Latest news with #DawnOfTheVampires
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Zombies 4' Stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly Reflect on Their 9-Year Friendship: ‘We've Grown So Much' (Exclusive)
NEED TO KNOW Zombies stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly dished on how they have both grown 'so much' in the nearly 10 years since they first met while speaking exclusively to PEOPLE The friends and costars, both 24, are currently starring in Disney Channel's Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires The pair also discussed their experience serving as first-time executive producers on the new movieMilo Manheim and Meg Donnelly are here for each other — and the changes life brings to their friendship. The Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires stars recently sat down with PEOPLE to discuss the latest installment in their Disney Channel franchise, and also dished on how they have evolved as people in the near-decade since they first met. 'I think that Meg has grown a lot more confident throughout these years,' Manheim, 24 told PEOPLE. 'I was gonna say your confidence!' Donnelly, 24, agreed. 'We were really trying to fit in, you know, the first movie. And then I think [at] this point, both of us are really kind of setting the vibe [on set]. We've taken that responsibility, and I think we've set a pretty good vibe on set,' Manheim added. 'We've grown so much since then. We met when we were like 16,' Donnelly chimed in, adding, 'It's been almost 10 years, so that's been like all the crazy milestones of a young person's life.' is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! In addition to starring in the musical horror movies, the pair has taken on a new role in the last film: executive producers. 'I mean, I definitely felt like we had a lot more input in basically every aspect of making this movie,' Manheim said while reflecting on the pre-production and production processes. 'I will say that there wasn't — for me — too many struggles. I feel like the things that we really hoped for ended up happening. Which was really great,' he added. 'The other producers were such a great team, and they know that this [was] kind of like our first go at this, so they were super helpful." The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! He continued, 'I think, truthfully, we really understand this franchise. We know what's important to be heard and what [...] people want to see. So I think that we acted as, like, a really good bridge between the creative team and the production side of things.' For her part, Donnelly said it was 'really cool being a part of the wardrobe and the script [...]. Also advocating for the [younger actors] when they wanted to speak up about something.' She added, 'I think the hardest thing for me, though, was the casting probably. Because being on the other side — it's really hard. 'Cuz everyone who auditioned was so, so good.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'It was [also] good as, like, an actor to realize, 'Oh, everyone is so talented and so deserving.' It's just a matter of, like, whose essence works the best in this case [and] scenario,' she reflected. Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires is currently available for streaming on Disney+. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Zombies 4' star Sway Bhatia brought out her alter ego of a sassy vampire for hit Disney movie
Disney's popular Zombies franchise has continued with the success of Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires (streaming on Disney+), with stars including Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Freya Skye, Malachi Barton and Chandler Kinney. But a notable cast member that joined Zombies 4 is the talented Sway Bhatia, who previously played Sophie Roy, daughter to Jeremy Strong's character Kendall, in Succession, in addition starring in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. Bhatia's Zombies 4 character Vera takes to the screen with force. She's sassy, unapologetically her vampire self, and that's something that really appealed to the actor. "I loved how strong-willed she was and how much being a vampire meant to her," Bhatia told Yahoo. "Especially as a young South Asian woman, I think it's so important to show strong female characters in films. So I'm really grateful that both me and Freya's characters were portrayed as that, even Meg and Chandler and Kylee [Russell] are such strong female characters, and I love how confident and independent they are." "I hope people can ... relate to everything that we go through and how we deal with our conflicts. But Vera was a lot of fun to play in that way. I've never played a vampire before, so that was very different for me, for sure, but she was a lot of fun. ... I got to bring out my inner, I guess my alter ego of like sassiness and confidence." Milo Manheim 'predicted' Sway Bhatia's future But being part of the Zombies franchise is a tall order. There's singing, dancing, and of course in Bhatia's case, the acting challenge of transforming into a vampire. "You have to fully use your imagination on how this vampire would be in real life," she said. "So I think it's a lot of fun bringing those characters to life." Bhatia also has a particularly fun moment when she gets to "fang out" with Willa (Chandler Kinney), which is particularly fun to watch. "Especially for me, being a fan of the franchise, that scene with Chandler was one of the coolest moments for me on set ever," she said. "Watching her in the second and third movie was so cool for me, getting to see a woman of colour on screen just be so powerful and such a strong werewolf." "So getting to watch her fang out in front of me and then having to fang out back to her was such a cool moment. And it looked really cool with the SFX added, because doing it without it definitely felt a little bit weird. But I had her there to comfort me." While Bhatia had been a fan of the Zombies films before Zombies 4, Manheim actually predicted her future when she went to the premiere for Prom Pact. When Bhatia met Manheim, he said he would see her in Zombies 4, before the film was even confirmed. Fast forward and the two actors did in fact star alongside each other in the movie. "That was insane. I still think about that all the time," Bhatia said. "I took it as a complete joke, ... and then a year or two later, when I found out I booked it, he texted me because the casting director gave him my number, and he was like, 'Is it true that I told you you were going to be in Zombies 4?' ... Yes Milo, you predicted my future." "So I've always kept an eye out for him, because he freaked me out ever since he did that, but I'm so grateful to have him in my life as a friend now." