Anyway, how you doing today? You good?
I'm all good, man. Yeah.
How about yourself?
Yes. It's a Friday. Friday after all
I'm in London, so this is 4 p.m. for me.
So I'm just settling into the weekend.
It's nice.
I'm in Santa monica, but I head to Miami right after this.
Oh, nice.
Is that.
Is that to the movie to do some more?
Yeah, I was here for that.
We had the premiere last night in Westwood was really nice.
And then I pop over to home to switch suitcases
and then go to New York the next day to be doing press for another film project..
Oh, nice.
Oh, yeah, that's good to be busy, but I'm going to begin
my first people question about about this...
But again, I just want to know what stage you kind of found out there would be a
second film.
You know what?
When we were filming the first one, it was so much fun.
It was we filmed in Buford, South Carolina.
So from the environment to the town itself, I'd never been on a project
where literally each restaurant, like there are several restaurants
in this cute little town, they were are caterers on different days.
And I don't know how they figured it out, drew straws or something,
but it was awesome that everybody came together
and welcomed us in such a great way that it kind of felt like a no brainer.
Like, let's do this again.
And then I guess that came as an official request shortly after the premiere.
The first one and we jumped back in, didn't get to go back to Buford.
We filmed in Atlanta and Rome and some beautiful places in Georgia
was like a bit of a comfortability walking back onto the set
and seeing the same kind of familiar faces that you did.
You obviously just spent all that time with
100%, I mean, even the first time going on set.
Ciara and I have been friends since I moved to L.A. Ciara Hanna
so it was a really nice surprise to hear that she had been cast in the first one.
And then when I went on set, I hadn't seen her in many years.
We used to have the same manager.
I mean, way back in the day when I first moved like 17 years old.
I think, and it was like no time had passed.
So from the first one, especially into the second one, it was it was wonderful.
I mean, it's so nice to work with people that, you know, you get along with.
There's already chemistry, There's an awesome ease and confidence
going into a project like that.
Yeah, I mean, Ciara, I mean, it must be so great
because like you said, you've been friends for some time.
I mean, you've got a part of you. I know your job and I know something.
Everyone kind of has to just kind of get used to be.
Some often have to manufacture chemistry with your kind of costars.
That's just something all actors have to do.
It must come so much easier when you've got that relationship with someone already
hundred percent.
You know, especially in a role like this,
we are supposed to be playing people that have known each other for many years.
I think in real life, actually in real life,
we've known each other a lot longer than the characters have.
So in fact, I think that's where some of the
the acting came on is more on screen, figuring out like,
hey, how do we redevelop and rediscover this relationship?
But I mean, yeah,
of course it's fantastic because there's always a nervousness about
am I going to get along?
We have interests in common.
And of course you can still do a job with somebody you have nothing in common
with, but it's a lot easier to be able to have that relatability, right?
Yeah.
I mean, it was a you know, you mentioned about nerves.
It's going to ask you a question about nerves
because I've interviewed people before that have sung like,
you know, you've sung on stage before, you're
kind of very used to singing in front of crowds.
How is it singing or performing on set?
Is that a different Does it tap into like a different type of nervousness,
or is this something you feel really kind of at ease
with having the kind of experience of singing in front of people before it?
Certainly makes it easier.
You know, when you're on set, nine times out of ten, you're
essentially lip synching, right? Because you create the track.
It's very hard to line up camera like a music video.
If you're doing it live, you could be in the wrong key.
You could be at the wrong time. You're right tempo.
I mean, so nine times out of ten, probably more than that, it's a little bit easier
because you don't have to be live now to make it look realistic.
You better be singing. There's a lot of tricks with that.
But I mean, once you're on stage and you've done it live
in real hundreds of times, you know, it certainly makes it
easier to be on set and go, okay, I can I can make this look good.
And there's there's a lot less pressure not having to do the real thing, does it?
When you let's say you got a big like concert that you're about to go out for.
Let's say you've got a huge scene.
Does it
do you all kind of prep in the morning your psychological kind of preparation
for like a big day?
Is it is it the same irrespective of what you're you're doing that day?
I think the prep work in and of itself is the same.
But how you prep is, of course, different.
You know, going into character work.
You know, this film,
really light hearted family film, it's not going to be that dark.
I don't have to go to any certain places pulling on.
You know, I think every actor has their bag of tools.
So to say, you know, and I have specific memories
that if I think of just make me laugh genuinely out loud,
another one is it truly make me sad.
And those are good starting points for where you need to go.
Something like this.
Of course, they're they're realistic situations
and so you try and pull from places you've been that might be similar to that,
but you know, not not too difficult emotionally, which is nice.
It is nice to do a film that is very light hearted and,
you know, it's a little bit different with preparation, a singing,
you know, because there you actually have choreography and places you need to be.
And I'm thinking like a game plan, like you
playing a sports or anything like that, you know, going out
and I played football or basketball or soccer.
