Interview with Chris at the FX Toy Show Convention
Orlando, FL – Jan 27, 2007
This time, TeeJay equipped me (Sisterdebmac) and flew me down to Orlando, Florida to attend the FX Toy Show where Chris was a guest, along with co-stars, the director and producers of Fanboys. This was Chris’s very first convention. He really seemed to enjoy meeting fans, signing autographs and participating in the screening of a Fanboys highlight reel and a Q&A about it. At about 3:45 that afternoon, Chris and I sat down in the green room for a half-hour talk.
I began by asking him if he’d gotten a chance to meet a perfectly enchanting young fan of his…
Deb: There’s a little girl here, she’s about 12, you probably met her, with her mom and her sister.
Chris’s escort is speaking to him, so Chris doesn’t catch what I say.
Deb: You’ve met the little girl, who’s about 12, who’s madly in love with you, with her mom and her sister.
Chris: Natalie? Yeah. Yeah.
Deb: I was gonna see if I could get her to hang out for the interview and she was so starry-eyed, it was so cute.
Chris: Yeah, she’s really nice, I liked her.
Staff lady: Did she leave?
Deb: No, she’s here somewhere, I’m not sure where she is because I had to wait until when he (Chris) was ready, so I wasn’t sure when it was gonna be.
<walkie talkie of escort goes off>
Mike: (over the walkie-talkie) I’m back on now if anybody’s looking for me.
Deb: <whispers> That has gotta stop.
Escort: I’m turning it off.
Deb: Okay. Thank you. We had so much trouble last time, we were right beside the bathroom, remember that?
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: That was great.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: We’re gonna go ahead and start with Alpha Dog questions…
Chris: Sure.
Deb: … because that’s what’s on everybody’s mind right now.
Chris: Yeah, okay.
Deb: We’re getting in a lot of online talk about the film and there’s a lot of positive, and, you know, a lot of negative too. I’ve seen it three times now.
Chris: Oh yeah?
Deb: Yeah, the first time I saw it was in November. Nick (Cassavetes) brought it on tour.
Chris: Oh yeah?
Deb: To the colleges.
Chris: Oh yeah.
Deb: I don’t know if you knew about that.
Chris: No, I didn’t.
Deb: But he came to University of Georgia, so I drove up and saw it and there was a Q&A afterwards and I got to talk to Nick a little bit.
Chris: Oh, cool.
Deb: I also told him what you said about liking to work with him in the future.
Chris: Oh yeah? Oh, cool.
Deb: And I saw you guys at the premiere. Well, I didn’t see you at the premiere, but I saw photos of you at the premiere.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Deb: Looks like a real love fest between you guys.
Chris: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s a really close friend.
Deb: I understand that you might actually be doing something else with him someday maybe in the future?
Chris: I would hope so. Yeah, I would hope so. Yeah, it’s definitely possible.
Deb: He actually told me about a book, Going After Cacciato, that you are talking about.
Chris: Yeah. <laughs a little> I’m surprised he mentioned that.
Deb: He told us the movies that he was working on, the next two that he was working on and that’s something that you guys have been talking about. Do you know what role you…?
Chris: I don’t, actually.
Deb: Have you read the book…
Chris: Nope.
Deb: … or is there a script yet for the film?
Chris: Yes, there is, yeah, and I have not read that either, actually. So he’s about to show me this month.
Deb: Cool. So you’d like to do that if it comes up.
Chris: Yeah, I’ll do anything Nick would do.
Deb: He’s a great guy.
Chris: Yeah, he is. He’s amazing.
Deb: And I’ll tell you something else, we’ve also been talking to Matthew Barry.
Chris: Oh yeah?
Deb: And I’ll tell you…
Chris: Oh yeah? How’d you guys get hold of Matthew Barry?
Deb: He posts online a little bit.
Chris: Okay, all right.
Deb: Chit-chatted with him and this is an answer to a comment that I made to him. He says: “We hired Chris on Freddy [vs.] Jason and knew he was perfect for the role. Introduced him to Nick, who hired him on the spot.” This is talking about Alpha Dog. He says, “Chris thanked me at the premiere for allowing him to take a chance like this as an actor.” And he says, “I will always try to hire him in everything I cast. Love him.”
Chris: <chuckles> Hm.
Deb: Just wanted to pass that along to you.
Chris: Cool. Yeah, he told me.
