Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Fatman and A Million Little Things’ Chance Hurstfield

The future of Hollywood looks bright with Chance Hurstfield leading the way. The rising young actor has quickly made a name for himself with the wide range of characters he’s embodied showing off poise and talent well beyond his years.

Best known for his role as lovable Danny Dixon on A Million Little Things, Chance can currently be seen starring opposite Mel Gibson in the laugh-out-loud holiday comedy with a twist, Fatman. After receiving a lump of coal from Santa, Chance’s character takes things into his own hands by hiring a hitman…and things only get crazier from there!

Pop Culturalist caught up with Chance to chat about the film, A Million Little Things, his career, and how he discovered his passion for acting.

Career

PC: How did you discover your passion for acting?
Chance: It was pretty evident at a young age that I was going to be in the entertainment industry—one of the biggest factors being that my dad is a music producer and my stepmom is a singer. So, I practically grew up in the entertainment industry. I always wanted to be the center of attention. I always wanted to be in the spotlight.

My opportunity finally came when I was four years old and my dad’s friend who’s an agent, Maureen Goodwill, asked if I wanted to go in and audition. I luckily got it and I enjoyed it so much. I wanted to keep going.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Chance: I work on a show called A Million Little Things. Season 3 just premiered. I’ve been very fortunate to have many scenes with James Roday [Rodriguez], who plays Gary, over the years. Of course I’ve been very fortunate to work with a lot of actors, but I’ve got to work with James Roday [Rodriguez] a lot, and I’ve got to witness him in action in a very in-depth way. He has been a mentor to me. When I’m around him, I’m like a sponge soaking up as much as I can. I was a sponge with Mel Gibson, too. I try to learn as much as I can from everyone.

When you’re in a one-on-one scene with James, he will let you dictate the feeling, the emotion, and the pace of it, then he’ll match that feeling, emotion, and pace. He’s a very generous actor in that way. I try to take as much note as I can of his breaths, his chops, his line deliveries, and hand gestures. So, to do as much work as I’ve done with him over the past few years, he’s been a significant mentor to me, and I look up to him as an actor.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Chance: Probably when I met Mel Gibson for the first time. I was very nervous prior to meeting him. He’s a two-time Academy Award winner. I remember when I first saw him at the lunchroom on the set of Fatman, I froze up. I had the worst case scenarios flowing in my head like, “What if I make a joke and he doesn’t laugh? What if he doesn’t like me? What if I say something wrong?” So, I was a little bit nervous, but I sat down with him and he was the nicest guy. He was spitting out jokes left and right, making the whole lunchroom laugh. He was down to earth and sweet. When he was in the scene, he brought so much emotion, conviction, and power. Much like James, when I was around Mel, I was trying to soak up as much as possible so I could learn from him.

Fatman

PC: Speaking of Fatman, can you tell us about the film and your character?
Chance: Well, Fatman definitely has some major elements a Christmas movie needs: it takes place on Christmas, there’s a lot of snow, Santa Claus is a big part of the movie, there’s a bit of Christmas music here and there. But then again, it’s rated R, so maybe don’t take your kids to see it thinking it’s a holly jolly Christmas movie because it’s more of a Christmas story twisted in an epic tale of vengeance and comedy.

I play Billy Wenan. He’s definitely a mean kid. He likes to make his maid’s and his peers’ lives difficult. He likes to make other people’s lives difficult in general, and that’s to compensate for the fact that he doesn’t have parents. His dad is jetting around the globe from vacation destination to destination with God knows which girlfriend. His mom abandoned him at a young age, so he really only has his grandma. So, he compensates for that by being evil. When he gets that lump of coal, that’s what pushes him over the edge from “I want to make your life difficult” evil to “Okay, I’m going to hire a hitman to go after you” evil.

PC: What attracted you to this project?
Chance: The script was phenomenal. The Nelms brothers are geniuses. Also, the fact that Mel and Walton [Goggins] were working on it. I was really surprised by the Nelms brothers. Personally, I know if I were to do a movie with one of my siblings, it wouldn’t go very smoothly. The Nelms brothers are like conjoined twins; they were like Siamese twins. They shared the same views, had the same ideas, worked in-sync, and it was shocking how amazingly they worked.

