Interviews and Articles about Chris from the Tribeca Film Festival

fantastica wrote:^ gosh you beat me by like half a second!!!

I like this new interview too. I am glad people are asking fresh questions and it's not always the same ole same ole.

fantastica wrote:I haven't read any SBL related interviews that talked about klaine. at most they mention glee and upcoming episodes.

fantastica wrote:there's a great video interview of chris in the SBL thread. make sure you watch it. it's long and detailed and very intimate (the atmosphere that is and chris is very much at east talking about the whole creative process) that's the kind of interviews I love and it made me love him more.

Buenos wrote:I could see Chris down the line getting involved in other projects with Glee cast and producers. He really seems to bond with Lea Michelle and of course Ryan Murphy appears to be his fairy Godfather for life.

What's tricky for Chris is that Kurt is such an indelible and distinct TV persona, so that IMO while he's proud of the Kurt persona and what it's brought him, he doesn't want to be identified solely by it. It's a fine line he has to toe, being appreciative and not appear ungrateful and yet still establish himself as much as possible as Chris Colfer, the actor/writer. It's hard since he's so young and Kurt/Glee was his ticket to stardom. So far he's doing a very impressive job, what with the books, the SBL movie, the "8" stage reading, etc, etc.

Once again, it's hard to get over he's only 21.

Chris does seem quite adept in winning the love of old ladies, doesn't he?

Chris Colfer on Struck By Lightning, His Future on Glee, and Wanting the Rights to Candy Land


Chris Colfer is known as an actor — he won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Kurt on Glee — but this Tribeca Film Festival, he’s making his debut as a writer as well. His first film, Struck by Lightning, premiered over the weekend with eager Harry Potter star Emma Watson in the audience (she even asked a question during the Q&A!), and he’s got a second film already in the works, in addition to a children’s book, a Disney Channel pilot, and probably ten other projects by now. So it’s only fitting that his character in Struck is an overachieving high school student who wants to take his writing to the next level — even if he has to commit blackmail to do it. Colfer chatted with Vulture about his own literary high school experiences, his future on Glee, and why he’ll be auditioning for an Adam Sandler movie soon.


With me sitting behind this desk in this office, this feels like a job interview.
Go for it! Give me a job! [Laughs.] Please hire me someday!


Okay — convince me. What are your strengths?


I can sing and dance. I can smile — a lot. I can act … I do a little writing as well. And I’m good at typing. I’m a creative typist, actually.


Like your character in this film, you were also the editor of a high school literary journal. But you didn’t have to resort to blackmail to get people to contribute, did you?
No. [Laughs.] When I did it, there was no blackmail. Looking back, of course, now I wish that there was. More blackmail! Blackmail needs to come back. I miss the blackmailing. [Laughs.] God, it was awful, getting people to contribute! I joined the writers’ club my freshman year, and there were all these cool seniors there, so I thought, Wow, I’ve arrived. And then they graduated. So I became president of the writers’ club my sophomore year, and it was miserable! No one wanted to write unless they had to. They didn’t see the benefit of the therapeutic qualities that I knew from it and the escapism that it could supply.


If someone were to try to blackmail you, is there any dirt to dig up?
Honestly? Besides horrible dancing in clubs? There’s probably a picture of me really sweaty, booty-shaking in a nightclub for someone’s birthday or something. But I’m kind of an open book. Except for if anyone ever found my little journal of dreams, goals, and aspirations — that would be something I would not want the world to see. I’m really not good blackmail material.


Or you could just be saying that so no one tries.
See? You see right through me. [Laughs.] No, I wish I had secrets, but I really don’t.


So, why didn’t you set it up in the film so that the students could contribute to the journal via e-mail?
You know, honestly, I hadn’t thought too much about it, other than the town of Clover where it’s set is poor and a lot of people wouldn’t have computers. Also, when you’re watching a movie, it’s so much more entertaining to see kids chuck pieces of paper physically in a box rather than a shot of a computer looking at an empty e-mail account. This way, an older audience isn’t confused: “What’s the difference between a tweet and a blog and an e-mail? I don’t get it! Why is everything so complicated?” You know? And I love how the jock has his story on a napkin and the cheerleader has hers on pretty pink stationary.


You’re writing another film that’s going to be shooting this summer.
I play a very dark patient at this mental hospital who has had a very troubling, traumatized past, but it’s more about the doctor who’s helping me. It’s a really creative, captivating story. What was really interesting about doing all the medical research for that time period, the 1930s, is that people were just considered crazy. They didn’t really diagnose them the same way, with any method of treatment. So I was trying to find the terms and the procedures, and there just weren’t any. People were just crazy, and you locked them up or gave them water treatments or electroshock therapy. It was crazy what they did to those poor, poor people. People chain themselves to genres, but I don’t want to do that.


