Interviews and Articles about Chris from the Tribeca Film Festival

arina wrote:

^OMG, apart from Chris, this is so annoying.

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.

Emile wrote:Don't know if this has been posted:

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Ology Interview: Chris Colfer Talks ‘Struck By Lightning’

Chris Colfer is really impressive. No really, that isn’t just the Golden Globe or countless platinum records that he’s part of with the success of Glee. No, Chris isn’t just impressive because of that- it’s the fact that he’s actually a good writer as well (something that gains super cool points in my book). Ology sat down with Chris to discuss his film Struck By Lightning that premiered during the Tribeca Film Festival. His magnetism was instant; this kid is no diva (even though he totally could be).

On the inception of Struck By Lightning:
The concept of the project came to me in high school and I really just kind of used it as a way to vent, therapeutically about my frustrations in high school and my peers and my teachers and my parents. I internalized everything in high school. I could never have said things I thought out loud or spoke on how I felt. I really kind of created this character who did as a way to do that at home with on my computer where no one could beat me up for saying it. It kind of took on a life of its own and I really thought, wow, this would be a really great movie, with a character like this because I’ve never seen a character like this before who’s passionate about writing. Except for Harriet the Spy.

On leaving out a romantic subplot:
Me of all people did not want to do another sexual education story. In my opinion, I feel if you address a characters orientation and they have a really strong message to tell, kids who don’t identify with that orientation won’t identify with the message that’s being told. If he was gay the straight kids wouldn’t listen as much and if he was straight then the gay kids would stop listening. Also, selfishly, being part of Glee, I didn’t want to do another couple. That was just me. I just wanted the point of the movie to be the message not who he was sleeping with or in a way jack off to. To identify Carson’s orientation, I think he has a crush on Rachel Madow
and it confuses him.

On his new identity as a writer:
You now what I wanted to adapt so bad and I was so sad when it got snatched up, was Candyland. But that’s all right, they can have it. Things like that, for adaption it has to be really fun. Like, [the upcoming series The Little Leftover Witch] was fun and got adapted for Disney because it was about a witch and it was magic and it was friendship and it was cute and it was fun. It’s not ‘The Art of War’ or anything like that. I have such strong ADD, anytime I complete anything it’s a miracle. So, it would have to be something really fun.

On the future of Glee and the graduation episode:
I have no idea, we haven’t gotten the script yet. So, I do not know about the graduation episode. I do know that we have a really amazing NYADA episode coming up with Rachel and Kurt, they audition for the NYADA school. Whoopie plays the NYADA professor that comes out and recruits people. That’s really all I know and we’re shooting nationals next week and that’s going to be a lot of fun. I don’t want to give anything away about that.

|27 April, X

Chris Colfer, one of the stars of the hit TV show Glee, is known for his portrayal of Kurt, a confident and openly gay high school student (who also possesses pipes like a diva). In the new film Struck By Lightning, which Colfer wrote, he plays a very different character: Carson Phillips, an ambitious high school student who starts a literary magazine in order to get into Northwestern. The character is arrogant and not exactly well-liked, so how does he collect submissions? By blackmailing the popular kids, of course.

The film is set in fictional Clover, California, a name not unlike where Colfer grew up in Clovis, a small town just outside Fresno. Colfer, who wrote the script while working 70 hours a week on Glee, says that while the film is not autobiographical, some major plot points ring true. How about that blackmail thing?

"That actually was a little close to something I might actually have done in high school," Colfer tells Weekend Edition's Guy Raz. "When I was in high school, we had this thing called the senior project where one senior was selected every year to have their own show. ... All the seniors before me always just did an SNL-like format with a bunch of skits and gags and songs, and I was the only student that ever was like, "Nope, I'm going to write a show, and we're going to do a full production.""


(Suzanne Houchin / )
Colfer says when his classmates didn't want to participate, suffering from major bouts of senioritis, he may have used a few things against them to get them into his show.

One thing Colfer doesn't have in common with Carson, however, is a little more elemental: as we learn at the beginning of the movie, Carson is dead and sees his story in flashback. Asked why that's the structure, Colfer says part of it has to do with the way people talk about the dead. "One of the biggest things I wanted to do is have a character call these people out on their fake grief and mourning. I mean, how many times are we at someone's funeral and someone speaks at the podium, and we think, 'Oh my God, they're such a liar, they never knew them like I knew them, they weren't as close as they're saying they are.' I think one of my character's lines in the movie is, 'It's amazing how popular you become once you die.' I just thought it'd be a great way to tell a story, from the perspective of being dead."

But other than that little hitch, there are things about Carson that Colfer says he envies a bit, compared to his own experiences. "I really wish I could be like that and say exactly what I meant exactly when I felt it and not really give a crap what people thought. But I was the exact opposite — I really did care a lot what people thought of me. And I was not as manipulative or as smart and conniving as he is."

