Speaker 1: Thank you everybody for joining us on this Park Copper
Speaker 1: episode of Magical Rewind and boy do we have a
Speaker 1: special one today.
Speaker 2: I am so happy.
Speaker 1: We've been waiting for a while because his schedule is crazy,
Speaker 1: but he has been so accommodating to come on and
Speaker 1: talk to us about the juggernaut that is High School Musical,
Speaker 1: the movie that I watched and I liked.
Speaker 2: They break in the song and I was actually okay
Speaker 2: with it. We are here today to talk to Dad.
Speaker 3: Coach.
Speaker 2: How do you want to refer to him?
Speaker 4: I think it's everything.
Speaker 2: I think so too.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to talk about the chemistry that he
Speaker 1: had with his son on the movie because he and
Speaker 1: Zach for well, I don't want to get too much
Speaker 1: into it anyway, Please help us. Welcome coach, Dad bart Johnson.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3: Ah Man, my pleasure. Thanks for having me Ca.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is very cool to have you come on
Speaker 1: because we have obviously, as you know, we're going through
Speaker 1: and watching all of the Disney Channel original movies love It,
Speaker 1: Love It, and I had not seen most of them,
Speaker 1: and I had never seen High School Musical.
Speaker 4: Wow. Okay, yeah, I was the one percentile.
Speaker 1: I was I was the one three No, so we're
Speaker 1: we started with just the first one and then we're
Speaker 1: going to do eight because we've done like The Cheetah
Speaker 1: Girls and Camp Rock and Teen Beach and I haven't
Speaker 1: gotten any of the sequels yet.
Speaker 3: Cool. Cool, Well, you know what's unique? If I might
Speaker 3: just jump in here please, this was it was only
Speaker 3: supposed to be at one off. You know, there was
Speaker 3: never supposed to be a sequel. So it was pretty
Speaker 3: interesting when when they realized that they had this like
Speaker 3: crazy hit on their hands. So I think pretty much
Speaker 3: all those other ones, they had all the actors on
Speaker 3: a three picture deal, right, not on this one, man,
Speaker 3: not on this one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, right, Because I remember when when the second
Speaker 4: one was coming around and it was kind of not
Speaker 4: sure if everyone was actually going to sign back onto
Speaker 4: the to do the second one, because they, like you said,
Speaker 4: they only signed up to do one, and then obviously
Speaker 4: all of you guys blew up after that first one,
Speaker 4: so then it was like, all right, well, let's let's
Speaker 4: talk some deals here. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Disney's not used to having to pay their actors
Speaker 3: like that, you know, you know, And it was it
Speaker 3: was really interesting because the first one came out, they
Speaker 3: didn't really do any special promotion any more than any
Speaker 3: other film. So when the numbers came in and eighteen
Speaker 3: million people watched that first screening, they just like it
Speaker 3: didn't even make any sense, Like how did everyone in
Speaker 3: the world like connect with this thing?
Speaker 4: I know? And I loved it because when that was
Speaker 4: all going on, you know, you talk to the fans
Speaker 4: and it was they could find somebody within the cast
Speaker 4: that they really related to, you know, and it was
Speaker 4: so easy to just embrace the whole movie because the
Speaker 4: cast was so diverse, which was amazing, you know, it
Speaker 4: was it was awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that I really think that a lot
Speaker 3: of the successes attributed to that. Like it'sarthentic, you know,
Speaker 3: like the themes were like they meant a lot to people,
Speaker 3: and you know, it was almost ahead of its time
Speaker 3: with a whole like we're all in this together. I mean,
Speaker 3: like so much through the like pandemic and everything, we
Speaker 3: talked about this and people really needed it. So it's
Speaker 3: pretty pretty interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, can you take us back to the first time
Speaker 1: you heard about this project? Was this just a regular
Speaker 1: audition that came across your your plate? I mean, how
Speaker 1: did you hear about this.
Speaker 3: No, actually not at all. So I met Kenny Ortega
Speaker 3: on the set of Newsies if you remember that.
Speaker 2: Of course, a great movie.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, a long time ago. My mom was
Speaker 3: actually his hairstylist on Newsies. And so I visited the
Speaker 3: set and became friends with the cast there, and I
Speaker 3: you know, Christian Bale of course, and Ellie Keats and
Speaker 3: Dave Moscow and and that was kind of like a
Speaker 3: real training point for me of like wanting to be
Speaker 3: an actor, like seeing these kids are like my age,
Speaker 3: you know, and having like these really cool lives. And
Speaker 3: I was already do a theater, but I was just
Speaker 3: doing for fun, and I kind of grew up around
Speaker 3: of these movies. But I got to know Kenny or
Speaker 3: take it he was he was a young kid back then.
Speaker 4: Man, he's just a long tail and the long pony
Speaker 4: time see pictures of it. So cool.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah yeah, man, he was the best, and he
Speaker 3: was just we became friends and I've just known him forever.
Speaker 3: So he's always really supportive of my acting career. So
Speaker 3: like anytime, like, I had a series that Warner Brothers
Speaker 3: called Hyperion Bay, and he watched the show and he'd
Speaker 3: call and say, hey, that was a really great scene,
Speaker 3: or I really liked who did this, or he just
Speaker 3: you know, watched anytime I was working, and watch the
Speaker 3: movies I was in, and just over the years, over
Speaker 3: ten to fifteen years. So when this movie came out,
Speaker 3: this was after he did News. He's after he did
Speaker 3: hocus Pocus. He was like, he was doing the little
Speaker 3: Disney Channel movie. So I got a call. I got
Speaker 3: a phone call from Kenny out of the blue, and
Speaker 3: he said, Hey, listen, doing this little Disney Channel movie.
Speaker 3: No one's gonna see it. It doesn't happen yet. We're
Speaker 3: just calling it high school musical until we come up
Speaker 3: with a name. There's no money in it. But we're
Speaker 3: gonna go to Utah and we're gonna make this movie
Speaker 3: and it's gonna be a lot of fun. So what
Speaker 3: do you say You come do this movie with us?
Speaker 3: And I said, yeah, of course. And he said, okay,
Speaker 3: Well you got to go to Universal and go meet
Speaker 3: with Natalie Hard and Jason Lapadora, the casting directors, And
Speaker 3: I said okay. So I went in and auditioned for
Speaker 3: the role, and about three days later I find out
Speaker 3: I didn't get it. I didn't get the role, and
Speaker 3: then I get a call from Kenny Ortigia. Is what happened?
Speaker 3: I said, I don't know. I just want went in there.
Speaker 3: You know, I've never played a dad before, Like I know,
Speaker 3: Coach was kind of young for that. I'd always been
Speaker 3: you know, I was still playing the roles where You're like,
Speaker 3: I'm playing the basketball. Yeah, I'm not there on the
Speaker 3: outside look at this. So this is like for me, so, well,
Speaker 3: what'd you wear? Would you wear the audition? I was like,
Speaker 3: like a T shirt and pair of jeans. He's like, listen,
Speaker 3: you gotta go in there and you got to act
Speaker 3: your age. You know, you got to play zag Caffron's dad.
Speaker 3: I'm like, Who's who's that? Guffron Like nobody knew who
Speaker 3: he was, you know, who's that? He's like, well, he's
Speaker 3: just you know, he's this teenage kid. I'm like, I
Speaker 3: got I'm not old enough to have a teenage kid.
Speaker 3: That's crazy. And he's like, look, the does I want
Speaker 3: you to do? Go put gray hair, put some gray
Speaker 3: in your hair, put on a sports coat, and go
Speaker 3: in there and act serious, act act like the right age.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, okay, okay, so I did all that
Speaker 3: and he got me a screen test at Disney. So
Speaker 3: I went in and acted all serious business and had
Speaker 3: gray in my hair, you know, and and I got
Speaker 3: the role. And then when I get the gray stuff like,
Speaker 3: you know, you don't need to you know, don't have
Speaker 3: to do this, Okay. Cool. So yeah, that's how that happened.
Speaker 3: That was just like out of the blue.
