Interview with CJ Adams from The Odd Life of Timothy Green

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I had the awesome privilege to watch a screening of The Odd Life of Timothy Green when I was in New York for the Avengers Event. This movie touched me in a way that no other movie could. I cannot wait for you to go see it in theaters on August 15th.

Yesterday, several of us bloggers who saw the movie were able to conduct an interview with CJ Adams, the 12 year old boy who plays Timothy Green. While CJ is mostly new to the movie scene with only one other movie in his portfolio (Dan in Real Life), his acting ability and his portrayal of Timothy Green far exceeds anything I have ever seen from such a young actor. After watching his performance, I have considered enrolling my own children into takelessons acting lessons.

  Interview with CJ Adams

Q: Hi CJ. How are you? What was your favorite part about playing the character of Timothy Green?

CJ: Probably my favorite part of playing the character of Timothy Green was just being such a sweet boy.  I just liked to play someone who was different and unique.  That’s what I loved about being Timothy.

Q: Could you relate to Timothy Green’s experience?

CJ: Hmm, that’s a good question.  Uh, well, me and Timothy are very truthful. I wouldn’t lie about anything, but also probably the best thing is that Timothy treats anyone the same no matter how they act.  That’s what I do.  I treat anyone I see the same way. If they are mean to me, I would be nice to him.  That’s what I think.

Q: I was just wondering, whether you learned or got any good advice from the adults playing in the movie.

CJ: They told me that to become your character, like, make your Timothy by putting all those personalities together and then become him by putting your mind into his head.

Q: Of all the qualities that your parents wished you would have, what was your favorite quality that you had and why?

CJ: Uh, having a good heart because it’s one of the most important things –treating people the way that you want them to treat you, and that’s what I thought was probably the most important.

Q: Did you like playing with Steve Carell, who is a comedian, in Dan in Real Life?

CJ: Yeah, he kinda was.  He always has this funny ability that whenever you talk to him, he always has a joke tied into it that he’s ready to say, and that’s what I really liked about Steve Carell.

Q: I was wondering what you thought grownups could learn from Timothy Green?

CJ: What I think grownups can learn from Timothy Green is that you should always take care of your kids and always have their back rather than always on their case, you know?

Q: I was wondering what was the hardest part of doing this movie?

CJ: Probably the hardest part for me was having to finish school and that at the same time because, like, you had to keep going back and forth and rushing to get home to the schoolroom and rushing to get back.  That was probably the biggest struggle between my time of filming.

Q: How did you prepare yourself to play Timothy Green?

CJ: Well, the way I prepared myself to play Timothy Green was, I learned all these personalities by reading the script and I crafted my Timothy by putting all those personalities together.  And then I became that Timothy, uh, and that’s really how I played him.

Q: Did you study any particular plant to help prepare you for your role?

CJ: Uh, I didn’t really.  I kinda just went to all plants. There was one scene where I was teaching Joni, and this is what I told her.  I told her to think tree.  Like, she spread her arms out like a tree, and we called her the tree with branches.

Q: Besides Timothy Green, what’s one of your favorite movies?

CJ: Probably my favorite movie other than The Odd Life of Timothy Green is The Avengers because it is so well done.  I thought it was really cool to watch and go all out, you know?

Q: In the movie, you played soccer, and I was wondering if that’s the sport you normally play, or what other sports do you play?

CJ: Uh, soccer is, like, my main sport.  If I had to play any sport to play for the rest of my life, it would be soccer, because I love soccer.

Q: Have you always wanted to act, and how did you get into acting?

CJ: Well, I never really always wanted to act.  It kinda just came suddenly because there was this free for all trial for Dan in Real Life, and I was kinda like, well, why not try out, you know, just for fun.  And I got the part as, you know, Elliot Burns.  So, and the head director of that movie was trying another movie, and I tried out for that, and I got the part.  So now I’m trying to do more movies now.  I’m in the business.

Q: Was it fun for you?

CJ: Uh, actually, you know, every kid wants to get all dirty and stuff.  But it actually wasn’t that fun for me because we were filming in, like, a thirty-two degree garage, and they kept spraying me with water so the dirt would stay moist and would be able to dry, and oh, it was so uncomfortable.

Q: What do you love most about acting?

CJ: What I like most about acting is just playing around, you know.  We’d be calling another guy or I like doing funny voices if I have to, that’s just fun for me.

Q: What do you want kids to learn from the film?

CJ: I want kids to learn that no matter how the person, who the person is, and, or how they act, like a bully or anything, I want you to treat them the exact same an- and then they treat you that way.

Thank you for taking the time to talk with us CJ! Good luck on future movies.

Make sure you go see CJ’s awesome work in The Odd Life of Timothy Green opening in theatres on August 15.