“COLLEGE ROAD TRIP” on the red carpet

COLLEGE ROAD TRIP on the red carpet
Raven Symone, Martin Lawrence and Donny Osmond at premiere, & young stars give road trip tips

 

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At the big premiere for Disney’s College Road Trip, budding young Hollywood stars were looking glamorous on the red carpet. They were on hand to celebrate with two fun-loving former child performers, Raven Symone and Donny Osmond, who star with Martin Lawrence (of Bad Boys fame).

The outrageous comedy is all about a girl Melanie (Raven) looking forward to her independence as she heads off to college. But her control-freak dad (Lawrence) insists on going on a road trip with her to check out universities.

Misadventures have them running into an ultra-cheerful (and musical) father-daughter team (the scene-stealing Donny Osmond and outstanding newcomer Molly Ephraim), who help them along the way. Girlfriends (Brenda Song and Margo Harshman) also join in the fun.

Donny brought his ten-year-old son Joshua to enjoy the premiere, and the duo flashed their famous Osmond smiles at the crowd of fans at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.

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Donny was happy to sign autographs as well as talk with the press about how special the movie is to him. “I’m so glad this is a Disney movie, because it was Walt Disney who discovered my brothers and recommended that they appear on The Andy Williams Show. And then I made my debut on the show when I was five,” reported the 50-year-old former teen idol.

Playing a “nerdy white guy” in the movie wasn’t much of a stretch. Donny explained that the “Nerdy White Guy” music video he did with Weird Al Yankovic years ago could have been an audition tape for his role.

Martin Lawrence, who gets a hug and a kiss from Donny in the movie, has three young daughters, and said he was happy to do a family film “after all the N-17 movies I’ve made.” Recently he took his youngest daughter to the Hannah Montana concert movie, said it was a great “dad thing” to do.

Among the other stars at premiere were Brenda Song (Suite Life of Zack & Cody), Kym E. Whitley, Eshaya Draper, and a little piggy who plays the family pet.

In keeping with theme of the movie, I was asking the young stars what they’d pack to make a road trip more pleasant.

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Margo Harshman pointed to The Sak celebrity-coveted handbag I was carrying and told me that the first thing she would put in it would be “my iPod, because you’ve got to have good music when you’re traveling down the highway. And, since there’s lots of room left, I’d fill it with all sorts of snacks.”

Margo, who starred on the Disney Channel’s Even Stevens with Shia LaBeouf (the new young Indiana Jones), will have two more movies out this year, From Within, a horror-thriller with Adam Goldberg, and the dark comedy Legacy, about sorority sisters with Haylie Duff.

Zane Huett from Desperate Housewives said, “The most important thing to pack is my PlayStation Portable. And I like to watch DVDs, especially Top Gun with Tom Cruise.”

Field Cate, who plays young Ned on Pushing Daisies, said he’d pack “lots of entertainment stuff. My PSP, iPod, and my Wii, that’s the coolest thing now.”

Sammi Hanratty, plays Field’s girlfriend, young Charlotte “Chuck” on Pushing Daisies, and said, “The only thing that would make a road trip fun for me is bringing my dogs along. Everything’ s more fun with them.”

Kyle Massey, the star of Cory in the House, the That’s So Raven spin-off series, was at the premiere to celebrate with his TV sister. He also revealed, “My brother Chris and I recently went on a road trip through Mississippi. Coming from Hollywood, down South you feel like you’re in a different country. It was like driving back in time.” What did he pack? “DVDs to watch, M&Ms, and pillows, so I was nice and comfortable.”

Disney Channel’s Movie Surfer dude Michael Petersen, Steven Lunsford from Cory in the House, Jillian Clare, Jasmine Jessica Anthony, Abigail Breslin, Phoebe Price, Rondell Sheridan, and Miss California Teen USA, Taylor Akins also enjoyed strolling the College Road Trip red carpet.

Plus baseball’s home run superstar Barry Bonds, was seen at the event for the family friendly movie destine to be a big hit.


Margie Barron has written for a wide variety of outlets including Gannett newspapers, Nickelodeon, Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine, Fresh!, Senior Life, Production Update, airline magazines, etc. Margie is also proud to have been half of the husband & wife writing team Frank & Margie Barron, who had written together for various entertainment and travel publications for more than 38 years.

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