Zendaya Coleman Interviews The Cast Of “Teen Beach Movie” On “The View”

Zendaya Coleman co-hosted ABC’s “The View” this week and sat down with the cast of the new Disney Channel Original Movie “Teen Beach Movie.”

Zendaya and “The View” host Sherri Shepherd asked the cast questions about the movie and also spoke with Ross Lynch about his Disney Channel Original Series “Austin & Ally” and his band R5.  In addition to the cast, The View brought on former teen idol Frankie Avalon. Frankie is a singer and actor who starred in 1960′s films such as Beach Party, that helped inspired Teen Beach Musical.  Staged in a movie-within-a-movie — the plot has contemporary teens McKenzie (played by Maia Mitchell) and Brady (Ross Lynch) transported into “Wet Side Story,” a Sixties beach party flick — the light-hearted romp has plenty of energetic musical numbers and spirited Kennedy-era costumes. “Teen Beach Movie” is a central tentpole of the Disney Channel’s summer schedule and a promotional tour has hopscotched its way around ten cities at Simon Malls leading up to the film’s debut.

With a nod to classics like “West Side Story” and “Grease” — minus any heavy themes like teen pregnancy or socioeconomic stratification — “Teen Beach Movie” is framed by a surfers-versus-bikers story line, with Garrett Clayton playing the heartthrob surfer, Tanner, and Grace Phipps as the cute biker babe, Lela.  To capture the breezy, up-tempo look of the musical, Disney turned to a perhaps unlikely choice of costume designer in Ruth Carter, who has tended to work on more serious fare such as “Amistad” and “Malcolm X,” which both earned her Oscar nominations.  What do you think about this?