After five years on Nickelodeon, Miranda Cosgrove may be best known for her role on iCarly . But before she was Carly Shay, Cosgrove played Summer Hathaway in the 2003 movie School of Rock. With her out-of-tune voice and teacher's pet attitude, she stood out in Jack Black's classroom band. While the 22-year-old now stars on NBC's new comedy Crowded , she still remembers her rock 'n' roll roots. In fact, she keeps in touch with her School of Rock castmates to this day.
She tells Bustle,
I’m friends with all of them, but I don’t really see them that often. [The directors] purposely went out of their way to cast kids that weren’t actors — kids that were just really amazing musicians. They auditioned people from all over the United States.
It turns out she was the only one from the LA area, but if anything, this has its benefits. The actor explains, "It’s kind of cool, because when I went on tour or when I visit other states, there’s pretty much one kid from the movie in every state. So whenever I go visit somewhere, I have a built-in friend to meet up with."
The cast recently reunited at the opening of Broadway's School of Rock musical in December 2015. Cosgrove brought her mom, who was with her when she filmed the movie in New York City as a kid. Talking about the full-circle moment, she says, "All of the moms actually came to the play opening with their kids. So it was funny. We’re all grown up now, but we all brought our parents... So we got to relive it for a day and see the play. It was really fun." She even posted a photo of the group all grown-up:
And those aren't the only castmates she keeps in touch with. Referencing her iCarly best friend, Cosgrove says, "Jennette [McCurdy] lives really close to me and she sleeps over all the time. I literally see her all the time." As for her big bros on Drake & Josh, their sibling bond extends beyond the screen, too. She says,
With Drake [Bell] and Josh [Peck], we still are close. I still text with them and stuff, but I don’t get to see them quite as much. I probably see them a couple times every six months or so. It’s still nice to have them as friends and they’ll always be kind of like brothers to me.
Considering her character Megan made her TV brothers' lives miserable, it's nice to hear that they're actually friends. Plus, although she played their mischievous little sister, her actual personality is the exact opposite and she seems sincerely sweet.
Speaking of contrasts on-screen and IRL, although her School of Rock character Summer can't sing a note, Cosgrove has a great voice. In 2010, she released an album called Sparks Fly and I remember playing her song "Kissin' U" on repeat on my iPod for a solid month. When asked if she ever jams out to her old music, Cosgrove says,
Sometimes. It’s kind of like watching old episodes of iCarly. It’s just funny, like I remember random things, like what guy I liked or what I was wearing. Just weird things from when I was in the studio recording... It’s kind of cool to have a scrapbook in a sense, kind of some way to see how I was back then.
Music isn't just a part of her past; she actually has new music on the way. Cosgrove reveals, "I recently recorded some new songs, so I’m excited about it, because I wrote them. Even though I did some co-writes on my other songs, it’s been cool to just try something new and do songs that I wrote in my room." As for when they'll be released, her answer is "hopefully soon." She says, "It’s just been fun recording again now that I’m a little older."
Sure, she's come a long way since her School of Rock days, but it sounds like she'll never outgrow those music-making roots — thank goodness.
