TORONTO – Sneakerella is the latest Disney revival of a classic fairytale, putting a modern twist on the classic story of Cinderella. Brandon sat down with star Devyn Nekoda to discuss her life growing up in Ontario, the inspiration behind the film, and what it was like filming in Toronto!
“What makes this so special is we are pulling inspiration from that movie of course, but it’s an entirely unique movie on its own,” Nekoda explained, adding that there are many modern twists to the storyline and the characters.
The movie is filmed throughout Hamilton and Toronto, despite being set in New York City! Nekoda is no stranger to the GTA. Born in Mississauga, she grew up just outside of Brantford. She said that made filming in Toronto a lot of fun, despite having to pretend that it was New York.
“We had to obviously swap out all of the street signs and make it look like New York,” she said, adding there are still locations that people who are familiar with Toronto may recognize.
Nekoda says that while many people consider Toronto the New York City of Canada, there is no comparison.
“I love visiting New York, it’s one of my favourite places in the world to visit. It’s just incredible. So I think if you were coming from somewhere else to Toronto that would be pretty exciting too. But can you agree with me? Like you’re from Toronto, I’m from Toronto, we know about it right, so it’s… it’s not like New York,” she laughed.
Nekoda says that the entire cast of the film is very close, but she developed a special friendship with co-star Chosen Jacobs.
“I think it’s so important too when you have a friendship like Elle and Sammy, a platonic friendship like that, I think it’s really important to create that friendship offstage first because then it will translate to the screen,” she explained adding that they have a lot in common, including their taste in music.
Speaking of music, BG put Nekoda on the spot, asking who her favourite artists are. Let me tell you, we were impressed by her top picks!
“Drake, Kanye, Jack Harlow, Travis Scott, oh my goodness… I need one more… SZA?” she said, listing her favourite artists.
They discussed everything you need to know about Sneakerella, including if there was anything juicy going on behind the scenes, on this episode of The Brandon Gonez Show.
