13-year-old actor Griffin Gluck already has quite a bit under his belt. After appearing in United States of Tara, the Adam Sandler film Just Go With It, and an extended stint on Private Practice, Griffin embarks on his first sitcom this fall, Back in the Game with Maggie Lawson (Psych) and Hollywood veteran James Caan.
Griffin articulately sums up his professional experience thus far, which has gone from stage, to the silver screen, and now back on TV: “I started out with plays, where I had the experience of having a huge live audience, and not having stage fright,” he recalls. “I did Private Practice, which was a drama…I learned how to be a better actor with that. And then I got Just Go With It, so I got to learn what a movie set was like, and how to bring out the comedic side of things…and now with Back in the Game, I get to see how a sitcom works!”
As for the sitcom, it doesn’t get more all-American than Back in the Game. The manly sport of baseball, family high jinx, a tale of the underdog – the show has all the ingredients to be a hit with viewers this fall. Curiously, the show does step ‘out of bounds’ in some ways, thankfully updating what could have been a very flat and predictable comedy for 2013. Example, the first time we see Griffin’s character Danny, he kisses a bully square on the lips to “throw him off his game.” Interesting tactic! While other moments in the pilot are dangerously close to cliché (the little league of misfits has both the stock fay and fat boys we’ve seen 5 too many times), here’s hoping the show will continue to think out of the box as much as possible.
Off camera, Griffin has enjoyed joking around with not only the other kids on set, but with his ‘family’ as well. “James Caan and Maggie Lawson are really hilarious people…we pretend to be a real family off camera,” Griffin remarks. “It’s a really great experience all around.”
But it isn’t all fun and games. Fans have come to know Griffin Gluck as Mason Warner, a young boy on Private Practice who had to deal with a lot of very raw, emotional material. How does an actor so young get into that zone? “A lot of it is just pressure!” he allows. “I imagine that if I don’t cry, I’ll get fired and my mom will hate me,” he jokes. But no worries, since Griffin is now a master of crying on cue. When asked about the most valuable advice he’s received from older and more experienced actors, he had this to say: “The ones that stood out the most was KaDee Strickland and AJ Langer [of Private Practice], who taught me how to cry!”
As for those he’d like to meet in the future, “I’d love to work with Will Ferrell – he’s probably number one on my list.” Seems like a natural move, as the young actor is getting back into comedy with Back in the Game. And this Young Adult has been keeping up on his YA reading: “On my free time I read The Hunger Games – for 5 years [running], it’s been by favorite book. I can’t wait for when the next movie comes out!”
Neither can we, Griffin! Keep up the good work…
Back in the Game airs every Wednesday night at 8:30pm on ABC.