switch topics for a minute and talk about Cory in the House. Do you still keep in touch with the cast?

Jason: Mostly with Maiara [Walsh]. She actually lives in Simi Valley, same town as I do, which is a pretty small world. We go to sushi every now and then. I also keep in contact with Jake Thomas quite a bit. We play Halo 3 online together all the time. I can’t ever keep track of where Kyle [Massey] is. Sometimes he’s in LA and sometimes he’s in Atlanta, so I can never keep track of where he is. And of course I see Madison [Pettis] all the time, at events and stuff. We really like her and when I say we, I mean me and my mom, because her mom and my mom are friends too.

Disney Society: How fun was it to play Newt? That seems like a really fun character to play.

Jason: Newt is a lot of fun. Me and my brother did an Abbott and Costello skit for a talent show and I was Costello. I love playing that kind of character. He [Newt] really developed going through the seasons. I got to learn a lot about Newt. He has a lot of odd secrets, like he’s a great river dancer. He can braid really well, in addition to being able to play guitar with his feet. So, I got to learn a lot about him throughout the show.

Disney Society: Is there one episode of Cory in the House that sticks out in your mind?

Jason: I really enjoyed the Presidential Seal episode. The seal was crazy to work with. It was weird because they have the truck, with the seal’s miniature swimming pool and whenever the seal would come out to rehearse, everybody had to back up and make a big path for the seal to come in and then he had to get comfortable before every one else slowly crept back in. It was kind of surreal. I mean, this is an animal that lives in the ocean and it’s standing right next to me. It was really cool.

Disney Society: Are you on twitter? If so, what’s your twitter id?

Jason: I am not on Twitter. I think there is someone who is saying they are me, but I do not have a twitter or Facebook. I barely have email.

Disney Society: Here’s a lightning round from your fans on twitter who submitted some questions.

Disney Society: If you could do a movie with anyone, who would it be?

Jason: I’ll just kind of mesh together all of my favorite actors whether or not they’re alive or not. It would be Robert Redford, Paul Newman with special guests appearances of Abbot and Costello. Christian Bale and Johnny Depp would stop by and Liam Nieson would be in there somewhere too.

Disney Society: Would you like to ever do a movie with Mitchel Musso again?

Jason: Absolutely. He was a blast to work with. Whenever there were scenes when it was just the two of us, it was pretty cool, because the scene would go really well and we would get it right the first time and then we would try something new the second time. We would bounce ideas off of each other and we had a lot of fun working on it. And when we were done working we would just go do whatever. So yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would totally do it again.

Disney Society: Do you have any new movie projects coming up?

Jason: Not really. Well, I have a few things in the fire that aren’t for sure yet, so I can’t really talk about them. It should be pretty soon that I’ll be able to say something. I should have something coming up soon.

Disney Society: Favorite color?

Jason: Yellow

Disney Society: Favorite food?

Jason: A double double from In-n-Out

Disney Society: Why did you cut your hair?!

Jason: It was kind of a good time for a change. Cory in the House was done. We weren’t filming that anymore, so it was a good opportunity for a change I guess.

Disney Society: Are you single?

Jason: Maybe.

Thanks Jason!

Image Credit: Newscom