Madison Tevlin is a force to be reckoned with. She has a bold, no-nonsense attitude and a fearless drive to chase the things she wants: it's an energy that's absolutely contagious the moment you begin chatting with her.
Madison shot into the public eye in 2015, when a viral video of her singing John Legend's ‘All Of Me' took social media by storm. Eight years later, that five minute video has changed her life in ways she tells us she never imagined. Today, she's here to talk about her journey to the big screen, having recently starred as Cosentino in Bobby Farrelly's Champions alongside Woody Harrelson and Kaitlin Olson.
I have to say, I absolutely loved Champions. I saw it twice, once at the press screening, and a second time when I took my dad for a much-needed fun, uplifting afternoon at the cinema. And that's exactly what I feel Champions is, just so incredibly joyous. How did it feel being part of such a powerful movie that's been so wonderful and inspiring for so many people?
There's so much to say! Where do I start? I feel it's very powerful and every time you watch it, you leave feeling so good. You could go and watch this movie ten times and see someone new in their spotlight every time.
Everyone has their moment in this movie. It's all about us, all about the Friends. It's who we are. That's why I think every single thing that we do is so powerful. You get to see us for us, and the more you watch it, the better it becomes.
Absolutely! So do you remember where you were when you found out you got the job?
Yes, I love to share this story with everybody all the time! So they reached out to me through Instagram. They asked me to do all these different things for them. Self-tapes, play basketball – I'd never played basketball before! So they asked me for all these different things, and I did them. And then I got a call from my agent, and she asked me: ‘what do you want to hear? Good news, or bad news?' and I said ‘Obviously, good news!'
So she told me, you've just got the part of Consentino in Champions and I just screamed at the top of my lungs like a crazy person! I couldn't believe I got this, I was so happy! I called literally everybody that I knew. My whole family, they support me so much. They're my cheerleaders. My mum and dad were just bawling, crying over how happy they were for me.
And then somehow, suddenly I was going there to film. I went to Winnipeg, and into this big family. The Friends, they're all my brothers now, and it was just so much fun to be with them and be part of this movie.
That's just incredible. And after all of that, how did you feel going in on your first day? Was it an intimidating prospect working with such an incredible cast, or an exciting challenge, or something else entirely?
I was very happy, excited. I was walking onto set, and it was a brand new thing for me. I just felt… is this actually happening? Is this for real? That's what I said to myself. Okay, let's do this. I was so ready.
Everyone there was just a chosen family for me. The cast were so beautiful, I love the cast. Woody, Kaitlin, I just love them. Every day I walked on set and Woody just gave me the best hugs ever, in the whole entire world. Every time you speak to him it makes you want to become a better actor.
And Kaitlin, me and her were the girls who loved to make fun of him. We got to play off different sides of each other, she's my soul sister, and we spent so much time together. She's so funny, and we have this moment on the piano at the end of the movie where we're just grooving and dancing and it just felt so, so good!
Another favourite scene of mine was the bus scene as well. I got to just be myself and have a great time.
It's so interesting you say Cosentino and you have a lot of similarities, as that's actually my next question! Are there any aspects of her you particularly connected with?
Yeah, so to me, Cosentino is more of a name than a character. That's really all she is to me, because I'm basically just being myself in real life. As in, Cosentino and Madison are two different people, but we're the exact same personality.
Well Cosentino is, quite literally, a force of nature. You and Kaitlin Olson are really the only two women with major roles in the film and both of you are so funny and absolutely kick-ass. So I was wondering, what is it you enjoyed most about bringing Cosentino to life, and what did that process look like for you?
Cosentino is basically based on me. Beyond that, I was really only following what [director] Bobby wanted me to do. Everything you see in this movie is us wanting to help his vision come to life. We helped him in that way. Trying to be good, memorising our lines which for me was really easy. I was good at bouncing off other peoples' energies too. So being around all these different actors and being together, having the support of each other, [the process] was really just us being us.
Being part of the Friends was a really important part of this movie. Before we even started filming, we were all hanging out doing fun things. We were going to restaurants, some of us would watch movies together, some of us would do crafts together, all different stuff to make us a unit. That's what Bobby wanted: for it to be real life shown in a movie.
It's so lovely that what you see on screen was the reality behind the scenes too.
So there is something I really wanted to ask about: you're someone who has always been very vocal about the fact that people who have disabilities still have the same passions and ambitions in life as everyone else, which I feel is something that very much aligns with the message of Champions. What did it mean to you to be able to tell this story?
Well I always say that I have down syndrome, and that's the least interesting thing about me. It's part of who I am, but it's not all of me. There are so many different layers that make me, me. Showcasing us all in a movie with disabled people is just showing us being us, and the things we love to do. I think that's what makes the movie so special, and why people connect with it so much. For me… I'll carry that for the rest of my life.
And on that note, looking ahead on a personal level, as Champions is now out in the world and you move on to other projects, what will you carry with you from this experience?
For me, it will be the relationships. Being together with the cast, and how good that felt. When I think about it, I feel like crying because I just love every single one of them. They had a really big impact on me.
And wow, seeing myself on the big screen was weird! Especially seeing it in the theatre with all the people that I love, feeling all the emotions I felt and having seen all the inbetweens. I never would have thought that video of me singing ‘All Of Me' would go this far for me. I never thought this would have happened, and now look where it's brought me. Because of this movie I feel like anything is possible, I just want to do this for the rest of my life.
Champions available now to Download & Keep and on DVD & Blu-ray™ June 12
