Fred Savage on ‘The Grinder’ and His Wondrous Return to Acting
As the chipmunk-cheeked star of The Wonder Years, Fred Savage grew up Truman Show-style: That Joe Cocker-ized kiss with Winnie was his first, too. In 1993, after the series ended, he eschewed a child-actor meltdown in favor of majoring in English at Stanford. But for the past decade, Savage, now 39, has been on the other side of the camera, directing and producing for the likes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Party Down. So he’s as surprised as anyone to find himself the co-star, opposite Rob Lowe, in Fox’s new sitcom The Grinder — the producers recruited him after watching other actors get “trampled” by Lowe’s presence. “I didn’t think I missed acting,” says Savage. “But once I started to make people laugh, I enjoyed it.”
I watched you direct an episode of The Michael J. Fox Show a couple of years ago, and you seemed totally comfortable and happy behind the camera.
I definitely think that any comfort I have on set, in any capacity, is all smoke and mirrors — but I’m glad you thought that way. I’ve been able to, over the last decade, really build a career – one that I’ve always wanted in television, as a comedy director. I was comfortable on set, I loved the work but this [Grinder] script came along. And Nick Stoller, who is an executive producer on the pilot, said to me, “Did you like it?” “Yeah, it looks great. I would love to shoot it. Let’s talk about it.” And he says “No, this is for acting.” I was like, “Oh yeah, no thank you. That’s not anything I’m interested in doing.”
And he was just like “Oh come on, just come meet everybody and…” Our families were friends, Nick’s and mine, and I didn’t want it to be awkward when we saw each other. “Fine. I’ll come meet everybody.” I can’t tell you how many career decisions I’ve made just based on avoiding awkward encounters down the line. It’s a powerful motivator!
What did you specifically like about this role?
I think Stewart’s kind of the center of the show, or at least the entry point, because he just kind of calls bullshit on everything. The premise of the show is: A guy whose brother is this huge superstar, who comes home to practice law, even though he’s not a lawyer. Now that’s not the most relatable concept in the world, but what’s relatable is this idea of feeling like you’re the only person who sees clearly when everyone else is kind of crazy. Everyone else is just bowing at the altar of Rob’s character, and I’m just like, “You’ve got to be kidding me, this is the most insane thing I’ve ever seen.” That attitude really spoke to me.
You haven’t starred on a show since the short-lived Crumbs, in 2006. Did something drive you away from acting?
Going to directing wasn’t a reaction away from acting as much as it was a move towards something I always wanted to do. Ever since I was a kid, I was interested in the camera and how it worked and why one director would place it in this part of the room and then another would place it in that part of the room. So I threw myself into it, and that really started to get momentum. Really anyone in the business who transitions into directing as a writer or editor or an actor or a cinematographer, at some point you have to kind of take a leap and say, I’m committed to this.