Lifetime’s newest film Perfect High premieres today!
Perfect High follows the story of a couple of teenagers who get addicted to prescribed medicine and then by accident get hooked to heroin. The movie opens light to a subject that many do not like to discuss or think about when it comes to teenagers. The reality of it is that this is something that could be happening to anyone out there and the film explores the subject in a relatable manner to help prevent it from happening to others.
We talked to one of the stars of the movie, Ross Butler, who told us a little more about the film and how he prepared for his character. We also talked about his woman crushes and his ideal vacation. Check out the interview below.
Perfect High Premieres tonight @ 8PM on Lifetime. Make sure to check it out!
CS4U: I want to start off by congratulating you, because you have two movie premiers. Teen Beach and Perfect High today. So how excited are for everyone to finally see the projects that you have been working on?
Ross Butler: “I’m really excited, Generally a year and two months isn’t too long for a movie, but for me it felt like a decade just waiting for them to come out. I’m really pumped for everyone to see the two different sides of me. Teen Beach is going to be super happy and Perfect High is going to be, not so happy.”
CS4U: Can you tell our readers a little bit about Perfect High?
Ross Butler: “Perfect High tells the story of everyday teenagers who basically get caught in a destructive lifestyle and not on purpose get addicted to heroin. The story or lesson that we’re trying to teach is that heroine for some reason is making a huge comeback amongst suburban teenagers not just urban teenagers. We just wanted to raise awareness in the show that anybody could fall into this. It is something that you’re not invincible to. Its not something you can just say ‘oh that’ll never happen to me.’ It’s very relatable and has good morals.”
CS4U: So your character’s name is Nate. Can you tell us about him and how you prepared for this role?
Ross Butler: “Nate is like the party guy. The fun guy in school that everybody knows for just knowing when and where to have a good time at any given point. So for him, I was trying to figure out what would lead him to do drugs and that sort of stuff. So I did a lot of research on heroin, research on addicts and how they fall into this lifestyle. Generally, what I found is that it’s a lot of loneliness that these people deal with in one way or another. Whether it’s emotional or physical. They’re trying to fill this void by trying to be that party guy and be the guy that’s always trying to provide a good time for people so that people will like him and hopefully get closer to him, but that never happens. That’s kind of how he starts on prescription drugs and slowly morphs into this heroin addiction.”
CS4U: How different was it filming this movie from Teen Beach 2?
Ross Butler: “Considering the subject matter it did require a little more intensity and more drama. I’ve never been addicted to heroin so it’s something that I had to spend a lot of time reaserching and getting into character to get that certain feeling. When we were shooting heavy scenes, that day, I wouldn’t break character and I would try to stay in this muddle state of mind using the research I had on heroin addicts. Where as for teen beach thankfully, I didn’t have to go that deep like researching drug addiction. I had to keep the energy up rather than resourcing the energy into being a heroine addict.”
CS4U: What message do you think our readers should take from this movie?
Ross Butler: “The main message that I personally wanted to get across with Nate is that if you are feeling like you’re lonely or that you don’t have any special skills or a passion then find out what that is and put your efforts into that, rather than finding some drug to fill your time with. Also, to make sure that people don’t think that it’s ok, that using drugs won’t have a long term effect because it very much does.”
CS4U: It is officially summer! Do you have anything fun planned?
Ross Butler: “For me not really. I’m promoting movies, promoting the shows, and doing acting stuff. I don’t even know if I have any time to do anything awesome. I want to go back to Puerto Rico or like some island. Something with a beach vibe.”
CS4U: So then where would your dream vacation be?
Ross Butler: “I shot a commercial off an island in Fiji and that was like the best week of my life. It’s one of those where I questioned myself again if I was there for work or fun.We were there for a week and we shot like 2 days, so the rest of the days we were in like one of the top 5 resorts in the world. It was the perfect vacation, so if I could do that again I definitely would.”
CS4U: You have gotten to work with some beautiful leading ladies such as Bella Thorne, Zendaya, and Maia Mitchell. Who would you say is your absolute woman crush in Hollywood?
Ross Butler: “I’m torn between two. My biggest woman crushes are Rachel McAdams and Natalie Portman. And recently, Emma Stone. Ever since I heard that she and Andrew Garfield are taking a break I’m just like ‘I gotta make this move. I’m coming for you Emma.’ [laughs]”
CS4U: If you could work with any celebrity who would you want to work with and what kind of project do you see yourself doing with them?
Ross Butler: “I would love to work with Tom Hanks or Robert Downey Jr. And I would love to work on a dramedy. Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies. It’s such a great combination of drama and dark comedy. I would love to stretch my acting abilities so I could play a funny role in a serious drama.”
CS4U: Since our website is called CelebSecrets4U, do you have an on set secret from Perfect high that you could share with us?
Ross Butler: “So then it would no longer be a secret [laughs]. One of the cool things that happened is that we discovered this board game cafe one night with my girlfriend in the movie, Daniela Bobadilla. We were looking for this restaurant in Victoria and we couldn’t find it, so we walked around the block like 7 times. Apparently it was inside a mall that was closed and we had spent an hour looking for it and we were starving. We walked by this board game cafe where you go in and reserve a table and you can eat and there’s a wall full of games that you can play. And we went in and tried it out and now I’m a super big fan of board games because of that. The cast and I would all go to there after set sometimes and hang out and drink tea and play a new board game every night. That was a really cool thing that has kind of changed my view on board games. It’s not just Monopoly anymore there’s like these fun Polish board games that are a lot of fun.”
