The sexy star of the bikini outlaw flick reveals behind-the-scenes secrets.

Opening this weekend, Spring Breakers tells the story of four college girls who go on the ultimate spring break adventure. (And by “ultimate,” we mean lots of guns, drugs, sex, and crime.) The film stars two former Disney good girls—Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens—as well as former Pretty Little Liars star Ashley Benson. So what really went down while they were shooting this naughty movie? Here’s what Ashley told us.

The girls actually bonded.
“When we got to Florida, Harmony Korine, the director, really harped on the four of us being with each other all day every day. So we got a whole week of just rehearsing and hanging out. All of us got along so well, and Vanessa and I were born a few days apart, so we’re quite similar.”

They didn’t stick to the script.
“We got to improv a lot, which I’d never done, and I don’t think the other girls had either. It was my first time being able to do and say what I wanted. Every take was different: some lasted 10 minutes, some lasted one minute, and some had no talking at all. It wasn’t your average memorize-every-single-word-and-if-you-miss-a-word-you-have-to-start-over experience, and that’s what made it so awesome.”

Fans snuck on the set.
“Word got around that we were filming, and every day we would have people by the set waiting. They’d say they were working on the movie, or that they were extras, so they could get on set. We finally buckled down security, and no one was allowed anywhere. It was crazy!”

James Franco stayed in character.
“The first time I met him, he was in costume. He came out of his trailer and had cornrows, tattoos everywhere, and gold teeth, so we met James as his character, Alien, rather than James himself. Alien has an accent, and he kept it whether we were filming or not. It was really funny; the whole time we only knew him as that character. He did a lot of research for the role…”

Shooting fake guns was really scary.
“This sounds horrible, but there’s something about holding a gun. Obviously the ones that we had were fake, but you still feel like there’s so much power in your hands. I never knew what that was like, and it’s actually really scary, because when you have one, you just become a different person. I’d never shot a gun before, and you can see in the movie that I back up because I was so scared to shoot it. I thought it was going to blow back in my face and burn me.”

Spring Breakers opens Friday, March 22.

It’s one thing to obsess over Spring Breakers from afar, over the internet, or from that perfect seat halfway toward the back of the movie theater. But it’s a totally different situation (and obviously a WAY better one) to obsess over the new Harmony Korine film with one of the stars herself!

Yep, we’re talking about Ashley Benson, who invited us to come visit her at the Faviana HQ in New York City—she’s the face of the special occasion dress brand—and dish on allllll stuff fashion.

In between talking about prom (we’ll have more on that later…stay tuned!), Ashley filled us in on what it was really like filming Spring Breakers down in Florida with Selena, Vanessa, Rachel and James. She also gave us the lowdown on how RELIEVED she was to sport shorts and sneakers on the regular (comfiest costumes ever?!), her favorite premiere outfits, and how she and the rest of the cast always discuss their red carpet ensembles beforehand.

Oh, and another thing: although Ashley seems like a great girl on Instagram and in other press interviews, she’s even cooler and nicer in person. But don’t just take our word for it…see for yourself in our exclusive chat!

If Pretty Little Liars‘ Season 3 finale left you with a slew of burning questions, you’re in luck: TVLine tracked down the ABC Family drama’s exec producer Oliver Goldstick and got to the bottom of all things “Red Coat,” “Spoby,” “Ezria,” “Mon’A’” and much more!

Read on to learn what fates await your favorite Rosewoodians in Season 4, which bows June 11 at 8/7c:

Warning: Spoilers under the cut. Click HERE to read! »

TVLINE | I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with you about this Toby revelation: Over the past year, you’d convinced me that he had good reasons for hating all of the girls — and that those reasons were very real.
I’ve got a job to do here, Meg! [Laughs] I’m supposed to be titillating and playing with you as well, to some degree. Now, you will see a flashback early on in Season 4 between Toby and Alison, and you will know that he had strong feelings about her — and he assumed the girls were the same way. Things have changed because he got to know Emily and then Spencer very well, but I don’t regret saying that because he had a lot of residual anger and animosity toward these girls for what happened to him.

TVLINE | Will his working with Spencer in the finale impact his covert role within the “A” team moving forward?
The thing that really is cool in Season 4 is that Toby has a storyline where “A” — the “A” team and “Red Coat” — lures him back in. It’s a very emotional and interesting storyline for him. I won’t give away too much, but he deals with some very personal stuff that “A” knows about him.

