Natalia Dyer Recalls Her First Film Role in ‘Hannah Montana: The Movie’: ‘It Was a Big Deal!’

Natalia Dyer may be most famous these days for her role as Nancy Wheeler in Netflix’s Stranger Things, but on Thursday night, she looked back on her very first role alongside Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana: The Movie.

The opportunity came as the actress was growing up in Nashville, she explained on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

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“It wasn’t a huge film town at the time and then, this sort of major production was rolling through,” she told Jimmy Fallon and guest host Megan Thee Stallion of the 2009 movie based on Cyrus’ Disney Channel series. “It was a big deal. Everyone was very excited.

“They had these two British, like, twin roles that they decided to cast locally and somehow I, yeah,” she added about her role as Hannah Montana superfan Clarissa Granger, i.e. the daughter of villainous tabloid reporter Oswald Granger, who spends the movie on a mission to uncover the pop star’s true identity.

The photo above is of Dyer as a 14-year-old at the 2009 red-carpet premiere of the film.

Also in the interview, Meg interrogated Dyer about Stranger Things as a superfan of the show, asking, “Do you miss Barb?,” referring to Nancy’s best friend played by Shannon Purser who was tragically killed in the first season by Demogorgons. “Bring Barb back, hashtag that!”

“I’m never allowed to forget about Barb,” Dyer replies. “I get it! It’s part of Nancy’s arc. It definitely drives her forward. Has she completely dealt with it? I don’t know, but we have not forgotten about Barb.”

This season, Dyer’s Stranger Things character is partially responsible for the massive resurgence of Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).” After soundtracking a key scene involving Nancy in the supernatural drama’s fourth season, the 1985 single has become one of the biggest radio hits of the year and topped all kinds of charts around the world, including both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, the Official U.K. Singles Chart and more.

Watch Dyer’s full chat with Fallon and Megan Thee Stallion below.

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