LOS ANGELES??When she wakes up, she looks like a beauty queen,? Alyson Stoner described Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, her ?Camp Rock? costar and bus mate on the current concert road tour tied in with the TV movie. ?That?s every day,? Alyson said in our recent interview with the cast in New York. ?She?s like a doll?she?s beautiful inside and out. She has a wonderful, pure voice. I enjoy working with her.?

Anna Maria (who portrays Ella), Alyson, the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato are back in ?Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam,? the sequel to the No. 1 cable TV movie in the US in 2008. In addition, they perform live in shows held at large venues across the US that require them to travel in a caravan of buses. Matthew ?Mdot? Finley and Jordan ?J? Francis are sharing a bus with Anna Maria and Alyson.

Alyson plays Caitlyn Geller, a dance instructor, in the sequel, which premieres on Disney Channel on Sunday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. In real life, she?s been dancing professionally for a number of years, with credits that include the movie, ?Step Up.? So, Alyson?s praise about Anna Maria?s dancing skills is significant. She said, ?Anna Maria didn?t really dance until ?Camp Rock 1.? Now, she?s dancing before thousands every night like a trouper.?

The Jonas Brothers were also effusive in their praise of the granddaughter of Sylvia La Torre. Kevin said, ?Anna Maria is awesome. She?s been part of the family for three years now.? Joe chimed in: ?She?s an incredible talent.? Nick, for his part, remarked, ?She?s one of the most talented vocalists I know. She has a big, bright future ahead of her.?

Mdot, who plays Luke, the standout performer in the rival camp, cracked, ?Anna Maria is not the loud girl I thought she would be. She?s laid-back. But, she can also be funny.?
Laughing, Jordan revealed the most important rule on the bus, ?You can?t do No. 2?you don?t want the bus to stink.? Still chuckling, he told me another rule addressed to the Filipino-American singer-actress: ?Anna Maria, don?t take my cereals. Those are my pop tarts!?

Meaghan Martin (Tess Tyler in the movie) quipped, ?We joke that Anna Maria doesn?t seem to sweat. She?s like the perfect human being. And, I love her long name.?

Penn Badgley opens up

Back in LA, we talked to ?Gossip Girl? star, Penn Badgley, who opened up about his life with costar and girlfriend, Blake Lively. ?When we?re apart, it?s certainly easier to just get by,? the actor said about the advantage of not being together in public. ?When we?re together, they might recognize either of us. So, we?re always making jokes?and this is going to sound awful?about who?s the more famous one. Like, we never get it when we?re solo, so it must be the other one.?

?You have to, because it?s ridiculous,? Penn remarked on the importance of having a sense of humor about all the attention. ?When you see these girls coming up, they can get a little crazy.?

Penn appears in the comedy film, ?Easy A,? about a high school student (Emma Stone) who uses the rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing, and the thriller, ?Margin Call,? which dramatizes a 24-hour period in the early stages of the financial crisis in the US.

?It?s important to do things apart, creatively and professionally,? he stressed. ?Even more so because we?re not a unit?we?re separate people. However, you might be united in a romantic relationship, it?s totally different when it comes to professional matters.

?Blake and I are supportive of each other. There?s absolutely no competition or jealousy. Her career has taken off in a special way,? he said of Blake?s rise. She?s in the Ben Affleck-directed ?The Town? and ?Green Lantern.?

?We don?t work together a whole lot on the show,? he explained. ?We have a lot of time apart, but we also have time together. That?s probably what gives us a good balance.?

Penn was asked about the irony in the fact that the ?Gossip Girl? characters are rewarded for their sexual exploits, while in ?Easy A,? a girl who spreads a white lie about losing her virginity finds that it?s not that easy to put out a raging rumor.

He answered, ?Look at a character like Chuck Bass (played by Ed Westwick), who?s a complete whore and yet, he?s revered in ?Gossip Girl.? Whereas Emma?s character hasn?t even slept with anybody and yet, she?s ostracized.

?High school is much more vicious than college,? he remarked. ??Easy A? is set in high school, while ?Gossip Girl? has actually moved to the college world. In the latter, there are six of us, and we keep sleeping with the same people. In that world, nobody can really judge the other!?

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