The film, currently known only as ‘Untitled Comedy’, is set to feature a whole host of stars and be in the format of a series of risqué comedy sketches that will be connected with a ‘unifying storyline’. Actors already on board include such big names as Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Richard Gere, Anton Yelchin, Gerard Butler, Naomi Watts, Anna Faris, Johnny Knoxville and many more.
Relativity Media, LLC (RML) announced today it has begun production on the UNTITLED COMEDY project. In January, Relativity Media came aboard to co-finance and co-produce the project, and will arrange distribution through one of their studio partners. Production will continue thru late May.
Peter Farrelly, Charles Wessler, GreeneStreet Films’ John Penotti and Relativity Media’s Ryan Kavanaugh are producing the project. Executive producers are Tim Williams of GreeneStreet Films and Tucker Tooley of Relativity Media. Co-producers are Tom Gormican and Marc Ambrose. Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko also serve as associate producers. Witness Protection Films also serves as a production company partner.
Originally set up at Overture Films, the project kicked into high gear after the producers met with Relativity Media last December. The brainstorming session lead to a revamp of the central premise of the film. The new team created the template for a unifying storyline for a series of sketch comedies in the vein of the 1970s hits Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube.
“Relativity has been the perfect partner through the extraordinarily complicated process of putting this movie together. We are thrilled to be underway,” commented Farrelly.
The filmmakers who have already completed their work are Peter Farrelly, Brett Ratner, Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk, and Griffin Dunne. Additional directors will be announced shortly.
The growing cast includes, Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet. The producers will announce additional cast members as further deals are solidified.
“We all sat down and came up with what we think is a hilarious through-line for the movie,” said Wessler. “Given the amount of pot I had smoked, at least I think it is hilarious.”
Penotti added, “This has been one of the most fun and challenging projects we have ever undertaken. We are completely blown away by the caliber of talent that this project has attracted. It is a testament to the quality of Charlie and Pete’s original concept.”
Farrelly and Wessler are long time collaborators, working on many of the classic Farrelly Brothers comedies including There’s Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and Shallow Hal.
Production on “Untitled Comedy” is reportedly ongoing: 14 of the sketches have been shot, with 5 to go. It is expected to be in cinemas this year.
The first film that gets Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced film shingle off the tarmac–it was innocuously mentioned as an untitled Peter Farrelly film in the announcement of Branson’s joint venture with Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity–has a bigger concentration of first class cabin-caliber actors than any under-$8 million film I can remember. And the cast is still growing. Deadline was first to reveal the Kentucky Fried Movie-style laffer when Kavanaugh replaced Overture Films as financier and the film started production. They had a good cast then, but the filmmakers keep bolstering by showing prospective talent the raucous segments shot so far, especially the Farrelly-directed seg with Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet that is especially outrageous and R-rated. Aside from Jackman and Winslet, the cast now includes Richard Gere, Anton Yelchin, Gerard Butler, Naomi Watts, Anna Faris, Johnny Knoxville, Julianne Moore, Liev Schreiber, Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Kate Bosworth, Josh Duhamel, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Emma Stone, Jack McBrayer, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Uma Thurman. 14 segments are in the can, with 5 to go. Steve Brill, Steve Carr and James Gunn have joined a director roster that already had Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Brett Ratner, Banks and Griffin Dunne. The pic, a co-production between Greene Street and Relativity, is produced by Kavanaugh, John Penotti, Peter Farrelly and Charlie Wessler. Tim Williams and Tucker Tooley are exec producers.
In more Justin news, Berfield will guest star on tonight’s episode of Sons of Tucson, in the season finale, and likely the last ever episode of the whole show, ‘Ron Quits’.
He will play ‘Barry’, a character who we are told bears more than a passing resemblance to Reese, the character he spent several years as on Malcolm. This is also the first time we will have seen Justin in front of the cameras since the final episode of Malcolm in the Middle.
SONS OF TUCSON “Ron Quits” Episode 13 – When Ron starts spending too much time with his girlfriend, the boys get upset and Ron decides to quit. The boys then hire their bully neighbor, Barry (Justin Berfield), as their new live-in caretaker. But when the boys discover they’re out of money and realize that Barry isn’t working out, they come to the conclusion that Ron was a better fake father than they thought in “Ron Quits,” the series finale episode of SONS OF TUCSON, airing Sunday, Aug. 1 (7:00-7:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
Tune in to Sons of Tucson tonight, August 1st 2010, at 7pm on FOX.
