Beautiful Disaster is the long-awaited adaptation of the Jamie McGuire novel of the same name. Finally, over ten years after the book’s initial release, the story has been brought to the screen by director and producer Roger Kumble, who previously worked on the (at the time) shocking Cruel Intentions and iconic Ryan Reynolds vehicle Just Friends. The story centers on Virginia Gardner, a college freshman running from her past, and her surprising relationship with rough-around-the-edges Travis Maddox.
Virginia Gardner and Travis Maddox are given life by Virginia Gardner and Dylan Sprouse, respectively, each of whom shines in their role. Gardner (well-known for her work on the Hulu Marvel universe show Runaways) and Sprouse are longtime friends, which likely helped their great onscreen chemistry reach its potential. Together, they ground the story of Beautiful Disaster with real emotion, even as they seem to thrive on the film’s comedy.
Virginia Gardner and Dylan Sprouse spoke with Screen Rant about their friendship, their work on the film, and more.
Virginia Gardner and Dylan Sprouse on Beautiful Disaster
Screen Rant: You two already knew each other before you came into this movie. How much easier did that make the whole process?
Dylan Sprouse: I mean, Ginny's the best. I'm not going to speak for you, Ginny, but you're the best. We have a very similar sense of humor. We met in NYU when I was at NYU in New York. The first time I met her, she was upside down doing a keg stand, so I was like, "This girl rocks." So it was a fun interaction to meet again, but she did tear into my fashion choices at that point in time.
Virginia Gardner: Dylan was wearing, like, I don't know, a moss costume. You were a moss ball or something. It was the ugliest.
Dylan Sprouse: It was Halloween. I was dressed as a Wood Elf, okay, which is a subspecies of elf that lives inside of the forest.
Virginia Gardner: Which, clearly, people are supposed to know.
Virginia, you've done thriller work with Fall and comic book world stuff with Runaways. What made you want to step into this genre?
Virginia Gardner: I've never done comedy before. I'd also never done a romance, really, of any sort, so it was two new things for me, which I was really excited about. Also, the only thing I knew about the project at the time was [that] Roger Kumble was directing. I was a fan of Roger's work, obviously of Cruel Intentions and Just Friendsââââââ, and he's been a part of so many iconic projects that I was really excited to work with him. I like being challenged, and I like doing characters that I feel like I haven't personally done before, so it was fun to do something in this world.
Dylan, you did boxing training and bodybuilding training for this film. What was the hardest aspect of getting physically ready for your role?
Dylan Sprouse: Believe it or not, neither of those; it's actually the food you have to eat to gain that much muscle. It's like a disgusting amount of food. You really have to force yourself to eat a lot.
I had a stack of, like, five to six fish filets mixed with a [big bowl] of broccoli, and a [big bowl] of brown rice. All the while, you don't use any salt or pepper, or any seasoning at all. It's like the kind of food that Wisconsin people are used to, but I was not into it myself.
Is there anything you never want to eat again after that?
Dylan Sprouse: Sea bass. I can't even look at sea bass anymore and feel an appetite at all. It makes me sick to look at [it]. Never eat sea bass without a little bit of lemon, is my thing.
Virginia Gardner: You've got to do a seasoning.
Dylan Sprouse: No, seasoning, not even lemon. You have to count every calorie so specifically, so that was the worst part of the training regimen.
I feel like playing people that are acting like they hate each other is probably really enjoyable. Were those the most fun scenes for you both to shoot?
Virginia Gardner: They were fun. I always say Dylan's like the older brother I never asked for, so we have a bit of that relationship in real life. We give each other a lot of **** in real life, so it's fun to be able to transfer that into a scene.
Dylan Sprouse: And subsequently, Ginny's terrible to work with, so it was very easy for me to channel all of that.
Virginia, you said you hadn't really done comedy. You're really funny in this, but your character also has some darker stuff going on. Was it hard to balance all of that?
Virginia Gardner: Yeah, it was a lot to balance, and I wanted to make sure I gave her the respect that I would want someone to give me if they were going to play me in something. Even though there are so many comedic elements, I wanted to still treat it as a real character piece, and still treat her with a lot of respect, and do what I would do on any film before beginning a character, which is journaling, and making a character playlist, and really diving into her backstory. [I was] making sure that as fun as the comedy moments are, that when those dramatic moments hit, I took them with full seriousness and was able to really have a full backstory of hers to draw from.
Dylan, your character's a little rough around the edges. [It] can contribute to the charm at some point, but was there ever a challenge to making sure he is likable and not 'too much'?
Dylan Sprouse: I think that was the major challenge. This was translating from a book that was written quite a while ago, and I think the social sentiment behind a character like that has changed quite drastically in the modern day. We were walking a fine line between trying to make him lovable and independent but not neuter him at the same time, and make him still a kind of particular guy. We played a lot with that. Roger, Ginny, myself, [and] all of the cast and crew played a lot with that. I think we ended up finding a good place for it, so I'm happy with what we ended up making, but it took a village.
A lot of films don't shoot front to back. Because your characters go through so much in their relationship, was it hard to track the story in some ways as you were shooting?
Virginia Gardner: I don't want to speak for Dylan, but for me, most things are shot so out of sequence [that] I think as an actor, you just become accustomed to jumping throughout wherever you are in the story. When you have a good director, and you have a good script supervisor too, it always helps when they're like, "Remember, the last time we saw you was coming from here, and your mood was this," or whatever. It always helps when you have other people around you that are helping you keep track of the scene you've just come from.
And we already know there's a sequel happening. How has that experience been compared to this one?
Dylan Sprouse: We can't say much because we're not allowed to, but it's a major vote of confidence to shoot the sequel before the original is even released. That's so special of a thing, and I don't really think that happens very often. I can't even really name an instance in which that did happen. I think that's really kind of cool and relieving as actors, because it gives you an opportunity to jump into a character that you still feel freshly. If you take too much time away from a character, things are likely or liable to change a little bit, and so it was really fun.
We're also - I know everybody says this - but we're also blessed with a very good cast and crew that we actually hang out with. We actually enjoy each other's time. We still hang out in LA and New York when we're around, so [it] was a blessing to see all of them again.
[In keeping with] the fights in this film, if you pit all rom-coms and comedy romance films [against each other] in a tournament, which one wins? What's your favorite?
Virginia Gardner: My favorite is When Harry Met Sally. I'm such a sucker for that movie; I think it's so good. I also think it asks the question, "Can men and women be friends without sex getting in the way?" I think our movie is sort of asking that question in a 2023 way, so I think there's a fun nostalgic nod to that film in ours, which I really appreciate.
Dylan Sprouse: I'm a big anime guy and I think that Kaguya-sama: Love Is War [is my pick]. That's an anime that's a rom-com, and I think it is maybe one of the best rom-com series ever made. I think that that is a very, very strong contender in the battle royale.
About Beautiful Disaster
Abby Abernathy (Virginia Gardner), a college freshman is eager to start her new life and focus on her studies. But her plans are quickly derailed when she meets Travis "Mad Dog" Maddox (Dylan Sprouse), a bad-boy brawler and campus playboy. Travis is exactly what Abby needs – and wants – to avoid. Intrigued by Abby's resistance to his charm, Travis offers her a simple bet that makes them roommates for a month. Little do they know that they may have met their match.
Beautiful Disaster debuted in theaters on April 12th and 13th, and it will be released on digital and On Demand on May 2.