'Adventures in Babysitting's' Sabrina Carpenter Isn't Quite Ready to Watch Your Kids
Sabrina Carpenter makes for a pretty compelling next-gen take on Elizabeth Shue in Disney Channel's upcoming remake of the 1987 teen classic "Adventures In Babysitting," but she admits that, in real life, she might not be the girl you want to hire to watch your own offspring.
In the TV remake, debuting June 24th, the 17-year-old actress plays the uber-responsible Jenny Parker, who squares off against a rival, wild-child babysitter ("Disney's Girl Meets World" star reveals how both she and the new movie hope to deliver fresh twists along with some nostalgic nods, even as she questions the current state of her own child-care skills.
Moviefone: What got you excited about "Adventures in Babysitting," and what got you most excited when you saw the original?
Sabrina Carpenter: I think how classic movie is and how important it was to so many people and their childhood. But also the fact that it wasn't like your stereotypical family movie. There was definitely some scary parts in it, and it was very realistic, and we wanted to keep that sort of excitement and adventure and keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout our entire movie.
It's a non-stop cat-and-mouse chase, and the kids are so talented. You've seen some of them, you haven't seen others. For the world to meet them, I'm very excited.
How is it different -- at least for your character? Is there a different sort of edge to it?
Well, I get to wear the same jacket as Elisabeth Shue, but there are definitely differences in the fact that I am a little bit more of a control freak. I like to stay inside the lines and just try to be the best babysitter I can be, but I learn throughout the movie that life's a wild ride and you can't always predict what's going to happen. It's very exciting how it goes down.
Have you babysat?
Nope. I'm the worst person to be in this movie! No, never babysat. I wouldn't trust myself. I love children, but I don't know if ... anyways, I don't want to make myself sound like a bad babysitter! I'm just unsure as of right now.
Were you a good kid when you were being babysat or did you cause trouble?
I want to say yes. I really do. I think, the thing is I was weird, so I used my imagination a lot. So maybe that caused trouble sometimes. But I would never like purposefully get in trouble, it would be accidental.
When you sat down and watched the original movie, was there one scene or one element of it that really jumped out for you? Something where you were like, "I love this part!"?
"Don't eff with the babysitter" -- which I got to kind of remake, which was really cool. And that's kind of an iconic line for a lot of people, so it was very exciting.
On the topic of nostalgia, in "Girl Meets World," you work with a couple of folks -- Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel -- who did this gig at your age.
Absolutely.
And then, in this age of familiar brand-name entertainment, they got to came back and revisit their roles. Is that something you can even imagine? In 25 years, do you think maybe you'll get to play this role again as an adult?
No! [Laughs] Sort of because we're the next version of them, so I feel like it would be incredible if people were still interested. But, then again, they probably thought the same thing when they were younger. No, but I think honestly, if any character lasts that long, it must have been a pretty great character. So they're very lucky to be such iconic roles. It's incredible.