Justin Berfield (Reese) has for the past few years been working with Jason Felts to run his own production company for TV and films, J2TV. It was announced today that J2TV will close its doors and Justin and Jason will lead a new TV and film production company, Virgin Produced, with the backing of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.
LOS ANGELES, July 30, 2010 – Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group announced today the launch of Virgin Produced, a film and television development, packaging and production company which has entered into a joint venture with Relativity Media’s Rogue Pictures to develop, produce and market films.
The Los Angeles-based Virgin Produced is led by former J2TV / J2 Pictures producers Jason Felts and Justin Berfield. Felts serves as Chief Executive Officer, overseeing the company’s entire operation, and Berfield, Chief Creative Officer, will oversee the development team.
“For 40 years, Virgin has pushed the envelope.” Felts said. “At Virgin Produced, we look to break some old molds while providing talent a place where they know their work will be embraced and supported. With Rogue’s boundary breaking approach and Virgin’s entrepreneurial strength, the brands are perfectly suited for each other. We’ve got a great opportunity to provide a collaborative experience and produce amazing results.”
“Virgin has always been about doing it your way, expressing oneself through innovation,” said Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh. “It dares to be different. We believe that their approach to film is suited to do just that and pairing the Virgin and Rogue brands together to create innovation couldn’t be more natural.”
Deemed one of the most exciting brands in the world, with a culture of innovation and fun across its diverse range of businesses, Virgin’s mission is clear: to enter markets with opportunities to shake things up and offer a better experience.
“Entertainment has long been a focus of the Virgin brand, and I’m excited for the chance to further grow in this space,” said Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson. “Jason and Justin’s approach is very entrepreneurial, very Virgin. We share a passion for creating and nurturing communities of talent and fresh material. The Rogue and Virgin brands seem an obvious fit for each other.”
In addition to developing and producing original films, it is anticipated that Virgin will co-produce two to three motion pictures a year with Relativity/Rogue, which allows the studio to utilize Virgin’s marketing capabilities to reach millions of consumers within the Virgin and Rogue target audience. The first film is Peter Farrelly’s Movie 43.
“There is real opportunity to provide a great, collaborative experience for talent to hone and shape their ideas and to reach a valuable, cutting-edge, media-hungry audience that enjoys interacting with the Virgin brand,” said Berfield. “We look forward to working with the Virgin family to strategically tap into the vast Virgin network of loyal brand fans, allowing Virgin Produced projects to be enjoyed by a broad audience.”
The relative stability and certainty of the production world, compared to being an actor, has been something that Justin has cited in the past for why he was always interested in the production side of the TV and film worlds. This new venture, with the big-gun backing of the Virgin Group, seems to be consistent with that.
But it seems there is more to this than merely getting a big brand behind Justin and Jason’s business — the marketing copy refers to innovation a lot, even wanting to “break the corrosive mould” of how ‘Old Hollywood’ works. The company seems keen to want to connect directly with talent and create community around it, in a way that perhaps really is different to the way that many production companies are run today. It will certainly be interesting to see how this vision of doing things differently evolves as Virgin Produced gets into its first projects.
Virgin Produced is a new kind of production company. One that is creative, not controlling. One that refuses to cut corners and doesn’t use money to buy your love. One that has faith in its projects. Virgin Produced very simply has balls, and we’re not afraid to show them. In fact, we’re gonna go ahead and apologize ahead of time. You might see our balls. Our bad.
We will certainly be following this new development as we hear more!
Jason Felts
As one of the youngest CEOs within the Virgin Group of companies, producer Jason Felts was born in 2002 (everyone knows you don’t give your real age in this town). At the ripe age of 2, in Hollywood years, he and his business partner Justin Berfield co-founded J2 Pictures & J2TV proving quickly to have a keen eye for concept, story and talent. More importantly was their priority of fostering a creative environment for writers, directors and actors. First out of the gate was some trainwreck reality tv and then ROMANCE & CIGARETTES, the John Turturro motion picture in which they co-produced and helped finance. Not a bad bet, since the film starred James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Christopher Walken and others. As J2, Felts then went on to package and produce a few more films and television including FOX’s latest Sunday night sitcom, SONS OF TUCSON. Although the show was highly regarded by the critics, it was ultimately cancelled as good shows often are. Don’t worry, Jason dusted himself off, had a shot and is now leading the Virgin charge into Hollywood.
