Our roving reporter Linda Craddock snagged another great interview and this time it was with the very popular young actor Jean-Luc Bilodeau, who stars on the hit SF show “Kyle XY,” seen every Monday on the ABC Family Network.
17-year old Jean-Luc hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, and before stepping in front of a camera was your average teenager who loves video games, computers, music, dancing and, yes… girls. His first film appearance was in the movie “Ill Fated” just 3 years ago in which he played the role of Bobby. You can see Jean-Luc again on the big screen near Halloween 2007 in the new horror film “Trick ‘r Treat.”
Linda Craddock (SoSF): Tell us about the audition process for the part of, “Josh Trager”.
Jean-Luc Bilodeau (JLB): The audition for “Josh” was originally in Vancouver while I was there and in front of two, maybe three people — pretty small. And for the second audition, they flew me to L.A. to do two auditions, actually in front of I think two producers and the writers and then I moved on to an audition, again in L.A. in front of 30 people. So three auditions in total and it was pretty cool and fun.
SoSF: What was your first impression of the storyline when you received the script?
JLB: It was cool, it was really fun. Josh is really an awesome character to play so when I read the lines from the first script, it was pretty funny… so, a lot of room to play with and fun to do. It was the pilot when I got the first script and I did the audition.
SoSF: Did you have an idea of how you wanted to portray the character from the pilot or was it something you had to weigh as the first season progressed?
JLB: I think that “Josh” definitely depending on where the writers wanted to take him. I just played it the way I felt was right. I think the writers took it to different places and I kind of just grew up with “Josh” and “Josh” has evolved with me. It was pretty easy, the transition so it’s been pretty good.
SoSF: “Josh” displayed resistance to “Kyle” when his mother welcomes him into their home. What was the turning point in his relationship with “Kyle”?
JLB: I think, well, obviously “Josh” was pretty skeptical about bringing “Kyle” into the family, but I think you definitely see a friendship and a bond like a brother relationship developing. In the second season you can see that “Josh” accepts him as, like a brother. You definitely see that transition within the first season and in the second season you definitely see that they are brothers and in the first episode legally becomes one of the Tragers because he is adopted by my parents, so he pretty much becomes a full blown brother.
SoSF: Josh is a typical teenager, breaking rules, has a mind of his own, but not out of control. How much of your teen experience did you have to tap into to bring “Josh” to life?
JLB: Ah, he gets into a lot of trouble, but he a mischievous little guy so there’s a lot of small stuff that he gets in trouble for. I don’t get into trouble as much as “Josh” does. I don’t know, I think “Josh”‘s mother is much easier play to kind of get around. It’s a different situation for me and “Josh”, but I definitely don’t get into as much trouble as he does. It’s just like any other kind of little kid. He was 15, no 14 in the first season so any kid that age obviously is going to get into that kind of trouble.
SoSF: What aspect of the show do you think stands out the most in a business that often bases the success of a show on the action which may draw the audience?
JLB: I think the one aspect of the show kind of pulls the show and makes it go farther is the sci-fi. The advertising for the first season was Matt Dallas, in which he showed up and there was no belly button and it said “who is Kyle XY”? That was a great, like a pitch line and people kind of caught on to that and I think that the sci-fi still rings pretty loud. I don’t think it’s the teen drama that brings “Kyle XY”, what makes it unique is the sci-fi aspect of the show. I think that is what is pulling the show together. The show has a good balance of everything, comedy, drama and sci-fi as well as teen drama and it’s a good balance and I think its is why people like it.
SoSF: Did the writers discuss a wish list with you for character development for “Josh” moving forward?
JLB: Not really, I just kind of leave it in their hands. They’ve been pretty giving to me so far, so I don’t really need to complain. I know where the character’s going and pretty much develop a life with “Josh”. He gets really in depth in the second season so I went to the writers room the last time I was down in L.A. I looked at the discussion boards and the plot and I saw some of the things that were coming up with “Josh”. I didn’t discuss much so I don’t really have to have much to say about it.
SoSF: The show definitely comes across as a close family, but with its typical teenager issues. Describe the relationship with fellow cast members.
JLB: Awesome, working with them, it’s like every day is a party. You show up at the set and it’s always smiles and everyone’s funny and they’re great to play off of so I’m learning a lot. They’re amazing actors and friends so it’s really like having a second family, almost. You tend to rely on them for advice and things like that, so they’re really cool so we pretty much just grew up like a pretty tight group of people and that’s how it’s going to stay for sure.
SoSF: Do you have a favorite episode or two from either season thus far?
JLB: Favorite episode, oh, no, I think maybe my favorite episode, oh my gosh, I mean they’re all really great so, I guess the ones, oh gosh, I really can’t answer that question, that’s too hard of a question, they’re all good.
SoSF: Tell us about your experience filming “Trick r Treat”.
JLB: It was awesome. Movies are done a lot differently than TV shows. There is obviously a much bigger budget things can overflow because they have a ton of money so things move a little slower. It was fun. My character, well you don’t get to know my character as well as you get to know “Josh” on “Kyle XY”, but my character on “Trick r Treat” was pretty crazy. I was dressed up in like a zombie uniform half the time. It was a Halloween based movie so a lot of late night shoots. It was fun, it was great and the rest of the cast was awesome. It’s kind of funny, I’m the oldest, I was the oldest person in my group of actors, I guess you say in my part of the movie, I was the oldest person and in “Kyle XY” the youngest so it’s kind of neat.
SoSF: You are referred to as “J-Biddy”. Where did that nick name come from?
JLB: Matt Dallas gave it to me. I was locked in the make up trailer for “Kyle XY” during first season. I think it was around the first or second episode. I locked in and I don’t know why, but he was just like J-Biddy, and we kind of just stuck with it. That’s the nick name now. I’ve got to get one for Matt. Matt doesn’t really have one. Matt Dallas is such a great name I don’t want to ruin it with a nick name.
SoSF: Are there other projects in the near future we can look forward to?
JLB: I want to finish the second season. It’s got 23 episodes and we finish like October 21st or something so I’m going to finish that and hopefully get to auditioning maybe for other things. I want to do movies, so that’ll be fun, if I can get them I mean. I definitely want to audition for more and then I think I see “Kyle XY” going into a third season so I’m sure I’ll start that up somewhere in February, March somewhere around there so just audition for parts and keep going.
SoSF: I’ve got to ask you one question going back to “Kyle”. In the episode “Free to be you and me” where you are teaching “Kyle” how to dance. I noticed you had some pretty good moves there.
JLB: I was a dancer before I was an actor so I danced 8 years in a studio before I had to quit because of the show, I mean my schedule was pretty much booked everyday for the show so I had to quit the dance studio and quit dancing but it definitely helped a little bit and that’s what encouraged me with Julie Plec to write that episode so I thank Julie because it was an excellent episode to shoot and we choreographed between me and Matt and Matt picked up so well its as if Matt’s been dancing forever. He’s definitely is great, a great dancer and we had a lot of fun shooting that so….
SoSF: I was impressed.
JLB: Well thank you very much.
SoSF: Jean-Luc I want to thank you for taking the time to do this interview and we all look forward to more of “Kyle XY.”
JLB: Cool! Thanks a lot, bye bye.