Exclusive Interview: Virginia Gardner and Dylan Sprouse Talk Beautiful Disaster, Their Chemistry, and More

Virginia Gardner and Dylan Sprouse are two of the stars of Beautiful Disaster.

The must-see rom-com centers on college freshman Abby Abernathy [Virginia Gardner], who is eager for a fresh start. However, her plans are quickly derailed when she meets Travis “Mad Dog” Maddox [Dylan Sprouse], a bad-boy brawler and campus playboy. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charm, Travis offers her a simple bet that makes them roommates for a month—but to their mutual surprise, their arrangement isn’t as uncomplicated as it seems.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Virginia and Dylan about Beautiful Disaster, their chemistry, fun facts, and their favorite improvised scene in the film.

PC: Virginia, when you’re working on a project that’s being adapted from a popular novel, how much do you use that source material as a frame of reference? What’s something new that you wanted to bring to Abby?
Virginia: When I read the script, it was originally the Untitled Roger Kumble Project. When I actually got the role was when I found out that it was based on a book. I had no clue during the audition process. Generally, I do read the source material. I always make sure to collect as much information as I can before taking on a role, but this was different because I knew we were going to be doing a pretty big departure from the books. Abby in the books is very different from the Abby on screen. I didn’t want to get too tied to anything that was in the books, and I didn’t want to fall in love with that version of the character. It would have made it hard for me to play this new version of the character. In this particular instance, I just worked very closely with Roger to create the version of the character that you see on screen. I wanted it to feel fresh, and we wanted to take a story that was written ten years ago and make it feel a bit more 2023-friendly.

PC: Dylan, you did a lot of training for this role. How did that preparation and physicality help you step into your character’s shoes? What was your first cheat meal after you finished filming?
Dylan: Dude, I have a list. It’s a note on my phone. My first cheat meal was a full English breakfast. Then for lunch, I had two BLTs.

Virginia: Two?

Dylan: Two. BLTs are my favorite food ever. They’re the perfect sandwich. Then I had three Shake Shack burgers, no fries. I wrote in Notes, “No fries.”

Virginia: Why no fries?

Dylan: I’m not a fries guy. I’m not a potato guy. I know that it sounds bizarre. Then I had linner, which is lunch and dinner. As you can tell, I was starving, which is part of the process that you take on when you do a film like this. You need to make sure you’re training very diligently. We did about four hours of training every day. It was something that I was very unused to doing, but it was something that I was happy I had done once the movie ended.

PC: One of the central themes in this film is about betting on yourself. What was a time in your own life when you bet yourself and the payout was more than you could have ever imagined?
Virginia: I dropped out of high school and I moved to LA at sixteen to pursue a career in acting. That was a pretty dramatic bet on myself, quite literally.

Dylan: She has crazy vibes.

Virginia: Yeah, I had no high school education to fall back on. It was either I figure out how to make a career as an actor or I’m literally screwed. I’d say it worked out all right. I’m glad I bet on myself.

Dylan: Gin, we can tell you had no high school education to fall back on. [laughs] I don’t know. I don’t gamble on myself very often because I’m an insecure individual. I’m an actor. You have to be insecure. That’s our thing.

Virginia: You do.

Dylan: You have to hate yourself. [laughs] I don’t know. I took a chance on myself by pursuing a stable relationship.

Virginia: Look at you.

Dylan: Look at me go. I’m trying my best to make the family I never had. [laughs] That’s a big one.

PC: The two of you have such great chemistry on screen and knew each other a bit before filming. What’s one fun fact about your costar that fans would be surprised to learn?
Virgina: I have a better wikiFeet rating than Dylan.

Dylan: That’s not fair. First off, it’s a little biased in women’s favor. I feel like more guys are searching up women’s feet than the opposite, but I want to say my feet are amazing.

Virginia: As are mine.

Dulan: Screw you. On that note, I will say that Ginny is a virulent slipper wearer. She never wears shoes. Any possible time that she can be without shoes, she’s not wearing shoes. That makes for a very fun environment on set, where literally if there’s even a two-second gap between takes, she’s throwing on the slippers from the hotel, which is a very funny vibe.

Virgina: I’m currently barefoot. So yeah, always.

Dylan: Me too.

Virginia: Not a shoe guy.

Dylan: The piggies are out.

PC: You both said in previous interviews that there was a lot of room for you to improvise on this project. Is there a scene or a line that you improvised that you’re really excited for audiences to see?
Virginia: I hadn’t really done much comedy before, so this was my first foray into that in a big way. Roger and Dylan were a huge help. A scene that was improvised was when I’m yelling at Dylan that I might murder him when I’m on my period. That’s something that Roger literally yelled at me. That wasn’t scripted. Roger was like, “Tell him you’re going to kill him when you get your period.” So I yelled that at him. I never thought it was going to make the movie, and it did. I don’t know how I feel about that. [laughs]

Dylan: I feel great about it. I thought it was hilarious. I remember texting you when I first saw that scene and it’s one of my favorites. There’s a particular scene after a fight in a cage where I just won the bet that the movie is centered around. I had to act like a monkey in this scene. Roger told me, “Just go wild.” We had done a few takes, but then we decided that Travis is going to act like a monkey for this part. That was one of my favorites because I always envisioned myself being in a Planet of the Apes sequel which never came out. That was one of my favorite moments of improvisation on set.

Make sure to follow Virginia (Instagram) and Dylan (Twitter/Instagram). Beautiful Disaster is out in select theaters and wherever you stream movies.