TVLINE | The tables have been turned on Mona. Is she now part of the group and also on “A”‘s hit list?
Yes, Mona is. She’s still a vicious little dumpling, we know that, and she will remain that. But it is very cool to come into Season 4 with five PLLs, and that’s what we’re doing — which is what it was when Allison was still “alive.” We come into Season 4 exploring what it means when you get an adjunct PLL, which is now Mona, their former tormentor. You want to keep her close, because God knows she has more insight than anybody into who’s been doing this to them.

TVLINE | But does anybody actually trust her?
As far as trusting her, I always think of it as a spectrum; Hanna may trust her most, only because they shared a year of close friendship, but Spencer sees her as an attention whore who she’d never trust.

TVLINE | We’ve seen many sides of Mona over the seasons. Will this development create another new version?
Because of some other events and what happens with [Wilden's car's] trunk, and how game-changing what they find in there is, it shifts the relationship to where Mona might be needed. She becomes more necessary to them, and they can’t necessarily ostracize or antagonize her. Mona may have a three-hour time limit on being good, but you’ve got to take advantage of those three hours! [Laughs] Because of what happens in the trunk, they might need to have her around.

TVLINE | Speaking of that trunk, what can you say about its contents?
You’ll know what’s in there in the Season 4 premiere. And we pick up the season really moments after where we left off in the finale… I don’t know if you realize this, Meg, but we’re in senior year now and it’s going to move very slowly. [Laughs] It’s like, will high school ever end?!

TVLINE | We may have seen the face of Red Coat, though we can’t really trust it because they girls were so out of it…
We’ve also introduced masks, as you know. There was an Alison mask that we saw last week.

TVLINE | Why reveal it in that way?
For us, we felt like the girls had to catch up with an audience that strongly suspects that Alison is pulling the strings and is alive. We felt that it was time our girls were on the same page as viewers.

TVLINE | Where does the start of Season 4 find the newly split Aria and Ezra?
She’s got to move on. It’s gonna be tough, as he’s going to be her teacher, standing in front of that classroom. But she’s got to move on.

TVLINE | But the show’s EPs have said over the years that “Ezria” is endgame. So, is this just something they’re going through for the time being?
Yes. There’s some shocking developments with Ezra Fitz in Season 4. I cannot tease them, but your eyebrows are going to fall off! Hold onto them! [Laughs]

TVLINE | You raved earlier this year about Troian Bellisario’s arc in Season 3 — and rightfully so. Does anyone new have a standout storyline like that in Season 4?
Several, actually. Hanna’s got something that’s very juicy — juicy, juicy, juicy, juicy, juicy. [Laughs] And Emily and Aria have personal arcs that are really interesting, as well.

TVLINE | And lastly, just because you’re always so good at this, sum up Season 4 in a few words.
Is she or isn’t she? Only air traffic control knows for sure… [Laughs]

[via press release from ABC Family]

Ratings Highlights for Tuesday, March 19, 2013 – National Ratings

The “Pretty Little Liars” Season 3 Finale, ‘A dAngerous gAme,’ Becomes 1st Series in TV History to Amass Over 1 Million Total Airtime Tweets; Tuesday’s #1 “Most Social” TV Series Each Week Throughout the Season

• Finale Is Tuesday’s #1 TV Telecast for 11th Consecutive Week in Females 12-34 and Cable TV’s #1 Telecast in Women 18-34 and Women 18-49
• Wraps as ABC Family’s Most-Watched Original Series Installment Ever in 18-34s
• Surges by 1 Million Total Viewers Based on Full Week of Viewing and Adds 1.3 Million Additional Views Via VOD and Online
• Pretty Little Liars” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

The Season 3 finale of ABC Family’s award-winning “Pretty Little Liars” ranked as Tuesday’s #1 TV telecast for the 11th consecutive week in Females 12-34 (1.76 million/3.8 rating), Teens 12-17 (909,000/3.8 rating – season high) and Female Teens (807,000/6.9 rating) – each week since its January 8 season premiere – and was also the #1 TV telecast in Viewers 12-34 (2.08 million/2.3 rating) and the #1 cable TV telecast in Women 18-34 (951,000/2.8 rating) and Women 18-49 (1.21 million/1.9 rating).

Impressively, the fiery season finale, which has The Liars seeing red as they attempt to put an end to the game in ‘A dAngerous gAme,’ became the #1 “most social” series episode on record during its airtime according to SocialGuide, and the first series episode to amass over 1 million Total airtime Tweets in TV history, accouting for one-third of all Twitter activity in the hour (1,099,815; 32.7 share). Including the hours leading up to and following, it generated close to 1.6 million tweets overall (-3/+3 window; 49.0 share).

Jenn Deering Davis, Co-Founder of Union Metrics said: “By cultivating an engaged social community that builds on the show’s compelling content with all its unexpected twists and turns, ABC Family has created a can’t-miss experience for ‘PLL’ fans, where viewers have to watch live – and tweet along – every week. It’s particularly impressive how ‘Pretty Little Liars’ has managed to not only maintain a high level of fan engagement on Twitter, but actually increase it season to season.”

click to read more »

Opening in theaters on March 22nd comedy/crime drama from writer and director Harmony Korine (Gummo) called Spring Breakers. The film stars an eclectic of actors including Selena Gomez (Hotel Transylvania), Vanessa Hudgens (Sucker Punch), Ashley Benson (TV’s Pretty Little Liars), Rachel Korine (Trash Humpers), and Academy Award-nominee James Franco (Oz the Great and Powerful).

IAR’s Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine to talk about their controversial work on Spring Breakers. The young actresses discussed their new film, why Selena Gomez is so tired, the controlled chaos on set, acting with real college kids on spring break, the craziest thing they saw happen while they were shooting, why Gomez wanted to be a part of this project and play against type, if Vanessa Hudgens expected it would cause such a controversy when she agreed to do the movie, what it’s like for Rachel Korine to work with her husband director Harmony Korine, if James Franco is really crazy, why he stayed in character throughout production even when they weren’t shooting, and the fact that the actresses don’t feel like they ever met the real James Franco.

To watch our exclusive interview with Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine about Spring Breakers please click on the video player above.

Emmy winner Jake Hamilton sits down to talk with the stars of SPRING BREAKERS — Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine — only on Jake’s Takes!

With an all-star cast and enough buzz to make you go deaf, Spring Breakers is already one of the most-talked-about movies of 2013. Under the steady hand of Harmony Korine, this promised to be a lot more than your average teen flick — and, if you ask us, it delivered. Since you’ve probably already bought your tickets and are possibly waiting outside the theater in line right now, why not dig a little deeper into this genre-bending film? We chatted with Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and Harmony himself at the SXSW premiere about being badass, working with Disney stars, and obviously, spring break.

Ashley Benson, Britt

In the previews, you seem like the badass of the group. How much of a badass are you in real life?
“I’m not. I watched the film and was like, “Who is that?” That’s why it was so much fun! I got to play a completely different character and I really got into it because I’ve never done something like this. It was very fun.”

How was the taste of independent cinema?
“It was so awesome.”

Do you think you might want to do another indie movie?
“Of course. I’ve been on Pretty Little Liars for the past four years where you have to stick to the script, and you can’t put your opinion in. With an indie film — with Harmony I got to improv the whole time. It was so amazing. I definitely want to do more independent films. I think they’re more raw, they’re more real, and you get more material to work with than just the happy-go-lucky scripts.”

Did you go back and watch Kids or Gummo?
“I watched Kids, but I haven’t seen any of his other movies. With Kids I was literally like, ‘woah…’ I got on set and thought how amazing this was.”

Harmony Korine, Director

Why did you make this movie now? Why did you choose such highly recognizable actresses?
“I made the movie just ’cause I felt like I had the idea, really. It wasn’t anything I had been saving for years. I just had the idea and wrote it. As far as the girls — I wanted to work on this film with these girls because in some ways they are representative of a kind of pop mythology.”

I’m personally really excited to see this narrative play out because — I was going to say it’s ruining middle America by exposing them to the darkness. Do you think it has that element?
“Yeah, definitely. It’s more of a feeling. It’s me reflecting on those things. It’s more of a reinterpretation of all that stuff.”

It was a baptism by threesome for “Spring Breakers” actress Ashley Benson. Instead of a traditional one-on-one moment for her first sex scene, the 23-year-old opted for two partners, co-stars James Franco and Vanessa Hudgens — diving into the deep end, figuratively and literally. And, no surprise, watching the pool-set scene with an audience for the first time was anxiety-inducing, to say the least.

