SUMMER Bay resident-turned-Hollywood starlet Isabel Lucas has almost achieved the impossible in her latest film: made an old person’s marching brass band look cool. Lucas stars as the nubile young love interest of a rebellious teenage wannabe rocker in her latest flick A Heartbeat Away.

Her love interest in the film ( Sebastian Gregory) is forced to take over his father’s marching band leader duties when his baton waving arm is broken in a car accident four weeks out from the regional finals. But the classically trained youngster is up against it – Lucas’ on-screen father is the greedy, progress-hungry mayor of their little town and wants the marching band to lose the finals so he can knock down their community hall to make way for a high rise development. And he is not happy about his daughter dating his young nemesis.

Lucas’ character – a determined dancer who’s being pressured into law by her father – jumps to the defence of her new man and even helps him in his endeavours by teaching his geriatric band some moves. ‘‘ I enjoyed shooting those scenes, ’’ Lucas laughs over the phone from LA. ‘‘ The guys involved in shooting the marching band sequences were actually from a marching band themselves, they knew each other very well. ‘‘ And we got to know each other well over the shoot period – it was really like a little family.’’

Far from being a problem on set, the age dif­ference between the actors had the ef­fect of bringing them closer together – and Lucas hopes it will also translate for audiences. ‘‘ It was def­initely a love job for a lot of people. We’re staying in contact hopefully, so it will be a real celebration for us to come together and celebrate it, ’’ says Lucas.

A Heartbeat Away opens in Australian cinemas on March 17.