Pop-Culturalist.com

Charlie Gillespie is creating perfect harmony with his breakout role as Luke on Netflix’s newest hit show, Julie and the Phantoms.

The series follows Julie, a young girl who loses her passion for music after the death of her mother, but when the ghosts of three dreamy musicians from 1995 appear in her mom’s old studio, Julie begins to find her way back to her craft. As her friendship with the boys grow, they convince her to create a new band together: Julie and the Phantoms.

It’s a role of a lifetime for Charlie who’s putting all of his acting, dancing, and singing talents on display.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Charlie about Julie and the Phantoms, how he prepared for that emotional scene in Episode 8, and whether he’s Team Ruke or Juke!

PC: You’re a multi-faceted talent. What came first for you, music or acting?
Charlie: I guess music. I mean we’re always acting, come on [laughs], but I started music at a pretty young age. My mom put my whole family into lessons. My parents would also bring us to shows and stuff. I started off pretty basic.

PC: In Julie and the Phantoms, your character is about to get his big break before he eats something that he shouldn’t have. For you, what was your big break?
Charlie: Julie and the Phantoms. [laughs] Your career is built on a number of big breaks, little ones, and different times in your life. I don’t think it’s just what the public sees. A lot of the biggest breaks come from what you’re learning throughout your life.

I learned a lot on Julie and the Phantoms. It made me very visible, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for all the auditions I lost and all the training that I have done in the past. I wouldn’t call it a break, either, you know what I mean? It feels like a lot of things in my life have come together and things have worked out in certain ways. I always feel blessed about the journey rather than specific little moments.

PC: This is the first time that you’re leading a cast. Did you feel any pressure heading into this project? What’s been the biggest takeaway?
Charlie: You know what? We’re four people. There’s none of us without everybody else. Throughout the series, we bonded, and that’s the reason why things landed the way they do—because of the chemistry that we have with each other. There’s no way that one of us could have done this by ourselves, because the story involves these four amazing people and the extra people that come around it as well.

There was a lot of pressure. I got a little nervous at the start, especially when we received the songs. I jammed out to them a little too much beforehand. I’ve never had vocal training, so I blew out my voice to the point where we had to get doctors involved. I also had to be on voice rest for two weeks right at the start; I wasn’t allowed to say a word. I had these notepads that I was writing in. There was a lot of pressure because I finally booked something where I get to sing, dance, act, and do a little bit of magic fun. There was a lot of pressure, but it was all in my head.

The second I arrived on set, there were no replacements. Kenny [Ortega] and Netflix were like, “No. We’re making this work. We’re going to do everything that we can do to train your voice back.” It was the best introduction to what we were about to film, because it was like that the whole show.

PC: Julie and the Phantoms has become the breakout hit of 2020. When you guys were filming, did you feel that you were creating something special?
Charlie: [laughs] The breakout hit of 2020. Are you the one saying that?

PC: I am. [laughs]

Charlie: We definitely came together as more than just coworkers throughout filming. We continue to be really great friends, even through the separation that we have now. I found a really cool new little family. I have had a lot of friends in the past, but getting to do this with these people and all of this stuff together, it’s felt nothing but special every time we interact, every time we got to do a scene or get on stage. It always felt really good, man. It always felt really nice to do this together.

PC: Like you were saying earlier, you can tell that there’s a really nice chemistry and friendship between all four of you. What’s one surprising fact about Madison [Reyes], Jeremy [Shada], and Owen [Joyner] that fans would be surprised to learn?
Charlie: A surprising fact about Jeremy, Madison, and Owen…I lived with Owen. I have a lot of surprising facts that I can’t share. [laughs] Owen is one of the biggest theater geeks that I’ve ever met. He’s so funny; he’ll quote any show. He’s barely seen shows on Broadway. He’s only seen a few, but he would watch them online, and he’d sing them, and read the scripts. So, Owen—I got to say is one of the biggest theater guys that I’ve ever met.

Jeremy has such a big heart; you see it in his character, Reggie. Maybe everyone will know that. That’s not a surprise. Jeremy actually had a band, very similar to Sunset Curve, with his brothers and some friends: Make Out Monday. Jeremy had a lot of this punk rock energy before starting the show. It was really fun. He played bass for that, which was pretty interesting.

Something surprising about Madison? It’s so hard because she continues to surprise me all the time. She’s this little girl thrown into such a big world. I’ve been doing it for a few years and I’m not used to what’s happening right now with the fans. She blows me away with how well she takes it. Even on set, she was always so well prepared. I really thought that was cool because some people aren’t.

