(Warning: Mild spoilers ahead for “The Princess Switch: Switched Again.”)
“The Princess Switch: Switched Again” brought a third character played by Vanessa Hudgens into the Netflix holiday film franchise’s universe, and with her arrival, a third accent for the actress to master. And the way Hudgens developed the voice for her latest role — Duchess Margaret’s party girl cousin, Fiona — was by taking a cue from a cult-classic 2000 film.
“I’m dead. I’m dead. It’s so funny,” Hudgens told TheWrap while explaining how Fiona’s rather unique accent, which you can hear in the trailer above, came about for “The Princess Switch 2.” “I love the movie ‘Bedazzled.’ Elizabeth Hurley in that is just such an icon. I would do her voice all the time, and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s another voice that I have in my tool belt! Might as well whip her out and use her.’ So that’s where she began.”
Accent aside, Fiona is drastically different from Hudgens’ original pair of “Princess Switch” roles: Chicago baker-turned-princess of Belgravia, Stacy, and former duchess-turned-queen of Montenaro, Margaret. For starters, Fiona’s blonde. She’s also rude, self-centered and conniving but weirdly likable, which explains Margaret’s willingness to forgive her cousin’s attempt to steal her throne at the end of “The Princess Switch 2.”
“The thing with Christmas movies that’s very forgiving, in our position, is you kind of suspend belief a bit when it comes to the holidays,” Hudgens said. “I was like, ‘OK, as long as she’s completely different, I’m down to do another version of me.’ And they really gave me creative freedom to develop who she is, how she sounds, how she looks. So it was a really good time putting together all of who she is.”
Netflix greenlit “The Princess Switch 3” earlier this fall, with the movie set to begin production in Scotland later this year for a holiday 2021 release. With “The Princess Switch 2” having just launched Thursday, we asked Hudgens what to expect from the third film when it arrives next Christmas. (As TheWrap previously reported, Hudgens has no intention of playing a fourth character.)
“How do I put this in the most cryptic way possible?” she said. “I think that fans who watch ‘The Princess Switch: Switched Again’ will hopefully fall in love with Fiona like I did. So we’re definitely taking that a bit and running with it.”
Oh, we’re here for that.
“The Princess Switch: Switched Again” is available for streaming now on Netflix.
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