— Chris Colfer [about his upcoming film set in an asylum] (via heathermione)
Chris Colfer doesn’t want to be, as he puts it, “the kid from Glee” forever — nor can he so long as Kurt is off at NYADA and not part of the main action on the show (which is back January 24 on Fox). So he’s been focusing on his writing career, which includes writing books, TV pilots, and movies. He also stars in his first turn as a screenwriter, the indie film Struck by Lightning, which features the delightful Rebel Wilson as his sidekick at a blackmail-fueled literary journal. Colfer called up Vulture to chat about his co-star, his fear of public singing, and how he used to dress up as a boy wizard.
On Vulture’s visit to Paramount’s Glee soundstage last week, all signssuggested that the upcoming fourth season is shaping itself into the spin-off that never was, with new NYC sets erected to accommodate the split-off storylines of McKinley grads Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Rachel (Lea Michele), which will now make up at least half of the show. On a brief tour of all things East Coast, we saw the spacious loft with exposed-brick walls where — spoiler alert! — soon-to-be-roomies Rachel and Kurt will live. When the season begins, Rachel will already be struggling in a sea of superstars at the fictional New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts (for which there is a fancy dance-studio set), and Kurt, bored and aimless in Ohio, will wind up in New York as an intern at Vogue.com. They’ll decide to bunk together somewhere in Brooklyn (probably Bushwick given Gleeboss Ryan Murphy’s Girls fixation) and Rachel will trade in her schoolgirl skirts and knee-highs for something edgier and fashion-forward (thanks to an assist from Kurt’s Vogue mentor Isabelle Klempt, played by Sarah Jessica Parker.)
Chris Colfer is known as an actor — he won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Kurt on Glee — but this Tribeca Film Festival, he’s making his debut as a writer as well. His first film, Struck by Lightning, premiered over the weekend with eager Harry Potter star Emma Watson in the audience (she even asked a question during the Q&A!), and he’s got a second film already in the works, in addition to a children’s book, a Disney Channel pilot, and probably ten other projects by now. So it’s only fitting that his character in Struck is an overachieving high school student who wants to take his writing to the next level — even if he has to commit blackmail to do it. Colfer chatted with Vulture about his own literary high school experiences, his future on Glee, and why he’ll be auditioning for an Adam Sandler movie soon.
Chris Colfer’s post-McKinley High career seems even brighter than his Glee character Kurt’s: He wrote and starred in one movie that’s already in the can, he’s got another set to shoot in a few months, and he’s also written a Disney channel pilot and a children’s book. You’ll get a look at the first of his many labors today, as E!’s got an early trailer for his movie Struck By Lightning, where Colfer wrote himself a role as an overachiever who blackmails his classmates into contributing to his literary journal. The movie doesn’t have a distributor or release date yet (and hopefully, when a studio does come aboard, they can put out a color-corrected trailer with some snappier edits and better fonts), but it’s stuffed full of all those people you like, including Rebel Wilson, Allison Janney, Christina Hendricks, Sarah Hyland, and Ashley Rickards.