Speaker 4: Jan That's amazing. Kenny really fought for you to get
Speaker 4: that role. That is so cool.
Speaker 3: I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. And
Speaker 3: he'd seen a bunch of coaches. I think he was
Speaker 3: getting desperate as with us. He's like, you know, Disney
Speaker 3: like has their list of Disney actors and they said,
Speaker 3: here's the whole list, and he went through the whole
Speaker 3: list and he's like, it's just this. He just doesn't
Speaker 3: like you, is just not right, Like he he saw
Speaker 3: me as coach Bolton somehow. I'm glad he did.
Speaker 4: Hey definitely, And we've heard from other people too that
Speaker 4: he has this vision in his head and until he
Speaker 4: gets there, like there's no stopping him, like he's he's
Speaker 4: gonna go. Oh his vision is and this is a
Speaker 4: perfect example of he was freaking right, Yeah, gotta go
Speaker 4: with it. When Kenny says something, you gotta go with it.
Speaker 4: So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: I think all of us that were there, like on
Speaker 3: set watching it happen, we all know this is like,
Speaker 3: this is Keny Ortegan Man. This is like such a
Speaker 3: testament to his not only his vision but his commitment
Speaker 3: to making something great. Like his standard is just so high.
Speaker 3: And he rewrote the music and the dialogue and he was,
Speaker 3: you know, so sious about the casting and he found
Speaker 3: you know, Zach to play Troy, which was amazing and
Speaker 3: you know, actually it'sday able to play you know, such
Speaker 3: a great sharpay and so good and that's so sweet.
Speaker 3: Is that is like Gabrielle. So it's yeah, it's all.
Speaker 3: It's all Kenny Man, It's all. Then when you work
Speaker 3: with him, it's like I I mean, it's just same
Speaker 3: as he's working on newsies like this big you know,
Speaker 3: one hundred million dollar Disney film or a little Disney
Speaker 3: Channel movie. It's the same, like passionate, same commitment, and
Speaker 3: he really yeah he made it great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the budget may change, but the art doesn't. Yeah,
Speaker 2: yeah for him for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he wasn't nothing in man, this guy was make
Speaker 3: it something special.
Speaker 1: Full you know, disclosure. I tell people I am not
Speaker 1: a musical guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Normally, when I'm watching a movie and everyone breaks into
Speaker 1: the song, I always go like, what.
Speaker 2: Did they get together? And rehearse first? Like what the
Speaker 2: heck is?
Speaker 1: But I really liked High School Musical, Like I genuinely
Speaker 1: liked High School Musical. And one of the reasons was
Speaker 1: the casting. The relationship seem real, They seem to get
Speaker 1: along like there was there was chemistry between everybody. And
Speaker 1: one of the things that I really noticed that with
Speaker 1: the chemistry was you and Zach. Yeah, And I'm curious,
Speaker 1: was that something that was there instantly or is that
Speaker 1: something that you built as you were rehearsing?
Speaker 2: How did how did that relationship come along?
Speaker 3: Well? I appreciate that. That's that's great because it means
Speaker 3: a lot to be Like, I feel like I'm the
Speaker 3: most fortunate guy in the cast because like all my
Speaker 3: stuff is with Zach, who I think is a terrific actor.
Speaker 2: Yah.
Speaker 3: He takes his craft very serious, like he wants to
Speaker 3: have his scenes connect and be real and authentic and
Speaker 3: like and be really genuine and and he you know,
Speaker 3: he was working on this movie like it was as
Speaker 3: important as you know, Iron Claw, you know. I mean
Speaker 3: it's like he worked at a really high standard and
Speaker 3: same same with Kenny, so we wanted it to be real. Uh.
Speaker 3: You know. It's it's a funny thing, you know, when
Speaker 3: you get a script as an actor, it's like it's
Speaker 3: up to you to interpret what it means and how
Speaker 3: deep you want to go and or how deep you
Speaker 3: don't want to go, you know, And you know, like
Speaker 3: I'm a dad and I'm a coach, and I saw
Speaker 3: it as such a gift to me. You know, usually
Speaker 3: in these type of movies, you play the dad, like
Speaker 3: the support of dad, or like the hard nos coach,
Speaker 3: Like you don't really ever get to play both roles.
Speaker 3: It's kind of kind of special that way. And you know,
Speaker 3: I looked try to internalize that a lot because I like,
Speaker 3: as a Doug, I got kids, man, I want I
Speaker 3: want to love my kids. I don't want to like man,
Speaker 3: I just want to take care of them and see
Speaker 3: them thrive. But like as a coach too, you got
Speaker 3: you know, you have to play that role as well.
Speaker 3: So you know, I feel like a lot of and
Speaker 3: you know, it's like, I'm gonna play this for real, man,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna play this like how I really feel. And
Speaker 3: Zach was too, and so I think Kenny creates the
Speaker 3: environment for you have like these real feelings, and he
Speaker 3: takes enough time. And Zach's a really talented guy, so
Speaker 3: he was able to be there for it. So yeah, yeah, when.
Speaker 4: Did you get a chance to meet either Zach or
Speaker 4: the cast or whatever. Were they in their rehearsal process
Speaker 4: at that time?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so the first movie. I think the first
Speaker 3: movie was like four million dollars, so they only had
Speaker 3: like one week of rehearsal. If you think about it,
Speaker 3: you know it's not a lot because he has like
Speaker 3: when Katie or take A told Disney, oh, I want like,
Speaker 3: you know, fifty dancers here and I'm seventy five, and
Speaker 3: they said, no, wait, we can't fly. We can't get
Speaker 3: all these professional dancers. We can't get fifty professional dancers
Speaker 3: and come up and be in this movie. Beau is, no, no,
Speaker 3: I'll get him in Utah. He's like, no, you can't
Speaker 3: get local talenties. Can you take a directed the opening
Speaker 3: closing ceremonies for the Olympics. So the Winter Olympics in Utah.
Speaker 2: Oh, so he knew the talent pool already. He knew
Speaker 2: he knew the dancers talent.
Speaker 4: And Utah is ridiculous in dancing. It's crazy, ridiculous, so
Speaker 4: much talent up there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, incredible. So he drew you know, all those guys.
Speaker 3: But he only had one week to rehearse this old
Speaker 3: movie crazy.
Speaker 4: That is wild, wild because there's so many big production routines.
Speaker 1: Just the cafeteria alone would take a week to rehearse that,
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: My god.
Speaker 3: And then you have the basketball because you can't just
Speaker 3: you know, it's really hard with the basketball. You know,
Speaker 3: you throw a camera in the middle of the basketball
Speaker 3: court and then you have to make all this stuff
Speaker 3: look real. But you have to do it slow enough
Speaker 3: that the camera can catch it and like make these
Speaker 3: plays work. So they would go literally go from dance rehearsal.
Speaker 3: I saw their knees and even even these young guys,
Speaker 3: and they go right to basketball rehearsal and go back
Speaker 3: and forth forth for one week and they're going they
Speaker 3: were going quick.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because we talked to Corbyn about that. Corbyn's like
Speaker 1: on the dance stuff, I'd be ripping it and then
Speaker 1: you throw me basketball and I'd be like.
Speaker 2: Damn it, I gotta play basketball.
Speaker 3: I think he was the only trained dancer in the show,
Speaker 3: is Corbyn and played back? Yeah, yeah, he was. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's kind of interesting looking back on it, Like Ashley
Speaker 3: Tisday was the only one that had been on a show.
Speaker 3: She was on Sweet Live. Yeah, so she's kind of been,
Speaker 3: you know, around fame and that whole thing. But like
Speaker 3: everybody else was just like stoked to have a job
Speaker 3: start in a movie. Man is great, Like they were
Speaker 3: all stoked. Corbyn was like the only really trained dancer,
Speaker 3: like he could and do everything. I mean, Zach is
Speaker 3: like natural dancer, and yeah, a lot of the you know,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of talent in general. Speaking of that,
Speaker 3: the cafeteria scene, that was a special scene. Man, I
Speaker 3: always when people ask me crazy, yeah, like what what
Speaker 3: scenes like really stick out for me? That was the
Speaker 3: first time that I thought, like, nobody knew this was
Speaker 3: going to be a hit. Like just if anybody says
Speaker 3: they knew The Lion Man.
