Milo Manheim is Flynn Rider in Tangled Live Action: The “Pre-Fame” Interview That Started It All
It’s official. Disney has cast Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider in the upcoming live-action Tangled movie, starring opposite Teagan Croft as Rapunzel.
While the world celebrates the new Flynn Rider, we’re opening the archives.
Long before he was stealing crowns (or hearts) as the thief-turned-prince, and even before he was Zed in ZOMBIES, Milo Manheim was just a 16-year-old theater kid with 32 Twitter followers.
Back in 2017, Teens Wanna Know sat down with Milo for his first major interview. We talked about his circus skills (which will come in handy for Flynn’s stunts), his improv nightmares, and the advice from his mom, Camryn Manheim, that kept him humble.
This is the origin story of Disney’s new Flynn Rider.
3 Reasons Milo Manheim Was Born to Play Flynn Rider
1. He Has the Stunt Skills (The Circus) Flynn Rider is known for his agility. In this interview [14:39], Milo reveals his secret past as a circus performer where he mastered juggling and balancing on giant globes. The “smolder” isn’t his only weapon.
2. He Can Talk His Way Out of Anything Just like Flynn improvising his way out of trouble with the Stabbington brothers, Milo tells the story [12:22] of being left alone on stage for eight minutes when a scene partner went to the bathroom. He improvised the whole thing.
3. The “Thief” Mentality Milo shares the advice [08:35] that proves he has the confidence of a rogue: “You walk in there and you’re on fire. You aren’t trying to win them over; you already have the points.”
DISNEY ZOMBIES DVD
See where it all started. The original movie that launched Milo’s career.
Willie Peña x Milo Manheim (2017)
ME: Hello everyone, this is Willie Peña, co-founder of Teens Wanna Know. I am here on the phone with Milo Manheim, who will be seen starring as the male lead in a new Disney Channel musical movie Zombies, set to release in January 2018—just a few months away. The part came after Milo started turning heads in the musical theater scene. He was recently seen in a new musical Generation Me for which he won the Best Leading Actor Award for his role at the 2017 New York Musical Festival. He is also the son of award-winning actress Camryn Manheim. Hi Milo, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Where are you calling from? New York or LA?
MILO: I’m in LA right now.
ME: Okay, so you’re experiencing the same heat wave I am.
MILO: Heat wave? Yeah.
ME: Alright cool. Now before we get into your new role in Disney’s upcoming Zombies, let’s get a little bit of background. I’m sure you’re gonna be answering this question quite a bit: Tell us how you got into acting.
MILO: Um, I guess I never really “got into it.” It was more just something I was doing since I was little because, you know, I was raised by my mom who’s an actress and I always loved it. There was never really a moment that I can remember where I just decided “this is what I want to do.” It was kind of always, you know, what I had hoped I would pursue. But I’ve been doing musicals my whole life and I never got into acting on screen until finally someone actually reached out to me to do this movie.
ME: Oh cool. I was gonna ask you how you got this role. So you’ve been doing musical theater for a while since you were a child—so on-stage stuff—and you did not audition for this when you actually got called for it?
MILO: I auditioned for it, but I had been auditioning for things when I was much younger and I wasn’t really getting anything. You know, I kind of just decided right now wasn’t the best time for me. And then I started to do more and more musicals at school. And one of the casting agents, Amber Horn, that saw me in one of the auditions when I was younger… she came to see the show and she loved it. She wanted me to come in for this role. I went in and, like, a couple auditions later I was getting ready to go to Toronto and shoot.
ME: That’s amazing. What did you do to celebrate when you got the role?
MILO: When I first found out I got the role… it actually didn’t really… I didn’t really comprehend what was going on. It was more like two weeks back I heard, I started to freak out. Because whenever I got the call telling me… I just like put down the phone and continued watching TV or whatever because I really just honestly thought it was a dream. And there’s moments in life where I still think it’s a dream, but then I remember this is actually happening.
ME: Right, right. Like you start doing interviews with people like me and you’re like, “Hey, this is something great.” Well hold on, hang on, because I’ve interviewed a lot of Disney and Nick stars before that became huge. You know, some of them I remember having maybe a hundred or two hundred Twitter followers, maybe 70 Instagram followers… and now some of these kids have a million plus. I kind of predict that’s gonna happen to you. So get ready for the ride. It’s gonna be interesting to see you progress through it past January. I’m glad I’m talking to you now before you get too famous actually.
MILO: Oh come on, you could talk to me whenever.
ME: So now you’ve mentioned the name of your character, Zed, in Disney Zombies which is coming out January 2018. I’ve heard a little bit about the film but really don’t know what it’s about besides it involves cheerleaders and the Living Dead—which is an interesting combination. So could you enlighten me on the movie and your role in it?
