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By Jennifer Cunningham and H. Alan Scott
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"For me, being at home, changing a dirty diaper or playing catch in the yard with the kids... that is as real as it gets."
For Chad Michael Murray, returning to the Freaky Friday franchise after more than 20 years was more than just a job; it was a dose of pure joy. "Dare I say it might be better than the first?" Audiences seem to agree, as Freakier Friday opened to impressive box office numbers. "The way I'm selling this movie right now is it will make you live longer...this movie's going to lower your cholesterol." This positive experience was hard-earned after some rough years early in his career surrounding his rise to teen heartthrob fame with shows like One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girls. "You think you're something because people tell you you're something." He's now reflective on that experience. "I'm in my mid-40s and I think if I was to teach my young self, I would just teach myself that it is not so important every moment. Let go, let go. Remember why you became an actor in the first place." Now Murray is more focused on family life, with the actor saying he'd rather be "at home, changing a dirty diaper, or playing catch in the yard with the kids...that is as real as it gets."
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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
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Were you excited for Freakier Friday?
Dare I say it might be better than the first? It's so good. It really genuinely is hysterical. The way I'm selling this movie right now is it will make you live longer. Well, let's be real for a second, there's so much stress out there. And this is what movies are supposed to be for. They're supposed to depart you from everything else going on. You're like, this movie's going to lower your cholesterol. Cloud nine. Feeling good. You'll live longer.
How did you update the character Jake for the sequel while keeping the same charm that fans loved?
It was difficult. I'm not gonna lie. The script is incredibly complex. You've got four people changing bodies. And so it's like a house of cards, you pull one, the whole thing's coming down. So in order to fit Jake into this wild, wacky world, or freaky world, it was really complicated. And so I went straight into analytics mode. I was like, okay, what's he been doing? It's been 23 years since we shot the first one. Where's Jake been? What's Jake been doing? Well, let's see. In high school, he was pretty astute, good grades, multiple jobs. He had keys to the teachers' lounge, so like, okay, he was pretty well-to-do, so he probably has multiple businesses at this point, multiple cars, probably doing well, still has a bike. And I thought, okay well, what else? What's the funniest option? There's an outside chance there might be some type of shrine in his house dedicated to a certain someone. That he may or may not glance at from time to time, and he may be biding his time to get a shot at the title. That's all.
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What made the record store scene with Lindsay Lohan feel fresh and funny this time around?
Gosh. I think the fact that it's been so long. I've been in this business now for 26 years, you just get more comfortable, right? You're more willing to fall flat on your face, make a fool of yourself, do crazy things, which in turn creates really cool moments. And everyone was just more willing to play and have fun. And it was such a collaborative group. Everybody, Nisha [Ganatra, director], our producers, Kristin [Burr] and Ann Marie [Sanderlin] and Andrew Gunn, everybody was so open to what do you want to do? What's your ideas? Bring it to the table. Let's go, let's go. And like originally what Jake was to where Jake ended up is completely different. So that's really what we did. And it just felt so comfortable. It felt like being at home on set. It was amazing. I loved it.
What was it like working again with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan?
Well, now you have to introduce yourself, you know, this is Academy Award-winning Jamie Lee Curtis. And it's a mama when you talk to Lindsey. Do you guys have any of those friends you don't see but like once every six months that's like no time [has] passed; you just pick up where you left off? It's like that. I can't really explain it even though so much time had passed. We just picked up where we left off. This feels like a continuation of the first one. The energy, the vibes, all the same. Except I'd say that this is more of a love fest. So much more love on this movie. We would hug each other just a little bit longer because we didn't know when the next time we're going to see each other. It was just, throughout, it was really special. And any time you have an opportunity to work with Jamie Lee Curtis, it's a no-brainer. And so we just had fun. It was like, all right, let's play. Let's have some fun. Let's stretch it out, make the most of every moment.
I read that you almost quit acting after leaving One Tree Hill. What kept you in the industry, and how did you redefine what success meant to you?
