Miley Cyrus is growing up, and she wants the world to know.
In her latest film, she plays a rebellious teenager who falls in love for the first time.
Off screen, she fell in love with the same boy - Australian actor Liam Hemsworth. He's back home for the premiere, but his girl reckons she'll never see The Last Song.
Cyrus is probably the world's most famous and influential teen actress, but she is no longer just the singing, dancing Hannah Montana. She's growing up. And in her latest film, she plays an angry, troubled teen, a petty criminal, sent to live with her estranged father, who is dying.
It is based on the novel The Last Song, written by Nicolas Sparks of The Notebook fame.
"It was kinda written for me," says Cyrus. "I had said that I would love to work with Nicolas Sparks, and that got taken down the line to him. And he started working on this. And said he would love, if it was ever made into a screenplay, he'd love for me to play the role, so I got to name the character, and a lot of things that were put in there are a lot like myself."
She named her character Ronnie after her real-life grandfather Ronald. Her love interest is played by Hemsworth, who then became her real life boyfriend.
"We met for the first time when we first read and had great chemistry then," says Hemsworth, who is struggling to get used to being in the paparazzi spotlight.
"I'm still trying to deal with it. It's one of the hardest things. It's the hardest part of this job. It's a downfall. It's really difficult to have a private life, people photographing you all day and following you.
"We've had times when we've come outside and there has been, seriously, like 30 or more photographers and cameramen and people yelling and screaming."
It's a far cry from his days as an actor on Neighbours. He scored this role just five weeks after leaving Australia for LA. He lied, telling producers he could play volleyball - a game he hates - and put his health on the line to learn how to scuba dive.
"I found it really hard because I've got really bad sinus across my eyebrows, and I think I popped a blood vessel or something because I was coughing up blood, and migraines and stuff."
So is it a must see movie ? Well, not for the girlfriend.
"Honestly, it's really weird," says Cyrus. "Liam says I'm the weirdest person in the world. I don't like movies. I don't ever see movies. I've never seen Hannah Montana."
New Zealanders can watch The Last Song from April 1.
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