Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens wave goodbye to their Disney images in the raunchy and raucous new film Spring Breakers.
The movie, which had its premiere at the Venice film festival last night, stars Gomez and fellow former Disney star Hudgens as bikini-clad revellers on a drink and drug-fuelled orgy of beach parties and pranks.
The camera zooms in on scantily clad teenagers gyrating to the music, local drug dealers snort cocaine from writhing, topless girls and mobsters cruise the streets of Florida in Lamborghinis in a hedonistic portrait of the American Dream.
Gomez plays Faith, the least wild of a group of four young college students on their mid-term “spring break”, and the actress admitted that some fans would find the movie, directed by Harmony Korine, shocking.
“Obviously I know that coming from Disney Channel gives you kind of a brand in a way,” the 20-year-old said after the movie was screened to the press.
“People do put a label on you. I know that I have younger fans, and this is an opportunity for myself to kind of grow. It is a little shocking, I think, for the younger audiences … but I think it was right for me.
“I did things I didn’t even know I could do on the movie and I do think it was because I trusted Harmony.”
Gomez, who rose to fame as a teenager on Disney show “Wizards of Waverly Place” and enjoyed success as a pop singer, added that she turned down the opportunity to play one of the more racy characters.
“I just didn’t think I was ready for it, and I do think that Faith is right for me at this time in my career and in my life. Of course eventually I’m going to kind of work my way up to that I think,” she added.
Gomez and Hudgens star with Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine, the director’s wife.