It's a great question, it's a deep question. We're gonna get deep here for a minute. So this industry can feel a little bit like high school. It really can. It's really tight, it's really small. It's a lot smaller than you would think it is, right? And there's hierarchy and cliques and clubs and all these different things. And I was someone who did not enjoy that environment at all growing up. And then it's kinda like you make mistakes as you grow, but you can't escape them. Because you're still part of that same high school group. And they're never going to let you forget it. You're that person forever. But you're not. You're growing. You're changing. You're altering. And I just remember it was an unhealthy environment for everybody. It was not a great set to be on. I don't want to ruin it for anybody, but it just was not [a] great set be on. We had some great people, great actors. But there was some bad eggs. And I'm not saying actors. I'm just saying there were some bad things. And we didn't have leadership. And when you don't have leadership to set the tone, everything kind of falls by the wayside. So when I got out of there, I just didn't love it anymore. I just did not love what we're doing. And I took a break, and I jumped on a bus and drove around the country golfing and fishing with friends as you do and caught an alligator on accident. Scared the crap out of me. I don't like alligators. And I remember starting to watch movies again and falling back in love with it. But kind of having to start over from scratch. So I started doing some theater classes and just teaching myself about myself and learning how to use my instrument differently and getting rid of the bad habits that I learned from six years on a show and just really adapting as a human being. Honestly, it was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. It was not easy, but I fell back in love with it. And now I love it more than I ever have, but I think it's because I get to do it with my wife and kids now. So we just go on these adventures all the time, and they pick on me and they go, "What are you doing?" I did a movie last year called The Merry Gentlemen. I was a stripper. Because when you think of Christmas, that's the first thing you think about. And I remember I was watching it with my wife before it came out, and my daughter walked in. She was 7 at the time. She just came in and just started smacking me. "What did you do? Put your shirt on!" Adorable. Adorable, but it makes it so much sweeter. It makes it so much better.
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Speaking of The Merry Gentlemen, what attracted you to a project that challenges maybe the traditional holiday film formula?
I love challenging the traditional tropes. I love having fun, because I felt this was definitely outside the box. I mean, how many times in your career are you going to be able to play [a] stripper? It's not like these scripts come up every day and you're like, well, maybe next week. No. For me, it was just a no-brainer. The opportunity to really get into dancing and challenge myself there and be terrified, that was exciting to me. I love the idea, and I thought this is either gonna be a disaster and it's gonna be four guys that just can't stand each other, we beat the snot out of each other and it's gonna be a horrible experience, or we're just gonna be like a brotherhood and we're gonna love each—and that's what it was like. These dudes were so supportive and helpful in every way. So I just wanted to do it. I wanted to get out there. I wanted to dance. I wanted to do something different. I wanted it to make people laugh and realize like no, we don't have to take this so seriously. It's supposed to be fun.
You've evolved from a teen heartthrob to more mature roles. How intentional has this transition been?
I don't know if intentional is the right word. I think a lot of it has to do with just getting older. It happens to the best of us. For me, so much has happened. I feel like I've lived 10 lives already and I feel beyond blessed to have that opportunity to do it. Sullivan's Crossing was something that I prayed about. If anyone hears individualization and really seeing things, oh it's real, it is real. For me it's prayer, and I pray, and I prayed every single night for about two years for a job, very specific, and it's crazy how it ended up. I wanted a job, a show just like Sullivan's Crossing, because I do have little babies and I didn't want to subject them to going to school and having dad's naked butt up in the locker every day. I didn't want my wife to have to worry about those kind of things. I didn't want to be gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous, and also there's a weight that I carry when I do a job that's a little dark; I don't want to take that home with me. I did a movie called Outlaws and Angels, and I was this crazy cowboy. I took that darkness home with me for like a month after the movie, and just to be in a light space, I just want to have fun. I want to bring it home and hug the kids, and I knew I could do that with this show. I didn't want to be number one on the call sheet, because otherwise you just don't see the fam. I definitely didn't wanna do 22 [episodes]. So I wanted a short show. I wanted it to be in a city that we would find that we absolutely loved. Halifax—by the way, if you've ever been to Halifx, Nova Scotia, that place is freaking magic. Highly recommend it, best kept secret in North America. We just wanted to get as immersed in the community as we can. I coached my son's football team up there. It's awesome. And I wanted all these very specific things, and then boom, it landed on our plate and there it was, and so we're loving every minute of that. And then Freakier Friday's here, and we're just gonna play with that and have some fun. We got more things coming down the pike, but it's just it's been a blessing and so intentional, but not in the way that maybe you think.