Speaker 2: Nobody, for the record, nobody has said they knew. They're
Speaker 2: all like, no, we had no idea.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, I've heard some of the executives like
Speaker 3: later like, well, we really knew we had something. I'm like, of.
Speaker 1: Course, of course the executives, none of the actors. All
Speaker 1: the actors are like, no, we didn't know.
Speaker 4: We did get a chance to talk to Michael Heally
Speaker 4: and he said that he knew that the chemistry, Like
Speaker 4: he said that they had something, knew they had something
Speaker 4: special with the chemistry between Zach and Vanessa, that that
Speaker 4: was something that was undeniable. And you just thought these
Speaker 4: two kids were just stoo cue. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 4: I think this the level of success was just it
Speaker 4: just knocked everywhere off their feet, Like that was incredible.
Speaker 3: I like that Michael Heely guy, he's a good guy.
Speaker 3: He did for us. He's really funny, good guy. But
Speaker 3: we were just so we're doing the cafeteria scene, and
Speaker 3: it's really interesting because that cafterious. Like if you go
Speaker 3: up to East High right now in Utah, they really
Speaker 3: called East High, you know, it looks exactly the same.
Speaker 3: So I've gone a couple times and you look at us,
Speaker 3: like the tables, the colors of the decoration, it's you know,
Speaker 3: the big it's all exactly the same. So people like
Speaker 3: travel from all around the world to come visit the building,
Speaker 3: which is about that too. But when we were we
Speaker 3: were shooting that scene, I just happened to be there
Speaker 3: with my kids and they were really small at the time.
Speaker 3: They were like, they're babies. I put him in Kenny
Speaker 3: was great, you know, he put him in video village,
Speaker 3: so they get to watch and on the cameras and everything,
Speaker 3: and Zach's on one side and Vanessa's on the other side.
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, finally, I'm a cool dad.
Speaker 2: You just go home.
Speaker 3: This is so they're too young to appreciate. I'm like,
Speaker 3: this is my chance. When they were shooting that scene,
Speaker 3: I've never seen anything like it. It was so amazing
Speaker 3: because Kenny would be watching the monitor. He'd have Bonnie
Speaker 3: Story on one side and Chuck either are his two
Speaker 3: choreographers on either side of him, and they're shooting. They're
Speaker 3: shooting the scene and they're so I remember looking at
Speaker 3: the monitor and it was like so much action going on,
Speaker 3: so many dances, people doing flips and spins and turns
Speaker 3: and just crazy amounts of stuff cramming into the screen.
Speaker 3: And while we were shooting, he would be making notes, Okay,
Speaker 3: she needs to do this. He needed and it's just
Speaker 3: like he was writing out like directions, the yell cut
Speaker 3: and the choreographers to go to work, and they would
Speaker 3: do it so fast, and by the time he reset
Speaker 3: the cameras and to go again, everything he talked about
Speaker 3: was alive on the screen. It was it was like
Speaker 3: magic Man, amazing.
Speaker 2: Well that was the thing again.
Speaker 1: I know, I say this disagreeing every time we watch
Speaker 1: one of these movies. I know nothing of dance. I
Speaker 1: can't dance. I know nothing about it. Watching the first
Speaker 1: High School Musical, seeing the levels that he would do,
Speaker 1: where it's happening in the foreground, it's happening in the middle,
Speaker 1: it's happening behind you on tables, there was there's something
Speaker 1: happening in every section of the screen. Yeah, and yet
Speaker 1: they all are working together as you're watching this scene.
Speaker 2: It was insane.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they all compliment each other.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I agree. This is the scene, the first
Speaker 4: scene in the movie I feel, you know, I'm a
Speaker 4: big Kenny fan. That exact scene is the first time
Speaker 4: where you're going, oh, this is what we were waiting
Speaker 4: for from mister Kenny. Like it's like, okay, I mean,
Speaker 4: that's the first time that you really get like what
Speaker 4: Kenny is so freaking good at when it comes to musicals,
Speaker 4: why you hire him? Why he is like the head
Speaker 4: captain of the team for that, you know, I mean
Speaker 4: it was amazing. That scene is awesome.
Speaker 1: Well also for Disney though, when you then roll in
Speaker 1: the fact that he had no budget to do it,
Speaker 1: so he can take a dollar and make it look
Speaker 1: like ten. Yeah, that combination of being as good at
Speaker 1: what he does and coming in at a budget is
Speaker 1: they're going to hire him to do every movie and
Speaker 1: they have because it's like why why wouldn't you when
Speaker 1: you've got that that's yeah, amazing, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what you're getting with him is, you know, fourteen
Speaker 3: years of choreographing Michael Jackson's tours, you know, closing ceremonies
Speaker 3: to Olympics, I mean, big big thing, Xanta dude of
Speaker 3: you know, like all these all these movies, so like
Speaker 3: decades decades of his brilliance, and those scenes like that,
Speaker 3: they're so layered and they're so complimentary and they all
Speaker 3: kind of coalesce so beautifully. It's it's pretty amazing. And
Speaker 3: that was the first time or like for me, I
Speaker 3: was like, well, this doesn't seem like a little. I
Speaker 3: didn't think it was I'm not trying to say I
Speaker 3: knew it was big, but it was like, there's something
Speaker 3: special about this for sure.
Speaker 2: Could you feel it?
Speaker 1: Did you know that we might have some kind of
Speaker 1: lightning in the bottle here?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean not to this degree, not at all,
Speaker 3: but like I knew it was pretty special. I mean
Speaker 3: I was this is this is pretty like what I'm
Speaker 3: seeing on the screen is like, it's pretty amazing, right,
Speaker 3: There's something special going on here for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah. And up to that point, for especially the first one,
Speaker 4: they really didn't have anything that was at all that big,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, So you wouldn't expect it.
Speaker 4: You were gonna you were thinking, this is gonna be
Speaker 4: a cute, little fun movie, you know whatever, And then
Speaker 4: at some point the response from the fans said, no, no,
Speaker 4: this is way more than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think, well, you know a lot of people
Speaker 3: maybe they don't realize too. It's like there was no
Speaker 3: promotion for this after the success, lots of promotion, but
Speaker 3: for this movie there was none. That we hardly had
Speaker 3: a set photographer on the first one, so there's barely
Speaker 3: any pictures that aren't like screen grabs from the movie. Uh,
Speaker 3: we had the premiere. We had it at the Disney lot,
Speaker 3: you know in Burbank. Yeah, we had it in that
Speaker 3: tiny little theater on the lot, like that little theater
Speaker 3: and there was a little poster and I remember it
Speaker 3: was raining because I drove my motorcycle to the premiere
Speaker 3: and it was raining. So like the only pictures I
Speaker 3: have a picture of me and Zach and I'm got
Speaker 3: my shirt's all wet. It's like little movie man. No
Speaker 3: one's going to see it. It was like it was nothing.
Speaker 3: It was like you got to bring like a frand
Speaker 3: or so. You know, it's just such a big half
Speaker 3: the theater was probably I couldn't get my friends to
Speaker 3: come visit me. I have some friends in Utah. I'm like, look,
Speaker 3: come on down, come check out this movie. And they're like,
Speaker 3: what's it called. It doesn't have a name yet, but.
Speaker 2: Who's in it? Who's it?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: Who? Come on? I don't know these people.
Speaker 3: And then the second the second premiere, this was this
Speaker 3: one had all changed. Wenna have a premiere and they said, oh, hey,
Speaker 3: Disney wants to send a Limo And I was like, Limo,
Speaker 3: what's going on here? Lima now we're talking so wet
Speaker 3: getting the limo. We go whow all the limos are
Speaker 3: going to Art theater?
Speaker 4: How wow?
Speaker 3: Everybody was there? That was a shocker. That was amazing.
Speaker 1: Okay, you finished the film, no promotion. Did you go
Speaker 1: to the little premiere on the Disney lot? Then the
Speaker 1: movie premieres? How fast was it for you to realize,
Speaker 1: Wait a second, this is way bigger than I thought
Speaker 1: it was going to be.
