- Interviews
The Quarantined Talent: Darren Barnet Works on His Upcoming Projects
You may know Darren Barnetnormal’>This Is Us but now he takes his place among the next generation of Hollywood heartthrobs with a starring role in Netflix’s highly anticipated coming-of-age comedy series Never Have I Ever (premiering Monday, April 27), created and inspired by executive producer normal’> childhood. If that’s not enough, Barnet is also set to star as the male lead of the latest installment of the American Pie franchise titled, American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules (slated for a 2020 release). We spoke with the actor by telephone about his upcoming projects and the positive side of this lockdown.
It’s been interesting because the lockdown hasn’t changed up my routine so much. If I am not on set or traveling to auditions, I am usually home in my apartment in Santa Monica, writing or making music. I am also a very diligently clean person. I wash my hands all the time, so my life hasn’t changed that much. I had a very busy 2019, so I actually find it beneficial to have a pause at this moment. The biggest productions of my life are coming out this year; this will give me time to brace myself for that.
Yes, I actually think I’ve grown closer to some people. The depth of a phone call is so much more extreme now because that’s all the communication you have. Speaking, listening and really connecting with people has been wonderful.
Never Have I Ever created by Mindy Kaling. How did you get the part?
I had an audition. It was called “untitled Mindy Kaling project” and to be honest, the name didn’t click with me at first. Only when I was brought back for testing and saw Mindy Kaling in the room, did I realize it was her. After that, I really delved into her projects because she is so talented and I really wanted to work with her. The series is coming out on April 27, which happens to be my birthday. I could have not asked for a better gift.
I moved from L.A. to Florida with my mom when I was 13 years old. We had very little money so it was a struggle at times. The local high school was not a very good school so I switched to a school across town, which had a Center for International Studies magnet program. It was very rigorous. I had to keep a 3.5 GPA, take a foreign language and two college classes per semester. I had one best friend but otherwise, I kept to myself and focused on my studies and Lacrosse.
I told my parents that I wanted to be an actor when I was 4 or 5 years old. I was always doing impressions, impersonations, and accents. When I was in college in Rome, Georgia I started doing plays and short films and then when I moved back to L.A., I signed up as an extra. One day when I left an extra casting office, an agency approached me and I signed with them on the spot. That’s how it all began.
America Pie franchise, American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules. Is the release affected by the pandemic?
It’s up in the air but we are hoping for an October release if not sooner.
I grew up loving American Pie. I loved the first film with Jason Biggs. It was kind of my entry to adolescence. Having said that, when I was offered the role, I was hesitant at first. Spin-offs can be good or very bad and I didn’t want to do a corny spin-off. But when I read the script, I found it anything but corny. It had a good story and a good arc to it and my role was a lot of fun.
You can compare it to the plotline of the first movie but now it’s a female-driven cast. It’s their outlook on sex and navigating through high school.