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Swayam Ranjeet Bhatia (Sway) (@sway_bhatia) Being mentored by 'Succession' cast Before Zombies 4, Bhatia had a number of impressive projects under her belt, with the actor specifically describing her time on Succession as an "unreal" experience. "It was nothing like anything that I've ever experienced as an actor," Bhatia said. "I think getting to work with such an incredibly talented cast and crew was such a blessing, and they had been mentors from the start." "A lot of them didn't have kids when the show started, so I was kind of their first kid before they all ended up having kids. ... Even if I wasn't on set so much, they were all so supportive and they all had a parental instinct with us, because there were only two kids on the entire show, and you know how intense the material is of the show. So they would always have to remind us after every take to never repeat what they're saying, because I was eight years old on the set and there were F-bombs flying everywhere." Specifically when it came to working with Jeremy Strong, who played her father on Succession, Strong had some words of caution for the young actors playing his children. "With Jeremy's method acting, every time we wrapped he would remind us to never do what he does, because he would smoke, drink, and then he would like drown in a pool," Bhatia said. "So he was like, 'Please don't ever repeat anything that Kendall does.'" While Succession was a huge hit, when Bhatia moved into The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, it was a particularly "special project" for her. "It was sort of my first time having a significant role in a project, and I feel like I grew a lot as an artist, not just as an actor, on that set," Bhatia said. "I learned a lot about what being on a set was really like in the terms of chemistry of actors and chemistry of crew, and what it was like being on set every day for intense hours, and how to play hockey and act at the same time." "But I loved getting to play my character, because I think she didn't fall into any sort of crazy stereotype. She sort of pushed the boundaries of what someone that looks like me can tell story-wise on a set. And I loved how strong willed she was, just like Vera in that sense, and it was just a great experience for me. I learned a lot from the writers and the producers and the directors." While Bhatia has had significant success on screen, she's also working to hone her skills behind the camera, including attending New York University (NYU). "I knew I wanted to do filmmaking and I knew that NYU was the number one film school in the country, and it had such a unique program," she shared."They really want to make you a wholesome filmmaker in the sense of learning every single part of a film set. And to me, that's so interesting. "You can ask literally every Disney employee that I've worked with, I'm the kind of person that wants to know what everyone is doing. ... I learned from so many incredible filmmakers, and I get to bring that knowledge with me to NYU." Bhatia shared that she has two movies in the works right now, taking on a producer role, and she's hoping to move into a project where she can be the director or writer in the future. "My goal is to just sort of grow as an artist and test my limits as an artist," she said. "I'm really excited to kind of just find my voice as an artist, and see how people can resonate with my work, and if people can enjoy the stories that I want to tell."
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Zombies 4 Cast Reacts to That ‘Curveball' Ending, Loves TVLine's ‘Genius' Idea for the Next Movie
There's something in the water over at Disney Channel. Available to stream Friday on Disney+, Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires made its TV debut on Thursday night, introducing two new types of monsters into the franchise: daywalkers, fire-powered beings who exist in perpetual daylight, and vampires, wind-harnessing creatures forced to live in the shadows. More from TVLine Percy Jackson Season 2, Marvel's Wonder Man, Amanda Knox Among Series Featured in Disney+ Promo Ironheart Head Writer Shares the Sweet, Real-Life Inspiration for Landon, the Kid With the Wagon Save the Dates: Delayed Digman! Season 2, Eyes of Wakanda and More But we aren't here to talk about either of those additions. If you've seen the movie, you know that it ends with vampire Victor (Malachi Barton) and daywalker Nova (Freya Skye) looking out at the ocean, where an explosion of water suggests the arrival of something… else. Just as the franchise previously dropped hints about werewolves, aliens and vampires before they finally appeared on screen, this is obviously teasing a potential fifth Zombies movie. But what are we looking at here, exactly? Mer-people? Krakens? Whatever species the Loch Ness Monster is? 'There are so many things it could be,' Skye tells TVLine, playing coy. 'Loads of things live in the ocean!' Despite now being executive producers, longtime franchise stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly admit that they're also in the dark about what could be lurking beneath the surface. 'Maybe I shouldn't say what I'm about to say, but I think we just kind of throw a curveball at the end of every movie and then we figure it out,' Manheim says. Adds Donnelly, 'I think there are a lot of ideas bubbling in case Zombies 5 is greenlit, but as the responses to Zombies 4 start coming out, that's when those ideas will kind of come to life. You'll have to wait a little bit.' One thing's for sure, the movie's stars are big fans of TVLine's theory: What if it's not a monster coming out of the water, but rather one of Ursula's relatives from the Descendants franchise? Come on, with a Zombies/Descendants tour currently underway, would an on-screen crossover really be so crazy? 'Low-key, you just hurt my brain,' Barton says in response to our theory. 'That's genius, I'm not even going to lie. I'm going to call Dara [Renee] right now and tell her.' What are your thoughts on that curious ending? And even if it's not Uma or Uliana making those waves, would you be down for an eventual crossover between the two franchises? Grade below, then drop a comment with your thoughts. Best of TVLine Yellowjackets' Tawny Cypress Talks Episode 4's Tai/Van Reunion: 'We're All Worried About Taissa' Vampire Diaries Turns 10: How Real-Life Plot Twists Shaped Everything From the Love Triangle to the Final Death Vampire Diaries' Biggest Twists Revisited (and Explained)
