JoJo Says Aquamarine ‘Brings Out Insecurities’ Through the Body

While Aquamarine she was once the pinnacle of millennial girls, a star Joanna “JoJo” Levesque they struggle in secret behind the scenes.

“I was 14 when we went to Australia and recorded it. It was cool. That was my first big movie that I had done,” JoJo, 33, recalled during the Wednesday, Sept. 18, episode of “The Viall Files” podcast. “Me [only did] independent movies before and I’ve done theater before. That was good, but it also brought out a lot of insecurity in me.”

She continued, “I was like a tomboy, [and] I was playing a tomboy. I was not thin like other girls. I felt it [heavy] near them. … I think from a young age, we know ourselves or compare ourselves to other girls—and I was no different.”

In 2006 Aquamarine, JoJo once Emma Roberts played best friends Hailey and Claire, respectively, who make the discovery that mouths really existed when the sea creature Aquamarine (played by Sarah Paxton) washed ashore at the beach club run by Claire’s family. Aquamarine needs Hailey and Claire’s help to prove that true love is here to stay on earth. Friends of about twelve years offered to help in exchange for a wish.

Looking back, JoJo sees the film as a “stupid movie.”

“It’s very funny, [and] I hope that name will not offend,” he said in Wednesday’s episode. “Such a moment [and]like, a cult classic, low-key, for girls of our generation. It’s good that women my age who have daughters play that for their daughters. It’s really good.”

JoJo, on the other hand, “learned a lot” while on the set of Aquamarine, both about confidence and about generalization.

“I can say that I learned a lot [more] in the movie after that, which was The RV [where] I played Robin Williams‘daughter. That was all,” JoJo recalled. “He was an example of what a movie star should be because he was not just that. He was the most caring, thoughtful person in the room. He knew everyone’s name in the group. He would know things about everyone’s life, and he would remember. He was a really smart person.”

Working with Williams, who died in 2014 at age 63, and introducing JoJo to one of her best friends in the late actor’s daughter, Zelda.

“I learned a lot on that set,” Levesque said, noting that he shot Aquamarine again The RV “back-to-back” between recording his first albums.

Lately, JoJo has been “more into acting.” He made his Broadway debut Moulin Rouge! Music as Satine in April. Levesque recently returned to producing The Great White Way, noting Wednesday that the 8-show-a-week schedule is “very humbling.” Levesque is also in the midst of discussions about the original music.