Selena Gomez Rewatches Wizards of Waverly Place, Spring Breakers & More

What are you doing?

I don't wanna win this way.

Your nature is to move easily.

I'll just pause it here now.

Jake, why don't you ever answer my texts?

You know, he got a little handsome, you know,

and he had all the girls.

I remember that.

I'm complimenting you.

Hey guys, I'm Selena Gomez,

and today we are going to be looking at a few scenes

throughout my career.

[upbeat music]

[Narrator] Alex was about to cross the finish line,

and then she came back.

This was the last part we were shooting

for the entire Wizards era,

and it was really hard, but I loved it.

It was really fun.

We did over a hundred episodes of the show,

and then three movies for the show.

I think my favorite part of this time

was that I genuinely had no idea what was coming.

Simply fun, and I could be young,

and I had a beautiful experience on Disney.

David Henry and I are very close,

so it was very sweet to be able to have a big brother

since I didn't have siblings.

Yeah, and then I look like I'm five.

That's crazy.

The outfit and the hair, love you guys,

but whoa, no.

Alex Russo is officially the Russo family wizard.

[audience cheers]

The Russo family wizard.

We were this close to becoming a normal family.

I really appreciated our writers.

There were writers on the show that were from Friends.

We had Dom DeLuise's son,

and he just inherently had this humor about him,

and it was so captivating,

and he would improv and throw me off,

and eventually we all started evolving.

I mean, when I watch the first season, I cringe,

and then later I actually find myself laughing

at those moments because the real moments

are, to me, what made Wizards.

[upbeat music]

Are you serious? That's it?

Hi, girls.

Halfway to spring break, y'all.

Fuck, that won't even get us

one night's hotel room down there.

I haven't had a 20 in my purse.

Faith, do you know how expensive that place is?

This was probably, to date,

still one of my favorite projects I was ever a part of.

Believe it or not, it was my mom's idea.

We watched Harmony's movies together,

and I was so eager after Disney to have a release.

Nothing as drastic as I thought it would be,

but I think my character is very reflective

of who I was back then, which was stepping out

of this era of always needing to make sure

that I hold my head up high, do things kids can watch,

and just felt like a huge release.

Everybody's miserable here

because everybody sees the same things.

They wake up in the same bed, the same houses,

the same depressing streetlights.

The line or the monologue was all improv.

Harmony said to me, Describe where you grew up

and describe why you wanted to get out of there.

Everything's the same and everyone's just sad.

I don't wanna end up like them.

I really wanna get out of here.

This is more than just spring break.

This is our chance to see something different.

Yeah, it's about accurate. [laughs]

Now, technically, I never wanted to leave Texas,

but when I go back there, I do get a shock

of what my life could have been.

And it doesn't mean it was bad.

It just would have been very different.

You know, I love, I go home and visit the people

that live in the house that I grew up in still,

so I know them.

I got my baby crib back,

but it was a different experience

for my mom being pregnant at 16.

She wanted to show me the world,

and I think I was kind of speaking for her a little bit.

We're the only ones still here.

We fucking suck.

We're leaving, you guys.

We're not gonna be stuck here.

All of the girls in the movie were older than me,

so I felt very protected.

Because it was such a drastic change

from what I was used to,

there were obviously a couple of uncomfortable moments

for me.

In particular, they wanted two guys dancing on me

when I was in my bikini,

and I said I didn't feel comfortable with that.

And the girls decided to be the ones that were beside me,

and then the boys were beside them.

So little things like that that helped me.

I'm not afraid of dancing with a guy now,

but back then, I just was a little nervous.

And he just always, he just always was,

he was a great director.

I would do anything to work with him again,

and we still are in contact.

He's just really, he's really good.

He'll pull it out of you.

[upbeat music]

Hey, come over.

Yeah.

Sit down, half the building's in here.

I'm Oliver, by the way, Oliver Putnam.

Charles, Charles Hayden Savage.

Hey, I'm Mabel.

No really, what is, oh.

I don't know why every time I see them, I wanna cry.

That was the first day I ever met them.

And we did this scene, which was perfect,

because we were meeting each other.

They could not have made me feel more comfortable,

as much as I joke that I'm younger than them

and don't know any of their work.

I understood their status,

meaning just what they've created in their lives.

So I understood that and I was very nervous

and I just wanted to be on my best behavior,

be on time, be professional.

And they immediately pulled me out of it

and just included me from day one.

And they'll tell me even to this day,

they're like, we had no idea.

We were so nervous you were gonna be a nightmare

or like late all the time.

And I'm just so proud that I can call these people

allies and friends.

We got our places 30 years ago

when the Arconia was affordable,

but you, would your parents have a place there?

Good God, you don't have to answer that, Mabel.

I mean, unless you want to, because I'm also curious.

