Selena Gomez Embraces Role Model Status, Racy New Role

Selena Gomez is no longer a Disney actress. That will become especially apparent in early 2013 when Spring Breakers hits theaters.

In the film - which Selena described as "racy" this week in a radio interview with Elvis Duran - Selena joins a bikini-clad Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson as young women who get in trouble with the law, only to then get bailed out by a drug dealer and forced to do some of his dirty work.

This one is for you, Justin Bieber...

"The movie is different," Gomez said in that same interview. "I will be 20 this year. I am an actress; I love my job. I want to do things that are gonna challenge me and push me and make me think, 'Oh, this is different, this is interesting, the script's great.' Harmony [Korine], the director is amazing and I got to work with a great cast, so it is what it is."

Included in that cast is James Franco.

"He's great. He's very smart. I was completely intimidated," Gomez said of the former Oscar nominee. "He gave me things that pushed my performance. I really, really appreciated it."

Selena also appreciates her fans, as well as her status of a role model. She says she embraces it.

"In some aspects I've given that title and I take full responsibility for it," Selena said. "I worked for Disney Channel. My show was the best thing that happened to me.

"I got to have a great fan-base. There were girls, who were my age, 16, when I started and now they're 19, 20, with me so we kind of grew up together. So in a way, some of my fans have already grown with me."