Disney Society Exclusive: Interview with Jason Earles of “Hannah Montana” (Part 1)

I had a fabulous chat with Jason Earles, who plays Jackson on “Hannah Montana”.

He was so much fun to talk to! Jason is involved in so many things right now, so I had a lot of questions to ask him.

This is Part 1 of our interview where we chatted about “Hannah Montana” the series. Part 2 is about “Hannah Montana: The Movie”, “Space Buddies”, Disney XD and more! Stay tuned for that.

I hope you enjoy it!

Disney Society: In Hannah Montana, if you were the rock star character and Miley was just Miley, what would your rock star name be? I know that it was Bucky Kentucky in one of the Hannah Montana episodes, so would you keep that name?

Jason Earles: I always think about that too and I actually can’t think of anything better than Bucky Kentucky. I think that for that episode the little persona that we created is sort of like an Axel Rose from Guns n Roses with the way he dressed, and I actually think I would stick with Bucky Kentucky.

Disney Society: What is one of your favorite Hannah Montana episodes? (Before the interview officially started, we were chatting about the chocolate bunny episode, which is one of my favorites.)

Read the rest below.

Jason Earles: My favorite episode sort of changes by the day, but when people ask me that question, that chocolate bunny episode is one of the ones I always mention. It’s probably easily in my top 5.

Another episode that I really like was an episode where Billy Ray [Cyrus] and I prank each other the whole time. I end up going through the picture in the door way and falling in the puddle of chocolate pudding and sliding around. The reason why I like that episode is because it’s the perfect example of why our show works. The scene was supposed to end when I came back through the door and you see me all covered in chocolate, but they let the cameras keep rolling. So the whole “come here and give me a hug” part and him running away, me chasing him and sliding in the kitchen all sort of naturally happened. It ended up making it into the episode and I think it’s one of the funnier things that we’ve done. I just think it’s a good example of why our show is funny and why it works.

Disney Society: What is a normal day on the Hannah Montana set like?

Jason Earles: Depending on whether we are shooting or rehearsing, it ends up being a little different. We tend to be more playful the first three days of the week when we’re rehearsing and then the 2 days that we’re shooting, we get a little more business-like. That’s when we’re a little more pressed for time usually.

But, on a typical day we show up and there’s a mixture of going to school and rehearsing and then we also hang out a lot. So, if we’re not doing scenes we hang out in Miley’s dressing room and play Guitar Hero or if we have a long lunch, we’ll all pack up into my car and go get sushi together, or grab a coffee.

It’s funny because our moods change day by day, so sometimes I’m the instigator and I’m the one that really wants to play and act goofy on set. Then there’s other days where it’s all Miley and she’s just really bouncing off the walls and we all get sucked into the madness.

I would say in general it’s a really good blend of working really, really hard to make sure the show is as funny as possible and then just being goofy with each other. And I think that’s what allows the show to work because all of that silliness you see on camera is an extension of what our real relationships are like off screen.

Disney Society: What’s it like working on such a hit show? How has your life changed?

Jason Earles: I definitely get more attention now in public than I did before the show. And it’s been fun over the last two years to see how it’s changed. When the show first came on, if I was out at the mall, people would be like “Oh, that’s Hannah Montana’s brother” and then maybe 6 months later they were like “There’s Jackson” from Hannah Montana. Now, for about the last year or so, it’s usually “That’s Jason Earles!”

Everybody gets to know you a little more personally as time goes on.

Now it’s to the point where even parents, if their kids aren’t there, will stop and say that they watch the show with their kids, that they think it’s really funny and a great family show and ask if I’ll take a picture with them. So, I take cell phone pictures with parents now, without their kids even being there, because it seems like the show has become such a big part of family life.

Disney Society: Well, it’s definitely popular in my house and my whole family enjoys it. We all get a good laugh from it.

Jason Earles: Yeah, what we always try to do… is that we don’t want it to offend anybody, but we really want it to be funny. So, we try to treat it like one of those TGI Friday shows, like Full House or Family Matters. It was something that the whole family could sit down and watch. Maybe it’s geared a little bit younger, but there’s enough jokes in there to keep mom and dad interested too.

Disney Society: Tell me a little about auditioning for the role of Jackson.

Jason Earles: It was a really fast process for me. I almost didn’t go in for the audition because I thought that the name of the show was really silly and wasn’t really sure if I got what the premise was. I was like, “Hannah Montana, who’s going to watch that?”.

But I ended up going to the audition and it was an audition that had all of the producers and the writers there. They knew me from Phil of the Future because I had done a couple of episodes on that and it was a lot of the same people. So, they were like “Oh we know you. You’re from Phil of the Future. You’re funny”, so they just told me to have fun with it.

They took all the pressure off right at the very beginning and so I just had a good time with it. Before I left from that first audition they asked me if I would test for the network that next week. So, I went to test for the network and it was all of the same people, plus some Disney executives and I did the audition again. It was maybe a week later that they cast me in it. It was like a two week process before I got the part.

And it was cool, because even when we were shooting the pilot, it seemed like Disney was very excited about the show and we had a really good feeling that we were going to get picked up and we would probably be around for awhile. Of course, we had no idea it was going to be this popular.

My experience was very quick, verses Miley who chased that role for 2 years before they finally gave it to her. She really worked hard for that and she was the first person cast, so once they casted her and they knew what they were building the show around, everything else fell into place really quickly. Emily [Osment] was hired and I was hired.

A lot of people think that Billy Ray [Cyrus] was the first one and that the show was sort of built for him and that’s how Miley got the role. Billy Ray was actually completely removed from the equation until after everyone else was cast. It was sort of on a whim that he came in and read with Miley one day and they loved the chemistry and that’s how he got it. Miley fought for it forever and the rest of the cast fell into place

Disney Society: How are you and Jackson alike and how are you different?

Jason Earles: I’m a significantly better student than Jackson. He’s a little more laissez faire when it comes to his school work. From early elementary school my parents have always instilled in me that it was important to take that seriously. I am pretty much like a straight A sort of a guy and Jackson is not.

Also, in my real life I am little more calmer and reserved. But, if I’m in a social situation like a party or on the set, I am probably just as big of an instigator of zaniness as Jackson is. I kind of like to be the center of attention and I tend to goof around quite a bit, when it’s appropriate to good around of course.

Part 2 of Disney Society’s interview with Jason Earles coming soon!

Image Credit: Bauer Griffin