Griffin Gluck Gives Us An Inside Look At Tall Girl 2 - Exclusive Interview
If there's one thing that "Tall Girl" taught us, it's that we should never give up on love — and it's all thanks to Jack Dunkleman, who had originally left us questioning why he was always carrying around that milk crate.
While the first film may have ended, Dunkleman and Jodi's love story is far from over. Another installment of the inspiring series has just hit Netflix that opens up even more about the hardships that come with being in high school.
However, there's something major missing from "Tall Girl 2." Dunkleman doesn't have his milk crate anymore. Crazy enough, the actor who played him actually broke it, and we got to ask him all about this unfortunate event and more.
In an exclusive interview with The List, Griffin Gluck revealed the alternate ending that almost made it into the first movie, opened up about how he really feels about Dunkelman's iconic crate, and shared the special scene from "Tall Girl 2" that he completely improvised.
Why Griffin Gluck would have 'lost his mind' if there wasn't a Tall Girl 2
How did you initially find out that there would be a sequel to "Tall Girl"?
We were trying to figure this out earlier, and I honestly think there was a string of rumors. It happened [through] word of mouth from — Ava [Michelle, who plays Jodi] was the first to find out, I'm pretty sure, because she hopped in the writer's room with the writer.
That passed on [by] word of mouth to Luke [Eisner, who plays Stig], which, I think, then Luke told me. My manager called me [about] a month later and was like, "Hey, so we got a 'Tall Girl 2.'"
And I was like, "Yeah, I actually already knew that for some reason."
How did it feel to have everyone back together after two years? What was the vibe like on set?
I think it was a really cool reunion, because we're all friends outside of the set as well, and we like to hang out a bunch. Whenever Luke's in town, I'm always hanging out with him.
The pandemic made it a lot harder to see people that you wanted to see and care about. Luckily, we got to do something very, very fun during a time that was very hard for a lot of people. I probably would've lost my mind if I didn't get to reunite with good friends and get to have fun on set together again.
The real reason we won't get to see Dunkleman carrying his crate around in the sequel
How was playing Jack Dunkleman different for you in the sequel?
You know, funny enough, I started binge watching a lot, a lot of comedies and comedic TV shows. I saw the sequel as an opportunity to really have fun and try and make Jack as goofy as possible in his own quirky way. I saw it as an opportunity to play around and try some things that I hadn't really tried before.
What would you say you hadn't tried before?
I would say the level of, like, zaniness and, like, weirdness and just overall goofiness of Dunkleman is very heightened ... [about] 90% of it didn't make it to the final cut. [Laughs] But you know, that's how I was on set at least.
Your character also doesn't have his crate this time around. Was it strange not having that to carry?
It was nice. There is this sentimental, cute value of the crate, but practically that thing makes no sense.
Well, I actually heard that you really did break it. Is that true?
It was actually supposed to be a bit in the first movie. During that final kiss scene with Jodi and Dunkleman when he steps upon the crate, there was a gag that he fell through the crate. He saved the crate for this magical moment, and then, when he finally gets to use it, it doesn't work.
We did it, and it actually didn't fit into the first one. It ruined the scene. It interrupted it, but they found a place for it again in the second one. There were actually two times. There was [one time] on the first and now on the second where I fell through that crate like, five times.
Griffin Gluck shares what starring in Tall Girl 2 taught him
Your character Jack Dunkleman also decides to take up photography in "Tall Girl 2," so you're carrying around a camera. Did you actually snap any fun pictures while you were filming?
Yeah, I tried to. I love photography, a lot, so that was really fun for me to be able to carry around a camera all the time. I got some fun shots and some cool and interesting shots that would be fun as little gifts or something for people — little portrait shots, but I don't think I got any good photography.
Your character is such a confident guy. It's not easy for him to give up on something. Has your perspective changed since playing him? Have you learned anything?
Definitely. I wouldn't say confidence or maybe confidence wise ... I see Dunkleman as a facet of my personality pushed to a very far extreme. At the end of the day, there is a piece of me in Dunkleman. He's pushed to the extreme, but it's really fun to get to play around in that.
Going to set every day and letting myself let loose and have fun and improv and joke around with my buddies on set, it taught me to loosen up and focus more on not whether it's going to [be] good or bad or if you enjoyed doing it, you know?
Griffin Gluck has a great relationship with this co-star
There are a lot of important themes running through "Tall Girl 2," like growing up, love, loss, even handling anxiety. Was there a message that stuck out to you the most after filming?
That's interesting, because I think these are universal topics. Everyone experiences a little bit of [many] of these things at a time throughout their lifetime.
Nothing in particular jumped out and grabbed me, but after filming, I was happy with the fact that I know that we made something that touches on all those subjects, which I think you can't really rank them on importance. They're all important subjects to cover ... It's a story placed with very goofy characters in it.
What are you most excited for people to see in the sequel?
I'm excited for people to see how good-looking Luke Eisner is. He's really grown into his body, especially since the first one. [Laughs] Now, he fits his proportions, and he is looking real good. He's been hitting the gym. He looks right. He did push-ups in the trailer every morning, so I'm excited for people to see Luke Eisner's body transformation into the beautiful Hulk-Trojan man of a human being that he is now.
This is the scene that he improvised in Tall Girl 2
What was your favorite scene to work on in "Tall Girl 2"? There are so many fun scenes with parties going on, and you guys seem like you have so much fun on set.
No, we did. Now, I feel like I'm blowing hot air into Luke [Eisner]. That's an expression, I think.
One of my favorite scenes that we filmed throughout the whole movie was actually — we did a bunk bed scene again, we had a bunk bed scene in the first one, but this was a flashback or a shoutout to that scene. The only scene that we had to do all day — and we asked them if we could improvise a bunch, because Luke and I love to — it was one of our only scenes, just him and I. They're like, "Yeah. Sure, go for it."
We, for probably nine hours straight, did the same two-page scene. The tapes would end up being ten minutes long, because we would improvise every line and go down every facet and then bring it back to the original conversation and then improv more. We spent so much time on that — none of it got used. [Laughs] It was definitely my favorite time that we had filming because it was a "come to work and play" day.
Being able to bounce ideas off of someone that is your friend and your colleague would be a really fun time.
That's nice, because we've all got very similar senses of humor, so we kind of make each other crack up, and if you can make the other person crack up, then it's going to be funny on camera as well.
"Tall Girl 2" is now available to stream exclusively on Netflix.