When it comes to screen dads, Maxwell Jenkins considers himself 鈥渟uper lucky.鈥
He鈥檚 starring with Kevin Bacon in 鈥淭he Bondsman鈥 and soon he鈥檒l be seen with Nicolas Cage in 鈥淎rcadian鈥 a futuristic look at survival. Add in roles in 鈥淩eacher,鈥 鈥淐hicago Med鈥 and 鈥淟ost in Space鈥 and there are plenty of parenting styles to go around.
Even better? The actors who play dad are聽鈥渞eally welcoming and open and kind and try to make that connection off screen as well,鈥 Jenkins says.
Even though he plays a bounty hunter for the devil, Bacon鈥檚 Hub Halloran has a paternal streak that comes through in scenes with Jenkins as son Cade. He鈥檚 separated from Cade鈥檚 mother (played by singer Jennifer Nettles) and bristles at the idea of mother and son packing up and going to Vegas for a gig.
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Jenkins gets plenty of opportunity to jam with both Bacon and Nettles in the series and says they were open and collaborative throughout.
鈥淲e really worked hard on Episode Seven, which was about the family jamming,鈥 Jenkins says. 鈥淚t was a really important moment for the music side, and we wanted to make sure we did the music side right. I was really nervous about that because it鈥檚 hard to play music and act at the same time.
鈥淲hile I鈥檓 a musician and an actor, I鈥檝e never bridged those worlds on screen before. We worked a lot on the music, and we鈥檇 text back and forth: 鈥楬ey, this is a voice memo of me playing my solo. What do you think?鈥欌
Nettles was particularly forthcoming with vocal pointers.
鈥淚 would 鈥榮woop鈥 when I was singing a song because I don鈥檛 have a Georgian accent. And she was like, 鈥楴o, just say it鈥t鈥檒l come out right.鈥欌 And Nettles was right.
Similarly, Bacon, who has toured as one of the Bacon Brothers, is 鈥渟uper open and creative. He didn鈥檛 have to work with me but he did.鈥
Jenkins鈥 foray into acting began on the ABC series 鈥淏etrayal鈥 when he was 8. That led to a regular role on the reboot of 鈥淟ost in Space,鈥 which lasted 鈥渢hrough those make-or-break years of a childhood.鈥
鈥淚 was so fortunate to be surrounded by such incredible people that my experiences on set gave me this viewpoint of loving the work, loving doing my homework and loving being prepared and working on sets,鈥 Jenkins says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it was ever a conscious decision of, 鈥極h, I want to be an actor,鈥 but it was really rewarding and it鈥檚 still that way.
鈥淚 love learning, and I love growing. I love the steady progression.鈥
Now a student at UCLA, the soon-to-be-20-year-old is a member of the school鈥檚 cheer squad, a nod of sorts to his family鈥檚 business: the Midnight Circus in the Parks.
While he certainly thought about joining the act full-time, 鈥淚 think my parents really wanted me to not.鈥 Cheering lets him stay active, just in case.
鈥淚 signed up for the cheer team to keep that semblance of performance in my life,鈥 he says. 鈥淚f I can go back to the circus, I will, any chance I get. Maybe I鈥檒l take a few gap years.鈥
Mom, however, has had more than a few discussions about that and the preferred route would be to stay in school and, maybe, make a movie about the business.
The best of both worlds, you might say.
"The Bondsman" is now streaming on Prime Video.
