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'The DUFF' Stars Mae Whitman & Robbie Amell on Their On-Screen Chemistry

'The DUFF' Stars Mae Whitman & Robbie Amell on Their On-Screen Chemistry

5:22·By Gemma G
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'The DUFF' stars Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell visit the YH Studio to fill us in on the true meaning behind their comedy film and the reasons why they wanted to be a part of it. They also share with us their favorite places to think and/or make out, their high school crushes, and they offer some helpful tips for getting over a breakup!

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Mae Whitman

Just him with the sunglasses and the beard. That's talking about Bill with the orange shirt. I almost wore that exact ensemble but then I even with the soul patch too. Did you?

Robbie Amell

I'm glad I changed. I changed. Yeah. No. You wanted to copy him.

Mae Whitman

Somebody sent me that picture and I was like, okay. I'll try something else.

Young Hollywood

You guys, I'm kind of a to tell you, I'm in awe of the two of you. I saw the film last night. And you're both and I don't want to gosh, but you're so ridiculously talented. And together ridiculous together. Like you had so much chemistry. I could tell you guys were genuinely having fun doing scenes together.

Mae Whitman

There's my offer. I will make sure you pass science if you help me with this. You got the easy part. You can pass science in your sleep. I have to reverse duff you. Are you wearing pajamas? Tell you'll do it? Yeah.

Robbie Amell

Yes. On one condition. You got to ask me in monster voice. Wesley, monster voice from when we were little.

Mae Whitman

No, I don't I don't remember it.

Robbie Amell

Sure?

Mae Whitman

Yes, I don't I couldn't even.

Robbie Amell

We got really lucky. You never know who you're going to end up with and when you're shooting on location, you don't have the crutch of being able to go be like I'm going to go home. I'll go hang with my friend. I got dogs and I got yeah.

Young Hollywood

Did you audition together prior or did you have to audition?

Robbie Amell

I had the chemistry read with May when she had already booked it and I was super nervous cuz I'm a I'm a big fan of hers and she's worked on so many unbelievable projects with so many unbelievably funny people and it's a comedy and I'm coming in and I'm like all right, she improvises a lot. I got to have some additional lines. So one of my buddies Nick, we went over a bunch of alts and I figured if I can make her laugh, I've got a shot. There's a couple things that happened on the rock. I think Rock is like 80% improvised.

Mae Whitman

Yeah, a lot of it is improvised. We had we had almost the full day to shoot that scene and we just got to have fun and change things up.

Young Hollywood

Do you have a spot where you like to go to think or make out? Or both at the same time?

Robbie Amell

Different spots. Yeah. Think spot and the make out spot are two different spots. Think spot would be the golf course. I really like to golf.

Mae Whitman

Oh, he said golf before when we were talking about this. If you said the golf course was a make out spot, I'd be concerned. I like to there's like a garden by my house that I've been going to for a really long time and it's kind of like my spot to walk around and be thinking and or whatever.

Young Hollywood

When have you felt like a duff though? In whose presence have you ever felt like a duff?

Mae Whitman

Oh, plenty of people but I mean, I think that's exactly it. I think you only always feel like that at some point in your life. No matter how stunning or, you know, everybody's felt like a duff at some point. I don't think anybody's looked at anybody and thought that's a duff, you know, I don't think anybody's that rude or meanhearted but It was horrible for me. I hated high school. I felt like a duff all the time. I still feel like a duff all the time. I mean that's why I wanted to do this movie was to sort of just convey to people that like, you know, first of all, it's it is a really harsh term, but it doesn't it's not real. It's not it's not like, you know, and I get a lot of like, well, you're not fat or ugly enough to be this and I'm like so is there somebody else that you feel deserves to to be called this and deserves to accept that about themselves? Like, no, of course not. Nobody identifies with themselves that way or should. And I think that's the whole point is it's more casting light on this like need to like compartmentalize and bring people down. It's like you're threatened by them or if they don't understand you and stuff like that. So I mean, I feel like that all the time. I feel misunderstood and all over the place. So it was important to me to be like, you guys aren't alone. Like everybody feels this way.

Young Hollywood

So in high school, if you were the designated something, what were you the designated?

Mae Whitman

Oh my God. Designated bossy like teachers pet, sweaty.

Young Hollywood

I love that you threw sweaty in.

Mae Whitman

Sweaty science nerd. I was I was the designated sweaty science nerd. You're looking at it. You're looking at it. Um, I don't know why. I was very sweaty all the time. Even like in the morning, it was like I was like frizzy and sweaty when it was cold. It was like one of those I was like one of those kinds of people with like slight movement. I was like flushed and sweaty and they were like, are you all right? I was like, yeah, I'm just sitting here but I'm sweaty this morning. See there you go. Look at us. I can't even tell you. Both sweaty science.

Young Hollywood

You're not a sweaty Canadian. I take it.

Robbie Amell

No, I was the I was the designated jock video game nerd.

Young Hollywood

Nice. Did you have a high school crush? If so, who? Either somebody famous or somebody somebody you couldn't speak around.

Mae Whitman

You know what's weird? My high school crush's name was Wes.

Young Hollywood

Really?

Mae Whitman

Yeah. Yeah. He was like four years older than me and like so cool. And he I don't think he even knew my name or whatever. So you never got that moment where you had to date or can you imagine? No.

Robbie Amell

It was weird. Um my my sister's two years older. So all of her friends, like so many of her friends were my crushes.

Young Hollywood

There's this Cuba Ross technique for getting over a breakup in the film. Interesting. So your tips for getting over a breakup. Breakup stuff?

Mae Whitman

I guess I would say like, I mean food, definitely food. Um and music is big for me and uh and like hanging out with your friends. I don't know. I haven't I haven't been for a breakup in a long time. Things are just so good.

Robbie Amell

Just focus on your own stuff. Like do what makes you feel good that maybe you couldn't do when you were like dating somebody for whatever reason. Yeah, especially if it's a long time. You've been spending a lot a lot of time with that person, you know, you may have forgotten about yourself so just Yeah, makes it up. Yeah, makes it up.

Young Hollywood

Thanks for coming in.

Robbie Amell

Yeah, thanks for having us.

Young Hollywood

You guys are awesome. Daff is a must see.

Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.

PEOPLE MENTIONED

  • Mae Whitman

    Star of 'The DUFF' and interviewee

  • Robbie Amell

    Star of 'The DUFF' and interviewee

  • Bill

    Person Mae Whitman almost copied outfit from

  • Nick

    Robbie Amell's friend who helped with lines

  • Wes

    Mae Whitman's high school crush

FAQ

What is 'The DUFF' about?+
'The DUFF' is a comedy film whose true meaning is discussed by its stars, Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell.
Did Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell have good on-screen chemistry?+
Yes, the interviewer noted they had so much chemistry and were genuinely having fun doing scenes together.
What was Mae Whitman's high school designation?+
Mae Whitman describes herself as the designated 'sweaty science nerd' in high school.
What are Robbie Amell's tips for getting over a breakup?+
Robbie Amell advises focusing on yourself, doing what makes you feel good, and enjoying activities you might not have done while dating.
What was Mae Whitman's high school crush's name?+
Mae Whitman's high school crush was named Wes.
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