Bruce Miller talks with Isabella Pappas and Kayden Muller-Janssen about “The Villains of Valley View”
What’s the biggest superpower of them all?
“Niceness,” says Kayden Muller-Janssen, who plays a normal Valley View teen in “The Villains of Valley View,” a new Disney Channel series.
Her character, Hartley, wants to be friends with the new kids in town, who just happen to be villains.
They’re hesitant, however, to open up to Hartley until she accidentally learns their secret. Then? There’s always a little thing called blackmail.
For the girl whose actions prompted the family to move, it’s difficult to deal with someone who radiates sweetness and light. Amy – played by Isabella Pappas – doesn’t know how to respond on that level.
For Pappas, who hasn’t played in Disney’s sandbox, it was a real opportunity.
“I’ve never done comedy. I’ve only done dark, single-cam dramas,” she says. “When I started auditioning, I asked if it was OK if I acted in a natural kind of way. And they were like, ‘Yeah. We want that. This character isn’t excited about everything. She’s very blasé, actually.’ I love that she breaks the mold of what it means to be a Disney girl.”
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As Havoc (her villainous identity), she was confident of her moves. As Amy, she’s treading new turf.
“She’s not perfect. She makes a lot of bad decisions,” Pappas says. “She’s very rude. She hates authority figures. To be honest, I feel like we’ve seen a lot of guy characters that have that, but not a lot of girl characters.”
What Hartley shows her is that caring about someone can bring about change.
Meanwhile, there’s that little secret she knows that can affect the way Amy acts.
Both actresses say the relationship grows as the series go on. “It’s not like they meet and they’re like, ‘Oh we’re best friends,’ because that’s not real,” says Muller-Janssen. “You grow to trusty a person and I think that’s something that’s really reflected in the show.”
While Muller-Janssen was born in Florida and pursued acting through Disney series, Pappas was born in Italy and made a name for herself in British theater, earning an Olivier Award nomination.
Just like their characters, Pappas says, “you don’t have to agree with everyone all the time.”
To play nice, you don’t have to have a special suit, either.
But for a villain? It’s essential.
When Pappas was cast as Havoc/Amy, she met with costume designers who asked her what she wanted the outfit to look like.
“I said I just wanted to feel confident because if it didn’t feel confident in it, it kind of shows through,” she says. “When I’m wearing something I feel unstoppable in, that adds to the character so much more.”
The costume, she says, went through many changes. Pappas made suggestions (she wanted an hourglass effect on the waist) and got to weigh in on Amy’s “everyday” look.
“As you watch the season, her fashion really evolves,” Pappas says. “I probably have about 1,000 pins on Pinterest and folders of mood boards for the character, for her makeup, her hair, her nails, her wardrobe, and they were really pushing the envelope with her. She’s a normal 16-year-old girl in the sense that she doesn’t dress, act and present like everybody else.”
But she does have a friend who might just push her in the right direction.
"The Villains of Valley View" airs on the Disney Channel and Disney+.
