OlderMax Schneider Opens Up About 'Crisis' & 'The Say Max EP' (JJJ Interview)
Check out this brand new interview with the talented Max Schneider!
The 21-year-old actor/musician is busy gearing up for his brand new album, The Say Max EP, which drops on May 13!
PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Max Schneider
Not to mention, he stars in the NBC drama Crisis, which has us hooked, just as his character Ian takes a dark turn. We can’t wait to see what happens next!
JJJ caught up with Max to get the scoop on both his music and acting careers, what he likes to do for fun, and more! Check it!
Crisis airs Sunday nights@ 10PM on NBC!
JustJaredJr: So tell us about how Crisis came about for you.
Max Schneider: It was the usual pilot season, which is always crazy and you’re going in for a lot of stuff. I got the scripts for Crisis and I knew it was something special. I had the audition and it was a very quick process actually. A few days later, I ended up going in for the director and the producers. It went really well and I found out a few days later. It was a huge blessing and I was really excited.
JJJ: Ian started taking drugs after he found out about Amber and the teacher. Will we continue to see him go down this dark path?
MS: Yeah, definitely. This is sort of the dark train for Ian. It’s funny because when you asked about the audition process, I didn’t really know what to expect from the character. I was really pleasantly surprised that the scripts went on to find out that there was going to be this dark character arc. It’s something I always wanted to explore, but never really got the chance to do. Yeah, dark stuff starts to happen. Things get crazy.
Click inside to read the rest of our interview with Max Schneider…
JustJaredJr.com Interview – Max Schneider
JJJ: We definitely think there are some more-than-friendship feelings between Beth Ann and Ian. What do you think?
MS: There’s definitely a very intense dynamic between Beth Ann and Ian, and I think throughout the rest of the series, it’s a lot of them looking out for one another in this best friend way. It really comes out in the most intense way possible in these next few episodes, I would say. I think that’s of course what the writers want everyone to feel like, just to keep it interesting (laughs). But I think there’s definitely something deeply rooted there and I think Ian doesn’t realize his feelings for Beth Ann, if any. He starts seeing the President’s son Kyle getting into the picture, and that really unravels more in the next few episodes. But whether that’s a sexual thing, or a friendship thing, he gets jealous. He starts to feel that jealously in a real way. I think the cool thing about it is that it’s really up to the audience to interpret what that jealously is.
JJJ: Should Amber and the teacher be worried about their secret getting out now that more people know?
MS: I don’t want to give anything away, but I definitely think that moment with Amber obviously really has an intense effect on Ian. And that brings out a lot of different situations that might not have normally happened. I’m very excited for you see it (laughs).
JJJ: We’re excited! We know you can’t say much.
MS: I can say that it’s very satisfying, the unraveling of all the whole series. We felt the same way. Every episode, we were getting [the script] a week before – sometimes two or three days before we’d shoot an episode – and we didn’t know who was going to die, who was going to live, or what was going to happen. Let’s say that the whole thing up until the very end is so satisfying and I’m really excited for everyone to see the entirety of the series as well.
JJJ: We have to ask about your song “Mug Shot” appearing in the Veronica Mars movie. As fans of the series, we think that’s really cool!
MS: It was so cool. I’m such a Marshmallow and when I found out…they had pitched the song a long time back and when I found out that it was a real thing that it was ending up in the movie, I was so honored. I was freaking out. And then when I actually got to see the movie, it was a dream come true. I song of my own, something that I love and created, was used in something that someone else spent time on, and loved, and created, it was a real honor. It was really cool to watch the movie and know that I was a part of it.
JJJ: We love the video for the song too. What a cool concept! How did that come about?
MS: Thank you! I sat down with my friend who’s the director for it – Dan Karp – we just talked it through. We were like, “We got to do something that we’ve never done before. We have to just go for it.” And we thought in the song having these references to chain gangs and the whole video being this metaphoric dance-off, we wanted to explore that story for real. It was definitely a huge process to make it all come to life, but it was so worth it in the end. We got to do it with all of our best friends. I’m glad that we just went for it because sometimes you have to just take the risk of being insane (laughs). I’m glad you enjoyed it.
JJJ: Tell us about your upcoming EP. We’re excited to hear new music!
MS: We finished Crisis about a month and a half ago, and throughout the series, I was flying back between L.A. and Chicago, where we shot the show. I’d fly between there and New York to write. I have an EP called The Say Max EP coming out May 13, which is just a little taste of the full album. The full album will come out later in the summer. I’m really excited about it. I got to work with Pharrell Williams two week ago, which was a wonderful experience, just to make music with him and hang out with him. He’s the coolest guy. I’m really excited for people to hear those songs and the EP of course. It’s definitely been a long journey of getting our this original music, but I’m really excited and it’s all worth it. Especially when writing music, it’s got to be the right thing. You want people to hear the best of the best, and what you spent the most time on. I’m pumped for everybody to hear it. I’m going on a U.S. tour June 4 to July 5. I’m excited to play the new EP songs, share the music, and dance around. Hopefully people enjoy it.
And I’m not sure what I can say about it, but I’m really excited, I’m featured on some rapper’s singles that are coming out. The minute I can say something, I’d love to give you the official date.
JJJ: Awesome! A TV show, an EP, a tour�when do you have time off?
MS: I like having little bits of time off. But for me, I only like to take like four-day vacations at most. I just love writing new music, singing, and acting. I get to do what I love everyday, so I don’t mind doing it everyday. It’s just been awesome and a blessing to be able to do what I love. I try to think about that every day and keep working as hard as I can to keep doing it.
JJJ: We love your covers! The “Say Something” one with Victoria Justice is a recent favorite. How do you decide on which songs you do?
MS: The song is always first. We always choose a song that we really do love and believe we can make our own version of. For a lot of YouTube stuff, it’s like “Oh, what’s in the Top 10?” But I think especially as of recent, for me, it’s always like, “OK, is it an old James Brown song just because we love it? Or is “All of Me’ by John Legend because it’s No. 2 but also one of my favorite songs?” It has to be about the song and people knowing that you chose that song because you really do love it. We both just loved that song. It’s just a really wonderfully-written song that anyone can connect with. In the same way, for the video, we always think, “What do we want to see? Let’s not do the same thing each time. Let’s really try to keep it fresh and do something we would want to see on YouTube.”
JJJ: Totally. And tell us about your coming movie Love & Mercy.
MS: It’s the story of Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. It’s about the band and their upbringing, focusing on Brian Wilson’s life. He has a wonderful, insane story and a really amazing life. I got to play Van Dyke Parks. They wrote a record called Smile together. And so it was just him and Brian. For me, I knew all the Beach Boy songs in the same way a lot of people do. Doing this movie, I really learned so much about the group and how incredible they all really are. I got to work mostly with Paul Dano, who’s always been one of my favorite actors. He’s the coolest guy and such a pro. I love how he does his work and it was really wonderful to see that first-hand. The film is cool. It’s got John Cusack and Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks. It’s a really cool cast. I’m not sure when it comes out, probably next year.
