Julia Lester on her new feel-good teen comedy ‘Prom Dates’

Break out the boutonnieres and corsages: the new teen comedy Prom Dates is now streaming on Hulu.

Julia Lester stars as high school senior Hannah, who is freshly out of the closet and ready to find her perfect prom date the night before the big dance. This marks Lester’s first leading role in a film, and she tells ABC Audio she couldn’t have had a better experience.

“I had just come off of doing High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and this project was the perfect next thing for me to do following that — still in the line of, like, a feel-good teen comedy, but a little more graduated, a little more raunchy, which I just had so much fun doing,” Lester said.

While co-stars Terry Hu and Jordan Buhat found inspiration in other teen comedies like Booksmart and American Pie, Lester looked to an unexpected high school movie.

“One of my dear, dear friends threw a Twilight and wine night party right after I booked the part, which was just so special,” Lester said. “I definitely watched Twilight to prepare for this.”

Kenny Ridwan, who co-stars as Hannah’s ex-boyfriend, Greg, said he didn’t have to look elsewhere for inspiration.

“I took maybe less inspiration from actual movies than I have from my actual life,” Ridwan said. “Greg comes from years of being a hopeless romantic.”

How does the movie compare to Lester’s real-life prom experience?

“My prom was much tamer than this,” Lester said. “I planned everything in advance, so there was no 24-hour-before scramble. It was definitely a lot chiller. But I had a really great time at my prom. So, maybe that’s also a difference, is that I actually enjoyed prom.”

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