‘Army Wives’ Star Drew Fuller Branches Out to ‘The Circuit’
Actor Drew Fuller was recently kind enough to spend time answering a bunch of questions about his starring gig in the new ABC Family made-for-TV movie The Circuit, as well as his current regular role on Lifetime’s hit military drama Army Wives.
Unlike the responsible and mature family man Trevor LeBlanc he portrays on the series, Fuller’s movie character, Kid Walker, a charming sensation on the racing circuit, is somewhat self-involved and flippant when it comes to his relationships with others.
Fuller discusses the differences between the opposite characters, the one he’s most like, and lots of other interesting things in the following interview, which clearly demonstrates how well-spoken and engaging the 28-year-old is. All of the fans who admire or have a crush on him have picked the right guy! Now on to the interview…
On the plot of The Circuit and his character Kid Walker:
Drew Fuller: The plot, the heart of it, it’s a family movie about a reconciliation between a father and daughter who had an estranged relationship due to the fact that he chose his career over his daughter. I think along the way finding that redemption, there is this wonderful family story.
With my character coming into play, I’m kind of the bad boy of racing who’s winning all the races. He’s kind of the hottest thing under the sun right now. I think he’s all about the fun and having a blast and winning races. It’s just pure adrenaline for him, him being a kid. Yes, it’s just this fun film about NASCAR and family.
On what attracted him to the movie originally, especially since he often plays nice guys:
Drew Fuller: The racing, absolutely. I think that was a big part of it. NASCAR has something like 89 million fans. Just the attraction of NASCAR, the attraction of getting to race a car around a track. I love playing cocky, fun, just indulging in all impulses.
It was a fun role. The script made me smile. I love what I do so much, and I really do look at it as a big blessing. So I want to make sure that everything that I do, I’m attracted to and I’m doing for the right reasons.
This turned out to be one of the most amazing working experiences I’ve ever had. The cast was incredible. I ended up forming, I feel like, lifelong friendships with a bunch of the cast members and the director, who I absolutely love. It just turned out to be such a blessing and such an amazing experience and one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been [The filming locations in Nova Scotia, Canada].
On his favorite NASCAR driver:
Drew Fuller: It’s funny because I wasn’t a big NASCAR fan before, and then doing it and learning about it, I’m definitely more of a fan now than I was. But I probably say Jimmy Johnson, he’s pretty awesome. He’s from California, and then there’s the sentimental favorite. Everyone loves Dale Jr. But I think definitely Jimmy Johnson.
On whether his character Kid Walker cares more about racing or a relationship with Michelle Trachtenberg’s Kylie Shines, a fellow talented driver on the verge of hitting the big times:
Drew Fuller: I think it’s both. I think in any job, anyone who excels at their chosen profession is a turn-on. It’s very sexy for a man or a woman. So I think, here he is winning all these races, and then there’s this up-and-coming girl who not only is a fantastic driver, but also beautiful to look at. That’s the complete package. So initially he’s drawn by her cockiness. I think he sees a little bit of Kylie in him, and the fact that she’s extremely intelligent and sexy, it’s a complete package. So I think that’s the draw for him to her.
On similarities between The Circuit’s Kid Walker and Army Wives’ Trevor LeBlanc:
Drew Fuller: Trevor, he wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s really genuine and really earnest and he means everything that he says. And there’s no games with him, no games at all. He is just a good old Southern boy with really strong morals and values, and Kid is all about the game and all about the chase and loves to be mischievous and loves to have people second guess everything that he’s saying. So it’s been actually really exciting to kind of go from one role to the other and then back again to Trevor.… [T]here’s a big difference between the characters.
On whether he’s more like Kid or Trevor in real life:
Drew Fuller: I think there’s a healthy bit of Trevor and Kid that make up me, and it’s like we go through the history of all the roles that I’ve played. Each character I’ve ever played has a little bit of me in it, but there’s no character that I’ve played that has been Drew, not even close. But there are parts of Kid’s personality that I definitely see in myself and there’s parts of Trevor’s personality that I see and so on and so forth, all the way back to one of my first jobs.