Some people might think, “I’m done once I book the role,” but she really understands that no, the job is just starting. She surprises me every single time we do a scene because I’m always like, “How in God’s name is this your first time?”

PC: The fans have really taken to this show, and they’ve created their own ships. Which of Luke’s relationships was your favorite to explore in Season 1 and why?
Charlie: You’re talking about Ruke and Juke, right? [laughs] It’s fun, but I love Juke so much. If there are two people that are perfect for each other, it’s those two people right there—not just because of the similarities and the pain that they’ve gone through, but I think it’s more of a passion that they feel for the things that they love and the things that they doing.

Preparing for the role and even talking with Madison, we talked about what Luke and Julie are doing when the boys aren’t around and when it’s just them. Where are they hanging out? A lot of it is writing, but a lot of it also is just like, “I’m hanging out and so we get to grow that as well, because we have to hang out, we got to do this stuff.” So, I’m sorry for you Ruke shippers out there, but I’m team Juke.

PC: There’s this really incredibly powerful scene between Luke and his mother. What was your initial reaction when you read that scene? How did you prepare?
Charlie: I got the script beforehand. I got to read a little bit and understand what was happening. I had “Unsaid Emily”, but I didn’t know what it was about yet. I didn’t have that script before. When I read the script, I understood. But [before that] I didn’t understand what they meant by the lyrics of the song yet. Then we sat down and we did the whole table read, and the lyrics hit.

I understood exactly what they were going through. I understood why he left and why she didn’t want him to leave. Everything hit like a truck. You should have seen the table read—there were a lot of Kleenexes. Kathy and Theo were our AEs in L.A. when we were doing that, and they went and got a bunch of Kleenex tissues. Our creators and writers were like, you guys might want this. Everyone was bawling.

It was a big scene, but everyone had received the script, which was so weird. It was the first time that we got to feel it all together. The way you feel when you’re watching it, that’s the way it felt when we did the table read. We were trying to create this world in each of our minds, and somehow, we were able to be on the same frequency while we did it.

To prepare, I mean, everyone fights with their parents. Everybody says some things that they probably shouldn’t have when they’re growing up. I try to keep away with my character’s past because you don’t want to mix those two; it’s a weird combination. But, a relationship between a son and a mom is pretty universal throughout everybody’s life, no matter how good or how bad it might’ve been. So, losing somebody like your mom, it isn’t easy for anybody. Moms are nurturers. Moms are there to help build you up in life and teach you what’s right and wrong. Dads are there as well, but I always found moms are always the ones that are supposed to have the biggest hearts, so there’s a connection there. I just started running from there. Have you heard of Stella Adler?

PC: I have not.

Charlie: Stella Alder is one of the most legendary method acting teachers that’s ever existed. There are a few different methods, but Stella Adler is one of the most renowned ones. I was studying in a class about her technique down in Hollywood last year. I didn’t finish the whole thing, but they gave me a lot of foundation work on how to create these little stories, how to try to make them in the most realistic way for you, and how to be able to live them when you’re in the scene. I found that really helped build it up actually.

PC: There are a lot of really important themes that the show gets across in the first season. Was there one in particular that resonated with you?
Charlie: My favorite theme is finding a family through your friends throughout the entire story, because not everybody’s blessed with the best family, but what you try to do and what you try to find in your friends is all up to you. People stick around when you’re friends because you have a bond together, you have a connection, but you have a connection that you work towards. It’s not always easy. You see in the show—they mess up. They say some things that they shouldn’t say once in a while, but eventually, they come back together because they realize what they have together is worth fighting for, right? I think I got to say that is my favorite message from the show.

PC: There are a lot of different directions that this show could go if it’s picked up for a second season. Where would you like to see Luke’s storyline head?
Charlie: Well, we have his background now, which is really fun, but there’s a lot of stuff. There’s the Bobby stuff that we want to deal with because he ripped us off! But I really hope Luke tries to find Julie’s mom. I hope she’s able to come back and say something to her. She’s not able to right now, but we can understand that she’s the one sending all these messages. So, I want to learn a little more of this world that we live in and why things work the way they do to be able to get to there.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Charlie: Friends.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Charlie: Big Daddy or Se7en or Big.

PC: Favorite book?
Charlie: Boys on the Boat.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Charlie: Wicked.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Charlie: There’s this guy actually, I’ve been loving his music. He’s this artist from France, AuDen. He blows me away.

PC: Go-to karaoke song?
Charlie: Usually it’s “You’re the One That I Want”.

To keep up with Charlie, follow him on Instagram. Binge-watch Season 1 of Julie and the Phantoms today.

Photo Credit: Nathan Blackmun