The actress, 16, best known for playing the title role on the Disney Channel series Andi Mack, plays Sam, second in line to the throne in the fictional kingdom of Ilyria, who discovers she has superhuman abilities and is invited to join a secret society of other second-born royals charged with keeping the world safe.
The Disney+ film sees her joins a class of royal recruits who must learn to harness their powers at a training camp, and Lee said the stunts took her out of her comfort zone.
She told the PA news agency: “I’d never done any sort of stunts before, or choreographed scenes, so there was a ton of training for that, which was really fun.
“That was a ton of fun to film because it brings this other aspect to our characters and to the film, this level of physicality, which you don’t see in a lot of films, and which I had never done before.
“All of the stuff I’ve ever shot has been very personal stories, and never these sort of big sets and big scenes, but it was really fun to add that element to the whole thing, and to be able to actually do a lot of the stunts ourselves.”
Lee admitted some of the sequences were more difficult than she was expecting, saying: “I would definitely say it was challenging, and it’s one of those things you just have to throw yourself into, you can’t work up to it, it’s just like this is what you’ve got to do so just go for it, and our stunt co-ordinator was great about making us feel safe and comfortable and all of that.
“But definitely there was a level of, ‘What am I doing? I’m so out of my comfort zone right now!’, which I think, in the end, is a really cool thing.”
Lee said she was also excited to star in a different kind of Disney princess film, adding: “That’s something that I love about it, we see Sam and each of the characters, in their own way, take the mould and what people expect you’re going to be, and break out of that.
“There’s a ton of, ‘This is what you should be as a princess, as a superhero, as a teenager in general’, and each of these characters, in their own way, don’t mould themselves to fit into this box but rather step out of that and they really are just who they are.
“I think that’s a great message for kids growing up to hear: you don’t have to be what everyone wants you to be or expects you to be or thinks you should be, but rather just be who you are. It’s definitely very cool that we don’t see any typical princess story, or superhero story.”
Secret Society Of Secord-Born Royals is streaming now on Disney+.
