Disney Channel’s movie Spin is about Rhea (portrayed by Avantika Vandanapu) who is an Indian American teenager who is trying to juggle her love for music and her family responsibilities. However, when Rhea meets someone who also shares her passion for music and DJing, Rhea feels torn between her family and music.
However, what is a Disney protagonist without their friends?
Young Entertainment Magazine sat down with the rest of Rhea’s friend group and Spin stars Kerri Medders who plays Ginger, Anna Cathcart who plays Molly, and Jahbril Cook who plays Watson (aka Molly’s best friend) in an interview where they recounted their favorite moments on set, how their off-screen friendship blossomed, as well as reflecting on how similar they were to the characters they played.
“Watson’s always there, got your back. He’s the colorful, kind of flamboyant friend,” Jahbril said. “I definitely relate to Watson, I was also a nerd in high school, but I think he’s way cooler than I was. I was not confident enough to rock a pastel nail palette in high school!”
While each actor related to the character that they played in one way or another, it was their real life friendship that made their onscreen friendship authentic.
“We had lots of game nights that would start with eating pizza and playing games and end with deep heart-to-hearts. It always went in that way of like, now it’s 2 a.m. and we’re all spilling our deep dark secrets which just was perfect,” Anna said. “We were so lucky that we all just bonded so quickly and clicked automatically, which is so special because then when we were acting as a group of friends, it wasn’t so hard to try and pull that because it came so naturally.”
Besides music, games, and deep 2 a.m. convos contributing to a memorable experience of filming Spin, the actors excitedly talked about the iconic color festival scene. Kerri said that shooting the color festival scene was a highlight for her.
“It was one of my favorite scenes to shoot just because of the meaning behind it is like holy festivals, like colors, love, light, and I think it really represents it in the film,” Kerri said. The actors were told that the scene had to be done in one take so everyone had to get it right on the first try, which made the actors nervous in their own ways.
“There’s no resetting, and it is final. That was crazy. Me and Jahbril were in the crowd with all the people when that was happening, and there were cannons of colorful powder,” Anna said. “Once the real shot was going on, we just felt like we were having the best time and forgot that we were making a movie. It just felt so magical and so real.”
