Exclusive

Hannah Montana Director Also Says Sequel Unlikely

Peter Chelsom says he can't imagine another storyline, plus scoop on working with Taylor Swift and Tyra Banks

By Marc Malkin Mar 31, 2009 10:21 PMTags
E! Placeholder Image

Miley Cyrus isn’t the only one saying we probably won't be seeing a sequel to the not-even-released yet Hannah Montana movie.

The musical movie’s director, Peter Chelsom, also predicts this is it for Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the big screen.

“I don’t know what else there would be to say,” Chelsom told me yesterday. “I suppose there’s a chance, but I have a feeling Miley wants to do other stuff.”

That's not the only thing Chelsom had to say about Ms. Cyrus…

Chelsom actually didn't know who Cyrus or Hannah Montana were when his agent asked if he'd be interested in directing the flick. But then he caught an appearance by the then 15-year-old on Oprah. “I was blown away,” he said. “I just thought, you know there is no way this girl shouldn’t be ranked with Shirley Temple or Judy Garland.”

Later, Cyrus insisted he come see her in concert in Miami. “I couldn’t believe it,” he remembered. “It was like watching an evening with Barbra Streisand."

He continued, "She was 15 for the whole making of the movie…Was Barbra doing that at 15? I don’t think so.”

Cyrus wasn’t the only one to impress Chelsom.

Taylor Swift has a singing cameo in the movie. "She only did a day, but I've made a very big mental check to work with her again," Chelsom said. "If she walked in the room right now, I would say, 'Can we meet and talk about films you might want to do?' I don't have anything concrete, but I would be very keen to do something with her."

And then there's Tyra Banks. The supermodel talk-show host plays herself in a scene that ends with her and Hannah having a pratfall-filled knockdown wrestling match over a pair of shoes. "They really went for it,” Chelsom said. "I was worried that Tyra was going to get hurt, but she made it very clear that she wanted to leap around. But we were good because we had padding...everywhere."