Vanessa Hudgens explains `bad boy` attraction

The High School Musical actress plays a girl who falls in love with Alex Pettyfer's bad boy character in Beastly and said that she can see why they have such appeal.

She told MTV News, 'I feel like a lot of girls think it's easier to go under the radar, to not really stand up and let their true selves be known.

'And I feel like when that happens, a lot of girls look up to guys who embody that, who are just truly out there and, of course, my character falls for that, as a lot of other girls would.'

The film is an adaptation of the classic fairytale Beauty And The Beast, and Hudgens admitted that it was a shock seeing Pettyfer transformed into a beast.

She said, 'It was odd. It was really, really weird. They kept it a secret from me, as long as they could.

'I was literally in shock. I didn't know what to say or do, and he was just looking up at me and not saying a word. It was really haunting, but fascinating, at the same time.'