Deb: Yeah, Matt and Nick are pretty high on you and stuff like that. Also wanted to mention that, you know, when we talked about… In October, we talked about the wig and stuff. Didn’t know about the tattoos.
Chris: Oh yeah? <laughs> Kept that one a secret.
Deb: That was pretty funny. So, how many did you have and how often did you have to have them applied because you only have them in that one scene.
Chris: Yeah, just once, just for that one scene I did it. There was a bunch of spiders that started from my lower back on my right and climbed all the way up my chest. (At this point he receives a text message or something on his cell because it makes that kind of sound. Bleebleebling.) I think that’s how they went. And they got smaller and then bigger and then bigger and bigger. And then I had… I had a … The kid I was playing was a really amazing soccer player, so I found out what team he was on and, uh… Actually, no, I didn’t, I didn’t use his team, I used my high school team.
Deb: Really?
Chris: Which were the Bulldogs, yeah. My high school soccer team, so I put on my number, 00, and a bulldog and then… The kid was actually really intelligent, like got into, I think some Ivy League schools or could have… And had like a 4.0 grade point average and he was really intelligent, so I put this symbol, this ancient Chinese symbol for… I think I wanna say, it was like, everlasting equality or harmony, but it’s just cool like kinda Yin Yang type of thing with all these waves that just keep going in a circle. So I had those three tattoos.
Deb: That’s really very cool. You don’t have any real ones, do you?
Chris: No, I don’t. No. <chuckles>
Deb: You don’t really seem like a tattoo kinda guy.
Chris: Yeah…
Deb: Just about everybody in the movie does, which was interesting.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Deb: I thought yours were good, though. They were kinda tasteful. You know, as opposed to some of the ones that had the full sleeves.
Chris: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Deb: You know, that kinda stuff. You only saw ’em when you took of your shirt.
Chris: Yeah, sure.
Deb: Which, ah, all the girlies liked.
Chris: <laughs> Yeah, okay. Yeah, good, good.
Deb: Very much so. Your first scene in the movie is absolutely hysterically funny.
Chris: Oh, thank you. Yeah.
Deb: You get a lot of laughs in the film. Even in the scene where you’re playing hacky-sack. The whole Justin and Dominique and everybody was laughing at you.
Chris: Yeah. Really?
Deb: Nobody was paying attention to them.
Chris: That’s not good.
Deb: Pretty funny, pretty funny. So, you guys… Obviously a lot of the folks met the people that they were playing, and you didn’t.
Chris: Yeah, I did not. No, I didn’t really want to.
Deb: How accurate do you think what you guys were doing, because he’s so goofy and I just can’t see him…
Chris: Yeah, mine was my own take on it. Yeah, it wasn’t going off a guy. I mean, the only time I ever read anything the guy said is, I heard his voice on these tapes of him being interviewed by the police and then I read his case file when he was in court. I read a bit of it. I skipped through it a lot. I mean, it was like…
Deb makes a gesture to indicate that the file was about a foot thick.
Chris: Yeah, it was huge. So I kinda just skimmed through to like the heavy parts and kinda his story and what he told and what his mother said a lot. And um, yeah, I didn’t try to play anybody in particular. I kinda just came up with my own thing and so, you know, I kinda didn’t wanna play somebody in particular. I wasn’t trying to, like, give justice to this guy at all, you know? So I figured a lot out about what type of kids these all were, and I grew up with kids like that, so I kinda just played them. I played a couple of kids that I knew, that I grew up with, to be honest.
Deb: People are really seeing your range in the film because, you know, for the first two thirds of the movie you’re just goofy and very animated, and all of a sudden it changes, you really don’t have another word to say until you run away from the scene. The question that I have, and I’ve heard from several different people that a lot of stuff was cut.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: And some of your stuff was cut. Did you guys shoot what happened on the hill, between…
Chris: Yeah. It’ll be on the DVD.
Deb: Awesome.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: Because that, to me, if that scene had been in, then people would have really understood exactly… Because when you come back down, you’re just a different person.
Chris: Yeah, I know, I know. And it was kinda the hard part for me to watch, but at the same time I don’t think it was good for the movie. Nick explained to me why he took it out and I got it, I understood, so… I’m fine. I’m good with it.
Deb: And I gotta also mention that we were ragging on you about the wig and stuff, but you’re right. It absolutely works. It would have been a…
Chris: Yeah, completely different person.
