David Henrie on Going Behind the Camera for Short Film "Catch"

So, um, great to have you back.

Good to be here.

The last time you were here, it was for Grownups 2. You had just bought a house.

Yes.

How is that going to be?

I have furniture now.

You do?

It's fantastic. There's places for people to sit, all sorts of great things. I'm doing a little remodeling. I'm building.

You are. Okay, because you had said you went out and bought like all too much furniture all at once. So did you?

Right. We we found places for it. Okay. And now I have to get the backyard furniture. So, I had to do some remodeling in the backyard. Backyard's done. And now I need places to sit because no one has places to sit and things. So it's stages. I haven't been home a lot. I've been working a lot, so I haven't had.

You've been working, yes, let's talk about that. You've been in Vegas. Small Cops 2. Do you get a chance to enjoy this this strip?

Yeah, I was super stoked about going to Vegas, right? To shoot the movie in Vegas. And I enjoy gambling. Not crazy. I don't do an an absurd amount of money. So before I went, I was smart. I was like, money management. Okay. I'm going to allot this much X amount of dollars to spend during the entire course of the movie, during the entire course of the two months. This is how much I'm going to spend. If I lose it, I'm done gambling the whole movie. So I lost it in two days. And I was like crap. So now I can't gamble the entire movie.

What do you play? What what is the game of choice?

Blackjack. Well, I was trying to play everything to try to find what my game was. Poker, didn't work out. Okay. Blackjack really didn't work out.

Do you okay, what do you do at 16? Do you stay or do you hit?

Well, it depends on what the dealer has. If the dealer has a 10, you got to hit.

See, it just shows you how much I know about gambling.

And then And the thing is, you play with people who don't hit on 16, and then and then that always frustrates me because you're supposed to hit on 16. You're supposed to. And this. Yeah, come on. Just like people. Yeah, come on. Do your thing. I know your instinct tells you not to hit, but you should hit. Do it for the table. Okay. Team player.

And that's how you ran out of your money in the first place.

And then I lost all my money. That system worked out fantastic.

Well, let's talk about Catch because I'm sure you didn't have the same budget.

No.

You guys, it's your first your first short.

Short film that I wrote and directed.

How did the concept come about? And just sort of tease I don't want to give everybody a tease about.

Yeah, no, I had been wanting to, I I wrote on Wizard of Waverly Place, and I was always very creative growing up. Yeah. And I knew that I wanted to control my future and to create content because movies that were always my favorite movies were movies that left the theater with you that that made you leave and want to be a better person. Movies with great heroes. I I I knew I wanted to do all this, and I knew the first step was to make a short film. I knew I had to make a short film that sort of pulled on the heartstrings, that delivered a good message, and that showed that I could tell a story and and and have that impact.

You had sort of a dichotomy where you were working with a young boy on set and also like a very seasoned actor.

Yeah, William Mapother was absolutely incredible, very He's, you know, I I've watched him on Lost and I saw a movie that he did called He's so good. Intense. Oh, so good. Intense. Scary. And then and dealing with the little kid was amazing too, and this kid was incredible. He took direction like no other. I would have never been able to do the short film if it wasn't for this kid named Jet Jurgensmeyer, who is absolutely incredible. He's going to be a big, big actor one day.

So now are you inspired for link?

Totally, totally. So this is I need to do like two more short films just to sort of get my get my street cred up and get more experience behind the camera, you know? But um, it was an amazing first time.

I have a game for you.

Okay.

Well, it's basically called Catch.

Okay, good. I'm good at this one.

You would be. What is your catchphrase?

My catchphrase for the short film is Catch the Father's Day Movement, which is we're trying to inspire fathers to spend more quality time with their kids. That's sort of the the effort behind this whole thing. The theme of the whole short film is trying to get fathers to spend more quality time with their kids because that's the subject matter that the whole sort of short deals with is a is a dad who wants to provide for the family, but at at what cost?

What um, fashion trend, either for men or women, do you wish had never caught on?

Oof. Fashion trend for men or women that I wish never caught on. Um, I'm on the fence with the whole drop crotch pants for guys. Now, the cool part is, it's kind of ninja. So I feel like if I wear those pants, I should have a sword. But the other part is, it just looks a little diaper-ish.

Okay. Um, what makes a woman a catch?

A good sense of humor. The ability to just laugh at herself or not take herself too too seriously, make fun of herself. Humility, really. Yeah.

Um, one athlete you'd like to play catch with for an hour?

I would like to play catch with probably like Wayne Gretzky or like a a classic hockey classic hockey player who 'cause I I grew up playing ice hockey, so I love I love hockey players.

Um, okay, and last but not least, the catchiest catchiest song on your iPod.

Ooh. A song that you put on and you just have to listen to it. A song that I thought was very funny. And I first thought it was an SNL Digital Short, but it turns out it's a serious song. Uh, how does it start? What you going to do with that big fat butt? Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. I was literally like, Oh, it's a Jason Derulo. Okay, that's who sings it. When it first came on, it's like, What you going to do with that big fat butt? I was like, This is Andy Samberg, like, doing a whole It's a real song, and then it says, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. So every time it comes on, it's very catchy. I wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

Wiggle, wiggle. You can go buy those pants now, because you got the

I gotta get the drop crotch pants, so I can wiggle, wiggle, wiggle to.

And you wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. What are you going to do with that big fat butt? Someone needs to do a dramatic reenactment of that, like you picture like a Scotch and like really dramatic lighting and like, What are you going to do with that big fat butt?

That would be very funny. That would be very good. You next short.

That would be my next short. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Wiggle, wiggle. I love it. Thanks for coming in. This was fun.

Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.

Congrats.

Thanks.

Get your arse back to Vegas.