MILO: Yeah. So basically it’s a movie about this town called Seabrook and they’re divided. One half the town is humans and one half of this town is zombies. And I live in Zombieland. For years and years zombies haven’t been able to attend human high school, but when the movie starts it’s the first day that zombies can go to school. So my hopes and dreams going into this new school are that I can be on the football team, I’m gonna be a great student… I’m just so excited for everything to come. And then after I’m in class and the conditions are just terrible, I want to take a stand. And then I find this girl who’s a human and she knows what it’s like not fitting in as well. And… you’re gonna have to watch the movie to see what happens between them. But it’s really a metaphor for accepting people for who they are and not being mean. Honestly it’s all about just giving people a chance and don’t think you know someone when you really don’t know.
ME: Yeah it sounds like it’s got a pretty good message. Now being a Disney film with a young cast I’m sure there were some on-set shenanigans. So what’s the funniest thing to happen on set?
MILO: Funniest thing to happen on set… ah, honestly it’s just any time Kingston [Foster] was on set, who plays my little sister in the movie. It was always a good time and we were always laughing because she’s just the cutest thing you’ll ever see in your life. There was one late-night shoot where we were in Zombieland and we were filming some scene where the humans break into Zombieland. We were all so tired because it was a pretty late shoot. And Kingston had so much energy for some reason and she was just bouncing off the walls. She kept us alive and we just had the best time. We couldn’t stop laughing.
ME: So the small zombie on the set kept all the humans awake. That’s interesting. Now speaking of zombies, what’s your favorite zombie movie of all time? Besides this one of course.
MILO: Uh, okay not a movie but I do love The Walking Dead. If I were to pick a movie I would say Zombieland.
ME: Yeah, great movie. I love it.
MILO: It’s really funny. We are doing like the zombies in that.
ME: Yeah I was gonna ask you, are these like fast zombies?
MILO: It’s basically… they’re just like a normal person except they look different you know? They live differently so their culture is different but everything else… they walk, they run, they do whatever. They don’t eat people. It’s all… they’re just really chill people.
ME: All right cool. That’s gonna be interesting, a different kind of zombie. Moving on—your mom is Emmy and Golden Globe winning actress Camryn Manheim. Does she ever give you acting advice? And do you take it, or are you more like “Thanks mom but I got this”?
MILO: Well when I was younger she gave me lots of acting advice. You know I would ask her a lot of things and she helped me out. But as I grow older, the parts that I am trying to play usually are more like, you know, a 16 year old boy like me and not like a woman like her. So I think a lot of the time I would know how to present something or do something… like I would wear a shirt that I’m… you know she can’t really help me [with] that. But I ask her all the time for things. But sometimes when she tells me what to do I just kind of ignore it, like any good teenage boy.
ME: Actually what do you think is the best tip she ever gave you though? I’m sure she’s giving you at least one or two good nuggets.
MILO: Oh there’s so many. Um, I guess just she said once to me that I never forget whenever I go into audition. She says: “When you’re going in there you’re not trying to win them over. You start with a hundred points. You walk in there and you’re on fire. You just gotta maintain your points. You know if you mess up you can’t dwell on it and you can’t think the whole audition is ruined.” So when I go in there I try to tell myself that I’m gonna do the best I can do and if I’m not right for the part it’s not because of me, it’s just I’m not right for the part.
ME: Yeah, yeah that’s just great advice. All right cool. What’s been your most memorable standout moment in show business so far?
MILO: Just in my storied 16 or 17 years… I mean having a famous mom, being on Broadway and also living in LA bicoastal kind of life.
ME: At least something… what’s been the thing that stuck out most?
MILO: Right. I mean I see a lot of things behind the scenes… my mom was just in Spring Awakening on Broadway and I just love just being behind the scenes seeing how that all works. But I think the most memorable moment for me was… it’s not a singular time but it’s anytime someone talks about something that I’m doing and they talk about it so casual like “Oh yeah you’re gonna get like a million followers.” That’s the stuff that just… it makes you think I’m dreaming. Just every day on set was a memorable moment.
ME: That’s awesome because it sounds like you really appreciate it, you’re not taking it for granted.
MILO: I am so grateful. I feel like the luckiest person on the planet.
ME: Right on. You just gained about 30 brownie points—you already had a lot of brownie points, you’re gonna gain some more with me cause that’s important. All right, and on the flip side: any big boo-boos or moments you wish you could do over?