On his dream role:
Drew Fuller: I think the beautiful thing about being an actor is that you’re never going to know it all. There’s always going to be something you can learn, no matter what. I walks on sets right now and I’m learning new stuff everyday, or a director is going to challenge me and tell me to do something that I had no idea prior to. Like he’ll go, “Why don’t you do it like this?” And I’ll say, “Oh, God, that’s really interesting. I didn’t even think about it that way.” I’m always learning, and I’ll never know too much.
As far as my dream role is concerned, there’s a bunch of dream directors that I’d love to work with. Hopefully I’ll find the right role with those directors and we’ll have an amazing collaboration. I think that’s a dream role, collaborating with some people who I absolutely respect and study religiously … [such as] Fernando Morales. He did City of God, as well as The Constant Gardener, and he has a new film coming out called Blindness. I think he’s just one of the most incredible directors out there.
David Censure is another one. I love Brian Singer. I think he really does interesting and great work. I like his smaller and darker films. The list is endless really — not endless, but there’s a lot in my head of who I really want to work with. But at the top it would be David Censure for sure and Fernando Morales. Maybe Alfonzo Cornell and Patrice, the French director who I absolutely love.
On his favorite role in his career thus far:
Drew Fuller: I think it would have to be what I’m doing right now. My favorite role is usually the role I’m working on at the present moment. I think that’s just because I’m in it and I’m living it.
Right now I’m living in Trevor’s world and being a member of the United States Army. Having two kids and knowing what that’s like and go over and fight in Iraq and come home and what that’s like, I’m enjoying it so much, especially because, again, it isn’t me. It’s awesome, it really is. It’s a lot of fun.
On how he prepared for his Army Wives role:
Drew Fuller: I read the book that the show is based on and I started to just pay more attention to what’s going on, or at least how the media is portraying what’s going on over in the Middle East. And [I] asked a lot of questions and was able to go up to Fort Bragg and shadow a specialist [since] I play a specialist on the show. I was able to shadow him and ask him a billion questions about his day-to-day activities and routines and where he goes from here and what he does in a mission in Iraq and all of that. It’s closing your mouth and keeping your ears open and your eyes open and just listening as much as possible, if that makes sense.
On the differences between working on a fantasy like Charmed and a drama like Army Wives:
Drew Fuller: I think the big thing is Charmed, we’re talking about mythical things, like dragons and creatures. It’s all fantasy. It’s all make believe. The character Trevor is a very real and timeless character for what’s going on right now in the world. I am playing a serviceman in this country who is serving this country in Iraq and who is supporting a wife and kids back home. That’s a really pressing and real issue that’s going on.
What I love about our show, Army Wives right now is that we’re telling it from a woman’s standpoint, where when the husband or wife leaves the house, how it effects the families at home. I think with everything that’s been going on in the world right now and the unrest in the Middle East, it’s really important that we are portraying these men and women as accurately as possible. We hold ourselves, all of us, the whole cast of Army Wives holds ourselves to the highest standard in regards to making sure that we’re getting everything right because these are real people we’re portraying.
There might not be a Trevor LeBlanc in the Army who is a specialist, but I am portraying a specialist who’s in the Army who is supporting a wife and two kids and who’s going on his first tour. And that’s going to be 18 months long where he’s not going to be able to see his family. And that is tough, and it takes a special type of person to stay faithful to him and vice versa. If the woman was in the service and her husband at home with the kids, it’s very serious. This is a really serious subject matter, whereas Charmed was just kind of fun and happy and no one took themselves too seriously.
Like I said — well-spoken. Don’t forget The Circuit premieres tonight on ABC Family at 8pm EST and the second season of Lifetime’s Army Wives does the same two hours later at 10pm.
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