Actors Asher Angel and Paris Berelc play high school students who fret about those post-secondary years in “Kissing is the Easy Part.” But the two knew much earlier where their careers were headed.
“When I moved here, I was 14 and I just remember having the best time,” Berelc says. “I’m from Wisconsin and I got to be on a Disney show (‘Mighty Med’), and I was like, ‘Whoa, what is my life?’ I remember running around L.A. as a little teenager being like, ‘Let’s go do this. Let’s go find more shows.’”
Likewise, Angel. He got a film at 5, a television series at 12 and a single at 17 (as well as the film, “Shazam”). A battle to get into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (his character’s quest) wasn’t a consideration.
“He’s got a very giving heart,” Angel says. “And I think we share a lot of similarities there.”
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Asher Angel, left, and Paris Berelc are high schoolers in "Kissing is the Easy Part."
In the film, Angel’s character, Sean, is hired by Berelc’s parents to tutor her for the SAT exams. Flora’s iffy about college, but the two grow close, and “scores” don’t have quite the same meaning.
Sean, the president of the high school’s physics club, has a moment where he’s shirtless in front of fellow students and feels embarrassed. But the moment seems odd, considering Angel is incredibly fit.
“I told them, ‘I just swim,’” Angel says, and that was enough for producers to explain the disconnect.
For the two actors, “Kissing is the Easy Part” is a transitional film — one bringing them from child roles to adult ones.
“This was the first time I’ve done a movie that really revolved around a love story, so that was challenging, but also fun,” Berelc says. “It’s a little more.”
Flora, played by Paris Berelc, left, is tutored by Sean, played by Asher Angel, in "Kissing is the Easy Part."
And Angel? “It was definitely more adult.” He did a few pushups in his trailer before shooting the shirtless scene and had character choices to justify. But it was also a rite of passage.
“I actually watched ‘Lab Rats,’” he says of Berelc’s early work. “I was a big fan.”
“A lot of Paris,” Berelc teases her co-star. “Ah, to make out with me?” She laughs.
Berelc says she didn’t have an argument with her mother about going to college. “I just told her, ‘I don’t want to go’ —a different trajectory. I relate to Flora that college isn’t everything.”
And now, the two are ready for other roles. “Kissing,” you might say, is the easy part.
“Kissing is the Easy Part” airs on Tubi.
