Looking back on their love! Bella Thorne exclusively tells J-14 that she and ex-fiancé Benjamin Mascolo drew from their “real life” relationship when filming Game of Love.

“Ben and I were together,” Bella explains to J-14 about how they brought their characters’ Vivien and Roy’s love story to the screen. “I think that, yeah, that was enough to draw from since we were currently dating at the time. But yeah, Vivien was a really different character for me. I’m not sure that I always play a lot of, maybe, good girls. She definitely was until she wasn’t.”

The former Disney Channel actress, 25, reunited with the Italian star, 29, for the sequel to their 2021 movie Time Is Up. The second film in the fan-favorite franchise, which was released last month, added another layer to Vivien and Roy’s relationship.

“It was really exciting just to see where it does go. You know, that’s always fun because usually that’s more of a TV show thing,” Bella shares about returning for a second movie. “So, when you get to do it in movies — you get to leave the character and then come back — it’s really interesting. On the first movie, at the very end, they told us that they wanted us to do a second one. I was like, ‘Well, let’s see what these ideas are! Where do these characters go?’ It was really interesting to see them whip it all together.”

Gallery Update: Tying the Knot! Bella Thorne and Benjamin Mascolo's Wedding: What We Know
Matt Baron/Shutterstock

One of the wildest moments in Game of Love, per Bella, were the scenes where her character was “getting lost” outside. “The weather conditions were really hectic and so that made that scene pretty tough to film,” she recalls. “All those scenes, all of the looking around, and everybody’s freezing and shaking. I had to be falling off a rock. Those scenes were a little bit tough to film, but no more than the usual movie circumstances.”

While Bella stayed mum about working with her ex — she and Ben got engaged in March 2021 and announced their split this past June — the American Horror Story star did say she “appreciated” making these movies a lot more because they were her costar’s first-ever time on a film set.

“When you’ve been acting so long, some of these things are so just — well, yeah, of course we’re gonna have to do that and do this. Then, when you get to see someone experience it for the first time, it does make you take a step back and go, ‘Oh yeah, this is really cool that we get to do this every day. This is very different.’ You forget that it’s also really hard and that what you do is cool,” the Shake It Up alum shares. “After doing it and working with people that also can really do it … it’s just not even a question. Then, you step on a set with somebody new. … When someone has their first crying scene, they’re like, [gasps] and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I cry all the time in movies.’

Love J-14? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for fun, exclusive videos with your favorite stars.