NERD IS THE WORD
Actor Sean Giambrone is still ‘playing close to myself’ in The Goldbergs
The Goldbergs
Returns Wednesday, CTV/ABC
For fans of The Goldbergs, picturing a cowboy-hatted Adam Goldberg awkwardly perched on a horse, clutching a six-shooter and squinting into the sunset may not be that much of a stretch.
The endearingly dorky and often delusional teenage protagonist of the long-running sitcom is exactly the type to miscast himself as a rugged cowboy in one of his typically earnest homemade cinematic excursions.
But actor Sean Giambrone, who has played the character on the sitcom since 2013, seems genuine when asked what his own dream role would be.
“I would like to try other stuff,” says the 20-year-old actor. “One, I always say, is that I would love to play a cowboy, just because my grandpa likes all those movies and television shows. I always thought it would be cool, for him and for me, to have a cowboy thing going on.”
Giambrone has now played Adam for seven seasons on the ABC comedy, which airs on CTV in Canada. He is the sitcom avatar for showrunner Adam F. Goldberg in a series based on the American writer and producer’s upbringing in Philadelphia during the 1980s. The young actor has proven so believable as the pop-culture obsessed would-be filmmaker that it’s hard to imagine him playing anybody else. In fact, while the fictional Adam Goldberg may be based on the real Adam F. Goldberg, he is also pretty close to Giambrone’s own personality, the actor says.
“At the start, it was already similar to me and moving on it’s become more similar to me,” he says. “I’m playing close to myself.”
As season 7 debuts Sept. 25, the Goldbergs will be continuing life in 1980-something Philly and beyond after working through a number of coming-of-age milestones in the sixth season. Adam is now a junior in high school, although his girlfriend is off to college. Also this year, Adam’s overbearing older siblings Barry and Erica (played by Troy Gentile and Hayley Orrantia, respectively) will be attending the same college. Beyond that, Giambrone says that the “Bevolution” will rage on. For the uninitiated, that’s the catch-all phrase to describe the ongoing activities and smothering affection of matriarch Beverly Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey). Presumably, gruff dad Murray Goldberg (Jeff Garlin) will continue to try to bring them all down to earth.
Giambrone, who graduated from high school last year, says he still enjoys watching the old shows and has never encouraged the real Adam or the writers to tone down his character’s nerdiness.
“I’m all for it,” he says. “I’ve heard a couple interviews with actors I really look up to and they told the writers that they are up for anything. I’d love to be in their category moving on, so I’ve got to do some of the things that they do. I’m more than happy to get a dodge ball in the face if it’s funny.”
Giambrone said he has had fun researching the strange world of the 1980s. Granted, the actor admits he has yet to see some of his character’s cinematic obsessions, including Time Bandits, The Lost Boys and The Dark Crystal. He also remains perplexed about some of the vagaries of 1980s culture, whether it be the Milli Vanilli lip-synching scandal (“I hadn’t heard about that, I couldn’t believe it was real,” he says), microfiche (“That just sounds made up”) or fax machines (“They are still around, but I’ve never used one”).
Still, Giambrone said he shares his character’s reverence for at least one of the decade’s biggest superstars. Alongside his role on The Goldbergs, the actor provided the voice for Cotton, a lamb in The Secret Life of Pets 2. Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones and Han Solo himself, voiced a sheepdog named Rooster in the same film. The two never met while recording the blockbuster, although their characters share scenes together. But both Giambrone and Ford were on the red carpet during the Los Angeles première. Alas, despite having the perfect conversation starter — both actors grew up in Park Hill, Ill. — Giambrone couldn’t work up the nerve to meet him. Adam Goldberg would be outraged.
“I just can’t walk up to the guy,” he says. “He still looks as cool as ever. He was pretty much every cool character. I just couldn’t do it. He was there at the première. We were close. I can say we acted in the same project, but I can’t say I met the guy.”