Home Team's Tait Blum on Working With Kevin James & Taylor Lautner

Hey, the man of the hour. How's it going?

I'm doing well. How are you?

I am good. Okay. So, we're going to talk about Home Team and all that stuff. So ironically, so I was home this past weekend and my sister and everyone is sitting on the couch and they were like, we should pick a movie to watch. It had been a long day. And my sister goes, why don't we watch the home team? I was like, I was like, actually, you know what? We definitely shouldn't be watching that. I had already watched it because I knew about you and the interview coming up, but I was like, let's watch it again. So you were right there on Netflix. You made the right choice. You made the right choice. I love it. So, okay, where are you right now?

Right now, I'm in uh, Texas right now.

Got you. So you're just like a normal kid day to day right now.

Yes, normal normal. Well, I'm homeschooled so not normal. Little a little normal. Yes.

Have you watched the movie on Netflix itself like have you like physically gone onto Netflix and clicked the movie? You know,

Yes, yes, I have. I've watched it twice now, I think. I've watched it once when it was sent to me before it was released, and then I watched it once again just to kind of see myself up there on Netflix. But uh, yeah, I watched it twice.

Yeah. That's great. What do you feel when you see, you know, you on Netflix?

You know, it it used to I mean it's it's still a little weird, I guess. I'm getting more used to it and I kind of knew this was happening for a while and I was preparing myself for it, but it was still a little bit shocking to see myself up there. Yeah.

And throwback to when you first, so you found out that you got the part. What was that like?

I, okay, so I got a I got a call from my managers when I got the part. And it had been a pretty long audition process. So I was really waiting. I was super anxious and I I wanted to play Connor so badly. And as soon as I got the call, I ran through my house. I was so excited. Oh my gosh, I was yelling like a wild kid. It was awesome. I was Oh my God.

I feel the same way. Are you a big football fan in real life?

Oh, yeah. Mhm. Oh, yeah.

Did it make it easier?

Yes. It was so much better as soon as I read the script. I was like, this is awesome. It has everything I need. Football, Kevin James, comedy, it was just a no-brainer, but Yeah, I've been a big football fan for pretty much my whole life. Um, I'm a I'm a Broncos fan, but I'm also. I'm say. after this, yes. Yeah, for sure.

Okay, so I was going to say who's your team? So you like Denver Broncos.

The Broncos, yeah. Most of my mom's family is from Denver, so we've got a whole side of the family that are Broncos fans. Yeah.

How do you feel about Von Miller coming over to the Rams and then winning the Super Bowl?

I'm very happy for Von, but it does hurt. It does hurt.

Okay, so if you could, so say this movie is like your real real life. Who would you want to play on the same team with on the Saints, say, their current team?

Ooh. Or you can do an old team. That's that's tough. I I don't even know. I'd say, man, that's that's hard. I'd say probably Taysom Hill. He's so like he can play so many different positions. That's just incredible. He's a like a Swiss army knife football player. It's I don't even know how he knows how to play so many positions, but he's amazing at it. It'd be so fun.

He does. Who's your favorite NFL player?

Oh, man. Okay. That is a hard one to say. Um, I. You know, I'd have to say uh, hmm. Probably Courtland Sutton on the Broncos. He's the first receiver for them and uh, I've been a big fan of him for a while. So he's probably my favorite player. Followed up closely by Derrick Henry, because I think he's a beast. Also, obviously, yeah, for sure.

Do you, do you play football in real life?

Um, I've always kind of wanted to play tackle, but because of my acting, I haven't really been able to. If you get hurt, I mean, Yeah, you're screwed. You're so screwed. You can't do anything. So, I've I've played flag here and there, but no no full tackle. But I I know enough about football and I've got a good football base, so I was able to kind of use that knowledge for home team. That was perfect.

And you have a little brother, right?

Yes, I do. I have a little brother. His name is Teddy. He's 11 now and he's also an actor.

I love it. And do what do you guys do for fun if you're not, you know, casting and acting and big movies?

You know, I think we do things that any kid does. We play video games together. We throw the football. We ride our bikes through the park. We you know, we're we're normal brothers. Yeah. Yeah. Normal for the most part, aside from that.

And what was it like acting with Kevin James?

like, man. That had been such a dream. I'd been a huge fan of Kevin's for so long and um, you know, obviously he's hilarious on the screen, but he also has such a great dramatic side that's very underrated and he doesn't get enough credit for that. But um, working with him was amazing. He's such a down to earth person. And, you know, you don't always know what to expect when you work with big names like Kevin, because they could have a huge ego for all you know, but he's such a down to earth person and it was a dream working with him and it taught me a lot really. Yeah.

It's so cool when you hear from, because like obviously we'll do other interviews, and people like know, they were actually really cool and down to earth. And it's like because you never know what type, like because he's like a legend. Like it's Kevin James kind of thing. It's like, what is it like like talking to him like when you're not recording, you know? So it's like cool to hear that people are normal and fun and stuff.

Yes. Exactly. You don't always you don't always get nice celebrities. So.