Justin Berfield
Actor/Producer Justin Berfield starred in or has produced over 250 episodes of television before he even grew a whisker. That’s right, we’re talking six shows before puberty. As an actor, Justin is best known for portraying the role of the rebellious ‘Reese’ on FOX’s Emmy Award winning series MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE. In 2004, Justin moved behind the camera, co-founding J2 Pictures & J2TV with his much goofier-looking producing partner. Together, they created and executive produced several unscripted pilots and series including E! Entertainment’s FILTHY RICH: CATTLE DRIVE starring Kourtney Kardashian, Animal Planet’s THE PET DETECTIVE, and CMT’s IN THE PITS starring Nascar’s Richard Petty. Oh yeah, and although you could say TV is within Justin’s DNA, he has produced a few films as well. As Chief Creative Officer at Virgin Produced, Justin watches over the brand and ensures that we don’t produce DRIVING MISS DAISY 2.
Ted Vidmar
As the Chief Calculator, Ted Vidmar, CPA graduated Magna Cum Laude from some fancy college that makes us all look rather stupid. This is why Ted and his team of certified public accountants oversee all things financial and strategic. If Ted sounds important, well that’s because he is.
Darin Frank
Virgin’s main legal eagle, Darin Frank is around to keep us creative types on the straight and narrow. No, he is not exclusively ours, because he has his own practice and a much fancier office somewhere in Beverly Hills. Besides, if he was, it would cost a friggin’ fortune because this guy is Chair of his firm’s entertainment department, and represents lots of others who probably pay him more than we do. He did go to law school at UC Berkeley but we’ll forgive him for that.
Rebecca Farrell
Rebecca, aka The Glue, serves as Director of Operations for Virgin Produced. She’s the adhesive that keeps this place together. Rebecca oversees every aspect of everything that’s important and nobody messes with her, mainly because she is a former rugby player from back east. Prior to joining Virgin Produced, Rebecca worked for J2TV & J2 Pictures where she did the same job without the business card to prove it.
Assistants
We looked around and no company has an online profile on their assistants, and we think that is just rude. After all, everyone knows that they do everything. Our incredibly talented, sexy (can we say that?) and hardworking support team consists of some wonderful individuals that you will meet when we invite you over!
Justin Berfield’s new show Sons of Tucson has unfortunately not been popular enough and it has been confirmed by FOX (via Variety) that the show will be removed from its current time slot. Effectively, the show has been cancelled.
Thankfully, the remaining episodes will air in the summer, in a process known as ‘burning off’ (where the network just seeks to fill less popular time slots). From June 6, the remaining 9 episodes will air on Sundays at 7:30pm.
This is a big disappointment for the show as well for those who worked on it and means almost certainly that there won’t be a second season.
It’s no consolation, but perhaps fans should be glad that the show got this far — it sounds obvious, but getting a TV show on US national television is very hard. The fact that Sons of Tucson got this far genuinely is an achievement. While the viewing numbers weren’t enough for FOX to want to keep it in its slot, let us not forget that several million people did enjoy watching it.
We look forward to seeing the rest of the episodes in the summer and wish Justin luck in his future projects!
Justin Berfield (Reese) recently had a ‘live tweet’ event where he shared behind-the-scenes information and photos from the set of Episode 3 of the new show he is producing, Sons of Tucson. The live tweet event is now over, but you can follow him on Twitter — @justinberfield.
“those were Tylers glasses in the 1st scene.The sun was killing him and we thought they looked Snuffkin like.”
Sons of Tucson is as close to a Malcolm in the Middle reunion as there ever has been, but its all behind the scenes. As I’m sure you know Son of Tucson is produced by Justin Berfield (Reese) and directed/produced by Todd Holland who worked on many Malcolm episodes.
Justin was responsible for this reunion and had this to say…
We all knew a show revolving around three young kids requires someone who’s done it before and Todd fit that bill immediately, I’d actually been dying to work with him again for the last three years, so I’m glad everything worked out.
The reason why we brought a lot of the people from Malcolm is, especially when you’re working with kids, time is extremely important, and that’s a group of people that worked together for seven years straight, and they all know what to do and the timing needed to get it done.
You can’t say enough about that when you’re on a TV show with kids. You want everything to run as smoothly as possible because, especially with Ben Stockham who plays Robby, you only have him on set working hours like four hours a day, and if he’s in three or four scenes, everything has got to be running smoothly, and so that’s why we brought on everybody from Malcolm, not only because they’re the best if not some of the best in the business at their jobs, but because they all have a short-hand knowledge with each other, and they just work together great.
