It’s been 14 years since Corbin Bleu starred in Disney Channel’s hit franchise High School Musical…and he’s back! Though he’s gone on to appear in various stage plays and on-screen productions since then, the actor has returned to his Disney roots for season 3 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
While recently speaking with Shadow and Act, Bleu opened up about appearing in the new season as himself (not the character Chad Danforth), expressing the enjoyment he felt returning to the franchise that made him a household name.
Bleu enjoyed playing a heightened version of himself in season 3
“It was so fun,” Bleu told us. “There are parts of it that make it easy, just because when you think about mannerisms, like ‘How does he speak? How does he walk?’ So I don’t have to do anything…I can just get to be me. But it’s really just more of the mindset because it is a different version of myself.”
Speaking more about playing this version of himself, he said, “I think the way I like to put it is if Corbin was in a different universe and his reaction to the High School Musical movies, and fame and stardom, all that kind of stuff–if he went down a different path and ended up being a little bit more jaded and [put up more] of a wall. That’s really where that Corbin landed, and it was fun.”
Bleu admits that he was hesitant to return to the 'HSM' franchise at first but immediately felt comfortable when the idea was brought to him.
“I was definitely hesitant,” he explained. “I was hesitant only to the extent that I had always said if I was to return it, [it had to] be under the right circumstances. But Tim Federele, the show’s creator, made me feel so comfortable and ready to come back from jump. You know he had presented several different scenarios of what a return could look like, which in itself was so comforting. And he just assured me the whole time that it would always be in a way that one, I would feel comfortable, and two, that would put me in in the best light possible for a return and that would also really satisfy the fans. I feel like we had such a great balance of that. And from the beginning to the end of shooting that that held true.”
Looking back on the original 'High School Musical' trilogy, Bleu went on to share the memory he's most fond of from that time.
“Doing those performances [on tour]…that was life changing. I mean, I not only got to travel the world, [but I also] got to travel the world and [as a] teenager, to experience so much culture. But also it was such a great training ground,” he said. “You know, I’ve made a stage career doing show after show every single night. Just being thrown into the deep end with it, I feel like it was such incredible preparation for everything that was to come.”
Watch the full interview below:
