‘Even Stevens Movie’ Turns 15: Christy Carlson Romano Remembers Unique Experience

Do you remember what you were doing on this day, 15 years ago? If you happen to fit into the Millennials category, it’s extremely likely you were tuning into Disney Channel for the official end to the network’s much-loved sitcom, “Even Stevens.”

The last season of the show had wrapped a few days earlier, but on this special Friday evening, “The Even Stevens Movie” premiered. This marked the end to the show that gave Shia LaBeouf (Louis) and Christy Carlson Romano (Ren) their big breaks, and it also starred A.J. Trauth (Twitty), Margo Harshman (Tawny), Donna Pescow (Mrs. Stevens), Tom Virtue (Mr. Stevens) and Nick Spano (Donnie). To honor this major anniversary of her iconic show and its finale movie, Romano spoke with International Business Times about her time on the project.

Unlike many shows and their casts, the actors on “Even Stevens” knew that the Season 3 finale would double as their series finale. Disney Channel knew the important piece of children’s television it had created and wanted to give it a proper ending, and celebrate its cast as well, which is how the movie came about.

“That movie was gonna be sort of a tribute and sort of a celebration,” Romano told IBT. “Because we went to Hawaii with some of the crew and the cast and it was kind of like a party. We had a blast.”

The cast was glad they were able to commemorate the ending of the series with not only a real-life fun trip but with an interesting on-screen finale, as well. “The movie was funny, so we were happy to shoot something that was like a longer episode version with a little bit more money,” the actress said.

Looking back on the Hawaii experience, Romano has one memory that stands out above the rest, and it has nothing to do with an actual scene she filmed. Instead, it was just something fun and unusual she did with a few of her cast and crew members. She got “roped in” by some of the locals on the crew to go to a bar to judge a bikini contest.

“It was random,” she said. “Like, one of the [transportation] guys took me and I think Nick Spano, who played the older brother was there, and the guy who played my love interest, Mootai [Josh Keaton], was there. And we were judging some bikini competition in the middle of Hawaii and we were like 19 years old. I can say I did that.”

Aside from remembering back 15 years to her time filming “The Even Stevens Movie,” which saw the Stevens’ trip to Hawaii go horribly wrong as their friends and strangers watched it all unfold on a reality show, she also recalled how she got her start on the show originally.

“I went [to Los Angeles] and I auditioned in a month for like 10 things and one of them was a pilot called ‘Spivey’s Kid Brother,’ and Spivey was the original name of Stevens. We were called Spivey,” Romano said. “I went in with my Ralph Lauren suit and my mom had had me have this suit that was so preppy and I was from Connecticut and I had one nice suit and she was like, ‘Let’s wear this. This sounds like this is perfect.’”

As it turned out, it was. The actress kept moving forward in the process and later found herself in a chemistry read with LaBeouf. The two were so different from each other, just like the characters they were auditioning for, and the casting directors and the show’s creator, Matt Dearborn, realized that.

“I think they kind of saw the chemistry between me and Shia because Shia was just so different,” she said. “So, when they called me in for the callbacks and Shia, we had the chemistry read, it was really quite obvious how much of an oil-and-water situation it was between us. So when we went in, I think that just jumped off the page for them and they were just like, ‘These are our kids. We found them.’”

Though it’s easier for her to remember this important time in her career and in her life, Romano’s also quick to picture the possibility of a future “Even Stevens” series. She “honestly” doesn’t think Disney’s currently interested in rebooting the series, like they are doing for her other series “Kim Possible” (in live-action movie form), but she thinks there’s something there. She believes it would be hard to “find that chemistry between two young kids” again, like she and LaBeouf had, and thinks a revival series would be better than a reboot.

“It was just kind of lightning in a bottle, which is why, in a way, I’m okay with them not redoing it,” she said. “If they ever wanted to do something, like… if they were to do an adult Ren Stevens, maybe she’s the mom, maybe she has a kid just like Louis, and a daughter, maybe it’s come full circle, I would be completely open to that.”

The 34-year-old even had a pretty clear image of what her strong, hard-working character would be doing now, should there ever be a spinoff series.

“I think Ren would be in politics, hands down,” Romano said. “I think Ren would be a governor or running for office in some way. I’m not sure if she’d be a single mom or if she’d be married. But I do think that she would be running for office, she would have children, I think her son would be like Louis and she would totally have the karma of having to deal with it again.”

Where would Uncle Louis be during all of this? “[He] would be snowshoeing in Tibet right now,” she envisioned. “Like, we don’t know where he is.” That kind of sounds how it is for the two actors in real life, who don’t really keep in touch. But don’t worry “Even Stevens” fans, Romano and the rest of the cast and crew are still involved in each other’s lives.

“We have reunion parties. We had the 10th anniversary and I think we had another anniversary party, a reunion party, I couldn’t go to,” Romano said. “And everyone shows up. Except for Shia. Shia doesn’t ever show up. But, everyone else does. Like, everybody: cast, crew.”

She continued: “I mean, that’s really hard to stay in touch with your entire crew, but our line producer kept everyone in touch and Facebook really helps because we’re all so interconnected… So, yeah, we all stay in touch except for Shia.”

Well, there’s nothing like a 15th anniversary to bring everyone together. Perhaps LaBeouf is off somewhere celebrating the big milestone of “The Even Stevens Movie” today. Whether or not that’s the case, fans of the series can always count on Ren Stevens herself to have the occasion marked in her calendar.