Jason Earles will never forget the first time he met Miley Cyrus when he was auditioning to play her brother on “Hannah Montana.”
“I got to do a little chemistry read with her and I immediately was like, ‘I really want to work on this show with this girl. She’s so funny, she’s so crazy,’” he told me Monday at the premiere of the “Hanna Montana 20th Anniversary Special.”
Even so, Earles was anxious when it was time to start shooting.
“I was afraid I was going to get fired,” he said. “I had never been on a sitcom before and I just wanted to be funny enough to stick around and be able to hand with all the other funny people on the show.” Earles recently said on his podcast “Best of Both Worlds” that he was also scared he’d get fired because he told producers during his audition that he was 18, even though he was really 28.
Cody Linley played Hannah’s love interest Jake Ryan. “My first day on set was a little bit scary because the others were regulars and I was a guest star,” Linley said. “So we do a round table read-through and then we rehearse the scenes and we’re still finding the character, you know, how pompous is this guy, how rude is he, or how is he like Tom Cruise, just like a real nice guy?
“We’re finding that balance and rewriting on the fly, but by the time we performed for the live audience on Friday…it felt like a rock concert because everyone was just cheering,” he continued. “They were excited. They were already familiar with the show because it had premiered that week as the number one show at the time.”
Earles said the series’ family themes carried over behind the cameras. “I felt very quickly adopted into the Cyrus family,” he said. “I got along great with all of her siblings and her parents and her mamaw. I think that comfortability made it really easy to be funny and goof off on the show with everyone.”
Both Earles and Linley discussed the possibility of a “Hannah Montana” reboot. “I’m always up for anything,” Earles said. “I love the character. I love the world. I love to work.”
Linley imagined where Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana is now. “I like to think that she’s figured out how to have the best of both worlds so maybe she’s got a family of her own, but she still can rock out,” he said.
Cyrus has yet to commit to a reboot. She quipped to me on the carpet, “Girl, I’m already tired. This has already been a lot.”
David Archuleta did a guest spot on the show during Season 3 in 2009. He described walking on set as “surreal.”
“It was so cool getting to sing with her,” he said, referring to their “I Wanna Know You” duet. “She was already an icon at that point and to be able to be on the show [in 2009], I was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty amazing.’ It’s amazing how so many people…are still like, ‘Oh, my god I loved “I Wanna Know You.” I remember your episode.’ That was 18 years ago and you still remember me from it. That’s wild.”
Archuleta has one regret about the experience. “Miley invited me to have sushi and I was too shy to go,” he said. “Hopefully, we can make it up.”
“Hanna Montana 20th Anniversary Special” is available on Disney+ and Hulu.
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