People who made the move (and their Malcolm contribution):
Justin tweeted the good news this week that early figures say 4.5 million tuned in for the Sons of Tucson premiere. Lets hope the success continues, the second episode airs tonight (March 21) 9:30/8:30 Central on FOX.
Here’s a round-up of what Justin has had to say about himself and the show in recent weeks…
During Malcolm in the Middle – I think I was around 15 or 16 – instead of running to my trailer after a scene I would stay on set. I would ask questions. I would hang out with the crew. I would hang out with the grips, you know, the guys doing all the work. I would ask questions, and I would look around. I would talk to the writers. I actually went to Linwood Boomer a few times with some treatments, ideas for some episodes. I’d submit it to him. He’d give me his notes. So it was actually really early in the process or early in Malcolm where I would start doing that. I was always thinking towards the future. So that was with it for me. – MediaWeek
The idea came up from our creators, Tommy Dewey and Greg Bratman. They brought this idea to us way back when, and we just sort of developed it from an idea to scripts. Finally, we took it to Fox because I had some relationships there obviously, and they purchased it from us. It was exciting. It was like our first scripted show that we sold as a company at J2, and we couldn’t be happier with the people that we’re working with and the two guys that wrote it. Visually and maybe tonally, everyone’s going to compare it to Malcolm, but I think story wise you can’t really compare it to any show that’s been out there. It’s a truly unique concept, and we’re excited that Fox and everyone has a vision to see this through because on the face of it, it is kind of crazy. It’s kind of out there, but they were behind it from day one. It’s not really a concept that comes up too much in the show, and it sort of naturally weaves its way into every script, so it’s not like if someone tunes in four episodes into the season that they’re going to be lost. It’s really easy to catch up on it. – tvismypacifier.com
I don’t really consider myself the big boss, but that’s the title they’ve given me. I act the same way I did before – just be respectful to everyone. As long as everyone does their job, hopefully we will have a successful show. That’s all you can hope for. It should be simple. That’s my philosophy. – zap2it.com
“Being in front of the camera, you never got to see the whole process from the conception of the script all the way through to the filming process. And building the pilot…selling this little inkling of an idea has just been eye-opening for me, I especially love the whole casting process because I’ve been on the other side of the process in those rooms, and now I get to sit behind the camera and sort of–” “…Judge!” Tyler Labine pipes up, and they both laugh. – examiner.com
Network brass were hovering around when the show was in its nascent stages. “That’s a heavy understatement” says Justin…Todd Holland adds “You have never had so much participation, shall we say. I mean, it really started to be like, ‘Please love us less.’” All that attention from the top caused a good bit of frustration, it would seem. “It’s like a parent that doesn’t give you clear instructions and you don’t know how to please them,”…“So it’s always like a weird thing trying to figure out: What do they want? What are they saying? Even if we did understand the instructions, would we agree enough to do it that way, or would we have to push back?” Berfield and his partner Jason Felts had tried to interest the illustrious Holland in directing other projects of theirs in the past, to no avail. “I think it’s good it didn’t work out in the beginning. It was a learning process for us. I was young, just starting out as a producer, seeing different material – striking out a few times, I think it helps you grow.” – jaxobserver.com
Todd Holland had a few other things to say on ‘Tucson…
Holland acknowledged that after Berfield and his business partner presented him with the script to consider, he didn’t even read it at first, because he had what he described as a sort of patronizing “Uncle Todd attitude” resulting from having known Berfield since he was a kid. But he finally got around to reading the script, at which point, “suddenly, it was business.” – npr.org
“It was the simplest thing on the planet – it was funny.”…”So much stuff that has ‘comedy’ labeled on it is not funny to me, so I have a simplistic little litmus test: Did I laugh when I read it?”…“Humor is better as a side dish,”…”It’s like fettuccine alfredo, nobody wants it as a whole dish, but on the side, then it’s really yummy,” That said, “Sons” has a wacky premise that is inherently funny. “There are four little con artists, one of which is not little,”…But it is also about the idea of a chosen family. “In Sons, four people are slammed together to make a family, thrown together by circumstance, and they end up having a sense of place from sharing their lives together,”…”But, we’re not schmaltzy. We’re the anti-schmaltz.” – dailybruin.com
“I never totally saw Sons of Tucson as clearly as when we saw Tyler Labine. When we found him, it was like, ‘Oh my God. I totally see the show,’”…”Now I can’t read our scripts without hearing him. He’s such a specific voice and he so captures the lovable scoundrel.”…”Sons is about the inevitable gravitational pull of family, even when no one actually wants to be a family. Even in this crazy, cut-throat, spiraling-down-the-drain world we live in – people still choose family,“…”They may not be bio-parents or blood relations — but family matters.” – tvguide.com
If anything, his new show is “the anti-’Earl.’ ” “We heard about ‘Earl’ a lot” while the show was being developed, he said. “So we really worked hard” to distinguish it…the show was much more a hybrid of his previous series “Malcolm in the Middle” and “The Larry Sanders Show.” – latimes.com
US readers can watch Sons of Tucson for free on Hulu, iTunes and FOX.