Deb: I can’t see that character looking like you.
Chris: Yeah, I know. Yeah, exactly.
Deb: It just wouldn’t have worked. So that’s great. And I have another kind of… This is a little bit off the wall, I guess, but when we talked in October, you mentioned that you kinda sorta maybe almost did an ER.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: That didn’t happen to be the multiple personality character…
Chris: It did.
Deb: … that Shawn Hatosy ended up playing?
Chris: Oh, Shawn did it. Oh, no way! Oh, cool. Yeah.
Deb: And he was incredible.
Chris: Of course he is.
Deb: He’s a wonderful actor.
Chris: Yeah, he’s one of my favorite young actors, yeah.
Deb: So that was the one.
Chris: I think so, yeah, yeah.
Deb: That’s kinda what we thought when we saw it, not just because he was in it, but because it was kinda the right age range.
Chris: Gotcha, yeah.
Deb: And it could have been something that you would have just been incredible at.
Chris: Oh yeah?
Deb: Yeah, absolutely. And we kind of wanted to ask if there was any chance of any more, maybe guest roles coming up for you, because we just miss seeing you with all these push-backs.
Chris: Yeah, I don’t think so. I mean, they wanted to know if I would try out for this TV show recently and I said no to it. I just kind of… I’m enjoying my break right now, to be completely honest. I kinda just enjoy it.
Deb: Glad you got a break, finally.
Chris: Yeah, me too.
Deb: How long have you been on a break?
Chris: Since Nerds ended, so maybe two or three months now. Yeah, about two, two and a half months.
Deb: And I know you probably don’t wanna talk about that, but is there anything you wanna say that people who…
Chris: Oh, uhm, yeah, I think it’s for the best. I think it’s all for the best. I’m not bummed. I’m really happy, to be honest. I think, uh, the movie wasn’t gonna be what I originally thought it was gonna be. To no one’s fault, to no one’s course. Everybody I worked with, I hold in very high regard, so… It was good, I made some good friends, I had a really good time and I’m happy it didn’t because it was going in a completely different direction than I thought it was gonna go. Yeah, so it’s good, it’s good.
Deb: You know, sometimes things, you know, they seem… We were bummed, but I think we were bummed mainly because we kinda felt like part of it from having been there that day, watching you guys.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Deb: But as far as the film itself, you got much more important things to do.
Chris: Yeah. <chuckles> Let’s hope so.
Deb: You do. You do. We will skip on to Fanboys now. Couple of questions. You know, you guys answered a lot of the questions that we had in the panel. We’re kind of annoyed at the push-backs. Is that the last one, do you think?
Chris: For which one?
Deb: For Fanboys, do you think August 17 is firm this time?
Chris: Yeah, I think so.
Deb: Cause we’re starting to feel like the Weinsteins hate us.
Chris: No, I think just the Weinsteins… It’s hard with them and comedy. Last year they didn’t have one movie that opened over 10 million and their big comedies didn’t do very well, so I think for them it’s a big risk. I’m sure it’s really hard being comfortable, pushing a movie out and not making as much of an informed decision as possible. And I think the best informed decision they had was that August 17 would be the best weekend for us, so…
Deb: A lot of people were saying that it should have been the April slot that they originally had because of that big anniversary that’s coming up for Star Wars.
Chris: Yeah, that was the original idea, but I don’t… yeah, I don’t know.
Deb: Do you think you guys will be doing anymore of these?
Chris: Oh yeah, we’re gonna do a ton of these.
Deb: Really? Do you know which ones?
Chris: I have no idea yet.
Deb: You won’t get to Atlanta because Atlanta’s comes after the movie’s opening.
Chris: Oh, okay. Yeah, after the movie’s done, I wouldn’t, no.
Deb: Yeah, that’s kinda why I came on down for this one.
Chris: Gotcha.
Deb: You sort of mentioned in the panel that you were into Chaplin, which is great. It’s awesome.
Chris: Yeah. <chuckles>
Deb: I prefer Keaton, but that’s okay.
Chris: OK, all right. I love Keaton too, I love Keaton a lot.
Deb: Have you ever been that rabid about anything like these guys are? Can you sort of imagine?