Speaker 3: Oh, immediately the next day after the numbers came out,
Speaker 3: because the headlines were crazy, they said, it's like the
Speaker 3: most viewed movie on cable ever, like any movie ever.
Speaker 3: So that was a really big deal. And it's worldwide.
Speaker 3: Like the reach worldwide is travel. I tend to travel
Speaker 3: a lot, and I'm in like little I was in
Speaker 3: this little town called Shaka in Sicily and Italy, and
Speaker 3: like I got mob by like three hundred people down
Speaker 3: there in this little tiny town, Like did the speak
Speaker 3: English Man? It's it's like it's crazy, Like the reach
Speaker 3: is crazy. So I don't even I don't even know
Speaker 3: how they explain that. But it was like so worldwide,
Speaker 3: so fast it was. It was a trip.
Speaker 4: It has to be so crazy to think back, you know,
Speaker 4: doing obviously work with Zach and also Vanessa, and they're
Speaker 4: so green at the time and now to see them
Speaker 4: and as these epic stars that they are, that had
Speaker 4: to be really cool to be part of their beginning.
Speaker 3: You know, it's such a privilege. It's like such an honor.
Speaker 3: Zach became like a really good friend and he was
Speaker 3: like my workout buddy, like he's the best. And Vanessa
Speaker 3: I just a lover to pieces, like a love her
Speaker 3: so much. She's such a sweetheart. I just love her.
Speaker 3: So it was really fun and I was and I was, honestly,
Speaker 3: I was like really proud of them because they're they're
Speaker 3: they're young kids. Man. All this money and all this
Speaker 3: fame and everybody wants from them, and they've just maintained
Speaker 3: like this such a solid, down to earth, beautiful way
Speaker 3: about him. I was like, good for you, guys, man,
Speaker 3: because I like, we came back for the second movie,
Speaker 3: and I was like, that's so rad. And then when
Speaker 3: we came back for the third movie, I was like,
Speaker 3: let's see, because I've seen this before, seeing my friends
Speaker 3: go on series. They come back like two or three
Speaker 3: seasons later, things have changed, and I gotta tell you
Speaker 3: they're like as sweet as ever.
Speaker 4: Oh that's awesome. I love that.
Speaker 3: It was really cool.
Speaker 4: When's the last time you've actually watched a high school musical?
Speaker 4: Have you watched it at all?
Speaker 3: Boy, it's it's been a little well, no, it's not true.
Speaker 3: I get invited to screenings and and to like go
Speaker 3: do put's and stuff, and if I'm around, I'm in town,
Speaker 3: I love to do it. Yeah, and then I do
Speaker 3: these like I just did this, I just hosted. This
Speaker 3: is crazy. This is the weirdest. Well here's here's a
Speaker 3: weird thing about like me. Particular is that like I
Speaker 3: couldn't get a job after this the movies came out,
Speaker 3: Like I couldn't get a job. It is the weirdest thing.
Speaker 3: And I see it was just it's really weird being
Speaker 3: a dad on a Disney show like adult, Like I
Speaker 3: wasn't invited to stuff, you know. It's like it was
Speaker 3: kind of a weird thing because I've never like when
Speaker 3: I've been a part of a TV series or a
Speaker 3: show or something, I'm used to like, oh, you're part
Speaker 3: of the family, Like I'm in all three movies, like
Speaker 3: and I remember, like they get they like they they
Speaker 3: gave East high yearbooks out to like everybody in the
Speaker 3: cast like.
Speaker 4: Oh that's so cool.
Speaker 3: Oh not you Bart you know, not you.
Speaker 2: I'm like they didn't you didn't get one.
Speaker 3: I never got one. Still still never did. Wait what yes,
Speaker 3: craziest thing. And then they go to ward Nouse people
Speaker 3: the cast that have like one or two lines.
Speaker 2: They're invited, but they're young.
Speaker 4: They're the kids, they're the kids.
Speaker 3: And it's like I get it, Like I get it's
Speaker 3: like for the promotion of that, but it's like.
Speaker 2: Still, why not get I get Okay, I get maybe
Speaker 2: not the promotion. They're not gonna throw you out there ready,
Speaker 2: but why not give you a year?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 2: Get that?
Speaker 3: And like the award shows and all these different like
Speaker 3: like all these high school musical events. I'm like, how
Speaker 3: am I not getting in fighted in life? It's the
Speaker 3: weirdest I mean now I am like now like all
Speaker 3: these later they're like, oh, you're such an important part
Speaker 3: of the franchise. You know, they're great now, but like
Speaker 3: we're like ten years and then and then cut to
Speaker 3: like I gotta get a job because like HBO is
Speaker 3: not like hey, who's the dad on that Disney ship?
Speaker 3: Like like that's the stuff I was going on for
Speaker 3: this really cool stuff before and now I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: now I'm like in this corny thing like.
Speaker 2: Somebody you know, you noticed a real like doubt.
Speaker 3: Oh no, they would tell you. They would tell you,
Speaker 3: like they tell my agent like, oh no, we don't
Speaker 3: want the guy from the Disney Channel and no, but no, no, no,
Speaker 3: who is that? Yeah, we'll pick him up like Frank Gosling.
Speaker 3: And you know all these people come from you know,
Speaker 3: as your kids. But it's a weird thing that. So
Speaker 3: I was like for a while there, I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is like I thought this was the best job
Speaker 3: of my life. It might be the worst job of
Speaker 3: It was the weirdest thing. It's just like not cool man,
Speaker 3: not I got like no opportunities now though now it's
Speaker 3: not now it's changed. But like I've done, I've done
Speaker 3: a lot of work before this movie, you know.
Speaker 1: So it was, well, that's one thing we should definitely mention.
Speaker 1: I mean we're talking about, you know, the stuff that
Speaker 1: our listeners, especially we listened to as you did stuff
Speaker 1: like Saved by the Bill of the New Class, Clueless,
Speaker 1: you did thunder Ally, which was we we could have
Speaker 1: met because Boyme's world was literally right next door to
Speaker 1: thunder ally, so.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, could have met back in the day. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean you were in a Francis sport Copla movie,
Speaker 2: weren't you.
Speaker 3: That was my very first job. Yeah yeah, So.
Speaker 1: I mean it's like you were you weren't just making
Speaker 1: the rounds, you were working on high, high level stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And I had recently done this TV series
Speaker 3: that thirty something, the guys from thirty something made. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's like, really that was a really great show. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I kind of felt like a built up a career.
Speaker 3: I got blindsided by like what seemingly an amazing opportunity
Speaker 3: that everyone in the world knows.
Speaker 1: It's just like it's blindsided by being in the biggest
Speaker 1: movie ever seen in cable history.
Speaker 3: It's like, damn, it's crazy. But but you know, like
Speaker 3: the story ends well because like whatever, fifteen years later,
Speaker 3: now now it's like really cool and it's like now
Speaker 3: pop culture and now it's like I'm feeling like, oh,
Speaker 3: like now it's good. Like I did an episode of Uh,
Speaker 3: I did an episode of All American, which I think
Speaker 3: is a great TV show. And this is this example.
Speaker 3: I was going to work one day and the showrunners like, hey,
Speaker 3: I love you coach full.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Wcats Is that how I got this job? Like okay, yeah,
Speaker 3: so it's kind of like calm around And so did
Speaker 3: you go through a time then where you were like, man,
Speaker 3: I wish I wasn't in those movies. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: I was torn. I was always torn. I was always
Speaker 3: learn so much. Sure, yeah, I loved them and I
Speaker 3: had so much fun. I was raised on musicals, like
Speaker 3: my favorite movies. Uh, singing in the.
Speaker 2: Rain, I just I love me.
