How did Edmonds-Woodway compare to Palos Hills?
“(laughs) Well, I was a completely different person then. I was very different than Jake is at Palos Hills, so it was quite different. I was just a theater kid. I was always in the theater department. I played Freshman football, but was way too small and got my butt kicked doing that so decided to go find the theater department! I found out that that was a better way to meet girls, anyway. (laughs). It went okay, but I wasn’t class president and I didn’t drive a cool vintage Mustang.”
What classes did you take Senior year?
“Let’s see, I think I might have taken three choir classes (laughs) because I was into singing and acting and dancing and all that kind of stuff. I tried to make it my own little musical theater school. I was in three choirs and two drama classes and then whatever the required classes were, History, English, Math, etc, but my electives were all the Arts, for sure.”
What was your Senior year book quote, and what will Jake’s be?
“Oh wow, that’s a good question. I don’t remember my Senior year book quote directly off-hand, it was something like, “Go dream your life, live your dreams” or something like that. I’m probably paraphrasing. I remember hearing that quote and liking it so I think it’s something like that. Jake’s. Oh man. Jake’s will probably be, I don’t know, it’ll say “I said I loved her first, man.”(laugh) Something like that. I don’t even know if that’s it, actually. I don’t even know if that’s true, but that would be a quote.”
(laughs) Where season four left off, Jake hooked up with Gabby and didn’t tell Matty, even though he was going to. Does he tell him in season five, and how does that affect the Jake-Matty relationship?
“Oh yeah, there is lots more drama to come. Matty definitely finds out. I don’t want to give away the way in which he finds out, but that all comes to a head and there’s a lot more drama around it. I think the reason that Jake didn’t tell Matty is because he’s still trying to figure out why it happened in the first place for himself. There’s a lot of soul-searching going on with him and that decision to hook up with Gabby. He’s wondering if he only did it to get back at Matty subconsciously. There’s lots of drama! I’m very excited for the fans to see that.”
How different was it filming season five compared to other seasons, knowing that it was, or could be the last season?
“The whole time we were filming it, I just don’t think anyone believed it was the last season. It didn’t really feel that much different until the final day. Then, people were pretty emotional and things like that. We love these characters so much and we love this show so much. We all love working on this show so much that I think we refused to believe that it could ever be over. We were in denial.”
Is it over?
“Well, I hope it’s not. I don’t really know how much I can say, I hope it’s not over! There’ve been a couple of little “wink, wink* moments around the set, but at the same time we haven’t heard anything from MTV. I think we’re all just hoping and praying it’s not over. I think the fans are, as well. Hopefully we can just keep going.”
Where do you see Jake in ten years? Would he come back for a high school reunion?
“He would definitely come back for a reunion, for sure. He sees himself as that kind of big man on campus. I think that Jake will be fine. I think that throughout the entire year, he’s been trying to find out who he is. He was the class president, then he lost that. He is this musician, then he went away from that and so, he’s always just trying to figure out his true identity.
In ten years I don’t even know if he would have found it yet. He takes something from every experience and every relationship. I don’t know what the future holds for him. I am definitely not a writer. They are way smarter than me. (laughs). If we ever got to make it ten more years, I’d just be doing whatever they wanted me to do. I’m sure it would be silly and hilarious.”
As Brett, are you team Tamara, Jenna, or Gabby? Or is Jake’s soul mate not from high school?
“I think that high school relationships, and I used to say this in interviews back in season two, high school relationships are so intense. You’re seeing that person everyday, at least five days a week. You’re passing them in the hallway. You’re always having to run into them and bumping them, and communicate, so they are very intense. It’s also in the little community of high school, so everybody knows about it, and everybody talks about it. It feels like that’s your soul mate or that’s the end all, be all, but once you’re out of high school, you realize that that was just high school and there’s this huge world out there. As Brett, I want Jake to experience life. Even if it’s moving away from Palos Hills, or I guess Palos Verdes. We never really specified that they’re actually in Palos Verdes. (laughs).
I want Jake to maybe move away. Then he can have all these life experiences. There’s plenty of fish in the sea. That would be my advice to any high schooler out there, and especially high school Jake. He’s clearly a serial monogamist, and every time he’s even kissed a girl, he’s in love with them right away. I’d like to see him break that streak a bit more and just kind of date and have fun. I want him to see what’s out there.”
What episode or scene from season five are you most excited for the fans to see?
“The graduation episode is really fun. It’s fun and sentimental and it’s emotional watching it. The whole cast got together about a week ago and we watched. The prom episode is actually going to be two episodes, it’s an hour-long. The graduation is the same way, with graduation and then also the grad night party. We watched those episodes and they were emotional.
Graduation is fun. You get to see all the characters cross the stage and all the emotions that go along with that. As actors, this was our first big show and first time being a lead on a show. I think Beau was on one season of Desperate Housewives and Ashley was on One Tree Hill, but not for the whole time. Maybe only for like a season. For us, this felt like our high school a bit, so the graduation was sort of a graduation for us as well. There’s a lot of feelings behind that.”
Do all the core cast members make it to graduation and graduate?
“No not really, actually. Some shady stuff goes down at prom. So there’s a lot of drama around a couple of the characters, and whether they’ll get to walk at graduation or not.”
Who does Jake ask to prom?
“I can’t really tell you because it’s kind of a spoiler. I will tell you that he asks someone to prom and they say yes, but they might not necessarily end up going together.”
DRAMA!
“(laughs). Yeah.”
What can you tell us about the premiere that we haven’t seen from trailers?
“Just that there’s tons of drama like there always is. If you’re fan of Awkward, and even if you’re not a fan of Awkward. Maybe you’re just getting into Awkward. Hopefully you’re watching some marathons on MTV. If you’re a fan of Awkward, you’re just going to feel like you’re at home again watching the premiere.
We go so long without being on the air, and even for us as the actors, we don’t watch the episodes all the time or anything. We go so long without seeing it and then you see these characters on the screen again and it just amazing. It feels like you’re home again for Thanksgiving and your mom is making turkey. (laughs).”
What other projects do you have that you’re currently working on?
“I was in a movie called Loved & Mercy. I played Carl Wilson. It’s Beach Boys bio pic with Paul Dano, John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti. It’s just an amazing cast. It came out this summer (June 19th) and it’s coming out on Blu-Ray and digital download September 15th. It went really well. It got great reviews. It’s getting above ninety percent on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m really, really proud of that. I’m really proud to be in it and I think it came out great. I’m anxious for people to see that and then, also I did a movie called The Stanford Prison Experiment with another amazing cast. Ezra Miller, Billy Crudup and Michael Angarano. It’s another period piece. The Beach Boys one is in the sixties. This one’s in the seventies.
For Stanford Prison, I have crazy facial hair that I was able to grow myself. I wanted to point that out. The mustache and side-burns are all me! It was a lot of fun. That one’s a lot darker but that’s also out. I think it’s still in IFC theaters around the country. I’m just excited for people to see those things and then Awkward, of course!”
Awkward season 5 premieres Monday, August 31st at 9/8c on MTV.