Chris: Well, I was a huge Star Wars fan as a kid, for sure. I have a huge collection of toys and I’ve watched the movies hundreds of times. Yeah, I don’t know, I mean, actors, movies, huge on a certain couple of authors and uh… Yeah, I don’t know, I mean, nothing, you know, besides acting I don’t really know if I have too big of a passion.
Deb: What authors do you like?
Chris: Oh, uhm, Rainer Maria Rilke.
Deb: Cool.
Chris: Huge Kurt Vonnegut fan.
Deb: Oh, me too.
Chris: Paulo Coelho, Khalil Gibran. Yeah, those are my top ones. Pablo Neruda. Yeah, those are my top guys, I think, as of right now.
Deb: That’s very cool.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: There was an interview that Kyle did for Collider online and he said that you approached him during the Fanboys shoot and you said you didn’t have enough comic business to do.
Chris: <chuckles> Hm.
Deb: It looks to me from the highlight reel that you have a lot of comedy.
Chris: Well, there was certain times that I felt like I didn’t, cause, you know, the biggest part of my job in that movie was to, like, keep things grounded. I had to play the aspect of being the real character and propelling the story in a way. I’m not the only one, but that was the majority of my job, and so there were times when I was just kinda like, Give me a joke, man! Like everybody’s really funny in the scene and I’m feeling like I’m not being funny. So, yeah, I did maybe once or twice go to him with that.
Deb: And he did let you improv, so that’s great.
Chris: Yeah, they let us. I mean, every take was completely different and not one was the same, so…
Deb: I loved the way they said that the thing, when you leave in the car, cause that was funny, that was so funny.
Chris: Yeah. Oh yeah, okay.
Deb: I wish everybody had sort of not laughed as much, though, cause we missed a lot of jokes.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Deb: But Kyle’s gonna give us the reel… for the site.
Chris: He’s gonna give it to ya? Oh, cool.
Deb: I think you kinda already answered the one about comedy versus drama. You like both, right?
Chris: Yeah, I like both, but I’m gonna stay away from… stay clear of comedy for a while.
Deb: You got anything lined up?
Chris: No, not as of yet. There’s a lot of talk, but nothing solid yet. So we’ll see.
Deb: One of the things that people online are harping on that’s just driving us nuts is the whole, you know, He’s Gonna See The Movie And He’s Gonna Be All Crushed in Fanboys because it’s not very good.
Chris: Who says that?
Deb: There’s a lot of talk online.
Chris: From people who’ve seen it?
Deb: Yeah, the question we wrote was, uhm…
Chris: Well, here’s the thing, any movie I ever do… I don’t think I’ve done a movie yet that I’ve been crushed, if it’s bad or not. Because it’s not—
Deb: Well, not your movie.
Chris: Oh, not my movie.
Deb: Phantom Menace.
Chris: Oh, Phantom Menace! Okay, gotcha.
Deb: See, they’re worried because the movie’s not perceived by the real fanboys as being so great that it’s like… One guy wrote “the nail in the coffin for this guy”…
Chris: <chuckles> Ohhhhh.
Deb: So we’re kinda curious about you guys, if you’ve heard any of this and what your reaction is.
Chris: Yeah, no, I gotta say, you have to wait for it to end, because that’ll clear it all up.
Deb: Oh, I know how it ends.
Chris: Oh, you do? Okay, all right.
Deb: I haven’t read the whole script, but I’ve read parts of it.
Chris: Okay.
Deb: So I know what it’s gonna be. I was just wondering because there’s so many people out there who haven’t seen it.
Chris: Who are gonna be so worried?
Deb: They’re belaboring that point, it’s, like, the only thing they say: “It’s too much like Detroit Rock City” and “The movie sucks, so why would he wanna see this movie before he dies?”
Chris: Oh, gotcha. They don’t know that.
Deb: That’s right, that’s right.
Chris: That’s just kind of the whole point. It doesn’t matter if the movie sucks or not.
Deb: Exactly. Exactly. And this is a goofy question. If you could have been any of the characters in the Star Wars films, what would you have wanted to do?
Chris: Uhm… Say that again?
Deb: If you could have been any of the characters in any of the Star Wars films, which character would you wanna be?
Chris: Phooh…
Deb: See, I hate questions like this.
Chris: Yeah… I would be the emperor.
Deb: There you go. See? Smart man. We have a couple of other films that we know about that we don’t know anything about releases, and yet the booklet here says you have six films coming out this year?