“The first time I saw it was on a very small screen, so I didn’t really get to see what it was when I got to see the film in Venice,” Benson recalled. “And that was extremely nerve-racking because it wasn’t just me, it was tons of people watching.”

And despite what you may be thinking about a Harmony Korine-directed threesome, which takes place in a backyard pool owned by a character named Alien, Benson insisted the scene (though scary to film) was tastefully done.

“I thought it was beautiful,” she said. “I thought it was shot beautifully. We had an amazing DP [director of photography], Benoît [Debie]. For a sex scene, I think it was just filmed beautifully. It wasn’t raunchy. It was telling a story. It was so beautiful. The film is shot so amazingly, so I think parts like that that could be seen as nasty or bad or whatever, it doesn’t seem that way because it’s just beautifully done.”

“Spring Breakers,” co-starring Selena Gomez and Rachel Korine, hits theaters in New York and L.A. on Friday, opening nationwide March 22.

Of all the films screening here at SXSW, none had Austin more riled up than the U.S. premiere of Harmony Korine’s subversive and scandalous candy colored blast “Spring Breakers.” As you’ve probably gathered from the slew of promos released by A24 for the film (which opens in select theaters this Friday), “Spring Breakers” centers on four female co-eds (Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and Korine’s real-life wife Rachel Korine) in an unnamed college town who rob a shop to fund their spring break shenanigans, only to end up in the slammer. Enter James Franco, sporting dreadlocks and grillz, as a local gangster who bails them out.

The morning prior to its raucous screening at the Paramount, Indiewire sat down with three of Korine’s spring breakers, Gomez, Benson and Rachel (Hudgens took a sick day) to discuss filming during actual spring break, working opposite a method-acting James Franco, and leaving their inhibitions behind.

It’s been a few months since the film bowed in Venice and Toronto. What’s going through your heads on the week of its release?

Selena Gomez (SG): It’s so exciting and I think we all are super passionate about it. I think it was a departure for all of us and we all enjoyed working with Harmony and James and I think this was a great opportunity for all of us, so I think we are all really stoked and proud of it.

Ashley Benson (AB): I’m excited

Are you at all nervous about the reaction?

Rachel Korine (RC): I’m excited to see it with an American audience. It’ll be the first time we’ll see it with an American audience and it’s always cool to sit through the screening and see how different countries react.

AB: But so far, I mean everybody’s loved it. It’s been out in France, we’re like number two ever for an indie film in its opening week. “Drive” was ahead of us, but we’re second which is crazy.

SG: I think there’s the obvious nervous feelings towards the reactions because people are emphasizing on it being a little shocking. But it’s not really what we’re worried about. It’s super real, it’s raw. And I’m stoked.

When did you three first see it?

AB: The first time I saw it, I went for ADR and Harmony was like, “Do you wanna watch the movie?” And I was like, “Sure,” and he took me to this little office and I watched it on a tiny TV. So I didn’t really grasp the movie. I was speechless. I was like OMG. But there’s nothing like seeing it in Venice on the big screen, it was unreal. So awesome.

click to read more »

Girls in bikinis at spring break may not be all that shocking, but “Spring Breakers” itself seemed to shock audiences at South By Southwest. Three of the four leading ladies in the film were on hand to discuss just what’s so surprising about their manic crime-filled film while visiting Austin.

First, there’s James Franco’s trashy, rapping gangster character Alien, who to Rachel Korine was far more scary than silly. “I don’t think his character was funny,” she said, calling him more “sinister and charming.”

Benson’s own wild behavior was informed, in part, by some other rappers, namely lady MCs Kreayshawn and V-Nasty. “These girls are crazy,” she told her director, Rachel’s huband Harmony Korine. She said she starting using some of their style in sussing out her character Brit.

Rachel Korine’s character Cotty flashed her crazy, dark side in the film as she tapped into “pent-up aggression and energy” from her youth: growing up in the South, students took their spring break pretty seriously, “Like [the movie], minus the violence and the crime. I always wanted to go, and my partents were pretty strict…”

Gomez’ character Faith had just that going for her — faith, or at least a religious background. “She had her own battle to face,” Gomez said.

Check out what else Benson, Korine and Gomez had to report on developing their characters for “Spring Breakers” in the video above.

“Spring Breakers” heads to theaters on March 22.