You run the plays, you run the plays and it's very similar on set,
a little easier
because you just film in half a page or a page or two pages versus 2 hours.
So same idea with preparation, but varies how you prep.
Before I move on.
Back to the movie, just on the subject of kind of music and stuff.
I mean,
I used to toying with that time watching
and how has it been getting back into the swing of things now?
I know it's been like a couple of years now,
I suppose you've been kind of back together, kind of wild because to me it
kind of feels like, you know, you're just bringing it back together moments ago.
But now, yeah, it's been a couple of years.
It's been fantastic.
We didn't know what to expect.
We had high hopes.
You know, COVID really locked in that we wanted to bring back
the positive nostalgia, the memories for us as well.
And our fans are just, I hate to say, a better time, but at that time
it was it was a better time, a happier time, a more normal time.
And that's continued and has prospered and we've had so many people
come out and see us.
You know, we sold out pretty much 44 shows last summer.
We're about to go to South America.
And, you know, God willing, we're going to keep keep touring,
working on an album right now.
So there's a lot ahead for us,
and we're just grateful that people are excited to have us back.
Do you find that club?
It was quite an introspective time.
Did he kind of because I don't know about you,
but I think it was
obviously it was so devastating and sort of impact around the world.
But for me, kind of personally, kind of looking ahead and stuff,
it made me kind of reflect and like realize what I valued more in life.
I don't know.
Did you find you had a kind of similar experience during that time?
I mean, I think it would have been quite a waste
if you couldn't find the silver linings in it, you know?
So absolutely.
You know, looking back on it,
of course, in the moment, you didn't know if it was going to be a week or a month,
much less years.
None of us really thought we'd be there for for two years, approximately.
But looking back on it, I also have a somewhat fond
memory of,
Hey, you know,
I'd recently started dating my girlfriend and we got a lot of time
to spend together.
And I know there were a lot of breakups and a lot of pregnancies and COVID,
and I feel like one way or the other, we didn't either, but we stayed together.
And again, you know, a horrible time to go through.
But there's a there's a little bit of that introspective
relationship that we had internally we had with each other that I look back
on, and it's it's kind of awesome because we're never hopefully,
God willing, never going to get time like that again.
So you have to appreciate it for what it was.
I go back to the movie that's going to come true.
I mean, because obviously, you know, there's when you've got a film
that was successful,
like the first time was and you kind of want to give fans
more of of the same thing was obviously you want them to kind of enjoy
that kind of experience on a second occasion.
It still has to be slightly different
to the first like of any kind of passing project.
So what do you think fans of the first can expect from from this sequel?
How does it kind of differ?
What was really nice about
this is it's not 100% about Ciara's character and mine.
Bryce and Madison.
We go and it starts off like, okay, it's going to be the proposal
and it's going to be the wedding movie.
But then all of a sudden it becomes this this ensemble cast
because we get there and her sister, who's introduced in this film,
gets proposed to by a boyfriend of three months.
And it's really a fun mix of characters.
It's really much more of a broad storyline,
which I think makes it more dynamic.
There's some amazing actors in this film with us and it brings a lot more heart.
And of course, like it ends up working out in a certain way
for our characters, but it's along with everyone else,
so it's a much more it's a bigger cast and it's a much bigger ride.
So I could actually be a third.
You know what? Always a possibility.
Not my call.
So you guys watch it and you like it.
And by all means, shoot some comments their way and anything's possible.
As I just go back to your singing.
If you could sing at a wedding, what song directing you would choose to sing
in your life? Wow.
If I could sing at a wedding, I mean, you know, good Bruno Mars song,
Catch a Grenade, that's don't the actual title of it.
But the song, you know, Catch a Grenade is such a oof,
one of my favorite ones and
probably that.
And then, you know, we just had a writing trip.
The band and I
and I guess that putting together an album and we wrote a beautiful ballad
if anything more than that away, because as I'm saying
this, you just never know what's going to end up.
And I hate to sing a song that won't be on the album, but I'm hoping it will.
And I think that one will get sung at quite a few weddings
and hopefully we'll have the privilege of actually singing that one ourselves.
And just very quickly,
before I do go, because you're mentioning before the actors kind
of having a kind of a toolbox, so to speak.
I just wondered
because you've obviously got a bit of a variety now, It's
you've always kind of romantic comedies, war movies.
I just wonder, is there something you've
sort of got to try that you'd like to give a go?
You know, I've always loved comedy and of course
I'm really, really anxious to continue to do more of the action type films.
And I've done some small scale combination of the both, you know, action comedy.
But to grow that, to really do a proper action comedy,
you know, ala Ryan Reynolds, where it's just I mean, the physicality is undeniable
and then the acting chops and the timing also when you when you combine
those two, well, it's so entertaining.
I feel like it's the most broad audience type content you can have because
it appeals to everyone's like, Wow, that's just good work and it's
entertaining and, you know, hopefully I can get to do more of that.
In fact, I will get to do more of that in my career.
But I look forward to seeing it, thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you, buddy.