'It was an amazing experience' Daddy's Home 2 child actor Trip Case on acting with Mark Wahlberg

Trip, congratulations on Daddy’s Home 2, Trip! Tell us Whereabouts in America are you from and when you started acting originally?
I’m from Boston and I started acting when I was five. I did a camp one summer – it was a week (Marblehead Little Theater). It was really short but we did a play and it was really fun. I have done multiple plays since then at MLT.

Tell us a little bit about how Daddy’s Home 2 came about.
I auditioned for it at this place in Boston called CP Casting. I was there once for another movie called The Burning Woman. I didn’t get the part but they still had my resume/headshot, so they said, “Maybe this kid will be good for Daddy’s Home 2?” Then they asked me to audition, and a little while later I found out that I got the part.

A month later, I was there. It was an amazing experience, everyone there was really nice. It was just the best thing in my life, pretty much.

So where did you film Daddy’s Home 2?
My part of the shoot was in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Were you a big fan of Will Ferrell before doing the film?
Oh yeah, definitely. Elf, The House. Such funny films. I’m a really big fan of him.

In film you don’t usually get rehearsal time, did you have any prep time with the director or the cast before?
It was just go on set and do it. But I didn’t start filming my scene right away. I spent half the day just waiting, playing on my phone, doing homework, that sort of thing. Then they asked me to go on and an hour after I was on set, I did my scene.

Excellent. Tell us a little bit about the scene and who you play in Daddy’s Home 2, for those who haven’t seen it yet.
I play this kid at the bowling alley. He’s kind of picking on Dylan (Mark Wahlberg and Linda Cardellini’s on-screen son). Dylan is bowling and he’s putting it in the gutter, so I said “Hey everyone! Check it out! This kid’s about to bowl a perfect zero!” That’s my line.

I added another line, they told me to do that, but it got cut. It was when Mark Wahlberg said “Hey, mind your own business” and Mel Gibson said “Yeah, put a sock in it.” Originally I was supposed to say “Hey, it’s not my fault your kid sucks.” Unfortunately that line did get cut, but I was happy that one made the cut.

When that happened, all my friends were just patting me on the back, telling me “Good job” and “You’re cool”.

Any interesting stories from the set?
Well there was a basketball playoff going on. Will Ferrell was watching it, I was watching it, everyone was watching it. I was like, “Does everyone here love basketball?” And I was shocked that Mark Wahlberg wasn’t really watching it, because he did some work with one of the players on the Boston team. He was just on his iPod listening to music. [laughs]

Tell us about the kind of productions that you are interested in doing next. What do you like about acting?
I also like theatre. My main one is probably theatre. I love to sing, and being out there trying to be as funny as possible. That’s what I love. Meeting new people is really cool, getting to know other people is really awesome. That’s why I love acting.

You played an evil stepbrother in Twinderella – another bully. Is that something that the kind of role you want to play? Are you a bully in real life? [laughs]
No, but every time I would say a joke, my teacher would say “Trip, stop bullying everyone.” [laughs] I just don’t really care what I get, as long as I get a part. That’s pretty much it.

DAYE CASE – MOTHER OF TRIP CASE

Daye, tell us a little bit about Trip’s work on Daddy’s Home 2 from your perspective.
Trip went to CP Casting in Boston to audition for a role in The Burning Woman. A month or so later I got a message from them asking if Trip could come back in to audition for this part in Daddy’s Home 2. There were probably 20-25 kids for the part. When he was done, Carolyn Pickman, the casting director came out and said that he was really funny and that he had ad-libbed. When she called to tell me he got the part she mentioned that the Director loved that he gone off script, and that’s probably why he got the part, because he did it on his own.

They did many takes from different angles on the day of the shoot. That second line hadn’t been added to the script which Trip was bummed about because he really wanted to say it! I was standing behind Mel Gibson, right behind the monitor, and I heard him say, “This kid’s got to say something else!” Ordinarily I would never chime in – I stay in the background – but I told him that when Trip auditioned he had come back with an additional line.

So Mel Gibson went over to Sean Anders (Director) and told him to try the scene again and let Trip do the ad-lib thing. It’s too bad that it didn’t get into the movie, but Trip just liked to be able to get it out there. It was hilarious.

So how did Trip acting come about? Had he shown an interest?
It was really kind of an accident. He started out doing local theatre in town. He was in his first play when he was seven or eight. We had never run lines with him. We couldn’t believe how he not only knew his lines, he knew everyone’s.

Trip loves to read, he has an incredible memory for facts…history, greek mythology and anything having to do with his favorite sports team the Boston Celtics to name few! I think this plays a part in his ability to memorize his lines, its not work, he loves it and it just comes naturally for him. He’s really animated. He loves being on stage. It was an accident – it really was. A very close family friend had mentioned possibly getting Trip an agent in Boston. She’s a producer in town and works closely with an agency called Model Club. She told me that they open their doors on occasion for “open call” within their children division to meet and possibly sign new actors/models. Trip signed with Model Club August 2015. Just a couple of weeks ago have also signed with Take 3 Talent in NYC.

When we started out, he did a bunch of student films and independent films and they were such great experiences. It’s amazing to be on set with a crew of just five or six people and then to go and do Daddy’s Home 2. It’s amazing, the difference between the two.

That’s a great way to start, doing student films. With Harvard, Emerson, Boston, and B.U., there’s a lot of great opportunities for doing student films near us, so that’s been great.

So, tell us, what do you do in relation to school work for Daddy’s Home 2?
Trip only missed a day of school for DH2. If he were ever to do more than three days, they would provide a tutor. Most of what we’ve done has been two days consecutively, so we haven’t really come across that yet.

Now that we are signed in New York, it may be a little bit different after the holidays. We’re just going to go with it and see how it goes. His teachers have been supportive. Of course, school work does come first.

Aside from indie and student films he’s done a some commercials and a couple of print ads. Modeling, however, is not something that gets him fired up…he likes to perform! Aside from DH2, he’s in a scene, where he plays a “punk kid” in the Showtime mini series SMILF. He also has a small speaking role in an episode of Castle Rock, a miniseries on Hulu which comes out in January. So it’s been an exciting year, it’s a bit quiet right now but that’s just the way it goes. It ebbs and flows.

How does it work in the US? Is there a time limit that you can work in a day at eleven or twelve? 
It’s eight hours plus breaks for lunch etc. Children cannot be on set for more than nine hours a day. There’s always someone there watching the clock to make sure you’re not a second over. The child labor laws are great, they really watch out for the kids.

What sort of advice would you give to an aspiring child actor or to a parent who has a child who’s interested in it and wants to follow in Trip’s footsteps and start getting some work?
I have a couple of great mentors, other Mom’s that have been at this much longer than me...and I’m always asking questions! I’m still fairly new, we’ve only been out doing this a couple of years. I would just say go with the flow with zero expectations. If you see that your child is going to auditions and then stressed or upset about getting a part, you might want to re-evaluate.

Trip loves the whole process, being on set, meeting new friends… He goes on auditions all the time, but once he’s done, he doesn’t think about it. If he were spending his time worrying about it, then I would have to reconsider this path. Once this stops being fun for Trip, we are done.

He’s just a kid. I want him to be a kid and enjoy other things that he loves to do. That would be the most important thing. Make sure that they’re doing it for the right reasons.