ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Family Switch stars Ed Helms and Brady Noon about the upcoming comedy movie. The actors discussed what it was like playing one another for the movie, as well as showing off two versions of the high school experience in the film. The film begins streaming on Netflix tomorrow, November 30.
“Jess and Bill Walker are doing their best to keep their family connected as their children grow older, more independent, and more distant,” reads the movie‘s synopsis. “When a chance encounter with an astrological reader causes the family to wake up to a full body switch, on the morning of the most important day of each of their lives, can the Walkers unite to land a promotion, college interview, record deal and soccer tryout? Jennifer Garner, Ed Helms, Emma Myers and Brady Noon star in this family comedy directed by McG and based on the book “Bedtime For Mommy” by Amy Krouse-Rosenthal.”
Tyler Treese: Ed, I was just really impressed overall by how the switch was pulled off. Can you speak to that sort of collaborative acting because if Brady isn’t able to imitate your behavior as an adult and vice versa, it doesn’t really work, but I was just impressed by everyone in the cast, even the baby and the dog. They were really able to act like the other person.
Ed Helms: I think the baby and the dog probably did the best version [laughs].
Brady Noon: They had to have.
Helms: I really appreciate your saying that, and it speaks to the homework that we did. We really studied each other’s mannerisms and behavior. We talked a lot about kind of what…and critiqued each other. We had a movement coach that helped sort of coordinate some of that stuff. But then honestly, the physical stuff is almost the easy part. The harder part is really sort of getting into the mindset and the spirit of the other character. And again, that just came from a lot of dialogue. It’s a lot of it is just getting to know the other person, but then also like really dialing in on the character as they’re written in the script.
And Brady, you get to go from being the very intelligent school kid that’s dealing with some jerks to being your dad, who’s reliving his high school glory days and having a blast being in that environment. How was it kind of showing both sides of the high school experience in one film?
Brady Noon: Yeah, I think it was a lot of fun. I think it definitely goes to show that there’s a lot of different aspects to high school, and people definitely have different times in high school. I mean, Wyatt was definitely not living it up in high school like his pops was back in the day [laughs], and I think that that was a lot of fun to play that switch. It gave me a little bit of a challenge to almost play that nerdier role. I think I found it easier to play that dad because I just have seen Ed so much, and being able to watch his mannerisms and how laid back he is. I mean, I think that was the easy part for me.
And to add, you get one of the coolest scenes in the film. You get to rock out with Weezer and Rivers Cuomo, how cool was it finding out that the rest of Dad or Alive was Weezer of all people?
Helms: Yeah, that was nuts. So McG, our director, obviously has an extensive music video background and is, like, deep into the rock world. And, at a certain point, he is like, “Yeah, Rivers and Weezer are on board. They’re psyched to do this.” And I was like, “No, no way.” And then not only did we get them on board, but they showed up and they were so enthusiastic and funny and committed and a blast to work with.