MILO: Oh. Like when you’re on stage… that is a lot different than on film because if you mess up on film it’s fine, we can do it again. If you mess up on stage you have to make it work. I make mistakes all the time. But a lot of the time someone won’t enter and that’s when I’m left there. There was a time when I was younger and one of my friends… she didn’t enter and I had to just totally improvise a scene for like eight minutes or something. It was terrifying. But it was a great feeling once I got off stage and I felt like I saved it. But honestly if I could redo anything it would probably be… just every time you mess up you really can’t dwell on it because you can see when you’re off your game.
ME: Now just out of curiosity where was your friend for those eight minutes?
MILO: I think she thought that it was a different scene going on and she had time to run quickly to the bathroom. Which was around into [the other side of] the school. And when she was in the bathroom someone like ran in to go get her… I honestly didn’t want to talk to her after that. But you know, there’s nothing scarier than not knowing what to do on stage.
ME: Well you survived. So your bio says that Jim Carrey is your acting inspiration. Which of his performances is your favorite?
MILO: Jim Carrey. I am amazed by Jim Carrey. Honestly it’s so hard to pick just one. I think something that represents it greatly is Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. The fact that he can move like that and just the delivery… it’s so unique and it’s so like himself. He’s really not trying to be anyone else. But his most impressive thing, my favorite movie, is The Truman Show. I’m just so impressed that he can be that funny and make you feel that emotion in that movie.
ME: You’re right. Well hopefully you get to live out your dream and work with him one day.
MILO: Yeah if you’re listening I love you, let’s do a movie together. I look kind of similar to you, I could totally be your son. It would be awesome.
ME: I’ll mention him on Twitter with the link to this interview, see what happens. Alright so we’re learning a lot about you. Tell me something people would be surprised to know about you.
MILO: Surprised to know about me? Um, I was in the circus for like two to three years. Yeah that’s something that a lot of people don’t know.
ME: No way. Nice. Well what did you do?
MILO: Okay so I am a tall guy, I’m like 6’3″. And my friend, he’s very small for his age… he was much smaller when I was in the circus. We did like an act… I would like throw him up in the air and it was just crazy. And then I would also walk on these globes—which were these huge plastic balls—and I can like jump rope on it and like juggle on it. That was my thing I guess. But that was the circus and that was fun.
ME: It sounds pretty awesome.
MILO: Also I can play around seven instruments. I can play some of them well and I dabble in some other ones.
ME: That’s impressive right there. Circus performer, multi-instrumentalist. How about languages?
MILO: I speak a little bit of Spanish. I really want to speak it but I’m terrible at languages. I’m pretty good at math and science… things with numbers. But things like English and Spanish and history… I mean I’m a good student but I just find math to be much easier.
ME: Alright so anything else you have coming up that you want to promote?
MILO: Disney Zombies coming out next year. There’s a music video being released next week right before Halloween so that’s something you guys should check out.
ME: Excellent. All right I know you’re involved in some charities. Any charities you want to give a shout-out to?
MILO: Oh my god so many. The Waterkeeper Alliance. Keep A Child Alive. Anything involving bullying and just being nice to people. Like the Suicide Prevention Hotline. Shout out to them. Honestly just every charity… I love to help out as much as I can.
ME: It sounds like you have a pretty big heart which is awesome. Can you share your social media profiles?
MILO: Yeah social media. Instagram is Milo Manheim. Twitter Milo Manheim.
ME: All right well I’m sure… I don’t know how many followers you have now but come January I think…
MILO: Right now I think I have like 32 followers on Twitter… on Instagram it’s gonna be about a hundred x that in a few short months.
ME: Don’t worry, you got a big heart, you’re all about the charity so I highly… I would like to see you promote some good on there and not just selfies all day. So do me a solid and use your social media power for some good.
MILO: I already have posts planned for when I get more followers so I can start spreading the word about many organizations.
ME: Awesome. Okay so last question: Zombies coming out January 2018. Why do you think teens should tune in and watch this movie?
MILO: I think the message that the movie sends out is really important for people to hear no matter what age. Especially now there’s a lot of… I don’t want to say hatred in America but there’s a lot of arguing and disagreements and we’re not in the best place right now. And I think watching the movie, getting a reminder that we have to listen to other people and we have to see the good in other people, it’s really an important thing to see. And not to make assumptions about anything really.
ME: That sounds awesome. I’m looking forward to watching the movie. I’m also looking forward to seeing you progress in your career. Sounds like you got a good head on your shoulders. I also just want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me.
MILO: Thank you so much. If I’m ever in a movie with Jim Carrey I’ll remember this.
ME: Jim Carrey you got to make it happen. All right Milo thanks a lot man.
MILO: Thank you.
Featured Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jenghanyoon licensed under [CC BY 4.0]. Modified by Teens Wanna Know.