Chris: Yeah, does it say that?
Deb: It says that.
Chris: Really?
Deb: The ones that we’re curious about are Graduation. Do you know anything more?
Chris: I do, I just saw it. Uhm, I don’t think it’s gonna go anywhere except to DVD. Uhm, and, uh, let’s see, The Beautiful Ordinary, I’m not sure what’s happening. I heard there’s the possibility that it’s getting picked up by a studio, a strong possibility. I heard there’s this one in particular that really wants it. Uhm, but I think they’re working out a deal or they’re trying to wait for something else, I’m not quite positive. Education of Charlie Banks is gonna premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and it’ll be in competition.
Deb: Wow.
Chris: Yeah, and then, uh, Calvin Marshall, I’m not sure what’s happening with that, to be honest, uhm.
Deb: Yeah, that was a big one that we wanted to find out if you were gonna start anything.
Chris: Yeah, I mean, you know, if it goes, I’m in as of now, but, uh, that was sort of, they had their money together and it sort of fell through at a certain point, and then it was put on hold and then it was put on hold again and then it was put on hold again and so it’s kinda one of those, like, really up in the air movies.
Deb: The strange thing is, uh, in November they changed the status on IMDb from pre-production to in-production.
Chris: Hm.
Deb: And we’ve been trying to get a hold of Gary Lundgren to find out if there was any movement on it because of that, and we haven’t gotten any answers from him, so we were hoping he was busy.
Chris: Yeah. No, I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything in a little while, actually, so…
Deb: So that’s still not on the horizon, huh?
Chris: Not as of now, no.
Deb: Darn, I really wanna see you in a baseball uniform!
Chris: Yeah? <laughs> Okay.
Deb: Definitely. Uhm, I wanted to ask you, this is just a personal, curious question, you ever seen Entourage?
Chris: I’ve seen yeah, one or two episodes, yeah.
Deb: Do you think that’s anywhere near kind of accurate? I mean, you’re kind of in that young Hollywood kind of…
Chris: Yeah, I guess so. It has its ways, it seems like, yeah, you know, everybody’s crazy in Hollywood, so I guess it’s… it’s similar in that aspect, nobody takes themselves too serious. Or if they do, then, like, it’s ridiculous. You know, like it’s not actually very serious. So, uhm, yeah, I don’t know, I haven’t watched it enough to be able to say that. I don’t know.
Deb: If those guys called you up and said, Come do something, would you go? Cause I would love to you play yourself on that show. That’d be hilarious.
Chris: Oh no, I don’t think, I wouldn’t play myself. Uhm, I’d maybe consider playing a part, though. Maybe. I don’t know. I really don’t know.
Deb: That’s okay, that’s understandable. Uhm, we were wondering if, uh, if there was any particular thing that you’ve done that you get the most feedback on. You know, cause everybody here has one thing, pretty much…
Chris: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, as of now it’s either, like, Girl Next Door or Joan of Arcadia. so… But it’s starting to change a little bit, you know, with Alpha Dog out and Fanboys coming. Especially at the comic book convention, you know, it’s more Fanboys than anything. “Yeah, I saw the trailer for Fanboys, and I saw this,” and, so… Yeah, I mean, yeah. Guess that’s it, Joan of Arcadia and Girl Next Door for the most part.
Deb: Those would be pretty much, uh, the things that you’re recognized for, what are you most proud of besides— We know about The Tic Code.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Deb: What are you most proud of, I would say, the recent things that you’ve done?
Chris: Alpha Dog.
Deb: Good. Good. Cause I, I gotta tell ya, I… no matter what people say, you know… And I understand the objections to… you know, some of the objections to the film. No matter what people say, if you watch it through to the end and you see that scene, you know, the climax, the murder scene, you cannot walk out of the theater without being just completely…
Chris: Torn apart, yeah. I know.
Deb: It’s devastating.
Chris: Yeah, it really is. I mean, you know, I think the movie did its job, no matter what people think of the movie. It did its job. Like, it did what it was supposed to do, so, yeah.
Deb: And we’ve been directing people to the Huff clips, so they can see you and Anton together again.
Chris: Ah, cool, okay.
Deb: A lot of people are saying—and I am not kidding about this—a lot of people are saying, the moment in the film when they break down is when you break down.
Chris: Really?