On Glee, Colfer was at the center of a major bullying storyline that he says hit home in a big way. Not only was he bullied himself when he was younger, but it got so bad that he was home-schooled. "When I was in seventh grade, I was home-schooled for the second half of my seventh grade year and eighth grade year because I was really made the target of by a lot of students, and I was having my locker vandalized and my PE clothes stolen and had horrible things written on it, and my mom and my dad finally got sick of it and just home-schooled me for the rest of junior high. But then I went back to high school, and I was thrown back into the world of public schooling."

Colfer is hesitant to take credit for how much his portrayal of Kurt has resonated with gay kids especially, giving much of it to the Glee writers, but he remembers having strong feelings about what he wanted to accomplish. "I was very, very nervous about playing a gay character and I kind of went into it knowing I wanted to make him more than just the punching bag that gay characters usually are on TV—the quirky best friend with the bitchy one-liners that we see on almost every other show." For one thing, when Kurt came out to his father in a widely praised scene, he didn't want it to be all about fearlessness that might ring false. "It's the most terrifying thing kids can ever do in their life, especially at an early age, so I really just wanted to make sure there was a lot of honesty in that scene and it wasn't so forced or arrogant, but it really was just this kid who was terrified of telling his father the truth."

In the end, Colfer says, his high-pitched voice — which caused him no end of trouble with bullies at school — has turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it allows him to perform numbers like "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard on Glee. "It's crazy," he says. "A voice that was never wanted has become a voice for so many people who don't have one."

He doesn't expect, however, that that voice will necessarily last forever. "I would love to retire by the time I'm 25," he says, "because by then I probably won't be considered relevant anymore and no one is going to care about me. And I'm very very well aware that every actor has a shelf life, and I'm just trying to squeeze in as much as I possibly can while I can."

He's on track for now: Struck By Lightning is currently playing at the Tribeca Film Festival and will open wider later this year.

arina wrote:Chris Colfer Goes From 'Glee' Singer To 'Struck' Screenwriter

He doesn't expect, however, that that voice will necessarily last forever. "I would love to retire by the time I'm 25," he says, "because by then I probably won't be considered relevant anymore and no one is going to care about me. And I'm very very well aware that every actor has a shelf life, and I'm just trying to squeeze in as much as I possibly can while I can."

Delight wrote:
Oh Chris

His pragmatic comments sadden me. It's a realistic mindset to have, of course, but it's still depressing to know that he's so painfully aware of how fickle showbiz is.

But if I'm to be painfully honest, I can't guarantee that I'll still be stanning Chris as hard 4 years in the future as I do now. Especially if Glee comes to an end and we only get the one book and/or movie from him every year.

In the end, Colfer says, his high-pitched voice — which caused him no end of trouble with bullies at school — has turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it allows him to perform numbers like "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard on Glee. "It's crazy," he says. "A voice that was never wanted has become a voice for so many people who don't have one."

Chris Colfer Goes From 'Glee' Singer To 'Struck' Screenwriter
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arina wrote:Chris Colfer Goes From 'Glee' Singer To 'Struck' Screenwriter

He doesn't expect, however, that that voice will necessarily last forever. "I would love to retire by the time I'm 25," he says, "because by then I probably won't be considered relevant anymore and no one is going to care about me. And I'm very very well aware that every actor has a shelf life, and I'm just trying to squeeze in as much as I possibly can while I can."

fantastica wrote:I Love the NPR review. I listen to NPR regularly and all things considered is a very intelligent program. their interviews are not like those short clips people do on red carpet. they are lenthier and more in depth.

I am sure chris won't retire at 25 or ever. This guy is a workaholic and he's not hte kind who enjoys doing nothing. what he will likely do is retire from the screen and from pulic view, and work as writer/producer and maybe even director, with occasional acting and maybe stage work. His life will be good, and most of his fans will move on (they will still be his admirers, but just won't seek out what his doing every day like we do now). what I am happy to hear is that this kid is very grounded and knows what to expect and how to get hte most out of his life. I am also very moved when he said his voice became the voice of so many that has none. He's the single most inspirational character/actor on Glee. No matter how many gay students they will have in glee in the future, none will be as iconic and influential as Kurt Hummel.

E-ko wrote:On the NPR-interview: there's a teeny, tiny spoiler-like segment for SBL in there. Just mentioning it because I had a head-desk moment over it myself-- being so fearful of spoilers, lol.

E-ko wrote:
Also, he name-checked Spence! I've loved that story since I first heard/read it during the Live Tour, and I'm amazed and humbled that Chris remembered.

Spence gets a mention on NPR

So Chris Colfer was on All Things Considered today to discuss his various talents and accomplishments and in a discussion about his remarkable and unique voice, he happens to mention Spence.

The whole interview is worth a listen. Listen to it. Then come join me in the cult of Chris Colfer admiration.

If you’re just in it for Spence, the voice discussion begins at around 6:20 (okay, I say that so you have to listen to CC sing “As If We Never Said Goodbye” because you should), and the Spence-specific moment of the chat comes up at around 7:15. It’s brief. It’s sweet. It fills my mama heart with all sorts of feelings.

And it makes my inner fangirl squee like you cannot even imagine.