How ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ rebooted its film franchise with a whole new cast
The problem with wimpy kids is that they don’t stay wimpy kids.
More than seven years ago, the filmmakers behind the first “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie chose young Zachary Gordon to be their Greg Heffley — the titular, relatable boy of Jeff Kinney’s half-billion-dollar “Wimpy Kid” publishing empire.
Today, taller and more chiseled at nearly 20, Gordon looks more like a young teacher at a middle school rather than a beleaguered student at one. Likewise, such memorable “Wimpy Kid” actors as Devon Bostick (who played elder brother Rodrick) and Robert Capron (best friend Rowley) have aged out of the roles that they inhabited in the first three “Wimpy Kid” films.
So for the new release in the series, which marks a return for the franchise after five years away, Kinney and his team chose to change the entire cast, including the parents. “Making a fourth Wimpy Kid film with the original cast wouldn’t have been possible,” Kinney says of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul,” which opened Friday. “The kids grew up and grew out of their roles, and we knew we’d hit the end of the road with them.”
“The team that worked on the first three films was eager to get back into the Wimpy world,” says Kinney of the franchise, which has grossed about $175 million domestically.
For the title role, the filmmakers made a smooth transition, casting 11-year-old Jason Drucker, who is similar enough to Greg Heffley 1.0 that the effect isn’t overly jarring.
“Casting is the most essential, and most difficult, part of making these movies,” Kinney tells The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs. “You really can’t go forward until you have the right Greg, and once you’ve got Greg nailed down, you go from there.
To recast the parents — played by the gifted Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris in the first films — the filmmakers turned to two familiar faces: Tom Everett Scott and Alicia Silverstone. “I thought Tom was perfect as Frank Heffley — he’s got great comic chops, but he also brings a lot of warmth the the role,” says Kinney.
“The first time I saw Tom was in [1997’s] ‘American Werewolf in Paris,’ and I liked him in that. He’s got a lot of charisma,” says Kinney of Scott, whose recent work includes “13 Reasons Why” and “La La Land.” (Kinney also notes that, coincidentally, the Steve Zahn/Tom Scott friendship runs deep: “Tom was the best man at Steve’s wedding.”)
The latest “Wimpy Kid” film marks another milestone for Kinney: This is the first one for which he receives a screenplay credit. “I wrote the first two drafts of this film. I loved writing for the screen, but there was a learning curve for me,” says Kinney, who also owns and runs the Plainville, Massachusetts, bookstore, An Unlikely Story (which he calls “one of the great joys” of his life).
“I hope I get to do more of it in the future,” Kinney says of screenwriting, “if not for the Wimpy Kid world, for other projects.”