When I’m doing a project, I get to experience and witness it as an actor, but on Fatman, I got to experience the filmmaking side of it. Johnny Derango, our DP, and the Nelms brothers would pull me aside and show me the storyboards and show how the light was going to bounce off certain objects. But, one thing that really surprised me is I have a lot of respect for people who create those storyboards. I’m fourteen and the sad truth is I can barely color inside the lines. [laughs] For me, the idea of drawing out a whole movie is an impossible task.

PC: Like you were saying, Billy likes to make everybody’s lives more difficult. How fun was it playing a character who’s so different to who you are?
Chance: Oh my gosh, it was amazing. Now here’s the thing, if you ask my dad, he’s going to tell you that I’m not that far from my character. [laughs] I’m joking. But, playing Billy Wenan was phenomenal. He’s a very evil kid. There’s the scene in the trailer where I run out and into the snowy ground and I have a lump of coal in my hand and I’m screaming to the heavens, “You messed up big time, Fatman.” [laughs] That was one of my favorite scenes I filmed, and I had a lot of voice cracks while filming it.

A Million Little Things

PC: A Million Little Things Season 3 just premiered. What can fans expect from this upcoming season? What can you tease about your character’s arc?
Chance: We’re so fortunate to have a writers’ room full of geniuses and such a fantastic ensemble cast. We don’t look at each other as an ensemble cast; we look at each other as a family. This season, there are going to be a lot of twists and turns that the millionaires are not going to expect.

You’ll need to get yourself a comfortable spot on the couch or on your bed, grab your favorite snack and drink, and get your tissues ready because there’s going to be a lot of tear-jerking moments. There are going to be a lot of moments that give you the warm fuzzies inside and there are going to be moments where you’ll burst out laughing.

PC: Having played this character for three seasons now, has anything surprised you about Danny’s journey?
Chance: Danny is a role that I don’t take lightly because a lot of people are afraid to be themselves. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on social media with people telling me that Danny has helped them become who they are. I really love to see that stuff. That’s one of my favorite things about playing Danny.

What I love about Danny is over the seasons, he’s really become more of himself. He stepped into his shoes and found himself and who he really is over the few seasons. This season, he’s going to find himself even more and try new experiences.

PC: If you could write a storyline for Danny, what would it be and why?
Chance: That’s a really good question. I’ve never thought about that! I really don’t know. We have a fantastic writers’ room. Everyone who takes part in writing the scripts is a genius. They come up with these amazing episodes that us actors, we even get shocked by. We gasp when we’re reading the script. Personally, if I were to write anything about Danny, I don’t know what I could write that’s better than what the writers’ room would write. They’re amazing at what they do.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Chance: I’m a massive fan of Bob’s Burger. I’m not just the guy that watches every episode of every season, I’m the guy that will put it on all the time when I’m doing something. I’ve probably watched each episode of every season at least six or seven times. I don’t know if watching Bob’s Burger in general is a guilty pleasure, but watching every episode of every season six or seven times, that might be a little over the top.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Chance: I am a massive Star Wars nerd. Once again, I have watched every Star Wars movie, every Star Wars animation, every Star Wars show several times. I am very heavily interested in all of the Star Wars conspiracies and what goes on in between the films. Anything Star Wars, I love!

PC: Favorite book?
Chance: I don’t read a lot of books, most of my reading comes from scripts…it’s all from scripts. I recently read To Kill a Mockingbird and that’s the first book I’ve read in quite a while, embarrassingly.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Chance: That’s a really interesting question. After we did an episode with Grease, I love everything about Grease. I don’t think I’ve actually watched a musical of it, but I watched the movie with John Travolta, and I thought that was amazing. I haven’t watched a lot of plays or musicals, but since we did the Grease musical in A Million Little Things, I definitely did watch a bit of it, which I loved.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Chance: Good question. I really like Lukas Graham. I didn’t know they were a band until quite a while ago, but I listened to them a lot. I forgot about them and stopped listening to them, but then they resurfaced in my mind recently, so I’ve been listening to a lot of Lukas Graham.

To keep up with Chance, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Fatman is now available on-demand! Catch new episodes of A Million Little Things every Thursday at 10/9c on ABC.