Kelly Blatz Interview

May 5, 2009 | by Disney Dreaming

Kelly Blatz, the star of the Disney XD show Aaron Stone, sat down with MediaBlvd Magazine for a question and answer session. Here’s what we know now about Kelly:

When asked how he became inspired to start asking Kelly answered, “I grew up in Burbank, Calif. and I acted, as a kid, in commercials and stuff, but I never really enjoyed it. So, I just went back to a regular school and played sports in high school. I was always interested in movies and I remember, in my senior year, I was on my way to film school and I saw the most recent Romeo & Juliet, and something just affected me so much. I started reading about acting and I decided that I wanted to put off film school for a little bit and try acting, so I enrolled myself in the best acting studio. Once I started in class, I just realized that it’s what I wanted to do. I’ve tried a lot of things in my life and there was something about acting that just didn’t feel like work to me. It didn’t feel like it was tough. I always wanted to be in acting class every day, and I wanted to be around the studio, and watch movies, learn and read books. Other than music, I’d never had a drive like that before, where I was completely attracted to it. So, while in class, I just fell in love with it. My teachers were very supportive and very responsive, so I figured this was a path that I should go down. I just continued to study, and ended up working.”

Ever wonder how Kelly Blatz ended up with the role of Disney’s Aaron Stone? Kelly said, “I had auditioned for a Disney movie, and the same casting directors were casting Aaron Stone, and they’d been casting for months and months. They thought I’d be right for it, so I went to the Disney building and auditioned for the producers. I walked in, and I guess they thought that I was the guy and I was what they were looking for. It was the last week of casting. And then, they told me I was going to Canada the next week, and I went.” Kelly continued to say that he was not intimidated at all after going in to audition for a movie role and ending up the lead character in a television show, he said he felt nothing but excitement and that he feels putting pressure on himself is positive.

And if you were curious how Kelly seems so calm playing the role of Aaron, it’s because Aaron is a lot like Kelly himself! Kelly said, “The character is very similar to who I was in high school. I wasn’t a particular part of any group. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so I was friends with everybody and did everything. He’s very, very similar to me, in just the words on the page. I think they saw that I was this character because I was just so similar to who he is. What also attracted me to it was that I get to be a role model to kids. I looked up to people who were superheroes, or who I watched on Disney. And, I get to play duel roles, and do such physical action and comedy. That was such an amazing experience that there was no way I could turn it down. For a lot of people, their guilty pleasure is watching the Disney Channel. This show is doing something different, where adults and kids can watch because it’s shot like an action movie. It’s funny. Kids are a lot smarter these days, with the Internet and everything that’s going on, and they’re more in tune, so it’s definitely not predictable. It has very intricate storylines. It’s something totally different that Disney hasn’t done before.” And not only is Aaron’s character similar to Kelly, Kelly has an immense love for video games, even before he started acting in Aaron Stone: “I’ve played video games, all my life, from when Nintendo and Super Nintendo first came out, to all of the consoles that are out now. I had definitely had a history of playing video games, but I haven’t played in the last couple years, except for maybe here and there. But, having to pretend like I’m playing, in every episode, I had to tap back into being really, really into video games.”

When asked about becoming a Disney sensation (he was rumored to be the next Zac Efron you know) Kelly answered, “I take things as they come, and I take moments as they come. It’s definitely not something that I think about. I’m sure there’s certain ways that people will treat you differently, but you just have to take it as it comes. I know what’s important to me, so I don’t think it’s going to be a huge challenge for me, or something that’s going to create a lot of pain. It’s all positive. If you hold on to what you believe in, it’s going to be fine. Just enjoy it.” Similar to Zac Efron, Kelly can act AND sing. He has a music career that he is extremely serious about and he writes and records his own music in a “five-piece [rock] band” called Capra.