Selena Gomez on 'Wizards of Waverly Place' in an Unseen Interview

In the 12 years since she last played Alex Russo on the Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place, actress Selena Gomez has carved out an impressive career for herself, making the often-difficult transition from teen to adult performer most recently been co-starring with Steve Martin and Martin Short in Only Murders in the Building, which somehow makes it the perfect time for her to briefly reprise the role of Alex in the sequel series, Wizard Beyond Waverly Place (on which she serves as an executive producer, and which is streaming on Disney Plus). 

That show, which premiered on October 29, focuses on a young wizard named Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) being trained by Alex’s brother, Justin (David Henrie), and saw Selena portray Alex in the first episode. Given all that she’s achieved, not only in terms of acting but also in the world of music and as a television producer, there’s something reassuring in the comfort level she must have felt in doing so.

Born July 22, 1992 in Dallas, Texas, Selena Gomez began her acting career at age 7, spending her birthday at an open casting call competing among thousands of other hopefuls for a role in the television series Barney & Friends. She was cast as a series regular for two seasons, which led, in 2003, to her being signed for the feature film Spy Kids 3D: Game Over.

In the summer of 2004, Disney Channel began a worldwide casting search for promising young talent. Three weeks after Selena’s local audition in Dallas, she was invited to Los Angeles to meet network programming executives. Although she ended up guest starring in shows like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Hannah Montana, she starred in several pilots (including a proposed Suite Life spin-off), one of which — Wizards of Waverly Place — went to series. 

This interview with Selena was conducted as the show was getting ready to premiere in 2007.

FIRST FOR WOMEN: So, how crazy has your life become?

 SELENA GOMEZ: It’s nuts, but I’m enjoying every second of it [laughs]. But this is something I’ve always dreamed of, especially on the Disney Channel. I grew up watching it and I guess this is a kid dream of mine.

FFW: Was the dream there before you started watching the Disney Channel, or did the programming inspire you to be an actress?

 SG: No, I’ve always wanted to do this. I started when I was six or seven years old, working on Barney the Dinosaur back in Texas. That was my first thing. But I think Disney paved a road for comedy for me. I’ve loved sitcoms my whole life and I’ve never tried it, and they have kind of helped me in that area.

FFW: And you got your feet wet by guest starring on some of their shows, right?

SG: I’ve done Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Hannah Montana, and then three pilots for the channel and this is the one that got picked up.

FFW: Did the experience of doing those shows as a guest star fill you with more determination?

SG: The first one was Suite Life and that taught me a lot; the whole physical comedy of it. And then when I did Hannah, my show had gotten picked up, but we hadn’t started shooting it yet. I did that show about a week before mine, and I kind of learned a little something from them as well, because they’re both, obviously, huge shows on the Disney Channel.

FFW: Was the experience of shooting in front of an audience something new to you?

SG: It really was. It was such an amazing feeling to make kids laugh. It’s worth everything I do, because it’s so much fun when you hear them laugh at something or repeat a line that a character in our show says. It’s a great feeling and an adrenaline rush; it just gets us all pumped up.

FFW: What’s interesting is that the show is genuinely funny while being a little more grounded than some of the others.

SG: We kind of wanted to do things a little differently so we could get all audiences, not just kids but teenagers, adults and families.

FFW: Could you detail what the journey was for you from guest star to being a star on this show?

SG: I wasn’t actually supposed to be doing this pilot; I was doing a pilot going against Wizards of Waverly Place. I did Suite Life and that show’s producer liked me and wanted to put me in her spin-off of Suite Life, so I auditioned and tested for it and ended up booking it. Disney then called me and said, “We’re really having trouble finding the right Alex character, will you come in and read for it?” I didn’t think anything of it, and I walked in everyone was so sweet. I read the lines and ended up booking that pilot as well. I think the better show got chosen.

FFW: What was the premise of the Suite Life spin-off?

SG: I played a different character in that one. I was a girly-girl, I wore high heels, and pink, I had all my hair and makeup done constantly everywhere I went. The janitor from Suite Life went off to visit his family, and he played my uncle in the show. I shot that one week and then I became a Tom Boyish character who messes around with her brothers and was the middle child.

FFW: When you first read the Wizards pilot, what did you think of your character?

SG: She’s different from other leading girls on the Disney Channel. She’s the one constantly getting into trouble, she’s the “bad” one of the family, but she’s also got a sweet side to her. She’s just her own person, I think. That’s a good message to put out there; that it’s important to be your own person. They gave me the basics, but there was no real breakdown of the character, so I kind of just went in there and tried to make her individual and different, and that’s what the show is all about. My older brother is kind of the nerd type, but there’s something cool about him that both guys and girls like about him. There’s something about the whole individuality thing that a kid should learn about.

FFW: The more you’re playing the role, do you feel that the writers are incorporating more of your personality into the character?

SG: Occasionally, yeah. I don’t get into as much trouble as Alex does. When it comes to doing scenes with my character’s brothers, they’re like my real brothers, so it’s a little more real when we’re fighting or sharing a heart-to-heart moment. This is really like my second family, and as the season keeps going and with more seasons to hopefully come, it’s just going to get better and better.

FFW: But in terms of the writing, do you see the Alex character becoming more like you or are you very different from each other?

SG: Yes, that’s for sure. Me and Alex kind of blend and we’re basically the same person. For instance, I can’t wear heels in real life. I’m a klutz and I fall, and the writers wrote that in an episode where Alex pulls out a pair of Converse to wear instead of heels.

FFW: The show has a lot of effects in it. For instance, in one you spin around so fast you become a little tornado. For you, what’s involved in doing that?

SG: It’s a new challenge for me. It’s hard. We do a lot of green screen work and I sometimes have to act to a piece of tape or something. What I say to myself is, “I’m actually in my living room right now. I’m actually talking to my brother.” It also helps that cast members come in and read the lines with me from the side, so I can hear their voice and see their facial expressions, which helps a lot. But it is hard.

FFW: How much spinning did you have to do before they went to visual effects?

SG: The whole scene was me spinning. I was just constantly going in circles and then they sped it up. I did get a little dizzy, but I was okay. The good thing is that I could go at my own pace and they could just speed it up later.

FFW: Do you enjoy the visual effects aspect of the show?

SG: I love it! It’s a whole new experience and chapter, I guess. And when the audience comes to watch the show get taped, they can see how it’s all made. They can watch me do the green screen or do a wand trick and we all freeze and they add something. They see all that happening, which is really cool and it’s new, because Disney’s never had a show with this whole magic element to it. I think what will appeal most to kids is that everything they wish they could do or most dream about, we bring to life.

FFW: What kind of direction would you like to see Alex go in?

SG: I think Alex has a lot of growing up to do. She’s getting in trouble constantly in school, she’s not focusing sometimes, and I think I would like to see her mature a lot and almost have a sweet, nice moment with her brothers, rather than always messing with them or calling them names or something. Hopefully she’ll eventually grow up and realize how wonderful her family is.

FFW: If you had the chance to tell people to watch this show, what would you say to them?

SG: Of course I would always say the magic, because it’s definitely different from everything else out there. But it’s not just about magic. We also deal with real problems. We go to school, we deal with enemies at school and sibling rivalry — all of that is real. We put a lot of family in this. The parents are so involved, which is important, and I think that’s what I would tell them.

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