NEWSOK! Exclusive: Danielle Fishel's Advice For Her Girl Meets World Co-Stars Sounds Like Something Topanga Would Say!
June 10 2014, Published 4:39 p.m. ET
With the premiere of Girl Meets World just a mere two weeks away (June 27th, get here already!) our excitement levels are reaching a dangerous high. So naturally, when we got the chance to chat with star Danielle Fishel, we had many questions for her. Find out what has been the most surreal moment, why she connects more with Girl Meets World than Boy Meets World and her advice for the young stars of the show, which sounds like it could've come from Topanga herself!
OKMagazine.com: Are there any life lessons Girl Meets World has touched on that you’re really proud of or really hit close to home for you?
Danielle Fishel: There are definitely a lot of the same lessons that Boy Meets World taught, just updated to be a little bit more modern and with a bit of a change because it is from a female perspective. I’m particularly more interested in GMW than I ever was in the storylines of BMW because I am hyper-sensitive to being a good role model for girls and the show being a good role model for girls, so there are definitely lessons in this. We just recently filmed an episode where Riley (Rowan Blanchard) had her first date. And I had a lot of opinions about how that should go and what that really meant and there’s a bit of a cliffhanger to the episode, but the way it's going to be wrapped up in season 2 is something I’m very proud of, if we get picked up for a season 2 that is. One of my favorite things about GMW is how we show how themes and values and stories are all the same, they’re just slightly different versions. So when you’re 6 you might be dealing with the exact same problem as you are when you’re 12 or 13 just with a slightly different spin, and the same thing as adults. So we see our 6-year-old son going through a struggle and we see our 13-year-old daughter going through a struggle and then you see us having a similar struggle. One of the episodes that we did that I thought really touched on that was our Halloween episode. And I know all the fans of BMW, their number one favorite episode was the Scream episode. This is not as similar to that except for the fact that its very stylized and you see the way fear affects all the different ages of people, 6, 12 and 33.
OKMagazine.com: Does that mean Jennifer Love Hewitt is in it too?
DF: Jennifer Love Hewitt is not in this one! Unfortunately. No Jennifer Fefferman.
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OKMagazine.com: What has been the most surreal moment of this whole process for you?
DF: I think the most surreal moment was when we took our bow at the end of the 21st episode when we wrapped at the end of May. I’m so incredibly proud of the transformation and the growth of the 5 kids on the show that are regulars. The growth that they have made in just one season, they’ve made acting and personal growth in leaps and bounds. And it's only been 6 and a half months, so I can't wait to see if we get picked up for more seasons, how they continue to get better and better.
OKMagazine.com: Has there been something special you got to witness the young stars of the show go through?
DF: Yeah, all of them! I'm very close with the girls, the girls are my little lovebugs, and of course little Augie (August Maturo)! He’s grown so much in just the six and a half months that I’ve known him. I was like, "You were 5 when I met you and now you’re 6, you’re going to be 22 before I know it!" And being able to see Sabrina (Carpenter) personally release an EP, and she just got back from China! She’s just fantastic and Rowan and Sabrina were extremely excited. Even though their characters are not singers on the show, nor do they have any aspirations to be famous or pop stars on GMW, in their real lives they both do have beautiful voices, and so they got to sing the theme song for GMW called "Take on The World". It's on my phone and I listen to the theme song all the time! We have a full length-version, a 3-minute version and then the 30 second version. They’re both on iTunes and I listen to it all the time because I think it's great and they were so excited about that, so that was something I was proud to see them do.
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OKMagazine.com: Have you shared any wisdom with them off-screen?
DF: Absolutely. I do it a lot. Whether they ask for it or not, I am kind of a mama bear. In real life, the girls are 12 and 15, so of course they are going through a lot of changes. They’re going through that time in their lives when things because very confusing and they have a lot of pressure on them with the show. So sometimes I catch them reading things online about themselves that makes them upset and I'm immediately like, give me your phone and we are having a discussion and come to my room right now and I’m sitting you down and telling you how the number 1 rule of all of this is to not let what strangers say about you affect or make you believe that that is what you are. You are also not your job. It's supposed to be fun, you should come to work every day and not have insecurities and not be self-conscious, just be your wonderful, perfect self. We have those talks a lot and I think they walk away from them feeling better and more grounded. It's pretty easy to get sucked into a vortex of others and what their thoughts are and letting other people's judgments of you make you actually believe them about yourself. And sometimes you just need people to remind you that none of it means anything.
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Girl Meets World premieres on the Disney Channel Friday June 27th at 9:45 p.m. ET.
Ok seriously how excited are you for GMW? What is your very favorite episode of Boy Meets World? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter @OKMagazine.
