NEW YORK ‒ Not many actors can attribute their careers to a large three-topping pizza with a side of cinnamon sticks.
But at just 6 years old, “Primetime” breakout Skyler Gisondo earned his Screen Actors Guild card after appearing in a 2002 commercial for Pizza Hut’s Cinna Meal Deal. It was his first-ever audition – his dad thought it was a scam – and he wound besting roughly 100 kids for the 30-second spot, thanks in part to a speech impediment that the casting directors found irresistible.
“I remember I was bummed because I had it in my head that you’d get lifetime free Pizza Hut,” says Gisondo, 30, seated at a Central Park hotel on a recent afternoon. “My mom tried to explain: ‘Honey, they’re giving you money. You could buy so much Pizza Hut!’
I was like, ‘It’s not the same!’ ”
The fast-rising star has a whole lot more than free pies on the horizon, with some Oscar pundits predicting a best supporting actor nod for his heartbreaking work in “Primetime” (in theaters now).
Gisondo plays the fictional Dan Plum, a wide-eyed aspiring actor who lands a gig as a decoy on NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” posing as various teenage boys and helping lure potential pedophiles into elaborate, televised traps set by journalist Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson).
Skyler Gisondo studied 'To Catch a Predator' decoys for 'Primetime' role
Up until now, Gisondo was primarily known as the affable comic relief in Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza.” So when “Primetime” director Lance Oppenheim reached out, “I was like, ‘Dude, what have you seen of mine that makes you think this would be a good idea?’ ”
Within seconds of his screen test, “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s 100% the guy for the role,’ ” recalls Pattinson, a producer on the film. “Skyler has such grace and enthusiasm, and he can tell so much with only his eyes. It’s unbelievable.”
The character is an amalgam of Dan Schrack, a former decoy actor-turned-morning news anchor, as well as other adult decoys on “Predator.” If they watch the movie, “I hope they feel represented or seen in some way,” says Gisondo, who spent countless hours watching old episodes of the reality series and trying to mimic their mannerisms.
In most instances, the decoys would stand in the kitchen of a rental home and offer pizza or cookies, sustaining small talk with the alleged predators before Hansen made his grand entrance.
“They’re responsible for the choreography, in a way,” Gisondo says. “They know what marks they need to get to; they have these lines they can fall back on. But it’s an evolving situation with a potentially dangerous person.” He examined “how far they would take the performance and how they would stretch their voices. These actors were in their early to mid-20s, so there’s this strange quality. It was helpful to go back and study that stuff.”
Skyler Gisondo was 'insufferable' making 'Focker-in-Law' with Ariana Grande
On a more personal level, Gisondo could relate to his character’s “quiet desperation” and “awe” around being an actor.
“I remember being younger and every audition feels like it could change everything,” Gisondo says. “The fantasy is right there, you could feel it.”
Born in Palm Beach, Florida, Gisondo booked a slew of TV guest roles as a little kid in “Monk” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” before graduating to films such as “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” “Four Christmases” and “The Amazing Spider-Man.” He never strayed from the Hollywood path even as a teen, although he had short-lived ambitions of becoming a professional hockey or basketball player.
“I’d be a great locker-room presence – I’d be good for morale,” Gisondo jokes. “Maybe I could be an equipment manager.”
His fondest memories are of being on movie sets. He remembers filming the third “Night at the Museum,” when Ben Stiller and the late Robin Williams helped him record a video to ask his girlfriend to high-school prom.
“Robin started doing voices and bouncing off the walls in the way that only he could,” Gisondo says. “I remember being 17 and thinking, ‘That’s the greatest moment of my life.’ ”
Next year, he voices Shrek and Fiona’s son, Farkle, in the long-awaited “Shrek 5.” He’ll also lead an upcoming HBO Max series, “The People vs. Gorilla Grodd,” centered around his earnest “Superman” character Jimmy Olsen. More immediately, he’ll reunite with his “Booksmart” co-stars Beanie Feldstein and Eduardo Franco for raunchy family comedy “Focker-in-Law” (in theaters Nov. 25) with Ariana Grande.
“We were insufferable. It was so fun,” Gisondo says with a grin. Making “Booksmart,” “we were all in our early 20s, and Olivia really believed in us and gave us so much room to run. It was a profoundly formative time, so to come together now – Beanie’s having a baby! – everyone feels so old. And we brought Ari into our group (laughs). She was an honorary member.”
For years, the actor was caught in what he calls a “positive feedback loop.” He knew that people liked him as the sidekick who’s good for a laugh, and he started to see himself in a certain way.
“I was afraid to fail,” Gisondo says. But making “Primetime” really “lit a fire under me moving forward. I don’t know that I would’ve run toward things that scared me, but this experience has been so gratifying. You have to seek out the challenge ‒ you have to seek out uncertainty.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Skyler Gisondo was always the comic relief. 'Primetime' changed that.
