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It might also featurethe most hard-coretracking shot in cinema history?
And redefined what it means to pronounce the word cello?
Okay, well stop rambling.
I know thatSchool of Rockscouted kids who already had a lot of musical knowledge.
How did you hear about the film?
Were you looking to break into the film industry?Sort of.
They were looking for middle-school-aged kids, but I wasnt actively looking for acting work at all.
I was pursuing music music is my passion and has been since the age of 4.
Its kind of a funny story.
My parents asked if I wanted to go to an audition, and I said sure.
You know, I was 9.
I was up for anything!
I was a chubby little girl.
Specifically, they needed someone who had range to sing Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle.
Im an old soul who grew up singing songs by those women.
So I went to the audition and there must have been, oh my gosh, 2,000 kids.
There were way too many kids there.
But I got in and out pretty quick and the casting people said that they loved me.
By the next week, I landed the role.
It didnt hit me until a month or so into filming the extent of what I was doing.
What do you remember about your first day on the set?It was extremely cold.
Most of it was shot in Long Island City on a bunch of soundstages.
As soon as I got a script, I met the other kids and started going through the scenes.
The first day, actually, they told me that my characters name was Laurie.
Why Tamika in particular?I pulled that name out of the sky.
It had a little more flavor to it.
I dont know Laurie.
I gave it a shot, and they said it was perfectly fine.
Hes a big kid.
It was a math game.
Very educational, clearly!
Im sure theres hours of behind-the-scenes footage of us playing that damn game.
There was so much singing and laughter at all times.
It was a free-flowing jot down of creation.
Did Jacks teacher persona translate offscreen at all?
He would often end a scene being like, Wow, remind me how old you guys are!
you could do all this stuff at your age?!
!He was fascinated by our talents and always seemed to enjoy watching us work.
He was a fan in that sense.
We were all actively pursuing music and he really respected that.
I always love watching the classroom scenes where Jack affectionately rambles about rock history and theory.
Did those scenes double as music education for you at all?Absolutely.
Growing up, I listened to all types of music.
But, like you said, I had limited knowledge about rock music and its history.
I may have knownofsomething, like AC/DC, but to have more knowledge and historical context was important.
I realized this after the movie came out.
When I was filming those scenes, I was in the scene trying to remember my directions.
It wasnt like I was trying to learn a lesson.
Even though you filmed in the winter, was there a camp vibe with all of the kids?
They would send a car for me every day.
The others stayed in hotels.
But they had all of us working with tutors every day in another part of the soundstages.
Fourteen kids and 14 parents in one area.
I didnt tell anybody.
I didnt have the time to, really, because it all moved so fast.
Lets talk about a few of your standout moments.
I got tosing.Thats my expertise and thats what Id been working towards.
I fell into acting, but I was born to sing.
Did you hear that voice?It was like there was a small audience cheering me on.
I didnt realize it at the time, but I was doing vocal production.
I remember they pulled out the school uniform outfits and we all couldnt stop laughing.
I learned the choreography the day before.
It didnt feel like we were being recorded.
It felt like we were just performing.
It didnt feel like we were on a set, thanks to that gigantic audience.
We didnt do more than a few takes.
It feltreal.To have a solo, too, I was extremely honored.
After that, I thought to myself that I could pursue singing seriously.
The jam session at the end is my favorite credits scene, period.
We didnt have anything planned.
When I had this moment, I went for it.
The reaction afterwards was priceless.
The whole crew was like,Whoa.The acoustics in that warehouse were incredible.
Thats what makes it such a monumental credits-rolling scene.
You couldnt have planned it.
What was it like being directed by an auteur like Richard?
Especially since most of you kids had no prior acting experience.He was the nicest guy ever.
As a kid, you never know what youre going to walk into.
But he was so patient with us and I never felt any pressure from him at all.
If anything, he wastoopatient, always giving us time to practice lines or take a moment for ourselves.
It was always very light.
It seems to get bigger and bigger every year.
Thinking about the scope of it was never on my mind.
I didnt know that it transcended to a different generation, you know?
A lot of us in the cast felt that way.
I mean, wow.
It makes you proud to be part of something like that.
And it inspired me, too.
In what ways did it inspire you?
I ran into some hiccups.
I looked more like I was 15.
I would go every single day after school to an audition and maybe get a callback.
And you know what?
I realized I didnt enjoy it.
Being the supportive mom she is, she said that was totally fine.
I started performing everywhere that I could ever since, and Ive dropped a couple songs over the years.
Its a full-circle moment.
Are you still friends with a lot of your classroom castmates?Absolutely!
We have a group chat.
We keep in touch pretty frequently and drop in our projects.
I drop my music in, Miranda drops her acting projects in, stuff like that.
Others have left the industry and talk about their families.
Theres 14 of us.
A few of them had a meet-up about a year ago in New York.
Its a very funny song.
When I was younger, I would listen to it on repeat.
You gotta be hard core!
