"Awake" NBC Thursdays at 10PM
NBC’S “Awake” is a Dream Job for Actor, Dylan Minnette!
by Susan J. Yeager
On Thursday, March 1, 2012, NBC will begin airing a unique new show called “Awake.” In this original concept show, a man by the name of Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) finds himself in a very strange predicament. A devastating car wreck leaves Michael caught between two realities. In one realm, his wife has survived the accident and his son died. However, when Michael falls asleep he wakes up in an alternate world, where his son Rex is alive and well and his wife is gone. In both worlds, Michael is still a working detective with different ongoing cases to solve. Sounds interesting (to say the least) right?
Fifteen-year old Dylan Minnette was thrilled to be cast as “Rex Britten” in this new television event. We recently chatted with the talented actor about everything from how he got started in acting, to his love of the music festival, Coachella, and of course, this new series that adds another hour of “Must See TV” to our week.
“When I was just a toddler or just a baby, my Dad was always filming me on the video cameras, just to have footage for the future,” Dylan tells us about how he first got started in acting. “He would plug it in the TV and I would pretty much watch myself on the TV as he would film me and entertain me all the time. I got used to watching myself on the TV and I liked it.”
“After awhile, I would dance around in front of the TV with my flashlight, pretending it was a microphone. When I was six years old, my Mom heard an ad on the radio for this place where people who want to be actors and models go to meet agents. From there, I got signed with an agency in Chicago. After a while, I got an Agency in L.A. I came out to L.A. for my first year and started booking jobs right away. Ever since then, I’ve come to the point that I am now. It’s been pretty cool!”
Check out a preview of "Awake"
Dylan was super excited to start working on top-notch shows right off the bat. “My first few jobs were a guest-starring role on ‘Two and Half Men,’ ‘Drake and Josh,’ and ‘MadTV,’ he explains. “My first big TV role was a few episodes on ‘Prison Break.’ He knows that he is very fortunate to get to work on such high profile shows. “Those were some cool shows to start off on,” he admits.
The actor slash musician continued to work hard on his acting skills and tried to be as prepared as possible for every audition that came his way. His hard work paid off and caught the attention of the casting team at NBC. It was during last pilot season ( a time where networks are looking for new shows) that he first heard about “Awake.”
“It was last year, I was auditioning for multiple pilots because it was pilot season and I didn’t have a series. I was just before that, really close to being on another NBC series but I didn’t get that role. That pilot didn’t get picked up. Then a pilot came along called ‘REM,’ that’s what ‘Awake’ was originally called. The second I read the plot I knew! I was like ‘This is going to get picked up for sure! This is really cool!’ I read the script and thought it was amazing! I was thinking to myself, ‘If I got this, I would be so lucky and happy!’ because it’s such a good show! If I got a pilot, I wanted it to be on a good show.”
Dylan says the audition process was quick which is unusual for the way things usually work in Hollywood. “My first audition, Kyle Killen, the creator was already in the room and so was Jason Isaacs. That night, I found out I was testing for it. The next week, I tested and went to network for it. I got it within like a week and half! It was just [a] really quick process, getting the job, like really fast! Then I went right to work. It was kind of surreal because it went by so fast. It was amazing because we’re almost finished with the entire season. It’s been an amazing crew and cast. I’ve had an amazing time!”
Through the audition process, Dylan didn’t see many similarities between himself and the character that would eventually become his. “Well, ever since he lost his mother in a car accident, his Mom, Hannah, was the one that he was closest too and the one that he talked to all the time the most,” he begins when asked to describe “Rex.” “His Dad is always working, because he’s a detective and always working cases. So he never really spent time with him, he always spent time with his Mom. So now that his Mom is gone, he has to adapt to life with just his Dad. It’s really hard for him to communicate with him because he misses his Mom so much and he hides that way deep inside him. He’s always either not talking to his Dad or just not communicating well because he doesn’t know how to communicate with him properly. So, Rex is very quiet around his Dad.”
“Rex is a very self-content guy,” Dylan continues. “He really keeps to himself and he’s doing his best to adapt to life with just his Dad but he’s really having problems communicating with him. Deep down, he really wants to be able to communicate with him, he just doesn’t know how without his Mom.”
The audience will get to see a happier side of Rex occasionally. “You see another side of Rex with his friend Cole and his girlfriend Emma throughout the season, so you see a side of Rex that you wouldn’t normally see with his Dad with his friends and his girlfriend. “
“The audition scene wasn’t in the first episode,” he says of not having much in common with “Rex” in the beginning. “It’s in a few episodes later. It was basically a speech about how he wishes he had his Mom instead of his Dad. I’ve never really felt like that before, so I couldn’t really relate to it.”
However, as the season unfolded, Dylan did find common some common ground with his character. “There are things that are like me. There’s one episode, I think it will be the third episode aired, where he’s talking to his friend Cole. They’re building a motorcycle and Rex is trying to talk him into taking it to Coachella. It’s a big weekend-long music festival in Indio, California. I’m actually one of the biggest Coachella fans! I went for my first time last year and I’m going this year. It’s my favorite thing! It’s the best experience I’ve ever had was at Coachella last year. So when I read that script I was like ‘Oh my God, he’s going to Coachella! He’s trying to convince Cole to go to Coachella!’ Last year I went to Coachella with my friend Cole in real life,” Dylan laughs at the strange coincidence.
