Why Chris Pine Was 'Absolutely Terrified' at the 'Princess Diaries 2' Premiere (Exclusive)

Chris Pine is recalling the "terrifying" feeling of his first big job.

ET's Denny Directo spoke to the 43-year-old actor at his Poolman premiere on Wednesday, nearly 20 years after the release of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Pine played Nicholas Devereaux in the beloved film, his first major acting credit.

"I remember when we had to do the premiere for that, it was at Disneyland. I got picked up in a stretch limo with my agent and we went there and I was so nervous," Pine said of the premiere for the movie, which he co-starred in alongside Anne Hathaway.

"I mean, I remember wearing Converse and grey pants and just being absolutely terrified," he said. "Just because this whole experience and people shouting... you've got to get used to that whole thing."

Pine's comments come on the heels of news that Princess Diaries 3 is in development.

"Yeah, I'm here! I'm here for it," Pine told ET back in March. "Give me give me a phone call or an email."

In the meantime, Pine's fans can see him is his new film, Poolman, which also serves as his directorial debut. He stars in the film as pool cleaner Darren Barrenmen alongside the likes of Danny DeVito, Annette Bening, Jennifer Jason Leigh and DeWanda Wise.

"When you grow up, you have these ideals of who your parents are and then you get to know them as adults, so I think that this was partly making sense of that," Pine told ET at Wednesday's premiere. "... We wrote it in the pandemic, so there was a lot about being alone. I know what it's like to feel alone -- aside from COVID -- and that feeling of being uncomfortable in your skin and searching for love and not knowing really how to find it."

"I guess there's two ways to go about that: you can either make a really sad sack movie that has a lot of string quartets, or you can just go as fast as possible into silly," he continued of the comedy-mystery. "I just decided to go as fast as possible into silly and make my experimental film."

Poolman hits theaters May 10.

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