Q: You’ve said you felt like a changed person when shooting on “The Last Song” wrapped. What did you mean?
A: At first I thought [spending the summer shooting at Tybee] would be the same as being in L.A. — a bunch of people and paparazzi following me around all the time. Once we were there a week, everything started to settle down. Mostly I changed because I got to do some normal things for once without everyone watching and judging me. I felt like I could be myself there.
Q: Besides your character’s name in the film, what other elements of Ronnie and of the story did you personalize?
A: The name is my favorite thing because it represents my granddad [Ron Cyrus, a Democratic politician who died in 2006]. Everything I do, I do to make him proud. I love music, but I didn’t necessarily want to sing in the film. I wanted something that was romantic and mature, but still kept a family base because that’s important to me. So those things weren’t specifically for me, but they were put in my direction.
Q: Did you work directly with Nicolas Sparks on those ideas?
A: Yes, he would come over to my house so we could talk about everything. Sitting down with me where I’m most comfortable made him know me more to write the script. No one really knows me until they sit down and talk to me on a friend level. There are some things I keep for myself that I don’t let everyone in the world know.
Q: Do you see your audience broadening to an older crowd with this movie?
A: Definitely. I think [the movie’s] not what people expect. It’s not some big, fake smiley, gimmicky contrived thing. It’s natural and it’s real, and that’s what I want people to see in the film.
Q: Do you see this as a transitional or in-between period in your career?
A: I do. I don’t think it necessarily means I need to jump one way or another. I don’t need to say, ‘Oh, I’ve been so cute for so long, now I need to be dark!’ That’s not who I am. I don’t need to go out there and do things for stupid shock value. In the end, you kind of screw yourself over with that kind of behavior anyway. I feel like people go in the opposite direction when they’ve been sort of cutesy and a kid star for so long. As soon as they’re released from that, they’re like, ‘This is who I am — I don’t care what people think!’ You obviously do care what people think or else you wouldn’t be trying to shock them.
Q: Do you feel any pressure to maintain the same intense level of visibility as you move into the next phase of your work?
A: I hope so. Just because “Hannah Montana” stops doesn’t mean that the mania that’s followed me for a while has to stop. What I like about shooting movies is that there’s time in between, when it’s not so rush, rush, rush. Music has always been a huge part of my life, but there’s always been this pressure to get my songs out [in sync with the TV show]. I’m sick of deadlines. And what I have to do. At the end of the day, this is my career and my life.
Q: How do you feel about ending “Hannah Montana?”
A: I auditioned for “Hannah Montana” when I was 11. I’m going to be 18 this year. It wasn’t really my decision to step away in that I thought it was holding me back as a movie actress. I don’t take myself that seriously. But there’s no way for me to be 18 and have some sense of respect for myself by trying to be that 12-year-old character-y thing. I can’t really do that my whole life. Now I need to live my life and be a little bit more real.
Q: How do you feel about being known as Hannah Montana for, perhaps, the rest of your life?
A: I always want that to be by name. By no means am I trying to forget her because without Hannah Montana I wouldn’t be who I am. I’m proud of where I started and how the show made history. But when my first record came out, the first time people started chanting my name and not Hannah Montana, it was a huge deal for me. I wasn’t trying to run away from Hannah Montana then, and I’m not doing that now. But at some point you’ve got to separate yourself because you don’t want to be attached to it your whole life.
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