Once he got the role, there was something Dylan needed to learn to play “Rex.” “In the first episode, Rex plays Tennis,” the Indiana native explains. “I really didn’t know how to play Tennis at all, so I took like eight tennis lessons before I went in to film it. So the day that I filmed my tennis scenes, I knew the basics of what to do. Obviously, they had a double do a couple of things, like crazy things like the final wing serves and stuff. I had only taken a few lessons; you can’t just become a pro.”
When we talked with Dylan, he wasn’t sure who would be watching the premiere with him (aside from family). “I’ll watch it with family and friends. I’m still debating if I’m going to invite a bunch of people over or not. It’s kind of hard to get people to come over at 10 o’clock on a Thursday. I’d like to because I’ve never been more excited about a project that I’m in to air or be released before because this is my first series that I have been this much a part of, like in every episode and been this involved in and this intrigued with the script. I’m really excited about it. I’d never normally really do things like that, but I’d like to have people over to watch it because I want to get all my friends hooked because I know that whoever watches the first episode is going to be hooked and want to watch it every week!”
Every new episode brings new opportunities for Dylan to learn more about acting from the pros. “Almost all of my scenes are with Jason. When I work with him, I just see him do these little things, sometimes he’ll even give me some tips. Jason is probably the best actor to work with when you’re trying to learn something. I’ve had a great set of people that I’ve worked with! I worked for four years with Holly Hunter. She’s one of the best you can learn from. Working with Jason for half a year, it’s been amazing learning from him. He’s really the only adult that I work with on the show regularly. Every cast member on the show is amazing… amazing in person and amazing acting on the show. Watching them, from the episodes that I’ve seen, you can learn from just watching them, because everybody on the cast is just fantastic… every single person.”
“The day that I got the pilot, they started releasing all of the other people that were going to be on it too, on the Internet. I didn’t know yet. They were posting online who was going to be on the show. I was like ‘Wow! This is a really great cast!’ Out of all the pilots that came out, I’m not just saying it because I’m on the show, I’m not counting me, I’m counting everyone else, I think ‘Awake’ has one of the best set of cast on a new series. I think it’s a really great ensemble cast.”
When he’s not working on his acting career, Dylan devotes most of his time to his other passion… making music. “When I’m not working, I’m actually full time in a rock band called ‘The Feaver.’ We are actually in the final mixing and mastering process of our first official EP right now, which should be out in April. That’s a cool process we’re going through.”
“We’ve played awesome venues like Troubadour and The Roxy,” he says, naming some of the coolest venues in Los Angeles. “Things are going really cool. I do that all the time! I do lead vocals and rhythm guitar. I have so much fun doing that. Music is just amazing to do. It’s so much fun!”
“I write songs all the time for the band. Braeden Lemasters who plays guitar writes A LOT of songs too. We all kind of write songs together. There’s four of us. We all just write. I’m not just saying this because I’m in the band, but we’re not just your average like, teenage garage band. We’ve got good songs. I think our EP with five original songs, they’re really catchy and I think people could really like them.” Be sure to check out Dylan’s group on YouTube and Facebook.
His musical influences include the greats like “My favorite band of all time is The Beatles. Led Zeppelin. Kings of Leon. The Strokes. Radiohead,” he lists. I joke about him loving all the bands at Coachella but the statement turns out to be true. “It’s funny, Kings of Leon, The Strokes and Arcade Fire played Coachella last year. Those are three of my favorite, oh and Cage the Elephant, those are four… oh and The Black Keys, those are five of my favorite bands that played last year. Then this year is The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead and I’m dying!”
He might be in the market for some new television viewing. “Awake” is a given of course. But the actor who played Jack’s son on “Lost” says the most of his favorite shows have ended. “All the shows that I watched full-time are kind of over! I watched ‘Lost.’ When I did ‘Lost,’ the last season was already about to air. I started watching all the DVD sets. I caught up all the way to the last few episodes. So, ‘Lost’ was one. I also watch ‘Supernatural,” all the time. I watch every episode of that. I did see every single episode of ‘Entourage,’ which is over now.”
Looking ahead to the rest of 2012, the actor has some definite goals. “I can’t really say anything as a goal acting wise because all I have to rely on right now is how many people watch ‘Awake.’” He reasons. “I think a goal for 2012 is to get our music out there. My goal this year is to just get a fan base for the band and just pray that ‘Awake’ is successful.”
If your goal is to learning more about acting, Dylan says that persistence is key! “Don’t try to force yourself to do things or be someone that you’re not. Stay yourself and if things are meant to happen, they’ll happen. If you don’t give up, something is going to pay off in the future so just don’t give up no matter what happens to you. It takes the longest time to get to somewhere that you want to be. Just don’t give up really. You’ve just got to be yourself. Have faith. Look out for conventions or anything that come near you. Most of them are not scams and if there are things that come near you that have agents there that are looking to sign you, check it out. They’re pretty cool. That’s how I started. Just keep your eyes out for whatever opportunities you have.”
Dylan’s message to new and loyal fans is “Check out our band The Feaver. Like our page. Look out for news about our EP being on Itunes and stuff. Also, check us out on YouTube. Watch ‘Awake,’ March 1, Thursday at 10:00pm! We’ve got to get everyone watching it!”
Hopefully, 2012 will continue to be a successful year for this young talent who is working hard to keep living his dream. Watch his TV Dad rotate between two worlds and keep an eye on Dylan as he rotates between his two real life worlds… acting and music. You’ll want to be sure to be fully awake while taking in all of the talent this young man has to offer!