You call your family "the pack," and you prioritize keeping them together. How has fatherhood specifically changed your approach to choosing roles?
Like I was just saying, it's changed everything. I don't want to be on a show right now. It's just, for right now, 10, 15 years when they're older and they can have a better kind of hold on this. We can step back into the darkness and crazy things and go John Wick on someone. I mean, maybe I might do that now, but getting into some of the more just gratuitous stuff, I'm just trying to stay away from it, you know? Just for me, a Euphoria show wouldn't work for me. It's just that that's a no for my family because I just don't want to subject my kids to that right now. I just think it would be too much to understand and then the kids would be asking too many questions at school. That's hard to do. And they do. We travel everywhere as a pack. Right now, I'm in a place where I want to keep it light. I want to do comedy. That would be the perfect world. And maybe even something in the Sonic the Hedgehog world, something where they might actually go, "Oh, Dad, OK, that's kind of cool." Because right now, that's not where we're at.
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Not even with Freakier Friday?
No! So right before we went to shoot Freakier Friday, the day before, I sat them down to watch Freaky Friday, because they haven't watched a lot of my work. We just don't do that. But I wanted to show them, to take pride in your work, to not say, "I have to go to work." And so I go, "Well, this is what I'm going to do. So when I tell you guys, 'Hey, guys, I get to work.' And you're like, 'What do you mean? You're happy you're going to work?' 'Yes, I am.'" This is going to make a lot of people happy. So we put it on. And boy, did they rip on me. "Really, Dad, what is wrong with your hair? What did you do? Ugh, Daddy." And then "Don't ever sing again, Dad. Whoa. Was that you really trying to sing?" I'm saying, "Honey, no, that's supposed to be bad." However, I'm not a great singer, mind you, side note, which just makes it better. So they just picked on me the whole time.
Your wife, Sarah, and yourself have been married for almost a decade, and you kept your relationship relatively private. What have you learned about balancing public life with protecting your family's privacy?
I want to say this with all due respect to this industry that I love and making movies, but for me, being at home, changing a dirty diaper or playing catch in the yard with the kids or whatever, I'm like, that's real. That is as real as it gets. That is the greatest moments in life. That's the stuff that I will not miss. And I prioritize faith and family. That's how we do it. And that's why we travel as a pack. That's why we got a house in Buffalo. So we're doing the bi-coastal thing now. Which, by the way, dude, cost of living in Buffalo—great. Holy cow, because we live in L.A. and we've been in L.A. for 26 years, and we have our place in L.A., and go back to shoot Freakier Friday or do this press in L.A. We stay at our house and we bounce back and forth, but man, the dollar [in Buffalo] goes far. And so I wanted to give the kids a little bit more of a grounded life. My wife found a house. I never thought in a million years we'd move back to Buffalo. I didn't think it was gonna happen because she's a San Diego girl. She's from Coronado. I'm from Buffalo, very different world. And so yeah, we do the separation. The kids' first time ever actually being on the carpet or doing anything was this past premiere. And it was so cool. Little kid had swag, my boy. He brought out, I was like, didn't see that coming. "Where'd you get that, huh?" Did not see that come. But we still keep them [out of the spotlight], and we'll continue to. So that was our one step out there to see what it's like. It was the perfect movie to take them to. Lots of treats afterwards. So they were like sugared up. They were dancing, listening to live music. It was great.
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You've been refreshingly candid in recent interviews about your mental health journey during your rise to fame. And what made you decide to be so open about your experience with anxiety and agoraphobia?
