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The real-life story behind the sequel actually happened the same night as Dolphin Tale’s wrap party

That’s right: Baby dolphin Hope was rescued the same evening the cast celebrated the completion of filming the first movie. “I remember seeing this little dolphin and thinking, while all of this stuff is going on, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium continues to kind of do what they do, you know? Rescue, rehab, release. And it’s just an amazing facility, it really is,” Harry Connick Jr., who plays Dr. Clay Haskett, told us.

Austin Highsmith took her role as trainer Phoebe very seriously

“The dolphin trainers here have been amazing about welcoming me in. I come on the weekends and just do anything that the trainers do during the day—the different feedings, putting on Winter’s tale, the physical therapy with her. They’ve been really awesome about trusting me with the animals and letting me pretend I’m a real trainer even though I’m a fake one,” Austin told us.

Cozi Zuehlsdorff, who plays Hazel, fended off homesickness with a stuffed animal

“The night before I left, one of my closest family friends came to visit me at like 10:45 at night and brought me a little stuffed monkey,” Cozi said. “I named him after a character from Doctor Who and brought him with me.”

Expect to see more of Kyle’s story

“[Director] Charles [Martin Smith] called me pretty early on and said, ‘Good news, you’re not as sad this time.’” Austin Stowell joked with us about his character. “I’m glad they brought Kyle back. He’s in med school at BU and through the connections he has with the military and the work he does, he gets one of his professors to come down and offer some new opportunities for Sawyer. It’s not the recovery anymore, it’s really a new life for him.”

Winter and Hope are very different

“Winter is a little older now, so she’s a little more serious. She’s like a teenager and Hope is like a little three-year-old kid. She’s hilarious. We’ll be doing a serious scene and she’ll be back in the pool just jumping and playing and flying in the air,” Austin Highsmith told us

While young, Hope is incredibly intelligent

“They have gates that separate all three main pools [in the aquarium] and they have a little clip that you put in it and have to slide. She’s learned how to actually open it, so they have to chain it now. Isn’t that crazy?” Nathan Gamble, who plays Sawyer, told us.

Everyone was wowed by new castmate Bethany Hamilton

“Winter and I do this one thing where we go all the way to the bottom of the pool while I hold on to her and we spiral upwards. We practiced that a ton! Then they say to Bethany, ‘You’re going to do that right before.’ She never practiced it and did it perfectly.” Nathan said of the star.

Nathan and Cozi are tight in real life

“He makes me laugh so hard!” Cozi said of her co-star. “In the end [of this movie], there’s a little something going on between Sawyer and Hazel. Nothing big, but there’s one scene when Hazel tells Sawyer something like, ‘Come here, you have to see this’ and he goes, ‘Yes, dear.’ My double was standing there [while filming] going, ‘Oh my gosh #sazel. I love it!’”