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AJ Michalka is starring in the upcoming Disney movie Secretariat. The young actress is playing Kate Tweedy, a hippie, war protesting, flower child of the late 60s and early 70s and daughter of Diane Lane’s Penny Chenery – the woman who literally bet the farm on a horse to win the Triple Crown. Michalka spoke to TeenHollywood about what a great time with this character, the wardrobe, has high praise for Lane and what her and her sister Aly are doing about new music for 78violet.

On Kate’s independant spirit: “I don’t feel like the role is that different than me. I wouldn’t say I was a war protester or a massive hippy chick. I don’t know if I’d go to the degree that Kate went to but I’m definitely free-spirited, very independent and very strong-willed and that’s very much like Kate throughout the script.”

How cool was the wardrobe? “I loved the wardrobe. It’s so fun being a part of a period piece. The last film I did (The Lovely Bones) also took place in a similar era so it was pretty neat to tap into that again.”

On meeting the real Kate: “Yeah. There is a real Kate Tweedy and the fact that I was able to portray a real person, then actually hang out with her off set was amazing. We would go over to her friend’s house and watch old footage of Secretariat racing and have dinners. It was just a surreal experience. Kate is a wonderful woman so, the fact that I look up to the real Kate as a human being is really cool. I don’t think a lot of actors can say that about someone they’ve played necessarily.”

On working with Diane Lane: “She’s incredible. It was amazing working with her. She’s very motherly, very endearing and really professional. I learned so much from her as an actress just watching how she worked. Everyone who was the family in the film became a family off screen. I think that shows on camera. It shows how close we all became. But Diane is definitely a mentor and so beautiful. I was honored to play her daughter.”

What’s up with 78violet? “Yeah. We are definitely still heavily into the music side of things. Aly is obviously filming ‘Hellcats’ but we have not strayed from our music. We’ve been busy promoting films; Aly having Easy A out and me having Secretariat coming out, we’ve been focused on both but we’ve not stopped writing and we actually recently wrote and recorded the theme song for ‘Hellcats’. It’s called ‘The Longhair’ and the first time you’ll hear it is on the 6th episode so we’re really excited about that.”

Check out all of AJ’s interview here.

Secretariat hits the big screen on October 8th.

[image: TeenHollywood]

78violet singer AJ Michalka has landed a role in the upcoming Disney film, Secretariat. The actress will costar with some serious Hollywood talent: Diane Lane and John Malkovich. AJ tweeted about her new project:

“I didn’t wanna announce this until I started filming, some of you already figured it out…I’m working on a film called Secretariat Xo AJ.

It’s a Walt Disney feature film with Diane Lane and John Malkovich. Diane & Dylan Walsh play my parents. Randall Wallace is directing! Xo AJ

So excited about this movie, it’s a beautiful true story. Having an amazing time filming in Kentucky! Finally the news has arrived ha!Xo AJ.”

Synopsis of the movie: The life story of Penny Chenry (played by Lane,) owner of the racehorse Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973. Scheduled for release in theaters in October 2010.

[images: Nikki Nelson/WENN.com]