What about writing a musical?
Oh, yeah! I would love to. Absolutely. I kind of did this thing in high school, a spoof of Sweeney Todd called Shirley Todd, and I had a great time doing that. I wrote a 200-page script, and we kept the same songs but changed the lyrics a little bit. It was a totally different story, modern day, took place in punk-rock England. I played Mr. Lovett, and I sang all the high notes that Angela Lansbury had in the show, and I pick up that script sometimes and just laugh because it was so raunchy and so funny. It was good! I would love, love, love to bring that to Broadway, if Sondheim would ever let me turn that into a show. All that work in high school, I can’t let it go to waste! [Laughs.]


What about doing Candy Land: The Musical?
Oh my God! Where did you hear that? Yes! When I was fourteen, I was obsessed with Candy Land, and I wanted to make it into a Broadway musical. I thought Candy Land could be the next Wicked. Candy Land the game was invented for kids with polio, so the story would start out with a boy who had polio and was magically transported into Candy Land and got to have all these adventures that he normally couldn’t because he was chained to a hospital bed. So when I found that Adam Sandler had snatched up the rights to the movie, I was so bummed! I would have loved to have adapted that. I’ll have to audition. I’d even be willing to make the costumes.


Coming up on Glee, your character has a make it-or-break-it audition that might determine his life after McKinley High, such as how he’ll manage to stay on the show past graduation.
I haven’t gotten the script yet, so I’m just as anxious as anyone to know. But it’s not my decision. I love him so much. I would like to see what happens to him and watch him grow as a person and as a performer. But whether that means he just checks in from time to time, or whether he’s on 100 percent, I’m okay with either of those. I just don’t want to say goodbye. As long as they don’t say goodbye to him, I’m fine.


So, this concludes your job interview …
I hope I impressed you! I hope I got the job! Let me know! [Laughs.]

Shinra17 wrote:Chris Colfer: ‘I Can’t Be Expected to Promote the Same Stuff in Everything That I Do’

Fans of Chris Colfer, a two-time Emmy nominated and Golden Globe winner for his supporting role as Kurt on Glee, knew it was only a matter of time before the actor broke out on the big screen. But what they may not have expected is that the 21-year-old actor would do it with a script of his very own. The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival played host to Colfer’s screenwriting debut, Struck By Lightning, a coming of age tale that draws on many of the young renaissance man’s own experiences. The film follows Carson Phillips, an ambitious small towner who dreams of one day being a writer for the New Yorker. Unfortunately, he can’t get any of his unmotivated peers to contribute to his lowly literary magazine. So Carson resorts to drastic measures: blackmail.

Kurt is a lovable teen (despite some of his diva like qualities), but Carson is a comparatively darker turn for Colfer. He’s abrasive, arrogant and bent on getting his way. Colfer told me he couldn’t wait to let him loose into the world. “He was never a way for me to differentiate myself from Glee. He’s been with me much longer than Kurt Hummel. And he was created as a way for me to vent. A way for me therapeutically get out what I wanted to say to people who I went to school with everyday because I’d get my ass kicked. So I’d write it in a script and say, ‘Ha, there!’ I think the big thing about him is that he’s so unlikable, but you support him on his journey. You’re not supposed to like him, but you give him credit for being ambitious.”

Colfer started sketching the first concepts for Struck By Lightning when he was in high school, shaping it into a one-man performance for his debate team. But when he discovered screenwriting, the format became an obsession. “I would go to Borders everyday after school and, I couldn’t afford it because it was $40, but Sofia Coppola had published her screenplay to Marie Antoinette. And I would sit and read that screenplay for hours.” Colfer doesn’t hesitate to attribute his ability to get Struck By Lightning made to his role on Glee, but did he consult creator Ryan Murphy when he came down to finally penning the screenplay? “I never once asked Ryan about it ever. I respected him too much to be like, ‘Here, read my script!’ I’d be terrified if he saw the movie.”

Though he shouldn’t be. Whether it was the script or a chance to work with him, Colfer found it easy attracting the actors he was eyeing up for the individual parts. “Just like my movie, I blackmailed everyone to be in the movie [laughs]. We really hit the jackpot. The person I go to most is Allison [Janney] because when I was 17, thinking about writing a script someday, she was the only actress I ever had in my mind to play the role.” Along with Janney, Colfer also pursued the legendary Polly Bergen. The name may not be instantly recognizable to people his age, but Colfer’s been a fan of the actress/singer for a long time. “I lovedCommander-in-Chief. I was 14 when it came out. Don’t judge me! I loved Polly — she was hysterical. Then she was on Desperate Housewives after that. I remember the lunch ladies I was friends with in high school were huge fans of Polly Bergen and they would talk about all her own movies, Cape Fear and Kisses for My President and all that.”

