The 14-year-old star of The CW television series Everybody Hates Chris is making his transition to the big screen in the new Warner Bros. film Unaccompanied Minors, directed by Paul Feig. In it, Tyler James Williams plays Charlie, the Ivy League-bound, academic overachiever. As one of the group of kids who get stranded on Christmas Eve when a huge blizzard shuts down the airport, Charlie tries to remain the voice of reason among unlikely new friends who are helping each other flee the clutches of airport authority.
Williams talks to MediaBlvd Magazine about the difference between doing film and television, what it’s like to receive so much acclaim at an early age, and how he’s able to still be a kid.
MediaBlvd Magazine> How much different is doing the television show from doing film?
Tyler James Williams> Television is a lot harder than doing film. With television, you have a time span of a week, or a week and a half, to get it done. With a movie, it’s free-flowing. You have two and a half months to get something done.
MediaBlvd> Does Everybody Hates Chris move at a pretty fast pace?
Tyler> We move quickly. We get things done. We’re changing lines constantly.
MediaBlvd> To make it better?
Tyler> We try to make it better. Sometimes, stuff in the script is funny, but then, when we get to the set, it’s funnier if we say something else. The schedule for Everybody Hates Chris is really intense. This movie gave me a lot of rest. I was able to be more relaxed with it. If we didn’t get a certain scene right, we’d do it again in two weeks, or something.
MediaBlvd> How many hours a week do you have to work on Everybody Hates Chris?
Tyler> I can work nine and a half hours a day, times five days a week. It’s about 45 ½ hours a week, with three hours of school a day. I think that’s mandatory for every child, everywhere.
MediaBlvd> How was it to do school on the film set in Utah, with one set teacher for all the kids?
Tyler> You have to understand that we are children and we do have a good time. We’re coming from shooting a scene, going down in a canoe in the cold, and having so much fun there, to jumping into a school environment. But, we got a lot of work done, I have to say. I finished eighth grade in that two and a half months. I was done. But, we’re kids and we’ll do the same things that we do regularly.
MediaBlvd> Did you ever see any wildlife while you were filming in Utah?
Tyler> We were shooting on a mountain, most of the time, in these remote areas, where nobody would ever be. I didn’t really see anything. I think the animals were a lot smarter. We went up really, really high and it was really cold. They decided to stay down lower than we did. There was snow everywhere. We were in the middle of winter, up on a mountain, shooting all this stuff, with lights everywhere, and it was loud. When we came down from the mountain, I’d see deer eating. To me, that’s fascinating. I’ve lived in the city most of my life, and just to see a deer sitting there was very cool to me.
MediaBlvd> What was the most fun part of this movie to shoot?
Tyler> I had fun with everybody else. We did a lot of stuff. We ran through the airport and did some crazy things. I think the most fun part to shoot was the canoe ride, and us running through the whole building. Hitching a ride in the golf cart was fun as well.
MediaBlvd> What did you think of your character’s clothes? Did it affect your own personal wardrobe at all?Tyler> By that time, I was used to it. It was similar to the ‘80s clothes I wear on Everybody Hates Chris. I think some of the stuff was really cool. One time, I wore the top to my wardrobe with some jeans and sneakers, and it looked really good. He’s a really stylish character, he’s just not with the style that’s happening now. He’s not current. He dresses well. He keeps himself
looking very nice.
MediaBlvd> Do you research the ‘80s for your work on Everybody Hates Chris, or is it just in the script already?
Tyler> There was no research to be done. The script was written so well that it was all there. The set helped as well. It brought us back to that feel of the ‘80s.
MediaBlvd> You’ve been getting a lot of press and attention because of Everybody Hates Chris, including a Teen Choice Award nomination. How is that for you? Does it not phase you much, or do you think it’s really cool?
Tyler> It’s really exciting. New things are happening, every day. The success gets to you, at first, but then, after awhile, you don’t care. I’m not here to win every award possible. I’m here, doing this, because this is what I love to do. If it wasn’t what I loved to do, I would not be doing it.
MediaBlvd> Did Chris Rock ever talk to you about what to expect from fame?
Tyler> Not really, but I think it was good that he didn’t. If he would have prepared us for it, we would have been paranoid about some of the stuff. I think every child actor should go through losing an award because it really puts things in perspective. You think, “Oh, we’ve got so much success,” and you really think you’re going to win, and then you lose. It crushes you, emotionally, but being crushed helps you build. It lays the foundation for something else.
MediaBlvd> As the producer, is Chris Rock involved in every episode of the TV show?
Tyler> He’s involved in most of the episodes, but he is working on other projects, he is a father and he has a lot of things going on. For the first season, this project was the priority, but now it’s on the back burner. We know what to do now. We’re handling ourselves. We need direction, but not necessarily from him. He comes by just to make sure we’re doing the right thing and not going all crazy, or doing episodes horribly. That’s one of the things that Paul Feig also did on Unaccompanied Minors. Once he realized that we knew what we were doing and understood what our characters were like, he would just say, “Go with it.” He wasn’t a control freak with the movie. Some directors don’t understand that we’re kids. We have our jobs and we’re supposed to be professionals, but we are kids. We think of certain things differently. And, because this is a kids’ movie, that really helped. Paul was able to say, “I’m not a kid anymore, so what would you do?,” and I think that really helped the movie.
MediaBlvd> Have you finished the second season of Everybody Hates Chris yet?Tyler> We’ll be done in December, two days before Christmas.
MediaBlvd> How many years are you contracted for?
Tyler> I’m not really sure how long we’re going to go. We want to go as far as syndication, which is 100 episodes. We want to get there, so we can sit back and live off the show. It’s a great show and I think people are going to continue to enjoy it.
MediaBlvd> Are you going to do something on your hiatus?
Tyler> I’m looking for something to do. I like to keep working. I don’t like to just sit around the house. I was never one of those people who just sat around and vegged out on TV. I’d go outside, or I’d find something to do. I’d make something, or type something, or write something.
