“The Rise of Red” star Kylie Cantrall talks about “love at first sight” with Malia Baker

When the daughter of the Queen of Hearts (Red, played by Kylie Cantrall) first met the daughter of Cinderella and the now-king Charming (Chloe, played by Malia Baker) at the beginning Descendants – The Rise of Redthe former immediately insults the latter. It takes them the entire movie (and a lot of time-travel fun) to finally become friends at the end. But in real life, the co-stars became instant best friends – which made playing enemies a little harder.

“Honestly, it was so difficult because I really love Kylie,” Baker says Weekly entertainment. “She’s so much fun to work with that it’s almost impossible to get into the role and hate her. I think we both flipped the switch when we heard ‘action,’ even though it took us a few tries to stop smiling. That’s where our acting skills really came into play!”

Cantrall reveals that their friendship actually began long before she was cast in the fourth installment. Offspring film (now on Disney+). “We were actually Instagram friends for a while,” Cantrall tells EW. “So we had talked about meeting up one day if I was ever in Vancouver, because that’s where she’s from, but our paths hadn’t really crossed until we did a chemistry read over Zoom over a year ago.”

Cantrall was the first cast in the film, and she remembers doing “hundreds” of chemistry reads with other actors who auditioned for the role of Chloe. “I tell Malia this story all the time because I think she’s so sweet,” she says. “Malia was the last girl I ever auditioned with for Chloe. I messaged the casting director separately and said, ‘She’s the one; she’s amazing.’ And the casting director was like, ‘Oh my God, I totally agree.’ I always tell her it was love at first sight — I just knew she was the one.”

After Baker got the role, the girls instantly became best friends when they flew to Atlanta, Georgia, to begin production. “We were there for three months shooting, but the first month was actually just our boot camp and doing our stunt training and choreography and all that,” Cantrall says. “When we got to Atlanta, it was literally January 1, 2023, so it was a great way to start the new year. We met and hit it off right away. We’re so similar and just have each other’s sense of humor, which makes it very, very fun.”

Cantrall loved the first month before filming because she, Baker and all of their co-stars had so much time to bond. “We were always together and it felt so great to practice our dance routines together and energize each other,” she says. “And afterward, we would go bowling and hang out. We had more time to hang out since we weren’t shooting yet, so we were able to really build our connection and bond. And then when we started filming, we were so engaged and a real team at that point. That made filming go really smoothly.”

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A year and a half later, Cantrall says she and Baker are still close friends. “She’s just my absolute favorite person,” she says. “And that’s probably what I’m most grateful for: Not only did I get to do this amazing project that was so much fun, but I also got to meet one of my best friends. It was so great doing it with her.”

Descendants: The Rise of Red, The fourth movie musical in the beloved franchise about the children of Disney characters introduces the next generation of villainous children, including the titular Red and her one-time enemy-turned-best friend Chloe. Before they can even settle in at Auradon Prep, the two unlikely allies are forced to team up when Red’s mother stages a coup and threatens to behead Cinderella. The duo use a magical pocket watch to travel back in time and undo the traumatic event that set Red’s mother on her villainous path in the first place. The film ends on a cliffhanger that hints at a possible sequel, though Disney has not yet greenlit a fifth sequel. Offspring Movie.