You’ve seen Max Adler as Dave Karofsky on the hit young adult TV show Glee and as Tank on ABC Family’s Switched at Birth, but now you get to see him play Drew in the family-friendly comedy Saugatuck Cures. In the film he plays the gay son of Maggie Callaghan, a widowed bed and breakfast owner living in Saugatuck, Michigan dealing with a second round of cancer. In our exclusive interview with Max, he gives us an insider’s look at his new role and what it means to be an actor.
“In the film Saugatuck Cures, I play Drew Callaghan, who is the proud son of Maggie Callaghan, and together they run the local successful bed and breakfast in the beautiful small town of Saugatuck, Michigan. Drew is a firefighter but being as the town is a small, sleepy, peaceful one, he doesn’t see much action so most of his time is spent with his mom running the family business. Drew is also openly gay but has been unsuccessful in finding love thus far. When he finds out his mother’s cancer is back in a very big and scary way, and they can’t afford the expensive experimental treatments that the insurance companies refuse to cover, and his very wealthy sister refuses to help the family because of Drew’s sexuality and their mother’s approval of it, he is convinced by his wacky best friend Brett to go around to various churches posing as reformed homosexuals that begin to raise money for conversion therapy, only to use that money to help Drew’s mother battle her illness.
What I love about the film and what I think makes it so very special and unique is that you are dealing with highly sensitive and polarizing issues such as sexuality, religion, conversion therapy, family values, tolerance, and acceptance but yet, the film is a comedy! That is really what drew me to it and why I want people to watch. I believe that there are many stories and many movies that take these issues and kind of take a very strong side one way or the other and force it upon you and it can either anger the audience or delight them but either way they are polarized and they leave the theater feeling affected but not smiling. This movie will have the audience laughing out loud and no matter what side of the fence you are on or what you believe everyone will be unified because of the silly situations and the comedy of the film and no matter who you are and what you believe we hope that you leave the theater with a big smile on your face.
As far as what I want people to take away from me as an actor, that is a tough question, but I guess a few things. First of all, after my role on glee, I realized how powerful media can be and how a part in television or film can really change people’s lives and affect the way they see themselves and see the world. So my goal as an actor now is to seek out projects that actually mean something and carry weight, and hopefully the parts I play will relate to one group of people or another and help them as they see themselves reflected on the screen and hopefully can better deal with their own circumstances in life through watching a similar characters story unfold on the screen. I know I have had that experience many times in my life which is probably what led me to become an actor!
The other thing I would want is just for people to believe anything that I’m doing. I guess that’s the goal of any actor but yeah, just for people to genuinely believe what I am doing on that screen and hopefully provide a little escape from real life for a couple hours.
As far as a part I would want to play that is an incredibly tough question! There are so so so many roles I would love to have played and I’m sure even more that I don’t even know exist yet! There are comedies, action films, romances, foreign films, Biopics, etc. so I don’t even know where to start but I guess if you will allow me, I have a four way tie!
The first would be Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. I mean that’s just one heck of a role that makes girls fall in love with you and guys want to be you. It’s a period piece which I have always wanted to do and he is just such a stud in so many ways… He can be macho and manly one second but sweet and sensitive and Romantic the other and of course I would want to play him!
Next would be Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. For many of the same reasons. What a part in such a wonderful film! Based on a true story, also a period piece, working with a phenomenal director and a phenomenal lead actress, and looking like a champion all the way through!
Next up would have to be the Terminator in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Just to change the pace! That is such a cool and unique and different role in an amazing and thought-provoking story ahead of its time and action sequences that were never before seen but lived on to be replicated for decades.
My last and final one would be Forrest Gump. What a movie right? You get to play so many different characters in so many different times of the world wearing so many different costumes and interacting with so many various characters. That is kind of a dream role because you got to show off so many different sides of yourself all are the umbrella of one amazing film!”
Watch the full trailer of Saugatuck Cures below, and be sure to check out our previous interview with Max.