Speaker 3: And I did them in high school, like all through
Speaker 3: high school, I did a lot of musicals and and
Speaker 3: uh I sing and dance and and uh so it's
Speaker 3: the whole thing, and the whole actually, the whole thing
Speaker 3: is really weird because, uh, I've never you know, I've
Speaker 3: never been on the sideline where it's like I'm usually
Speaker 3: one like singing and dancing, and like these guys don't
Speaker 3: even sing a dance, man, Like these guys are not
Speaker 3: even real seers younger and not sing. And then I
Speaker 3: had a song and a dance in the first one,
Speaker 3: originally in the original script, I had a song and
Speaker 3: a dance, and I was like, oh, this is sick.
Speaker 3: We finally got to do it, and Dizzy's like.
Speaker 2: No, listen, no they cut y'all.
Speaker 3: We didn't shoot it before we shot it. But it's like, no,
Speaker 3: I don't want to see the old guy saying.
Speaker 1: Like, hey, you did you ever try to go to
Speaker 1: like to Kenny or anybody and be like you gotta
Speaker 1: for the next one or whatever. You gotta give me
Speaker 1: a song and dance you got.
Speaker 3: Kenny would talking, he would mention it every once in
Speaker 3: a while of like you know, because he he really
Speaker 3: wanted it. He's he's great, man. Kenny is like he's
Speaker 3: the best. Like when the when number two came out,
Speaker 3: I wasn't in Number two very much at all, and
Speaker 3: Kenny saw the script, he said, what's going on? What
Speaker 3: are we doing here? Like this is like when Zach
Speaker 3: has some heavy contemplating. You don't go talk to your friends,
Speaker 3: you go talk to your family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, talk to your dad.
Speaker 3: Like this is like the heart of his journey. So
Speaker 3: he had all these scenes written with me in it,
Speaker 3: which thanks man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3: That good.
Speaker 4: Wow have your have your kids watched them?
Speaker 3: Uh? I don't know if they've actually watched them entirely.
Speaker 3: They've seen it. There is kind of a funny thing
Speaker 3: with my kids because like I couldn't take them to
Speaker 3: elementary school when that when it came out, they were
Speaker 3: they were in elementary school and I couldn't walk in
Speaker 3: the school anymore because they mobbed. It's the funny. It's
Speaker 3: like the funniest thing, Like five six seven year olds.
Speaker 4: Do your kids get irritated with it? Then I know
Speaker 4: my dad is Gach Boulton.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then when they got older in school, it was like,
Speaker 3: you know, drew a lot of attension and I don't
Speaker 3: want all this attention. And then you know they're like
Speaker 3: his you know my kids their uncles is Ryan Reynolds,
Speaker 3: like and yeah, it is lively. So it's like they
Speaker 3: already get like people coming up to them asking about that,
Speaker 3: and then I show up and then it's like everybody
Speaker 3: wants to talk about that, and they're like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: But then yeah, but then one day I was at
Speaker 3: this I was in Orange County and was at this
Speaker 3: trampoline park and it was like this massive, one, beautiful one.
Speaker 3: It's like, oh, this is the coolest trampoline park of
Speaker 3: every so we just kind of stumbled into it. My
Speaker 3: kids are jumping around. All the people that work there
Speaker 3: are like my people, my wildcats, you know. So you know,
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, my kids are off jump and I'm
Speaker 3: taking pictures of them and you know, like hanging out
Speaker 3: with them, and they're having a good time and they're
Speaker 3: everybody's like the fans, the fandom in high school musical,
Speaker 3: just like they got my heart, man anything.
Speaker 2: Very loyal, very loyal fans.
Speaker 4: Most of our producers are of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got many of them here, now.
Speaker 3: Tell them all. I love them with all my I'm
Speaker 3: so grateful for him. I'll do anything for him. So
Speaker 3: I'm at the trampoline park. I'm I'm loving these guys
Speaker 3: and uh and uh they close, and so everybody's leaving
Speaker 3: and and like, oh man, we just found you know.
Speaker 3: We were traveling through Orange County. You know, we live
Speaker 3: in LA but just traveling through. And my kids like
Speaker 3: so bummed. And they were like, oh no, no, no, you
Speaker 3: guys stay as long as you want. And my kids
Speaker 3: are like, wait, what what's happening here?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 3: I'm like, my people, we stay as long as you want.
Speaker 3: They're like, wait a minute, there's upside to this thing.
Speaker 2: Well, my dad is suddenly awesome again. That's what it took.
Speaker 3: That's what it took.
Speaker 4: Do any of the people come up to you and
Speaker 4: throw out one of their favorite lines of yours? Do
Speaker 4: they do to you? Oh? Yeah, yeah yeah, which ones
Speaker 4: do they do?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 3: They're like, will you say it? Well? First of all,
Speaker 3: now they just say will you say it? Cause you
Speaker 3: just can you say it? Please? And I'm like, where's
Speaker 3: my team Darbus? And we're already like to get the
Speaker 3: phones out, you know whatever.
Speaker 1: I'm like a tree and then they just literally shot
Speaker 1: They're like, what are they doing in a tree?
Speaker 3: Right there?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: So here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Ian Reynolds, Blake Lively, Yeah whatever, your wife was in
Speaker 1: fuzz Bucket?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, did you ever see Fuzzbucket?
Speaker 3: Have never?
Speaker 2: Did you just say you've never seen fuzz Bucket?
Speaker 3: I don't think I've ever seen it?
Speaker 1: Oh man, how can you not have seen the joy
Speaker 1: that is Fuzzbucket?
Speaker 4: That's because if you remember, will Rons like, I've never
Speaker 4: seen Fuzzybug. No one's asked to do an interview with
Speaker 4: me about this.
Speaker 2: Whole high school musical. None of those movies can touch
Speaker 2: a fuzz Bucket. Okay, yeah, so please do a family
Speaker 2: screening a fuzzby I.
Speaker 3: Will put it at the top of the list.
Speaker 4: We watched it on YouTube is where we found I.
Speaker 2: Think it's the only place you can find it is
Speaker 2: on you on YouTube. You watched it recently, Yeah, we
Speaker 2: did it.
Speaker 4: We did one of our episodes on it.
Speaker 1: So one of our episodes was about Fuzzbucket and your wife,
Speaker 1: and our first question was, when's the last time that
Speaker 1: you did an interview about Fuzzbucket And she's like, no
Speaker 1: one in my life has ever asked.
Speaker 4: Probably how even Bucket honestly got her to do the
Speaker 4: show was because of the fact that no one's ever
Speaker 4: asked her to do. And she was like, what is
Speaker 4: this show about? What is this podcast?
Speaker 2: Asked?
Speaker 1: Is like somebody took acid and turned it into a film.
Speaker 4: That's crazy. It's good, really good watch.
Speaker 3: Yeah interesting. You know.
Speaker 2: I hear teen Witch all the time or seen Witch.
Speaker 2: The rap song from teen Witch is legendary.
Speaker 3: Obviously people love that, but fuzz Bucket, I don't. I
Speaker 3: don't know.
Speaker 2: Oh God, please please.
Speaker 4: I got to ask her questions because her answers are hilarious.
Speaker 4: She's like, I have no idea.
Speaker 2: We're like, so, what was it like to shoot?
Speaker 4: It's like, I don't remember, remember, I don't remember.
Speaker 2: I think I worked three days in nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 2: Like I no one's ever asked me about fuzz Bucket?
Speaker 3: Was that what the horse? She was on the horse?
Speaker 4: No, Fuzz is the one where the kids I am
Speaker 4: some kind of awesome creature that we can speak sometimes
Speaker 4: and is sometimes invisible.
Speaker 2: There's no rules.
Speaker 1: It's so sometimes it's invisible, sometimes it's not.
Speaker 2: It we drinks this weird potion.
Speaker 1: She plays the older sister who just it's on her
Speaker 1: little brother in the worst ways the and.
Speaker 2: She just calls him a tumor. He's the tumor, like
Speaker 2: the whole.
Speaker 4: Time, oh man. And we were even asking her because
Speaker 4: you know, we had done some research and some digging,
Speaker 4: and it looked there was there's a rumor out on
Speaker 4: the internet that that was actually more so a pilot
Speaker 4: that was going to be for a TV show. So
Speaker 4: we're like, was that the realness? And she's like, I
Speaker 4: have I have no idea. It was awesome. It was so.
