Like the premise of Jem & the Holograms, there's a mystery about the identity of Jem. Day three of filming starts today and we still don't know who is playing Jem. Even more curious is why is this a mystery? Why are Jon Chu and Jason Blum waiting so long to make a casting announcement?
Based on a process of elimination, Aubrey Peeples is Jem. There is far too much circumstantial evidence online that puts her in the project, but in an unknown role. We here at Cool Trash think she would make a great Pizzazz and she's great playing the bitchy rival type character, and she seems far more "rock & roll" and hard edged to play Jerrica and certainly Jem.
At this point, there's no evidence the Misfits are even in the movie and Blumhouse movies have very small casts to keep the budget low. The Misfits could be held for a sequel where there's a bigger budget.
Another possibility is that a bigger name has been cast. Scooter Braum's clients, Ariana Grande and Madison Beer, seem to crop up a lot in speculation. Ariana Grande's tweets don't indicate she's filming a movie. With a low budget movie like this, time is money and why wouldn't the actress playing Jem be filming?
Beer seems too young now, since we know 17 year old Stefanie Scott is playing Kimber. But she is an example of the type of social media stunts that Scooter Braun pulls with his clients, and the possibility could be they pretend to have discovered one of his new clients during the Jem auditions. They could be waiting to put the finishing touches on the first Jem & The Holograms video to make the announcement, since announcing a name no one has heard of doesn't cause any buzz.
If Grande had been cast, then why would blonde haired Stefanie Scott be playing her sister? We think there's enough evidence that Grande isn't involved to eliminate her from the speculation.
Could Peeples be simply a stand-in for Jem? Could different actresses be playing Jerrica and Jem? Could Britta Phillips be playing Jem (she looks ridiculously young for 50!)? All we can say is, "Who is she anyways?"
Another question is why hasn't a casting announcement come out? If it was a bigger name actress like Grande, then she would need to be signed on before an announcement could be made which would cause a delay but Blumhouse would be keen to get the word out.
If a nobody like Peeples is playing Jem, then they would likely bury the news. No one except the Jem fans will care and it will be a disappointment to those who were auditioning that that a working actress from Nashville was cast and to those who wanted someone like Grande or Katy Perry to play Jem. The announcement will only come when there's a trailer or video that will promote the film and make people forget that no one they've ever heard of is playing Jem.
