‘Bullet Train’, recently released on billboards, has meant for many the discovery of Joey King. The 23-year-old actress has been working since 2008 but it wasn’t until the ‘My First Kiss’ trilogy that she became a familiar face to viewers. King continues to claim the saga despite the rain of criticism it received.
the kissing booth
‘My first kiss’ was one of the Netflix’s most successful romantic comedies in 2018 which was followed by a second and third installment in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The saga adapted the homonymous novels by Beth Reekles and revolved around the romance between Elle and Noah, which begins when she sets up a “kissing booth”.
The three installments were massacred by critics (getting an average of 15% on Rotten Tomatoes with the first and less than 30% with the following) although they worked well at the level of views. For his part, Joey King continues to defend that he is very proud of her work on the trilogy:
I couldn’t be more proud of these movies. I love them very much and it made me very happy to play that character. I will never regret those movies and I love them no matter what people say.
The actress he highly values his experience in the saga and appreciates being able to work on all kinds of projectsas evidenced by his performances in projects as disparate as the drama ‘The act’ or the action and fantasy film ‘The princess’:
I try to stop and realize how special each experience is. If I play the same roles many times, I will not have fun and I will not feel really fulfilled. So basically I’m doing whatever I want.
King recently remarked that she’s not worried about being typecast in ‘My First Kiss’ since, from the beginning, he made the decision to participate in the saga with the purpose of returning to it:
I never worried about people knowing me for that because, and I don’t want to sound arrogant, I’m pretty confident in my abilities. I know that I am capable of interpreting different types of people. I did (the first of ‘My first kiss’), then I did ‘The Act’ and then I chose to go back (to the sequels of ‘My first kiss’) and I did it consciously because I like them a lot and also play this character.
King concluded satisfied that she was beginning a new stage, in which she trusts herself more and cares less what other people think about your work:
I don’t think I pigeonhole myself into anything because I have never imposed any parameters on myself. I think if you do that, in the end you become your own enemy. I think: “Oh, people think this about me, well, I don’t think the same, so that’s their problem.”
Joey King is in theaters right now with ‘Bullet Train’, David Leitch’s (‘John Wick’) action comedy starring Brad Pitt, and is due to release ‘Camp’, Josh Yunis’ debut feature, and ‘Uglies’ , the adaptation of Scott Westerfeld’s dystopian youth saga.