Zach Gilford became a household name playing high school football player Matt Saracen on the TV series “Friday Night Lights.” He’s become something of a horror specialist these past few years with “The Purge: Anarchy” and shows including “Midnight Mass” and “The Midnight Club,” both on Netflix. Shall we include a serial killer on that list, as well? He’s playing the main antagonist on this season’s “Criminal Minds: Evolution.” And he’s also starring in the horror movie “There’s Something Wrong with the Children.”
In that last film, two couples go away together to a cabin in the woods. One couple has young children, who encounter a mysterious place. “The kids go there and when they come back, they have a mysterious vibe. And I’m picking up on it but nobody else is. And slowly it starts to unravel and my character is like, is this real or am I crazy?”
A native of Evanston, Illinois, and a Northwestern alum, Gilford’s career has been full of high points. When asked about a moment that felt like the opposite, that stands out as cringey or awkward, he told a story about shooting a specific scene for “Friday Night Lights.”
“Lucky for me, my worst moment was kind of hilarious,” he said. “But it was definitely the most embarrassing moment of my life.”
My worst moment …
“When I say I’ve been lucky, I mean that I’ve never found myself in a moment where I was treated unwell or in a disrespectful way. You sometimes hear all these horror stories about Hollywood, and there is that side of it. But I’ve been so fortunate in that every actor, every director, every producer I’ve ever worked with has been respectful and kind and fun. Because we’re all just playing make-believe for a living, and most people in this business get that.
“All that being said, my worst moment was on Season 3, I think it was, of ‘Friday Night Lights.’ I had a scene with Louanne Stephens, who played my grandmother. In real life, we developed such an amazing relationship. She sends birthday and Christmas gifts to my kids. They call her Grandma Saracen. We feel very close. I think part of what that relationship was to the audience became something similar in real life, because we really did have a special bond. She lived in Dallas and when she would come down to Austin (to film) she would bring newspaper clippings if I was in the Dallas papers, which was just the sweetest thing.
“She’s also the coolest, funniest woman.
“Anyway, we’re doing this scene that’s pretty dramatic for her, where she’s getting in her car and it starts to move and she hits her head and there’s blood. She’s crying and hysterical because her character has early-onset dementia and I run over and I make sure she’s OK.
“So we’re doing the scene. She falls. I run over to grab her and I go to roll her over. I’m supposed to grab her by the shoulder.
“And I accidentally grabbed her boob.
“And I’m like, oh my god.
“I release my grip.
“But she’s in a big scene and she was still in it, so I was still in it and we did the rest of the scene: ‘Grandma, are you OK?’
“In my brain, this is what I was thinking: This scene is about Louanne and she’s not reacting to my accidental grab, so I don’t want to stop and make everything about me and ‘I’m so sorry,’ blah, blah, blah. Because you’re thinking: Is this scene about me or somebody else? If it’s about somebody else, you want to give whatever you can. So if she didn’t notice, then I didn’t notice! I’ll just stay in the scene.
“So I’m like: I don’t think she noticed, she was probably so into the scene. Phew.
“We get through the scene and they yell cut. And because it was technically a stunt, the assistant director was like: ‘OK, cut. Great. Is everyone all right?’
“And Louanne says in front of the whole crew who I have been working with for years: ‘Yeah, I’m fine. It was a little uncomfortable when Zach grabbed my boob. But other than that, I’m OK.’
“Apparently she did notice but also decided to stay in the scene.
‘And I’m just like: Oh my god.
“She was totally just messing with me (laughs). I can’t imagine what shade of red I turned. A hundred people are laughing at me.
“And then there were hours of jokes afterward about me being a granny molester. And she laughed so hard. And for weeks she would bring it up: ‘Just watch my boobs, OK?’ And I would be like, oh my god.
“I think that was the last take, which was fortunate that I didn’t have to do it again and worry about being super cautious and worried about not grabbing her boob (laughs).
“It’s interesting that she wasn’t like, ‘Whoa, whoa, that took me out of the scene!’ But she was just so in it, she kept going. So I kept going.
“But she got me back for it (laughs). She wasn’t fazed in the least, she just knew I would be embarrassed and why pass up that opportunity? When it’s good-natured making someone embarrassed? It’s the best.”
Did Gilford watch the episode?
“I did and I probably cringed. I watched everything once, so that was before it was on Netflix. I would have it on my DVR and watch it that night or the next day — and then not really again. Actually Scott Porter, who played Jason Street, reached out to me because someone wants us to do a rewatch podcast. So I’m rewatching the show now for the first time in 10 years.
“There’s a lot of roles I’ve done that I’ve never even watched; I was there, I know what we did, I know how we shot it, I don’t need to watch it, I know what it’s going to look like.
“But it’s nice going back to this one. It’s nice watching it and going, ‘This was good!’ I’m proud of it still. It’s not just because it was my big break and critics loved it and whatever. It holds up. The worst thing I could say about it is my haircut. What was I doing with my hair? But he was a high school football Texas kid. But that’s my only complaint.
“My wife, actually, had never watched the show and when I started the rewatch, she watched the first two with me and she turned to me and was like, ‘This show is good.’ And my wife is from the Midwest, so that’s a big compliment!
“I haven’t gotten to the episode in question yet, so I’m wondering if I’ll be able to clock on my face if they used the boob take or not.”
The takeaway …
“(Laughs) You know, I’d love to have a great takeaway. But this was just a super embarrassing moment.
“I’ll be honest, I’m embarrassed all the time. In rehearsals, I don’t act. I kind of just say the words, because I’m embarrassed to be acting because I feel silly. At least if the cameras are rolling and everybody knows this is what we’re doing — we’re recording it, Zach’s gotta act, OK, I’ll act now — but I’m too embarrassed in rehearsals to do what I’m going to do.
“But even when the cameras are rolling, it’s a little embarrassing. We’re actors, we’re all completely insecure. So you’re always sitting there thinking: Does everybody think I suck? If you’re supposed to be funny, you’re like: Was it funny or do I just think it’s funny and everybody is rolling their eyes? If you’re supposed to be dramatic, you’re like: Does everyone think that was over-the-top?
“And there are probably people on the crew who have every feeling about you. So you do it the best that you can and roll with it.
“But if I ever had to do a scene like that again, I’ll just be very cautious of where my hands are.”
———
