Selena Gomez is back! Selena will just disappear for months at a time in recent years, and then she’ll just show up with some new project, then she goes away again. Her latest project is Only Murders in the Building, which is on Hulu. It’s a 10-episode “season” or perhaps a stand-alone miniseries, I’m not sure. Steve Martin created it, and he stars alongside Martin Short and Selena. They’ve just started promoting it and Selena is talking a lot about her big return to “television” after her child-acting days with Wizards of Waverly Place.
Selena Gomez’s new work with Hulu is a far cry from her Disney Channel days. The multi-hyphenate is starring in the streamer’s forthcoming “Only Murders in the Building” opposite Steve Martin and Martin Short and said during the TCA Summer 2021 Tour that she gravitated toward the role because of its maturity.
“I signed my life away to Disney at a very young age and I didn’t know what I was doing,” she said. “What I’d say is the level of sophistication of the material is the first reason why I wanted to do this.”
Now 29, Gomez admitted she acted just like a kid would while working on Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place.”
“I was just running around on set,” she added. Gomez hasn’t been on the set of a TV show since “Wizards of Waverly Place” ended in 2012, so she joked she’s a “sponge” trying to “soak up all the wisdom” from her comedy-legend co-stars. “It’s really nice to be back on TV and it’s nice to be cast as my actual age, which never happens,” Gomez added, later admitting, “I don’t know if I’m a good actor. I just do my job.”
Some outlets covering the TCA Summer tour framed Selena’s answer as “she’s joking” but… it doesn’t sound like a joke. And knowing what we know about Selena’s background, I would say that there’s a lot of truth to the statement “I signed my life away to Disney at a very young age and I didn’t know what I was doing.” Disney just chewed up so many of these kids and it’s absolutely true that many of them do feel like they “signed their lives away.”
This show looks kind of cute? I adore Martin Short – I wonder if Selena even understands that she’s sharing the screen with two of the biggest comedic legends in the world.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Disney is the new evil empire. They are horrible!
They want to come off as family-friendly but they are nothing but money hungry.
This would be her parents fault, no? As a child she wouldn’t have known what she was getting into, even as an adult people don’t realize.
I’ve seen the trailer for this show and I’m actually interested. She’s been through a lot and I hope that she stays heathy, mentally, physically and spiritually.
I mean, Selena is almost 30, so I’m sure she understands how big these “legends” are. It’s probably why she said she feels like a sponge soaking up all their wisdom. Selena is a better actor than singer, she has some pretty great comedic timing, I’ll be curious about this show.
This looks hilarious – I’d watch it.
Edited to add:
Agreed Gina, Disney is the new evil empire — but they have been evil for a very long time. I had the misfortune of working for them (very briefly on their Mickey Mouse Cruise Line) in the early 00’s. Um…yikes! The contract they present to young and hungry talent to sign is extremely comprehensive so I believe Selena is not at all “joking” when she says she signed her life away.
Oh, but wait – if you had the gall to want to quit before the end of your term of servitude, they made it clear you would never be rehired to work for Disney or any of their entertainment holdings at any point in the future for the rest of your natural life. No joke.
So basically, no matter how much you might want to exit from your contract for any reason (like, maybe to preserve your mental health from being in a toxic environment) the price they promised to exact for leaving them before your due date was HIGH.
p.s. I quit anyway and have been badmouthing them ever since. The Mouse is pure evil!
Re: Steve Martin and Martin Short- if you have not seen The Three Amigos (and can stomach Chevy Chase) watch it. One of my favorites growing up. They’re hilarious on their own and just incredible together.
The Three Amigos used to come on HBO so much when I was a child. I loved that movie. That’s how I even knew or was introduced to Martin Short and Steve Martin.
This actually looks pretty good! I’ll give it go.
I mean, she was a child. I understand what she means but it was someone else who signed her life away to them, not her. The new show looks fun!
looks like so much fun. I dont have Hulu 🙁 but i’d totally watch it.
Yeah I don’t have Hulu either but I’d watch it too.
Selena’s mom was a single parent who had here when she was 16. Disney will chew up and spit out the most involved and business-savvy parents of kid stars, but a young adult with money troubles didn’t stand a chance.
Disney is really evil. It bought ABC news, where my sister worked. They called full-time employees they didn’t want to give medical benefits to “contractors.” One of these young women got breast cancer, could not afford the accepted treatment and went to Germany for an experimental treatment. It did not work. She died at the age of 31 with a husband and one year old baby left behind. Whatever anyone can say about this, I believe with all my heart that had she had real medical benefits, she would not have gone the route she did, or only as a last resort. Turns out, without medical insurance, your last resort can feel like your only option. This was many years ago, before ObamaCare. I don’t know a lot of the other details of her case. Just that Disney and ABC are shithole employers who literally don’t care if their employees live or die. Thanks, Mickey Mouse!
I was already planing to watch the series, and the reviews coming out are super super positive, so I’m even more excited.
She recently said she was safe on her show (which is good, and another reminder that people need to be more careful about the rumors they spread as fact about these girls). But she also said that she was objectified by the public when she was young. That’s true, even from an outsider’s perspective. Grown, sometimes old ass men (and a few religious women) would make creepy, misogynistic comments about her. Some of them were of the fetishizing variety, while others were of the slut-shaming/victim-blaming variety. The latter was more surprising, because it felt like Selena was one of the girls who did work hard to be modest. It’s like some prudes couldn’t even appreciate her effort. The emphasis on her and all of those people’s purity wasn’t healthy and only seems to have fueled lasting aggression and entitlement in both sexes. Gross. She seems to be doing ok all things considered though.
I’m looking forward to watching OMINTB…I mean Martin Short & Steve Martin??!! Plus Selena had good comedic timing so I’m there!