Bandslam Boy Talks About Kissing Vanessa Hudgens

Gaelan Connell gets to smooch in new movie with the High School Musical starlet

Gaelan Connell is one lucky dude. Not only is he starring in the upcoming movie Bandslam opposite Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka of Aly & AJ, but he got to smooch with them, too.

In the flick (opening August 14), the self-described nerd plays, well, a geek who puts together a high school rock group to compete in the local battle of the bands.

"Thank you Shia LaBeouf and Michael Cera," Gaelan says, "for paving the way for someone like me to be the leading guy in a movie—revenge of the nerds!"

Read on to find out what it was like kissing Vanessa and Aly, meeting Zac Efron and dealing with the paparazzi...

You get to kiss Vanessa and Aly in the movie. So what was that like?
I mean, work is pretty hard these days. You can imagine. [Laughs]. They're so sweet. Vanessa's kiss was like day five of the shooting, and I had just met her. I'm like real nervous. I'm kind of like freaking out. When I get nervous, the blood leaves my hands, so they get that weird tingly feeling. So, I'm sitting there, trying to shake them. She kind of looks at me like, Gaelan, why are you freaking out? And I'm looking at her like, Oh, come on. Like you're really into this?

What if Zac is at the premiere watching the movie with all of you?
I like to pretend that I have a little Zac Efron in me, but my friends say that's just wildly unrealistic. But no, it's cool. I've actually talked to Zac a few times, and both Vanessa and Zac are so down to earth and so nice.

And kissing Aly?
Aly's kiss scene was actually the last night of the movie. She pulled me aside and said, "Hey, Gaelan. This kiss better look friggin' amazing!" And I was like, "Sure, OK, that's cool."

What was it like being with someone who's hounded by paparazzi? Did Vanessa give you any pointers on how to handle it?
When we were shooting in New York, I liked to think they were getting photos of me. [Laughs]. I grew up looking at all those tabloids, and I can't even imagine it. Vanessa told me about how when High School Musical opened there were 10 cars with paparazzi outside of her house. That's crazy.