From US Weekly : The Kissing Booth 2’s Joel Courtney Has Spent the Pandemic Wedding Planning: ‘There’s Always Big Decisions to Make’

The silver lining! Although the coronavirus pandemic has halted work, Joel Courtney has found one positive angle to the time off: being able to plan his wedding with fiancée Mia Scholink.

“I’ve just been planning my wedding the entire time, and I’ve got to spend time with my fiancée and her family,” the actor, 24, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting The Kissing Booth 2. “I never get bored! There are always big decisions to make, always planning to do. Like, do you like these flowers? What do you think of this? And picking the venue!”

The Messenger alum got engaged to Scholink in February of this year, proposing on Valentine’s Day. “I like it, so I just had to go and put a ring on it,” he shared via Instagram at the time. The beauty consultant also posted, showing off her ring and writing, “Engaged to my best friend!!!? Can’t wait to marry you.”

The Super 8 actor added he’s not sure he would have had the time to be as involved in wedding planning had the pandemic not happened.

“I would have been working or I would have been traveling or we probably would have been long-distance,” he said. “I’m very thankful for my situation.”

Joel Courtney and Joey King in The Kissing Booth 2. Netflix

After the couple announced their engagement on social media, many of Courtney’s Kissing Booth costars were quick to comment — including Joey King, who he bonded with the most on set.

“In the movie, there’s a theme of laughter for Joey and I’s characters that comes to fruition at the end. It is this joy that these two characters have. When I am at my lowest, she can make me smile. And when she is past the point of breaking, I can lighten her spirit. Joey and I kind of have the same effect on each other,” he shared with Us. “There were times when it was like a night shoot and we were both exhausted, and we just couldn’t stop giggling. … It definitely got us through some long nights and some very long days. Joey and I are very similar in that way.”

The Kissing Booth 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

What do you get when you put Joey King and Joel Courtney in a Zoom chat with each other? A lot of fun, that's what. In promotion of their latest film, The Kissing Booth 2, the costars and close friends answered some of the internet's most pressing questions about them in a Wired autocomplete interview. While Joel discussed his first big movie audition and his astrological sign, Joey shared whether or not she has a twin. Spoiler: she doesn't, but she does have a sister named Hunter that looks a lot like her. Plus, Joel couldn't help but gush about his fiancée Mia Scholink and their upcoming wedding plans. Get ready to learn a whole bunch of fascinating facts about the stars in the clip above.

From Teen Vogue : Joel Courtney of “The Kissing Booth 2” on Lee Flynn and Elle Evans’ “Soulmate” Status

The actor opens up about the giant “family reunion” feeling of returning to make the sequel.

Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney) and Elle Evans (Joey King) have always been the heart of The Kissing Booth franchise.

It’s their friendship — with all of it’s special, somewhat confusing rules — that dominates the plot, even amid other relationship and school-related anxieties. That’s true for the movie’s sequel, too, and luckily, Joel and Joey have an IRL friendship to bolster the platonic chemistry between their characters.

“Elle and Lee are soulmates,” Joel says, though he clarifies they’re not the kind that end up dating. For Joel, returning to film The Kissing Booth 2 last year felt like a “family reunion.” He shares that he flew over to South Africa with his dad for filming on the same plane as Joey and co-star Taylor Zakhar Perez (who plays Marco). “I was sitting with my dad and Joey and Taylor had seats next to each other. I kept looking over and they were laughing together and having a great time and bonding. And I was like, ‘Aw, I love my dad, but I wish I could be with those guys.’”'

In the sequel, as in the first movie, rules are meant to be broken. This time around, the big rule is that Elle and Lee will go to college together at their dream school, the University of California at Berkeley. But priorities soon shift for Elle, who wants to apply to colleges in Boston where her boyfriend Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi) attends school with new friend Chloe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers). Meanwhile, Lee has problems of his own balancing his friendship with Elle and his growing relationship with girlfriend Rachel (Meganne Young).

Though Rachel and Elle have tension between them, Joel likes that The Kissing Booth 2 ultimately puts the blame for their conflict on Lee. He’s the one learning how to be open and honest with the people he loves. “Everything that's happening between Elle and Rachel is Lee's fault,” Joel says. “It's his lack of communication. It's his lack of strength being able to say something, hold his ground, and make it happen.”

The trio eventually figure themselves out, but the end of the second movie leaves things open for a potential third film. “If the third movie were to happen, I know what Lee would want,” he says of Lee and Elle’s plan for Berkeley. “But it's all about Elle, her decisions and how they affect her life.”

Hopefully, a third film would feature just as much stunt action as Joel got to experience in the second; in one extended scene, he engages in a veritable Rube Goldberg machine of accidents. “Doing my own stunts is really fun,” Joel says. “Finding out how Lee runs into a cake was just one of my favorite things about filming this movie. It took a long time to get because there were so many segments, we would film them all individually.”

Next up for Joel is his recently announced Lionsgate project Jesus Revolution, which will likely begin filming in 2021. He’s also starting a YouTube channel with fiancée Mia Scholink, where they’ll combine their photography and digital editing hobbies. They’re currently planning their wedding in the hopes of getting married later this year, though he says COVID-19 is making those decisions more difficult.

In the meantime, he’s reflecting on the directions of his career and what he’s focused on for the future. “I am more aware of how fluid a career can be, the ebb and flow,” Joel Courtney says. “I started out on Super 8, a huge movie that made my life completely take a turn. Then I started working on indie films and passion projects and learned how to understand the industry, and then had The Kissing Booth blow back up in such an unexpected and completely enjoyable way.“

It's one of those things where you see a career as hills and valleys. I don't know what's going to happen in five years, but I just know that I love acting and I'm going to continue to pursue it with the best of the ability that I have.”