Jon Foster abandoned Fairfield, Iowa for the year round sun and tornado free weather of Los Angeles when he was 12. Since he arrived he's been working non-stop. He has 11 movies under his belt including THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR playing the young love interest to Kim Basinger who later played his mother in THE INFORMERS. While filming that movie, he and a co-star decided to take a joy ride in an off-limits-to-them red Porsche. Barefoot and shirtless they ended up getting lost in the middle of South America with no cell phones. It practically caused an International incident! In TENDERNESS he got to play a serial killer opposite Russell Crowe. TV audiences know him as the young dad-to-be on the recent CBS sitcom ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE. His latest project, BROTHERHOOD, is a dark thriller that takes place in a Fraternity house on a night when a hazing goes terrible wrong.
HI. How are you doing?
Just getting the day started. All's well dude, I can't complain. I was out last night with Lou Taylor Pucci and Trevor Morgan flier-ing the town for our movie.
The movie you're talking about is BROTHERHOOD. It just opened in L.A. and N.Y. and is available on PPV.
I think they're planning on having it expand depending on ticket sales and all that mumbo jumbo. It goes how it goes. I just hope people see it.
When did you get the acting bug?
When I was 8 my brother (actor Ben Foster),who was 12 at the time, asked me to go and audition for a part in the play YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN that he was also trying out for. He booked Charlie Brown and I booked Linus and that was our first acting gig ever. He started going to theater academies in the summertime and he's my best dude so I just kind of went with him. He came to L.A. with my Dad and dug a little path for himself and then my Mom and I followed them a couple of months later. Pretty soon after moving I booked a JUDGING AMY, then another show and then a series. We figured we should stick around and see what happens. We're still sticking around.
What was the series?
It was called DANNY with Daniel Stern. It was a short lived series but it was fun man it was fun. I played his son which was really fun for me because I was a huge HOME ALONE fan. It was really exciting. After that I had series regular roles on 2 other shows. I did LIFE AS WE KNOW IT for a year. I was a student sleeping with a teacher which ended up being really risqué. Our show was banned in 7 states. Then I did a year on WINDFALL on NBC. It was a show about a bunch of people winning a million dollars. I played a 17 year old who ended up buying a Russian mail-order bride.
Then came ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE. I was a fan of that show and was very surprised when it got cancelled.
I was surprised too man. We were getting some pretty heavy numbers. A lot of viewers on the show. Who knows why they do what they do. It's such a strange industry you can't ask too many questions. You just kind of keep going.
The entire cast really seemed to get along. You really believed you were friends.
Well we were. It was awesome. Nick Wright who played Davis ended up being one of my best friends. I see him every day even though the show stopped and that's really rare. Usually you do a project and even if you get along with people you lose touch with them when it's over. And Jenna, Jenna Elfman, oh my God she's an incredible woman. To play her love interest was just awesome because I had a big crush on her when she played Dharma on DHARMA AND GREG. It was like a little fantasy coming to life. It was fun really fun. It was a blast to do.
And now comes BROTHERHOOD. Did you go to college and get to do the whole fraternity thing?
No, I didn't go to college. As much as I think education is important I didn't have the time. A lot of my friends went and were in Fraternities so I did a lot of homework talking to them. Trying to figure out the mentality and the crazy games they put each other through. We implemented some of those ideas and hazed the cast for a couple of days.
What kind of hazing did you put them though?
Oh man, we did something called "Human Battleship." It was a giant Battleship game board in the backyard and all the pledges would stand blindfolded in their designated spots. The other Brothers would call out coordinates and if you made a hit the pledge would get hit with an egg. We made them get on their hands and knees and act like dogs and fetch us toys. Whoever couldn't find a toy we would put in diapers. We Saran wrapped them to benches, covered them in condiments and bird seed. But they got me back really good. They made "Vengeance Soup" It was the worst possible mixture imaginable. They kicked my door in and threw this massive bucket of it on me. I was so tired I just slept in it and ended up showing up late for rehearsal covered in it.
What was in it?
Well I know there was pee in it. It was literally everything they could find. Tomato soup, cayenne pepper, banana peels, cigarette butts, beer caps, eggs and egg shells. They were hocking loogies in it. Bad milk, cheese powder from Mac 'n Cheese boxes. Just disgusting!
How long a shoot was it?
It was like 3-3 1/2 weeks but it was so intense. We did all night shoots in Arlington, Texas. In the middle of August! It was like 110 degrees, even at night, and trapped in this house with 15 guys. Some of us were passing out. I hit my head on a table after I blacked out. Other people were dry heaving because there was dead animals rotting in the walls. There was no AC. it was really intense. There was no fake sweat. It was just us really drenched. It was murderous.
The scenes are so intense in the film it must have been hard to keep up the energy in those conditions.
It was exhausting but so well worth it. Will Canon the director did an awesome job because he was always pushing us. We thought we were at level 10 and he would say "That's not level 10. That's level 5." So we would do it again and that would be it. I thought it was crazy. There was not a moment in the movie where we could take a breath. We were just going crazy on each other the whole time. it was insane but when it all got tied together it worked. It was non-stop like a freight train.
Well you did a great job. Your character couldn't have been more different then what you played on ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE.
The polar opposite. It was one of the main reasons to do it. I never played anybody like that before. That was really exciting. To play the biggest asshole ever. It was really fun.
What coming up next?
There's a movie I just did with my brother Ben called RAMPART. Woody Harrelson is the lead of that. It's an awesome movie about the Rampart Police scandal. I got to play a cop which was another childhood fantasy as well. Running around in the uniform. They put us through a lot of training. Hooked us up with police officers downtown and they would take us the gang areas. We were chasing guys down alleyways in the middle of the night without any bullet proof vests or guns. The police department down there is just so cool. It was really intense. It was really cool to see that side of the world. Gang life firsthand in a police car. It was pretty wild. It should be out in a few months.
Was that the first time you got to work with your brother since CHARLIE BROWN?
I did a cameo in a movie that he did called PANDORUM. We kind of try and sneak into each other's films as a day spot. This is a new thing we've been doing the last 2 years. In PANDORUM I get eaten by cannibal aliens. I come out of a pod and get eaten and Ben's watching me. Then he takes off with his laser gun and leaves me there.
What do you like to do when you get some "Jon time"
I like to do a lot of stuff. I'm a big camper but when I say camping it's not what a lot of people think of when they hear camping. I do survival stuff. Going out in the woods with very little. No tent. No sleeping bag. Nothing like that. Surviving for a few days. I did go to a couple of survival schools around the country and that has kept me doing it. Other than that I write with Nick from ACCIDENTALLY. I make a lot of music with friends. I play a lot of instruments. Drums since I was 8, played guitar for a couple of years, piano when I was a kid so I can diddle around a bit. I can kind of screw around on a trombone. Little bit of an accordion if there's one around. We play all kinds of music. We're a collective group of musicians and artists so everybody has a different style of music. Hanging around with a bunch of musicians is always fun. A couple of people have set-ups and we end up jamming. We all just get together and record different genres of music. It's fun man.
Do you have a personal favorite kind of music?
Creedence Clearwater revival, CCR! They're my favorite. They are just unbeatable.
You dated Sophia Bush (ONE TREE HILL) for a couple of years. Are you dating anyone new now?
What's the definition of dating?
Well is there anybody serious?
I don't like anything serious. I like everything to be fun and easy. That's what life should be like. Fun! So that's what I search for.
Read the original interview in Issue 9 of LATF The Magazine HERE