Deb: Yeah. Yeah. At that point, when you break down and you go and hug Anton…
Chris: Um-Hm.
Deb: … the girls just start to cry.
Chris: Aw, really? Oh. Oh, okay. That’s sweet.
Deb: Cause they know it’s bad at that point, you know, when that goofy little guy falls apart, you know.
Chris: Yeah. Oh, okay.
Deb: Pretty much, so just wanted to tell you that.
Chris: Oh.
Deb: Uhm, we also kinda recently learned, and I had sort of always sort of thought that your dad is Cuban, which I think is incredible.
Chris: He is, yeah.
Deb: One of my best friends is Cuban.
Chris: Oh, really?
Deb: (nods) And uhm, and that you’re kinda getting into exploring your heritage there?
Chris: Yeah. Yeah, a bit.
Deb: That’s cool. So what’cha doin’?
Chris: <laughs>
Deb: You going to Cuba?
Chris: No, no, not going to Cuba. Uhm, just, uh, just, you know, reading and, uh, talking to my relatives and, and, uh, talking to my dad. That’s about it.
Deb: Very cool. Cause you told us you might like to play Castro someday, so we, uh…
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: We kinda thought that was pretty cool. And you had that t-shirt in Joan, do you remember that t-shirt? You had a Cuba t-shirt in Joan?
Chris: Yeah, that was mine.
Deb: Was that yours?
Chris: That was mine.
Deb: Yeah, kinda thought so. Do you speak Spanish?
Chris: I don’t.
Deb: Really? Kinda like Ritchie Valens?
Chris: Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, yeah. <laughs>
Deb: That’s pretty cool. Uhm, so, would you like to go to Cuba some day?
Chris: Yeah, for sure.
Deb: Like, if we ever get these crazy restrictions off…
Chris: Yeah, no, I’d definitely like to go, yeah. Oh yeah.
Deb: Which other countries would you to visit?
Chris: Everywhere. Everywhere I can go. Uh, Asia, uhm, India, South Africa, uhm, South America, Central America, everywhere. Absolutely everywhere, I’d love to go.
Deb: And your mom’s side of the family is European, too, so you…
Chris: Yeah, French and German and, uhm, yeah, so…
Deb: Well, you’ve got a cadre of fans in Germany, if you ever go there.
Chris: Okay, cool. <laughs> Cool.
Deb: TeeJay’s desperate for me to ask this question.
Chris: Uhm-hm.
Deb: She wants to know, uhm, what the last movie you saw in the theater was. And Alpha Dog doesn’t count.
Chris: Uhm, I saw Pan’s Labyrinth.
Deb: Was it good? I wanna see that.
Chris: Yeah, it was really good. Yeah, one of my favorites.
Deb: Cool.
Chris: Yeah, and I saw Children Of Men, and I saw Casino Royale and Apocalypto and, uhm, and, uh, Blood Diamond and The Departed and… I’ve seen all the big ones, uhm, and, uh, yeah.
Deb: What did you think of Apocalypto?
Chris: I loved it. I saw it twice.
Deb: Really?
Chris: Yeah, I really loved it.
Deb: Visually, it’s…
Chris: Yeah, yeah, I just thought it was really powerful, I thought it reminded me of, like, a Shakespeare play, with, like, omens and, like, you know… I think just the way that he tells the story, it reminded me a lot of Shakespeare, so…
Deb: Sounds great. Yeah, that’s definitely on my short-list.
Chris: Yeah, it’s great. It’s a great movie.
Deb: And you’re a big DVD hoarder, so… What have you been buying lately?
Chris: Uhm, I have to say, I’ve stayed away from buying DVDs just recently. But I have Little Miss Sunshine and I have, uh, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and, uh, that’s the last two DVDs that I bought. Uhm, but, uhm, yeah, that’s about it.
Deb: What music are you into?
Chris: Uh, I’ve been listening to a lot of electronic music, actually. Uhm, like, without too much singing. Uh, that or… Who have I gotten into? Uhm, big TV On The Radio fan recently.
Deb: Yeah, yeah, good stuff.
Chris: Yeah, I like them a lot.
Deb: We have a couple of questions that fans sent in to the website.
Chris: Uhm-hm.
Deb: I like this one. Would you be friends with Adam Rove if he was real?
Chris: <laughs> Uh… Yeah. Yeah. I think we’d be acquaintances. I think, uh… That’s a really weird question.