Speaker 1: Michael Eisner started all the movies that they couldn't put
Speaker 1: somewhere so they had to burn off as Wonderful World
Speaker 1: of Disney's to make them longer. Eisner would record his
Speaker 1: own intro and this was the first time he ever
Speaker 1: did it, and apparently it took him like seventy five
Speaker 1: takes to do the intro to fuzz Bucket.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: So that's great again, high school musical with its two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five million viewers. Great, but fuzz Bucket
Speaker 1: another level. No, anyway, have you back back to why
Speaker 1: we're here? I just we had to we had to
Speaker 1: talk Fuzzbucket for a second.
Speaker 3: I love that. I like It's on my list.
Speaker 2: So do you keep in touch with the cast anymore?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I see him. I talked to Kenny more
Speaker 3: than than anyone. We both live close to each other
Speaker 3: and okay, I've known him forever. But yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 3: see everybody. I did an event in Paris with Vanessa recently,
Speaker 3: which was great. Oh nice, got some weird things now
Speaker 3: where it's like, you know, I've come all the way
Speaker 3: from like oh yeah, yeah, the dad and the coach,
Speaker 3: but like let's talk about Zach and Vanessa, you know,
Speaker 3: to like it's kind of come full circle now, like
Speaker 3: I get, these guys just hired me in Italy to
Speaker 3: host a dance party for fifteen thousand people. So it's
Speaker 3: the craziest thing. So come out to Milan, pay me
Speaker 3: a bunch of money, and like I just get on stage,
Speaker 3: like dance to these guys. I give them the lines
Speaker 3: and dance to some of the music. It's the greatest.
Speaker 3: It's the greatest. So I've done it a couple of
Speaker 3: times with a different company in Germany. It it's like,
Speaker 3: I want to like club and why this was the
Speaker 3: first time they said, hey, we want you to come out.
Speaker 3: We pay you to come out and host this party
Speaker 3: in Berlin. I'm like, okay, cool, And so I go
Speaker 3: out to Berlin. I'm like, what time? When do you
Speaker 3: want me go on? Like I got some ideas I
Speaker 3: could say this stage. You know, I did the whole
Speaker 3: crowds there, so I say, you know, like what team
Speaker 3: and they all yell Wildcats, And just because I always say, like,
Speaker 3: I know you guys have done the yell before, but
Speaker 3: have you ever done it with the coach?
Speaker 2: Let's go team?
Speaker 3: And I get they're just like pumped and their screams
Speaker 3: and yell. It's the it's the best. It's the best.
Speaker 3: So I get out to Berlin and they said, you know,
Speaker 3: we're gonna have you come out in the stage about one.
Speaker 3: I'm like one in the morning, like I've I'm here, Like,
Speaker 3: why don't you bring me out earlier? I'll hang out
Speaker 3: with you guys like whatever, like you'll dance around, like
Speaker 3: you get the crowd going whatever. And they're like okay, well, okay.
Speaker 3: You know, at about five am, I'm like, what's the
Speaker 3: what are we wrap this thing up? And they're like, oh, yea,
Speaker 3: as soon as the sun comes up, we'll be time.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh that's what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a way through.
Speaker 4: Oh no, I don't think I could last that.
Speaker 2: There's no way.
Speaker 4: O'clock in the afternoon. That's the only time one I
Speaker 4: can do anything that's crazy. Now.
Speaker 1: One of the things that we've really noticed, especially by
Speaker 1: by doing this podcast the people we've brought on, is
Speaker 1: that nostalgia fans are the most loyal, wonderful, incredible people
Speaker 1: because what they're watching brings them back to a time
Speaker 1: in their life that was so happy and safe and
Speaker 1: I mean usually happy, safe and healthy, or what they're watching,
Speaker 1: something like a high school musical, took them out of
Speaker 1: an environment that wasn't happy, healthy and safe, so they've
Speaker 1: held onto it in such a way to where it's
Speaker 1: this idealized image of their childhood. So that's why the
Speaker 1: fandom you feel is so personal and so loyal and
Speaker 1: so wonderful is because it is such an important part
Speaker 1: of their lives. And I know that the fans are
Speaker 1: just there with.
Speaker 2: You no matter what you're doing.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad you're finally getting your due, but damn it,
Speaker 1: I want to get you a yearbook.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the hell I have to do.
Speaker 3: Hey, I gotta tell you that was really well said.
Speaker 3: Like how you articulated that was like so on the money.
Speaker 3: Because the first thing people usually say to me is listen, listen,
Speaker 3: you don't understand. You don't understand that. I love to
Speaker 3: hear that because they're about to tell me something really
Speaker 3: personal or something childhood. And it's like it hits different.
Speaker 2: For sure, it does, it does, and I don't.
Speaker 3: Take it for granted. Man, I really appreciate it. It's it's
Speaker 3: pretty awesome.
Speaker 4: And I feel like they'll follow you anywhere, whatever your
Speaker 4: next show is, whatever the next movie is, They'll follow
Speaker 4: you forever. They're so loyal and amazing people.
Speaker 3: I have friends that are like, oh yeah, I don't
Speaker 3: read your social media comments or you know that kind
Speaker 3: of thing, and like, man, I do not deserve the
Speaker 3: amount of love one you know on TikTok and Instagram.
Speaker 3: It's it's so I appreciate it so much. They're so amazing.
Speaker 1: That's the thing about the quote unquote children's programming. When
Speaker 1: you're when you're involved in something that is focused mostly
Speaker 1: on children, you're eternal. That doesn't happen when you're an adult.
Speaker 1: For an adult thing, you're onto the next Tay two
Speaker 1: hour movie, whatever. That's great, you're onto the next, But
Speaker 1: when you watch that thing as a kid and it influences.
Speaker 2: Your life, it's forever.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's you know, those same fans where God willing,
Speaker 1: we're in our eighties for whatever we did eighties or nineties,
Speaker 1: that are now in their fifties and sixties, they're still
Speaker 1: going to feel the same way about you that they
Speaker 1: did when they were seven or eight years old. It's eternal.
Speaker 1: So there is something about being in something. That's why
Speaker 1: Disney Channel we love watching these movies for Disney Channel.
Speaker 1: We love to see the reach.
Speaker 4: That they have.
Speaker 1: We love to see the ones like high School Musical
Speaker 1: that have exploded, but that become a worldwide phenomenon because
Speaker 1: you're you're forever now for them, and that's something that
Speaker 1: is so cool.
Speaker 2: And I love meeting people like you who absolutely.
Speaker 1: You that and don't take it for granted because it's
Speaker 1: it's great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know. I I bet people ask me like,
Speaker 3: like if I go to Disneyland or something like, sometimes
Speaker 3: I get caught up with like a line of people
Speaker 3: and that's funny. I just went recently and the employees
Speaker 3: at Disneyland started lining up people, like they started organizing
Speaker 3: the crowd.
Speaker 2: I'm like, is this a convention? What's what's what's happening?
Speaker 4: Help me? I just want to get to Space Mountain.
Speaker 3: No. But I but I like, I always like, I like,
Speaker 3: and I'll tell you, like the viewers out there, like
Speaker 3: if you see me, please say hi. I appreciate it
Speaker 3: so much, so I'm I'm I'm there for it and
Speaker 3: I'll stay till the last person. And and I love
Speaker 3: it so much. I always say, like I should be
Speaker 3: so lucky you know that I give this much of
Speaker 3: an effort and just give someone a hug and it
Speaker 3: means so much to them, you know, like I should
Speaker 3: be so lucky. That's that's a gift.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 4: You got a chance to go back on is it
Speaker 4: am I reading this right? That it's called The High
Speaker 4: School Musical the Musical the series.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got.
Speaker 4: A chance to reprise your role on that. That had
Speaker 4: to have been cool. With this new generation of high
Speaker 4: school musical actors. That is so cool.
