Tanner Buchanan Praises Addison Rae For 'He's All That' Performance: 'She Put In The Work'

KEY POINTS

Tanner Buchanan defended Addison Rae's casting in "He's All That"
Buchanan said Rae auditioned for the role and came prepared
The "Cobra Kai" star assured everyone Rae performed well in their movie

Tanner Buchanan opened up about his working experience with TikTok sensation Addison Rae.

In an interview with Marc Malkin for the "Just for Variety" podcast, the "Girl Meets World" star defended the casting of Rae for their upcoming teen rom-com "He's All That" on Netflix. Rae rose to fame after making 80 million followers on TikTok and 40 million followers on Instagram. She had no prior acting experience before doing the film.

"She put in the work. She did audition for this," Buchanan, 22, said. "She had to send them her self-tapes and everything. Everybody had to be OK with her, and she did an amazing job."

Buchanan added that the 20-year-old came prepared when they shot the movie. In fact, she memorized her lines better than he did. Rae told the podcast host, Malkin, earlier this year that she worked with an acting coach for her debut film and that was what her co-star, Buchanan, noticed.

"I’m really big about my lines, but I screw up a lot," Buchanan added. "She knew her lines way better than I knew mine. She was on top of it the entire time. That’s what I keep telling people is you would think that she’s [been acting] for years."

Rae also shared in her own interview with Variety that she cried hysterically in her car when she was offered the lead role in "He's All That." She said she was excited to show the world more of what she loves to do.

"It’s definitely gonna be hard to prove to people how passionate and how much love I have for acting. There’s a lot of weight that comes on with that, but it’s something that I’m willing to take on and show people that this is truly who I am and what I love to do," she said.

Meanwhile, aside from the release of "He's All That," Buchanan is looking forward to the Emmys after his other Netflix project, "Cobra Kai," landed a surprise nomination for outstanding comedy series. He admitted that they didn't expect the nomination. He stressed his passion for what he does and said it was "all that matters" to him.

"He's All That" premieres Friday on Netflix.