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On the D23 podcast, Kevin Jonas recently revealed that he and his brothers from the Jonas Brothers boy band (i.e. Joe Jonas and Kevin Jonas) were reluctant to do the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock and its 2010 sequel Camp Rock: Final Jam. Apparently, the band was taking off at the time and the boys didn’t think that the movie would be in their best interest — but Disney made some changes to convince them!
Kevin Jonas and Frankie Jonas. Credit: D23
The movie from 2008 (which was a big hit and solidified the Jonas Brothers’ fame) follows a group of singers and performers at a summer camp. The three Jonas brothers play alternate versions of themselves, essentially: a famous trio of singers, but with different names. Joe Jonas plays the leader character Shane, who falls in love with down-on-her-luck aspiring singer Mitchie (played by Demi Lovato).
Kevin Jonas, Demi Lovato, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas in the Disney Channel Original Movie ‘Camp Rock’. Credit: popsugar.com
According to Kevin Jonas (one of the three singers in the boy band, who was often outshined by Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas), the trio initially said no to Camp Rock. “Making those films was such an interesting time in our life and our career”, the singer and Claim to Fame host said. The movie apparently had a “great cast” and was “really fun” for the three singers, but it was “an experience that wasn’t really supposed to happen”.
Initially, Camp Rock was just meant for Joe Jonas. “Joe got the role of Shane Gray,” Kevin Jonas explained, reminiscing. However, the band was “really starting to get going”, so the trio (including Joe) “decided as a team [that] it’s just not the right time”.
Demi Lovato played Mitchie opposite Joe Jonas as Shane Gray in ‘Camp Rock’.
The unity in that “joint decision” must have inspired Disney, because after Joe Jonas said no, the team behind Camp Rock apparently “rewrote the script and rewrote the whole thing to include [Kevin] and Nick.” Kevin and Nick only have small roles in the first film, but their roles did expand in the sequel — and apparently, their roles in that first movie were specifically due to Disney’s rewrite.
“They kind of squeezed us in there,” Kevin mused. “I guess it worked.” Did you like the inclusion of Kevin Jonas and Nick Jonas in the Disney movies Camp Rock and Camp Rock: Final Jam?