Speaker 3: It was really fun, you know, it was they there
Speaker 3: were so many different versions of High School Musical the
Speaker 3: TV series, and some of them are pretty good, and
Speaker 3: one like I was going to be the soccer coach
Speaker 3: and when I was gonna be the vice principal, and
Speaker 3: like I was digging all these different you know, for
Speaker 3: several years, and then of course the one they pick
Speaker 3: is like the meta one where no one's involved. So
Speaker 3: it's like, well, yeah, of course sucks. But it was
Speaker 3: really fun to watch these guys carry it on. And
Speaker 3: it was so wild to like watch someone like in
Speaker 3: our school, in our environment, like singing the same songs.
Speaker 3: Like yeah, it was so meta and so weird to watch,
Speaker 3: but really really fun to see people like you know,
Speaker 3: continuing on. But then the final season of the series,
Speaker 3: they called it the Reunion, and it was basically the
Speaker 3: storyline was that the original cast comes back to make
Speaker 3: High School Musical four. So everybody's wanted High School Musical
Speaker 3: four for so long and we kind of got to
Speaker 3: give him a little meta version of that. Urban and
Speaker 3: Casey Strow and Monique and a few of the casts
Speaker 3: like came back together to uh to kind of do that.
Speaker 3: It was super fun.
Speaker 4: Did they go back up to Utah and filmed there
Speaker 4: as well?
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, Wow that's cool.
Speaker 3: Oh it was so wild because it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: fifteen years later, Yeah.
Speaker 2: The same place, walking in the same.
Speaker 3: Basketball court, and it's like, but yeah, I got so emotional.
Speaker 3: It was likeay, so Tim the creator of the show,
Speaker 3: he was thoughtful, and he was so kind and so
Speaker 3: respectful of like we got we're bringing in the og guys.
Speaker 3: The ogs here, the ogs aer here. Like he was drivening.
Speaker 3: So the first thing we did before we shot like
Speaker 3: a frame of that show was got he brought everybody
Speaker 3: into big circle. So it was like the old cast
Speaker 3: and then the new cast. And when we just like
Speaker 3: sat there in a circle, like looking at each other
Speaker 3: and like kind of went around and like got to
Speaker 3: express themselves a little bit, and like I choked up, man,
Speaker 3: I started crying. I'm like, this is like, this is
Speaker 3: where we had like our championship game. This is where
Speaker 3: we're saying, like we're all in this together. This is
Speaker 3: like so many amazing things happen right here, and we're back.
Speaker 3: We're back, and I'm looking I'm looking at Miss Darbus
Speaker 3: to my left and you know, Cortman, and it's like,
Speaker 3: this is crazy, man, this is where we had all
Speaker 3: our basketball games and our practices. It was just it
Speaker 3: was it was overwhelming.
Speaker 2: It was awesome, all right. So you you brought it up.
Speaker 1: So we have to ask because not only did you
Speaker 1: bring it up, but Zach has brought it up now
Speaker 1: recently about the possibility of High School Musical four and
Speaker 1: how he would be down to do it. So is
Speaker 1: this something that you would be interested in doing? Have
Speaker 1: you heard anything about it? Is there anything in the
Speaker 1: works that you're not allowed to talk about that you
Speaker 1: can maybe not talk about.
Speaker 2: I mean, what have you heard about high School Musical four?
Speaker 2: And if it does exist, would that be something you'd
Speaker 2: be interested in doing?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, absolutely, I think the time was wrong back then,
Speaker 3: because everyone was so interested in pursuing the next level
Speaker 3: and shouldn't have created the next thing that it's probably
Speaker 3: wise to kind of do that, And which was kind
Speaker 3: of funny because like like everybody was doing that, you know,
Speaker 3: like everybody thought they would go on to have Zach
Speaker 3: and Vanessa's career, you know.
Speaker 4: So like everything, I feel like there was at least
Speaker 4: four of them that had record deals very soon after that,
Speaker 4: Like a lot of them were what is my next
Speaker 4: step after high school music?
Speaker 3: Right? Right, and and so, and they were trying to
Speaker 3: distance themselves from the franchise sure, which I thought was
Speaker 3: a little like it's a little disappointing because it's like
Speaker 3: you you have nothing without these guys, you have without
Speaker 3: the span base, you wouldn't have any of these opportunities.
Speaker 2: You know, it's that you do.
Speaker 1: You get you get it, you get where they're coming from.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you're like, come on, you know,
Speaker 1: I know, I know ezactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 3: It's like and and maybe it's because I've been around
Speaker 3: a long time. I'm just like the old I've kind
Speaker 3: of seen it all, and it's like this opportunity, like
Speaker 3: this amount of love and like this fandom and like
Speaker 3: this special project is it's not gonna, it's probably never gonna.
Speaker 2: He won the you won the lottery.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like, soak it up, enjoy it and like run
Speaker 3: with it, man, because it's it's pretty awes.
Speaker 2: That's the wisdom of age. That's all that is.
Speaker 3: I think. So, I think so and I and I
Speaker 3: don't blame them. I know that they're sure. And honestly,
Speaker 3: Zach had his hands full man like he en finess,
Speaker 3: so like they're like move after move like they were really.
Speaker 4: I feel like I remember before the third one hearing
Speaker 4: that there was so much back and forth of whether
Speaker 4: or not they were going to do the third one
Speaker 4: at all. Right, there was a lot of Nope, Dak's
Speaker 4: not doing it, Vanessa's not doing it. Yes they're in,
Speaker 4: then they're out. I felt like I remember hearing that
Speaker 4: a lot within, just like people that I knew at
Speaker 4: the channel.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's true, and it was. It's I mean, the
Speaker 3: first movie was four million, I think the second one
Speaker 3: was six million, and then the third one was thirty five.
Speaker 3: So it was like yeah, yes, and then Theric else Yeah,
Speaker 3: and so I think, you know, yeah, you're totally right,
Speaker 3: by the way, that's exactly what was going on. And
Speaker 3: because no one was under contract, no one had to yeah, right,
Speaker 3: so that means like you got yeah, hey, like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're signing forty five picture deals.
Speaker 1: Now when they'd sign a kid, it's like, we've got
Speaker 1: you to your thirty exactly.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah. They learned some lessons there for sure.
Speaker 3: So you're right, that's exactly what happened, and they finally,
Speaker 3: you know, I think I don't know. My sense is
Speaker 3: like Zach is like you hear what he's saying, and
Speaker 3: you hear him expressing gratitude for what that it's special
Speaker 3: and so I and he means it like that's it's awesome,
Speaker 3: but he's you know, he's trying to move forward to so.
Speaker 4: Sure, right, yeah, I mean, I think I think it's
Speaker 4: fair for thinking of their age. Right the first time
Speaker 4: they make this, they made the movie there did Corbyn
Speaker 4: say he was fourteen fifteen years old?
Speaker 2: He was a little old. I think, yeah, fifteen sixteen something.
Speaker 4: Like that, you know, And then you're so you're also
Speaker 4: very highly influenced of like the people around you as well,
Speaker 4: you know, your managers, your publicists and stuff like that,
Speaker 4: and so yeah, you want to follow and you want
Speaker 4: to make the right decision, you know, but of course
Speaker 4: you loved doing what you were doing. It's so hard
Speaker 4: at that age to make that next choice decision, and
Speaker 4: there's so many people talking in your ear as well,
Speaker 4: you know, trying to advise.
Speaker 3: Especially after the success of the first one, Like all
Speaker 3: the vultures come out and like all the agencies come
Speaker 3: out and they start filling your head. Oh this this,
Speaker 3: we got to trust me, you know, all that kind
Speaker 3: of stuff. So I thought, I mean, I thought they
Speaker 3: navigated it really really well. As far as like something
Speaker 3: in the works, I don't think there's anything that works
Speaker 3: right now, but I think it's definitely a possibility. And
Speaker 3: I think if it came like if the right way,
Speaker 3: like if it happened the right way, like at the
Speaker 3: right you know, size and everything else, then I don't
Speaker 3: know if you guys noticed or not, but it was
Speaker 3: supposed to be. You know, we did Disney Channel twice,
Speaker 3: you know, Disny Channel for number one, Channel number two,
Speaker 3: and then theatrical for number three, and they introduced three
Speaker 3: new characters the number three because they wanted to repeat
Speaker 3: the formula, and.