Struck By Lightning is a good-natured opportunity for Colfer to stretch his acting legs, but it doesn’t arrive without controversy. In one scene, Carson blackmails two gay students into writing for his magazine, threatening to out them if they don’t comply. The moment is particularly strange considering Colfer’s work — his Glee character Kurt has arguably advanced the acceptance of gay youth on television and Colfer continues this advocacy off screen. When I asked him if the scene aligned with his sensibilities, he seemed conflicted. “Isn’t that crazy? I hope they don’t get mad at me for that. I definitely thought they might, but I think they’d also want to me to handle high school how high school is. That is how it is in high school. They’re either out and proud or in the closet. There’s no in-between. There’s no, ‘I’m not all the way there, but I’m somewhere in the grey.’ That’s based on something that actually happened. So I hope they don’t get mad at me. I’m trying to validate it [laughs].” It’s clear Colfer feels strongly about the evolution of gay rights across the globe. But at the end of the day his goal is creativity, not politics. “I can’t be expected to promote the same stuff in everything that I do. And it’s not like I treat the other characters with any disrespect that any of the characters see. One is fine with it! One is totally fine with it, it’s the other that has an issue. So you see both perspectives of it.”

While Colfer’s script is rooted in truth, the writer/actor insists it’s not biographical (which is evident, when you meet the upbeat and enthusiastic Colfer). That said, his old classmates and neighbors should look out for Easter eggs. “I grew up in Clovis and Clover is the name of the town. That’s supposed to be a wink and a nudge. Clovis is 90,000 people, Clover is 9,000 people. It’s an inside joke. When they see the movie, I hope they go ‘Ha ha!’ and not ‘Son of a bitch!’” Those afraid that the actor may stick to what he knows, continuing to churn out high school-themed movies, don’t fret. He’s currently preparing to make a radical departure: “My next movie takes place in an asylum in the 1930s. It’s twisted, dark…people are going to look at me differently when they find out. ”

April 25, 2012 - Hollywood.com

valkeakuulas wrote:Oh my goodness these interviews seeping out are good. We are learning so much more from him as a person and as professional artist than from any of these Glee quotes from before. I know now how to validate my fan moments to everyone asking so much better, he is just so facinating. A total fangirl moment, savouring and preserving it...

Thanks for all of you guys digging these out and posting them here.

Chris Colfer of `Glee' writes his Hollywood ticket
NEW YORK — When “Glee” star Chris Colfer was 8, he began writing a novel. He wrote two pages, called it the first chapter and proudly showed it to his grandmother.

“She said, `OK, could use some development,’” laughed Colfer in a recent interview.

That memory was worked into his script for the movie “Struck by Lightning,” which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Colfer wrote and stars in the movie. He plays Carson, an ambitious high-school senior who blackmails his fellow students into helping him get into Northwestern University.

The 21-year-old actor came up with the idea for the story when he was a teen as a way to vent about his teachers and classmates. He then taught himself how to write a screenplay.

“I would go to my local Borders in Fresno (Calif.) and I would study Sofia Coppola’s `Marie Antoinette’ published screenplay. I’d sit there – `cause I couldn’t afford it – and I’d read it and I’d read it and I’d teach myself how to screenwrite and how to, you know, frame everything.”

Allison Janney plays his mother, and Colfer says he always pictured her in the part.

“I always had her voice in my head for some reason. Always, always,” he said.

Janney said she was unaware the part was written for her, but loved it immediately.

“I was blown away by Chris’ script,” she said. “The writing has always been the most important thing to me, and I had an instant connection to his script. The characters were funny and flawed, especially the part of his mother. Then I met with him and was completely charmed by him. … How can he be so talented and accomplished and charming and be so impossibly young? I can’t wait to see what’s next for him. Maybe directing?”

Dermot Mulroney, Christina Hendricks and Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) also star in the movie.

Colfer has just finished a psychological drama he hopes to shoot independently this summer. He also adapted a pilot for the Disney Channel based on Florence Laughlin’s children’s book “The Little Leftover Witch.”

He also inked a deal to publish two children’s books. “The Land of Stories,” which will be in bookstores in July, is essentially the completion of that story he began writing when he was 8.

“It came from me being a young, curious kid holding a book in my hand and wishing with all my heart that I could just fall into the book and go on these adventures with all the characters,” he said.

Colfer said he told his parents when he was growing up that he was going to write and act, and he has made good on those bold declarations. His portrayal of gay teen Kurt Hummel on the Fox show “Glee” has earned him a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy nominations.

Despite the opportunities he’s had since “Glee,” Colfer says he cannot ever really get used to fame.

“I don’t think anyone can prepare you for it. … You find different ways of dealing with it and getting used to it, but it’s not something you can totally settle your mind into. For me, I always feel like I have this massive responsibility because of the kind of platform that `Glee’ gave me. I can never do anything that disappoints anyone. That’s my biggest fear – disappointing those people who look up to me.”

fantastica wrote:i hope chris is not reading those f words on youtube comments. a lot of hte times people are so irresponsible when they are talking online, they enjoy being mean.