Because I'm more comfortable with it, you know? I think at first, so this type of environment, I'm fine. It's safe. You're not going to jump up here and punch me in the face. I'm pretty sure. But if you ask me to dinner, no. I'd freak out. I don't know why. It's really hard for me to go to dinner. It's hard to go new places. I just, I am that guy. I am a homebody. A total introvert. If we're gonna go to Disneyland, you gotta give me two weeks' prep. And I'm only doing it for the kids. And it's hard, but I think part of me realized that maybe someone else out there could connect with that and say, "Oh, I go through that, but he overcame it." And it's never gonna go away. It's not like you beat it. You just kinda put your head down and you find your way through it. And so it started for me at a young age. And it was not popular nor cool when I was 21. And everyone was like, "Why are you going to therapy? Dude, are you broken? What's going on?" I don't think so. But I needed it. It was what I needed, and I needed a lot of help, I needed a lot work. And everyone's life's messy. I guarantee there's not one person in this room that grew up picture perfect, everything's wonderful, never fighting, never one tragic moment or memory. Everybody's going through something. So it always helps to have somebody and have an outlet to talk to, find a different perspective on it, find a new trick that can help you overcome anxiety, fear, health concerns, whatever it may be, right? And so, I don't know, if someone asks me about it, and I'm in a much more comfortable place in my life where I just care about what my kids think. I care what my wife thinks. And if I can help somebody else by telling a story that happened to be my story, okay, awesome. And if not, and if someone wants to go, what a weirdo, okay fine, all good.
You said that you were far more fragile than you put on during your One Tree Hill days. Looking back, what do you wish you'd known then that you know now?
We do not have that kind of time. Oh my gosh, there is so much. I was terrified, and so I put on this brave face. You're 21, 22, 23, 24 years old, right? You think you're something because people tell you you're something. So you see other people that you go, "OK, well, that person's cool. OK, they're not smiling." And I don't like my smile. I can't stand my smile, so I'm not going to smile. I don't want to show my teeth because I'm uncomfortable about it. I don't like my nose because it's not my nose. I got jumped in a Burger King and my nose surgery was a couple posts, pop it back into place, hold two tennis balls at Cedar Sinai, and there you go. And there was a lot of things, I was just uncomfortable. You're uncomfortable in your skin. And I think it's not just if you're an actor, it's everybody. Like our 20s are fricking hard, man. And the 20s are for screwing up, figuring out who you are, and then you go into your 30s, and 30s are awesome. I mean, for me anyway, I thought it was an awesome decade.
But I'm in my mid-40s, and I think if I was to teach my young self, I would just teach myself that it is not so important every moment. Let go, let go. Remember why you became an actor in the first place. You just came to make people happy. That's the only reason I ever became an actor. I wanted to make people happy. I was in the hospital when I was 15, and I was there for two-and-a-half months. I missed Christmas and New Year's and all this time, and all my friends are out there going out, having a great time. You're in high school. These are like important years, right? And I'm really sick. And I don't know if I'm ever gonna get out. I don't know if gonna be able to play football again, or mess around, or go play video games with my brothers. Like, whatever it was. And television and film was the one thing that I could put on, and it was that departure. I would forget about everything I was going through, and that was the gift that I wanted to give. I wanted to be able to create something where people could have that departure. And what a blessing to have One Tree Hill because I think a lot of people watched One Tree Hill and they used that to forget about whatever it was. Maybe they had a dad or parents were divorcing or someone had a substance problem or someone passed away. One Tree Hill could make you turn off the mind for a minute.
What is the biggest misconception that people have about you?
Intentionally, I won't read reviews, and I don't read a lot of comments because what's funny is you could get a thousand positive comments and one negative comment will ruin your day. And that's for any person in this room. Like, I did such a great job with my book report and then all of a sudden one person goes, "But why did you just spell Washington wrong?" And that's the only thing you'll take out of that is all the negative. So I think for me, I don't really read it. So I don't know how people interpret me. I don't really think about it. I hope I can be a conduit of light and love. And that's really all I want to be. And I'm not in this for really any other reason. I love my job. I love getting up. I love going to work. I love making movies. I love being a dad. And I like to make people happy. So really it is pretty simple. Not very complex.
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