Speaker 2: They wow that makes sense five on.
Speaker 3: The because they're like, oh, if that works, like, let's
Speaker 3: do that again. So four and five and then theatrical again.
Speaker 3: But the the new characters just didn't take you know,
Speaker 3: nor excited about the new character. So I think that
Speaker 3: just like that kind of ended that.
Speaker 4: Well, the cast is giant, it's so big to add
Speaker 4: three mores, Like, holy coal, there's a lot of characters
Speaker 4: actready here.
Speaker 3: Right, and how do you how do you find a
Speaker 3: new zac eFront Like that's he's pretty special, you know,
Speaker 3: and as good looking is and everything. That's that's that's
Speaker 3: tough one. Yeahsa like that. They tried to, you know,
Speaker 3: get the two new cars. Well yeah, she was like
Speaker 3: kind of a Gema. She's super sweet, but she had
Speaker 3: to be like the shar Pei in the and you know,
Speaker 3: the Gabriella. So it's yeah, it didn't it didn't work.
Speaker 3: It didn't work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they try, Hey, they always try.
Speaker 1: They were, hey, all the fans out there can after
Speaker 1: Zach said that, we're like chomping at the bit. So
Speaker 1: with the way it works nowadays, it takes off on
Speaker 1: social media. Disney obviously knows that they saw that, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure at some.
Speaker 2: Level somewhere in one of their buildings.
Speaker 1: The high School Musical for is being talked about, is
Speaker 1: being budgeted out somewhere, someone's doing a line by line
Speaker 1: for High School Musical Force somewhere.
Speaker 3: I hope, So, I hope.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 3: I think it would be really fun, man. I think
Speaker 3: it would be an awesome thing to do for the
Speaker 3: fans worldwide.
Speaker 4: It'd be really.
Speaker 3: I mean, just to give back really more than anything
Speaker 3: of like this what you guys want, like here you go,
Speaker 3: there you go.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with you on that there is a
Speaker 4: point of giving back to the fans something that they
Speaker 4: deserve because they are so loyal. I mean, just again,
Speaker 4: you know, they're the best fans that you can ask for,
Speaker 4: So why not.
Speaker 1: I also think, you know, especially in your in an
Speaker 1: acting career, fifteen twenty years after you've done something, you
Speaker 1: always look back at where you started. And I think,
Speaker 1: so it's a perfect time to say I am where
Speaker 1: I am right now, but I'm here because of this
Speaker 1: thing that people love, and it might be time for
Speaker 1: me to go back and dip my toe into that again.
Speaker 1: So it could the timing could work out.
Speaker 4: You just never know absolutely, But it's like, think about
Speaker 4: what would it be there has to be conflict. Are
Speaker 4: you telling me they're going to come back? And and
Speaker 4: Gabriella and like, are they gonna be you know what's
Speaker 4: the conflict?
Speaker 2: Don't throw it out there because I don't know. Don't
Speaker 2: throw it out there. I haven't seen the next two yet.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the next two yet, so I don't
Speaker 1: throw it out Well, this has been awesome.
Speaker 2: We would love to have you back when for High
Speaker 2: School Musical two and three.
Speaker 1: If you can come back and tell us some more stories,
Speaker 1: that would be great.
Speaker 3: Beau love.
Speaker 1: This has been amazing. This has been so cool, and
Speaker 1: please watch fuzz Bucket. I promise you will find you will.
Speaker 4: Fully and watch it because she's literally not seen it,
Speaker 4: so got to sure she sees it too.
Speaker 1: But thank you, thank you so much, and we will
Speaker 1: definitely be seeing you again.
Speaker 4: Yes, last comment on here, says Coach Bolton for Life.
Speaker 1: Yes, we've got our producers just Coach Bolton for Life.
Speaker 2: All right, bye. Thank you.
Speaker 4: Man, such a great guy.
Speaker 1: I feel like we barely scratched the surface of the
Speaker 1: stories that he has too, and so I'm so excited
Speaker 1: that there's two more of these movies that go back
Speaker 1: and talk to him about that's really really cool.
Speaker 4: It is interesting to think about too, because we've talked
Speaker 4: to mainly the actors that were the primary right, so
Speaker 4: they were all really like younger actors. It is interesting
Speaker 4: to see and like get some insight on what that
Speaker 4: transition is like, you know, for him to say like,
Speaker 4: I'm the one that's used to being the one playing
Speaker 4: basketball and now I'm on the sideline coaching, you know,
Speaker 4: all of that, that's pre cool and I'm sure for
Speaker 4: him he just sat and just watched these young kids
Speaker 4: on set and just was like, oh man, you know,
Speaker 4: it's so cool to be a part of their journey.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 2: I think so too.
Speaker 1: And I think the chance of them of them not
Speaker 1: doing some sort of high school musical for again, if
Speaker 1: the cast is there and the money is there, yeah, Disney.
Speaker 1: Disney knows what they have. They're they're ready to They're
Speaker 1: ready to do that.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I think it really. I'm sure it has
Speaker 4: to just be whether or not they can get the characters, because,
Speaker 4: like he said, the new ones, those didn't really have
Speaker 4: that that weight, and it's like if they can get
Speaker 4: all you know, if Ashley's down, Vanessa's down, Zach's down,
Speaker 4: Corbin MONI.
Speaker 1: Like anything else in Hollywood, it's always about timing. That's
Speaker 1: just the way timing and money, that's just the way
Speaker 1: it works out. So and can we, for the love
Speaker 1: of God get this man yearbook? How does everybody else
Speaker 1: in the cast but Coach Bolton get a yearbook?
Speaker 2: Come on real?
Speaker 4: I cannot imagine.
Speaker 2: It's so weird that disrespect for coach. I don't like it,
Speaker 2: and so not like that.
Speaker 4: Disney on sets are so inclusive of everyone. That's like
Speaker 4: so shocking to me that they would do that, because
Speaker 4: that is so far from how the channel handles things.
Speaker 1: People talk all the time about how Disney doesn't like
Speaker 1: to pay and Disney's very cheap, and a lot of
Speaker 1: that can can be true. But Disney is also an
Speaker 1: amazingly fun place to work. Yes, they care about the
Speaker 1: people that they're working with. They they really when they
Speaker 1: say the Disney family, they really mean the Disney family.
Speaker 1: You get to know everybody there. It is a really,
Speaker 1: really fun place to work. So I'm assuming this was
Speaker 1: just an oversight. And right now, when this this podcast
Speaker 1: comes out, somebody is going to be mailing him his
Speaker 1: own get.
Speaker 4: Him one guy's coming. He deserves it, Yes, for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you everybody so much for joining us for
Speaker 1: this park Copper episode. Thank you Bart Johnson. Just one
Speaker 1: awesome story after the next. I can't wait to have
Speaker 1: him back. I'm it's like, I'm so excited for the
Speaker 1: next movies that we're doing, but I'm now starting to
Speaker 1: kind of itch to start sequels equals, I know, because
Speaker 1: we've got a bunch that are coming out. I mean,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen Cheetah Girls too yet. I did you
Speaker 1: apparently do the old dance? And I think you kiss somebody?
Speaker 1: And I'm I don't even want to I.
Speaker 3: Don't want to know.
Speaker 4: I don't know, you know, everyone asks me, I'm sure,
Speaker 4: as well as all the other Cheetah Girls, like, what's
Speaker 4: your favorite one? Right? And yeah, everything about the second
Speaker 4: one where we were filming the storylines that we had,
Speaker 4: everything like, the second one is my favorite. The first one,
Speaker 4: I'm like, I love it and it was so fun
Speaker 4: to watch, but the second one I cannot.
Speaker 2: Wait to rewatch. Oh, I can't wait.
Speaker 4: All right, it's my favorite.
Speaker 1: Thank you again everyone for joining us for this Parkopper episode,
Speaker 1: And go back and watch High School Musical again. I
Speaker 1: loved it, I've did, and I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: the second one.
Speaker 2: Go Wildcats, Thanks everybody, Bye,