Deb: Hey, that’s what your fans are thinking.
Chris: Yeah, yeah, I know. Uhm. Yeah, yeah, I think he’s, yeah, I think he’s sensitive enough…
Deb: <laughs>
Chris: Yeah, I think, uh…
Deb: Wouldn’t get on your nerves?
Chris: No, I don’t think he’d get on my nerves. I mean, you know, no, because I respect artists, so, uhm…
Deb: That’s a good answer.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: Very good answer. Uh, okay, you think that’s a weird question, how about this one? This is from GimmeKitty in Seattle. She says, given the gorgeous cast of Alpha Dog, were there any on-set romances?
Chris: <laughs> Those are secrets. Those are total secrets.
Deb: I knew it!
Chris: But, uh, no, actually, uhm. No, not really.
Deb: Not really?
Chris: No. Nah.
Deb: Gosh.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: All those beautiful people… Such a waste.
Chris: Yeah. <laughs>
Deb: Okay, here’s something from Ronnie from Texas. And I have to read the whole thing because it’s kinda sweet.
Chris: Okay.
Deb: First off, I’m a huge fan of Adam Rove, it’s sad that Joan of Arcadia isn’t on anymore. That show helped change my life. Second, I’m a huge fan of Star Wars, so I really look forward to seeing your film Fanboys. You’re definitely my hero for taking a role that many Star Wars fans would love to live in real life, the role of fanboy/fangirl, minus breaking into Star Wars, breaking into Skywalker Ranch. I have two questions for you. The first is, are you a Star Wars fan?
Chris: Uhm-hm.
Deb: And the second is, uh, what got you interested in doing the film?
Chris: Uh, being a Star Wars fan.
Deb: <chuckles>
Chris: Totally being a Star Wars fan. And then, uh, Jay Baruchel and Sam Huntington and Dan Fogler signing up. And Kristen Bell. As soon as I heard about the cast. Me and Sam were the last one to get cast, and so, uhm. Initially me and Sam read for both roles. Or at least I read for his role and mine and I think, I’m pretty positive he read for both roles, mine and his. And they came to us and they said, Hey, look, so we’re gonna have you read one more time because we want both of you guys to do it, but we’re just not sure which parts yet we want you guys to play. Uhm, and so, uh, so when I knew it was gonna be the both of us, no matter what was coming, cool. All right, I’m in. So… That, and I kinda dug, like, yeah, I just dug the story. It’s cu— It’s fun. You know, and I grew up watching Star Wars, so I was kinda like, Yeah, this is a cool movie to live out in my lifetime, so…
Deb: And it’s got the range again.
Chris: Yeah, it’s got some, it’s got some, you know, he and I got a couple of arguments, you know, so it’s, yeah, it’s all right.
Deb: The scene they showed today was great. I can’t wait to see it, I really can’t. It’s driving me nuts.
Chris: Oh yeah? <chuckles>
Deb: You know, American Gun‘s up for a few Independent Spirit Awards?
Chris: Yeah, I heard. Marcia and the movie, right?
Deb: Yeah, and Forest.
Chris: Oh, Forest, oh yeah. Oh, cool.
Deb: So you’re not gonna go to the Spirits?
Chris: I want to. When are they? Do you know?
Deb: Uhm, coming up soon, they’re usually a week or two after the Oscars, I think.
Chris: Yeah.
Deb: Something like that.
Chris: I would totally go. I’m gonna call and just figure it out, but I’m… I mean, I haven’t been invited, so…
Deb: Yeah.
Chris: So we’ll see.
Deb: Well, you know it’s… Anybody who watched the film, you stole every scene from under Marcia, as incredible as she is.
Chris: <laughs>
Deb: Oh, you did.
Chris: Oh, I don’t think so.
Deb: Oh, I know you don’t, but you did. Uhm, so that’s pretty much all the questions that I brought with me. Is there anything that you would like to say to the base out there?
Chris: Cool. Uhm… <pause> I’m not one for, like, speeches or anything. Thank you. Thank you very very much.
Deb: And say hi to Anne and TeeJay.
Chris: Hi Anne, hi TeeJay.
Deb: <chuckles>
Related Links
….. Photos of the day Deb spent at the con
….. Read the full story of Deb’s trip to Florida
….. More talk about the con and meeting Chris on the message board