I know and it's like, oh God, okay. And do you have a part like or a part from the home team, what like is there do you want to get in a TV show? Would you want to do like a little euphoria action? Or is there like all American maybe? What would you want a show or a project to be a part of?

You know, I think uh, I just take everything at face value and I read the script and if I really connect with it, that then I kind of know. I kind of play it by gut. So if I connect with the script, it has good people behind it and um, overall, if I enjoy the script and it touches me in one way, that's sort of a direction I'd like to lean in. I don't think there's anything specifically that I'm thinking of, but it it it all depends on uh the the script and if I connect with it. Yeah.

I probably feel that. And what's one thing that you what's your like your guilty pleasure? Like do you like if you're just being a kid, like do you like getting ice cream? Do you like just like going out riding bike? Like what do you like?

Yeah, I think it's yeah, the junk food. The junk food is mine. I I gotta stay fit for my roles, but every once in a while, you know, you gotta have a slice of pizza. But Yeah. So it's just junk food. Pizza or burgers or whatever it might be. I yeah. Food is my guilty pleasure.

And what do your parents say about all this? Like you're they're kids on Netflix. You know what I mean? Like you're you're an actor at a young age kind of thing. Like you have talent.

Thank you. Thank you. You know, well, my my parents have they've been supportive of me since the beginning. It it was my idea to start acting and they fully supported that. They've always been really uh supportive of my dreams and I've been acting for five years now. So we've kind of they've kind of been preparing themselves for something like this to come my way. So um, I don't know that it was as big of a shock to them as it was to me to see myself up there. Yeah, we'd been kind of waiting for this for a little while. So, yeah.

Yeah. And now you got both boys in it. So they're dealing with kids.

Yes, yes. We got both boys in it. The Blum boys.

Okay, we're going to play a fun little game. It's going to be this or that. All right. Okay. Mhm. So, candy or ice cream?

Ooh. Okay. All right. I'm going to have to say ice cream. I'm going to have to say ice cream. If it's hard candy, I don't know. I don't think they're mutually exclusive because there is candy ice cream too. There's like.

There is. Or candy and ice cream?

Yeah, exactly. There's there's Butterfingers ice cream. There's Snickers ice cream. Reese's. I mean, but yeah, Reese's ice cream. There's both. I mean, why choose one when you can have both?

Okay, fair, fair. Um, football or go-karts?

Oh, my gosh. Okay. Don't do that to me. All right, go-karts, go-karts. I I love football, but racing go-karts has been something I've I've always loved. And racing is something I've always loved. So I'd have to say that because you don't get to race as much as you get to play football. So, that's my reasoning.

Because you're a professional go-kart racer, right?

I yeah, I was for a while.

I think I I've I've taken a small a small break in there because of my acting, but I'm planning to sort of go back into that here pretty soon.

Yes. You're an adrenaline kid. I feel like that's how you survive. Just all this adrenaline. Like when you get the part, getting the part, acting.

I guess I guess you could say that. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Um, winter or summer?

Ooh. Okay. You know what? Winter. Winter. So, um, I've lived in I lived in California for most of my life. Being out of the state and actually having snow is amazing because I I love to ski, so having snow is so I love snow. I mean, I'm just a snow kid. I love snow.

Um, Kevin James or Taylor Lautner?

Okay. That Now, that's a curveball. I can't. I can't answer that. They're they're both awesome. I'm not even no.

You're not not allowed to answer that. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Okay. Kevin is like my dad and Taylor's like my cool uncle.

There we go. There you go. Cool uncle. I was like, brother, uncle, like what we're talking about. Instagram or TikTok?

Instagram. I have a TikTok account. I don't really use it, so I do use my Instagram uh a lot more. But I'd have to say Instagram. I just created a TikTok account a couple weeks ago. I haven't really used it, so Instagram. Yeah.

Stay up late or get up early?

Oh. You know what? I think like the ice cream or candy question, those are It's going to happen. I think I uh I do both. I can't always sleep so I go to sleep at around 12:00 or 1:00, which is normal for most people. But I don't think I've ever gotten up past like, well, not never, sorry. I normally get up at around 6:00 to 7:00, so it's

Early bird gets the worm.

Yep, exactly.

There you go. Oh my gosh. And then aside from you're obviously you're young, you have a very very big future ahead of you. What is one thing do you have like a bucket list item you want to do in your career or your personal life? Like what would you like if you did it, you'd be like, okay, I'm kind of set.

Ooh. You know, um, this may be in the far future, uh, but I'd love to write and direct one of my own films at some point. That's one thing that I've always wanted to do it. If it's not, I mean, whether it's just one or many, that's something I want to do uh when I when I get older. And that's something I want to prepare myself for and hopefully do at some point. And once I do that, I think I'll be I'll be set.

Would you give Teddy a role in the in the movie?

He'd have to audition. I might. I might. Yeah. He would have to audition, but yeah. Sure. Why not?

I love it. Well, thank you so much and congratulations on the home team.

Thank you. Thank you, Jillie.