The film, picking up where the series ended with Lizzie graduating from junior high, has the characters set off to Italy for a class trip. Once there, Lizzie is mistaken for an Italian pop star named Isabella, and finds herself experiencing a very different kind of life from the one she knows - including the discovery of true love.

Release Date: May 2, 2003
Co-Starring: Adam Lamberg (Gordo)
Hallie Todd (Jo McGuire)
Robert Carradine (Sam McGuire)
Jake Thomas (Matt McGuire)
Written By: Susan Estelle Jansen
Ed Decter
Directed By: Jim Fall
Hilary Plays: Lizzie McGuire, resurrecting the character from her popular TV series and playing her in the summer between junior high and high school. Attending a school trip to Italy, Lizzie learns an important lesson about love and discovers singing aspirations that she never knew she had.

Was it suprising to you that they wanted to make a Lizzie movie?
HD: I was kind of suprised, because it just started out being a little TV show for the Disney Channel. The movie picks up where the TV show ends. It's like the graduating class gets to go to Rome, and it was amazing because we actually did get to go to Rome. Actually, I was studying Roman history at school, so it was perfect. My teacher had my history book out while we were touring around. It was so cool to get to see everything up-close.

This would seem to be challenging in that you had to play two roles, right?
HD: Yes, I play two characters in the movie: Lizzie McGuire and also the Italian pop star, Isabella. And Isabella is a very confident singer with big, crazy, wild dark hair. So it was a big change for me. And also she had an accent, so it was a little hard for me to do, but it was fun. I worked with a dialogue coach, who goes everywhere with me. His name is Troy. And it was really important that none of Lizzie was in that character, because that wouldn't have worked. In the story, Lizzie gets mistaken for Isabella and ends up having to go on stage after she has fallen in love with this guy and he ends up being a bad guy. But she goes on stage, performs and is awesome at it. She discovers that this is kind of where she belongs and what she wants to do. She is kind of not that shy little girl anymore. She kind of grows up a little bit. And also, she and Gordo find a relationship they didn't know was there before. It's kind of cool. I just thought that it was a really cool story and very funny.

How did it feel to be performing in front of people?
HD: When I was performing, there was a really big crowd there, but it wasn't as big as you may think. They could only have so many people on the set, but it was really scary. I said to myself, "Oh my gosh, what if I mess up?" I was a little nervous, but it was a lot of fun.

You also shot some great locations, right?
HD: We did a lot of filming around the Trevi Fountain, and they even gave us permission to go into it. We also filmed on the Spanish Steps and the Tivoli Gardens. They didn't let us film inside the Coliseum, but they did let us shoot beside it. That's a big thing. Apparently, ours was the first movie to be allowed to film there in six years. We didn't shoot anything at the Vatican, but I visited there on my own.

How similar are you and Lizzie to each other?
HD: I'm more secure than Lizzie is. She's the kind of girl that at school nobody notices at first. She doesn't know how charismatic she really is. On the very first episode, she talks about how she's not a jock, a rebel or a diva - that she's none of the above. I'm more of a people person than she is. I can go into a room and talk with people. I don't know if Lizzie could do it, because she'd be too shy. Sometimes you just think about what Lizzie's going through. Most of the stuff she cried about was about a boy or something that happened to her at school, and I don't go to a regular school. Yet there's something about her that I can identify with. I also think the animated Lizzie is such a fun character because she's sassy and a little bit more edgy than Lizzie really is. She is like her alter ego.

The movie was such a hit that was talk of a second film, but nothing's happened with that yet. Do you think there's a possibility?
HD: Lizzie McGuire is definately the thing that me who I am right now, which is really cool. I'm not sick of it at all. When the idea of a sequel came up, I had other movies planned and they wanted to go right away. I really loved doing the character and I would still love to do another movie, but it's kind of their decision right now, and I don't really know what else to say. I know lots fans are going to be dissapointed that there's not going to be more Lizzie McGuire movies coming out.