Jason Ritter has had quite a few busy years, from starring on the ill-fated NBC conspiracy thriller "The Event," to becoming part of the "Parenthood" family. Next up for the actor is a role in "A Bag of Hammers," in which he and Jake Sandvig play two misfit friends who become involved with an abandoned child, played by Chandler Canterbury.
Ritter talked to The Huffington Post about his burgeoning career and following in the footsteps of his late father, actor John Ritter.
Were you a misfit in school?
To a certain degree. I can relate to my character in that I had my little solid group of friends and we had our own sort of system going. We didn’t really care what the rest of the world thought of us.
What has been your favorite project to work on so far?
I had an incredible time working on "The Event." I think it’s every little boy’s dream to try and save the world. I loved working on "A Bag of Hammers." I’ve never acted with a kid before and Chandler [Canterbury] is a little dude. He had a little swear jar. I think I owed him $3 at the end of filming.
You have not stopped working the past couple of years. Do you have time to eat?
Yeah, it sort of feels like that to me, which is great. I’d rather be a little too busy than not at all. It’s been a good run these last couple of years. It feels like you’re pushing a rock up a hill and eventually you get to the top and it starts to roll down a little bit. The key is sticking through and being patient and you know there could be another hill right around the corner.
I know it’s cheesy, but it must be nice that people really loved your dad, John Ritter. It must be a great comfort.
Oh yeah, totally -- that’s one of the gifts he gave. Anytime you’ve had a parent and they’ve gone around creating goodwill, it’s always so much nicer than having to go around and apologize for them and distance yourself.
To have a stranger come up to me and share a story like, "I was at a coffee shop and there was nowhere to sit and your dad stood up and gave me his seat." All those tiny stories, he never would come home and talk about like, "Guess how cool I am?" It’s just those tiny little moments that make up a whole person. It’s really nice to hear them.
Did his success give you pause to becoming an actor?
Totally, especially when I would go in for comedy auditions. I would be almost paralyzed. I was almost more scared of getting a part before I was ready for it and embarrassing myself. I think sometimes people can have opportunities and they take them and they haven’t really earned the part and they end up embarrassing themselves because they don’t know what they’re doing. I was sort of determined to fail on my own terms.
It can be embarrassing, especially when you’re starting out. Auditioning is strange and when I would do a terrible audition I wouldn’t just feel like I was some guy. I would think they were saying, "How embarrassing."
With them thinking, "That’s John Ritter’s son."
Exactly. It’s one of those things where it’s your own life and you think about it a lot more than anyone else is actually thinking about it and you worry about it more. It’s mostly been my insecurities taking over. Everyone has been really nice and supportive.
I know your dad was a big baseball fan.
It was something his dad did with him and his brother, and I’m definitely looking forward to having kids and taking them to a baseball game. That will be a special moment for me. The first time they get a hot dog or cotton candy will be a proud moment for me.