The degree to which Zach Gilford is down-to-earth is almost absurd.
The Evanston native, who plays quarterback Matt Saracen on “Friday Night Lights” and stars in the romantic comedy “Post Grad,” opening Friday, spends his free time leading expeditions such as his recent six-week trip guiding kids in Costa Rica. The 27-year-old has never tried to use his fame to get him anything other than a ride out of a crowded football stadium. He actually reads and, currently, is learning Spanish for fun.
And the L.A. resident says, “Whenever I can find an excuse to go home I take it,” including returning to Evanston last weekend for a surprise birthday party for his mom.
That’s certainly not the picture of Hollywood at its edgiest; nor is “Post Grad,” in which Gilford plays Adam, who debates what to do after college while hoping that his best friend Ryden (Alexis Bledel) finally will reciprocate his feelings for her.
From L.A., Gilford, an Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University grad, talked about playing nice guys, his final season of “Friday Night Lights” and playing QB for the Bears.
The Bears have Jay Cutler now. But if they said, “We’ve seen your work on ‘Friday Night Lights’ and want you as a backup quarterback,” what would you do?
I would be there in a heartbeat. I would do anything for Chicago sports, except maybe play for the Cubs. I’m a White Sox fan. Sorry, it’s the way I was raised.
Now you’re starring in “Post Grad.” What was the craziest thing that happened on the set?
Between [co-stars] Jane Lynch and Michael Keaton and Carol Burnett, they were just hysterical and they had a lot of freedom to improvise and stuff like that. So while we were filming, it’s just like the stuff that would come out of their mouths, I couldn’t keep a straight face and you never had any clue what they were going to do.
In the movie, you’re playing a nice guy, just like on “Friday Night Lights.” Why do you keep getting cast like this?
I don’t know. People like me! Luckily, this nice guy is a little bit different than the one that I play on the show. He’s a lot more extroverted and outgoing and goofy. Whereas Matt Saracen on “Friday Night Lights” is pretty shy and timid. I also got to do a movie that was at Sundance last year, and it’s coming out in November called “Dare,” where I got to play kind of the bad boy popular kid, which was a fun change.
How much did that open up a villainous dark side to your personality?
And now you go on a rampage of bad behavior day to day.
Yeah, now I’m just a jerk, really. I just treat people badly and I take everyone for granted.
That’s called method acting.
Yeah, totally. Anytime people call me a jerk I’m like, “No, no, I’m preparing for a role.”
What do you expect for your final episodes on “Friday Night Lights”? Will they write you off with a football scholarship or will you be lost at sea?
I think I’m going to art school, so I don’t think there’s a football scholarship in my future. They haven’t told me anything. I haven’t seen the script yet. I really wish I knew but I honestly … I know nothing.
I’m sure it will be tough to say goodbye to the show.
Yeah, I mean, it’s a bummer, definitely. But it’s a show where we’ve always prided on being authentic and true to real life, and people graduate and they move away and the show is centered on high school football. Going in, we all knew that our time on the show was going to be limited. It was something that [creator] Pete Berg told us from the beginning. So it’s also good in the sense where none of us are going to get pigeonholed in being that guy from that TV show who was on it forever.
How did your experience at Evanston Township compare to Matt Saracen’s high school experience?
It was definitely different. First of all, football was totally different at Evanston than it is in Dillon, Texas, or the majority of Texas for that matter. Our games, until last year we never even had lights. And so all our games were on Saturday mornings. Usually, no one even made it to the games because they were still sleeping or whatever.
When you come home, do you wear a Dillon Panthers jersey to make sure people know what you’ve done?
It’s kind of funny, I have all this gear from the show, like Panthers shirts and sweatshirts and stuff. … My closet’s full of it, and any time I go to my closet I’m like, “I can’t wear that, I’ll look like a complete tool.” It’s like advertising myself, like, “Hey, look at me, I’m on a TV show!” …
A couple times in Chicago — and this has only happened in Chicago — but people will be like, “Oh, you look like the guy. Do you get that a lot?” I’ll be like, “Yeah, I get that sometimes.” They’ll be like, “Are you?” I’ll finally be like, “Yeah, it is me,” and then they’ll be like, “You’re a [bleeping] liar!” and walk away.
Has there been a time when you were tempted to take advantage of your fame?
Not really. I have a couple buddies who have tried to play that card. … The funniest was one of my best friends who’s still in Chicago, when I was in New York — this was before my show — I had done like one episode of “Law & Order: SVU,” that was all I had to my name. And he would use that to try and pick up girls. He’d be like, “Yeah, that guy was on ‘Law & Order,’ blah blah blah.” Which was always kind of funny. I’d be like, “Dude, that’s not going to impress anyone.”
Especially if you played a criminal.
Yeah, I was like a child-molesting rapist murderer.
Uh, great pickup line.
I don’t think he went into my character arc. He just said that I was on the show.