March 10, 2010 – Justin Berfield attended the premiere of the first two episodes of Sons of Tucson at the University of Arizona‘s Gallagher Theater. Mayor Bob Walkup proclaimed it “Sons of Tucson Day” and presented Justin with a gold key, a symbolic gift of appreciation, he has given such a key to 11 people in his 10 years as mayor.
It’s not something we do very often…It has to be someone who is a leader and has done great things…This new show gives Tucson visual recognition on national television…To get a show like this in Tucson is an extraordinary thing – Mayor Bob Walkup
The show is set in Tucson “because it’s a big city, and, as we all say, there’s stuff to do here, things to see…Everyone is really gracious and hospitable here,” said Justin. His favorite things about Tucson are the University of Arizona and El Charro Restaurant.
This is my first one, and I’m really excited…I only had to create the show, put the title of the city in it and I’m honored…I haven’t been offered one of these. I’m sort of excited to see what I can do with it – what I can get with it. – Justin Berfield
Audience members brought up Malcolm in the Middle. One girl asked Berfield, “What would Hal and Lois (his MITM parents) think of you right now?” “Um, they’d be proud. They want the best for their kids,” Berfield said, and everyone laughed. – Laura Donovan
However some locals weren’t so impressed…
It doesn’t take much to get a key to the city these days. Just make a sitcom with the word “Tucson” in the title, show up in town for a premiere of the first episode, and you’re golden…They never inquired about shooting here…We have so many really dedicated, hardworking filmmakers in this city who are nameless for so long and end up working in New Mexico and California because there isn’t enough work here. One of those people should be acknowledged instead – azstarnet.com
They shot in the Los Angeles area, but include stock-footage shots of Tucson for scene transitions. “For economic reasons, we cannot film the show in Tucson,”. Justin said he hopes to film an episode in Tucson for the second season. He said there was no rhyme or reason for selecting Tucson; he has been here only once, as a teenager, to see a concert. But he said, “It’s sort of the opposite of New Jersey.”
As hinted at by Justin in a tweet of his from late last year, it has now been confirmed that Justin will guest star in the season finale of the new series, Sons of Tucson.
Ok, so the character Justin will be playing is not actually Reese, but Barry “not a tall guy but always working on his biceps, he is the neighborhood bully now all grown up.” Sound familiar? Well according to reports its a reprise of Reese’s character. The name will be different, but the character will be the same.
Frank Dolce (know-it-all-middle-son Gary on ‘Tucson) has this to say about Justin’s performance, “He’s a little shy sometimes, but he guest stars in one of the episodes and when he steps in front of the camera, he is so upbeat and has so much energy.”
The announcement was made during FOX’s TCA (Television Critics Association) presentation panel for Sons of Tucson in LA. The broadcast date for his guest star appearance is yet to be announced.
This will mark Justin’s first time in front of the camera since Malcolm in the Middle’s series finale aired on May 14, 2006. Justin serves as executive producer of Sons of Tucson, which premieres in the US on Sunday, March 14 at 9:30/8:30 Central on FOX.
Justin Berfield (Reese) has been working as one of the producers of Sons of Tucson, a new family comedy on FOX that also features Todd Holland on the production team, one of the key people behind Malcolm in the Middle. And like Malcolm, it focuses around a group of brothers — in this case they need to find a ‘dad for hire’ in order to stay together.
The Sioux City Journal have a really interesting article/interview with Justin on his experience of being a child star on Malcolm, how he came to be interested in working behind the camera and how his experience with Malcolm in the Middle (and particularly being such a young actor) is very important to his current role on the new show.
During the first year of “Malcolm,” Berfield tried to keep his hand in both worlds. “I went to a regular public high school and it was extremely difficult. I felt I was constantly behind because the teachers didn’t give you your school work on time. I was constantly frustrated.”
The next year, he switched to an online school and worked at his own pace.