I think Steve and Marty both have similar work ethics

as far as technicality, which is being on time,

being professional, but being kind

and also understanding when you need space,

how to handle a situation,

if you're uncomfortable how you handle a situation.

These are our people who respect the craft.

And I really, really admire that.

And even when we had Meryl on the show,

just seeing someone where she's at in life,

she would stay and just be off camera

for 12 hours for the other actors.

She would sing and ask the cameraman how he was doing

and how many kids he had.

And that to me shows an elegance, a class,

something that maybe is missing a little bit

when you go on sets.

I think I'm very lucky

because I can carry those lessons on with me.

I'm strong enough to say, actually, no,

this isn't what I want.

And this is how it should be

because I believe in my character this much.

I think I'll always carry that forever with me.

So I'm grateful.

Sometimes it's a bit too intense.

I mean, I'll be wearing,

I wear very cool clothing,

but nothing provocative in any way.

And Steve will just say, You look lovely today.

And then he'll go, Can I say that to you?

I was like, Yes, it's okay.

Thank you.

I'm literally wearing a sweater and it's fine.

[upbeat music]

Does it hurt?

No, I mean, kind of.

Does it affect your brains?

No.

Does your penis work?

You want a menu?

Can we get a menu?

What would you like?

You want a sandwich?

You want some eggs, maybe?

The waffles are really good, right Beth?

I remember meeting Paul for the first time.

And then since then we've done,

I think four or five projects together now.

I had the biggest crush on him.

I still do.

But he's like the,

he's just really great with working with people,

especially with both of us at the time,

we didn't know, at least I didn't know what I was doing.

I think finding this character

and stepping into something a bit different,

this was like me putting my toes in the water.

Yeah.

Yeah, the waffles are good,

or yeah, your penis works?

The waffles suck.

I'm Dot.

I was at the time inspired

when Jennifer Lawrence did Winter's Bone.

I just loved how she put so much care

into her character choices.

And they were all different,

but had a bit of an edge and yet softness to it.

So I felt like there was something in this movie

that was good and real.

And yeah, she still is an inspiration to me.

[upbeat music]

Whoa, this place is a trip.

Sure is.

Oh. Caleb!

I adore that boy.

He is so great and very talented,

as are all of them in the scene.

Nice shirt.

Nosferatu. I'm so happy.

It's really cool.

Thanks.

I make 'em.

How about that?

Earth off its axis.

End of the world.

This was a little gift.

I'll say that.

Because all the roles that we've talked about,

I have auditioned for multiple times or fought for.

I will thank Jim Jarmusch and his daughter.

She was a huge fan of mine.

He decided to meet with me.

So we talked for about two hours

about projects and other things in life.

We were speaking about zombies

and I told him I used to have bad dreams about zombies.

So I would always run to hide somewhere

or I'd go underneath something

and that's all I could really remember,

but it would be reoccurring.

In my dreams, I thought that it represented the world

because I felt like I was always running from something.

This was really fun because, you know,

we were running from something.

[upbeat music]

[singing in foreign language]

I don't even know where to begin with Emilio Perez.

Carla alone is unbelievably outstanding.

She has this power that it was intimidating.

You know, I felt the pressure.

I know Jacques has a very interesting way of directing,

but he also loves to see what happens

when he gives one direction to Carla

and gives another direction to me.

So there's a bit of fear,

but also I remember just giving her the biggest hug

after that and it was kind of a big release,

but I loved that.

I mean, the whole point of me wanting to do that project

was for those feelings to come.

[sings in foreign language]

I read the script.

It was wild.

It was such a wild ride.

And then you think to yourself,

how are they gonna create this?

But then you have someone like Jacques

where you're like, there's gonna be magic to this.

I know there is.

And I went into the audition.

I was so nervous.

I tried to talk to him casually first

to like have that be a warmup.

And then I just, I wasn't really making sense.

I was like, can I just, I'm just gonna audition.

And there's a scene in the movie

and a number that I perform.

He didn't give me any sort of direction.

He just said, act drunk,

sing the song like you're angry,

throw your shoes if you want,

do whatever you feel.

I just lost myself.

I don't remember looking at anyone.

There's just a video camera pointing

and I just, I lost it.

And I tried to have fun

and bring back the old tour Selena,

just tried to do whatever I could.

And at the end, he got so excited.

He was like, yes, yes, yes.

And even if I didn't get the part,

I remember walking out going,

I at least made some sort of effect.

And that made me proud as an actor.

And yeah, and also I feel like I earned the role.

Jack had no idea who I was.

And that makes me happy

because it feels like I deserve to be here.

I trust people that really kinda just wanna speak to me

as the individual and not anything else.

So it's very refreshing.

I appreciate when people don't let the noise bother them.

[tape rewinds]

I'm not looking to be the star of anything.

I'm looking to be challenged and moved

and choosing roles that make me think,

that make people talk.

But I do feel like it's just the beginning, hopefully.

[upbeat music]