…
Gradually, his character — the rebellious Reese — got more screen time. Eventually, Berfield became adept at behind-the-camera work. “I give full credit to Linwood (Boomer, the show’s producer). He helped me. And whenever I needed a personal day off, he made sure I got it. He understood it was a job. But he also realized you’ve got to give a kid time to be a kid.”
Now, he’s doing the same with “Tucson’s” sons. He sees himself in Matthew Levy, one of the show’s stars, and he figures Levy will be interested in life behind the camera someday, too. “He asks questions. He wants to know why we do what we do. That’s similar to what I did.”
It’s a really interesting read if you’re interested in his experience behind the scenes of Malcolm, or Sons of Tucson, or just the unique challenges involved with working with young actors.
Sons of Tucson premieres in the US on Sunday, March 14 at 9:30/8:30 Central on FOX.
TV: ‘Malcolm’ star produces own family show
by Bruce R Miller – 5 March 2010 – Sioux City Journal
LOS ANGELES — Justin Berfield wasn’t just the other kid in the middle on “Malcolm in the Middle.” He was the one who decided there was going to be a life in show business after the series ended.
“Instead of running to my trailer, I would stay on set,” the 24-year-old says. “I’d hang out with the grips and ask a lot of questions.”
Like a latter-day Ron Howard, Berfield learned about the business side of entertainment. “He didn’t (mess) around like other people in the cast,” says director Todd Holland. “He always was very serious.”
Armed with considerable knowledge, Berfield decided to take the next step and produce.
This month, his latest series, “Sons of Tucson” premieres. Like “Malcolm in the Middle,” it showcases the antics of brothers. In this case, they’re three enterprising boys who pretend they’ve got a father if they want to stay together. They hire a “dad” and create a life for themselves in Tucson.
Berfield sees the similarities between shows. He also knows the pitfalls.
The younger the actors, the shorter the work hours,” he says. “We’re limited in the amount of time we have them on set.” Because those young actors have school obligations as well, “they’re actually balancing two jobs. They’re waking up before their friends. They’re on set all day long. They’re going home from work when their friends are having fun. They grow up much faster than other kids.”
During the first year of “Malcolm,” Berfield tried to keep his hand in both worlds. “I went to a regular public high school and it was extremely difficult. I felt I was constantly behind because the teachers didn’t give you your school work on time. I was constantly frustrated.”
The next year, he switched to an online school and worked at his own pace.
Because he wasn’t the star of the show, Berfield also didn’t have to fend off the taunts of other teenagers. “I stayed out of the public eye as much as possible. I was never the guy going to the clubs, being caught with underage drinking or things like that. I decided early on I wanted to be known for my work, not who I was out with at parties.”
Gradually, his character — the rebellious Reese — got more screen time. Eventually, Berfield became adept at behind-the-camera work. “I give full credit to Linwood (Boomer, the show’s producer). He helped me. And whenever I needed a personal day off, he made sure I got it. He understood it was a job. But he also realized you’ve got to give a kid time to be a kid.”
Now, he’s doing the same with “Tucson’s” sons. He sees himself in Matthew Levy, one of the show’s stars, and he figures Levy will be interested in life behind the camera someday, too. “He asks questions. He wants to know why we do what we do. That’s similar to what I did.”
Berfield, however, knew early on stardom can be fleeting. “There’s no book that tells you how to be a kid on a sitcom,” he says. “You just have to do it.”
Because “Malcolm” was a popular show with teenagers, kids were “generally positive. Some are a little jealous because they thought you didn’t have to go to school and you could afford to buy everything.”
Fame, though, should never be a career goal. “That’s the wrong approach…you’re not always assured of getting another show.”
When a successful series ends, “people come out of the woodwork, telling you what they can do for you. Ninety-nine percent of the time, these aren’t the people you should listen to. You need to listen to people who were around before you got on a show.”
Though he did get other acting work (he’s even in “Tucson” as a neighbor), Berfield sees his future behind the camera. “I like having a little more control over my life. I don’t know how I got two shows (he was also on “Unhappily Ever After”). There are so many variables that come into play.”
Today, Berfield says, he talks regularly to Erik Per Sullivan (the show’s Dewey, who’s in college) and has run into Bryan Cranston at industry events. The others, he sees occasionally. “It’s hard because we’re all doing our own things. It’s just the nature of the business.”
To make sure he passes on the nurturing Boomer gave him, Berfield says he told his young actors to talk to him whenever they have problems with a situation or a script. “I know there are going to be issues,” he says. “I’ve been there. And I’ve done it.”
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