“More Thrusting”: Chad Michael Murray on Netflix, Nostalgia, and Freaky Fangirls

The world is Chad Michael Murray’s oyster. After starring in Merry Gentlemen, a new hip thrust-heavy holiday rom-com, the former teen heartthrob-turned-daddy is ready for a revival. In the coming months, he will reprise the role of Jake in Freakier Friday, star in the second season of CW’s Sullivan’s Crossing, and move back to his hometown of Buffalo with his growing family. In other words, Murray’s life is a movie. To hear more about the six-pack wielding hunk’s past and present, our senior editor called him up to talk nostalgia, Netflix, and nutty fangirls.

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TAYLORE SCARABELLI: Hi Chad. Where are you? Looks like a hotel somewhere.

CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY: I’m in Halifax. Sorry I was late. My wife was out and I was napping with the baby. 

SCARABELLI: Oh, no worries at all. You can’t wake a sleeping baby. Are you shooting the next season of Sullivan’s Crossing?

MURRAY: I can’t say. [Laughs]

SCARABELLI: Okay, well we can just get into it. First of all I want to say congratulations on The Merry Gentleman. I was just rewatching it last night and—

MURRAY: Wait, you watched it twice?

SCARABELLI: Yes [Laughs] I’ve been really enjoying the Netflix Christmas rollout. 

MURRAY: They’ve been doing a good job haven’t they? 

SCARABELLI: Totally. This isn’t your first Christmas movie, but it’s a little bit different than the others you’ve done. What was your reaction when this script came across your desk?

MURRAY: Honestly, I was so excited. There’s something really great about doing things that you’ve never done before, about challenging yourself, and having the opportunity to learn a new skill. I’d never done any dance professionally by any means, and so the opportunity to learn that skill, or at least try to learn that skill was awesome. 

SCARABELLI: Have you seen this thing on TikTok where girls are having their boyfriends do interpretive dances for them? 

MURRAY: I haven’t.

SCARABELLI: It’s a lot of straight men letting loose in a way they don’t normally get to, which I think is really important. You might also be inspiring people to shake it off a little.

MURRAY: I can’t take any credit for that, but what I will say is, go for it. There is something invigorating and exciting about dance that I never accepted before. It wasn’t because I was trying to be like, “Oh, I’m this masculine guy.” I would dance at weddings, or goof around with the kids at home, but not when people are watching. There was such a dopamine rush and a freedom to what we were doing. I loved it. 

SCARABELLI: And it probably helped you get into it a little more as an actor, too, by letting your body loose.

MURRAY: One hundred percent. It opens up your mind to see things clearly, and when you let go and you’re not worried about judgment, your performance ends up feeling much more free, and you do things that you wouldn’t normally do.

SCARABELLI: Totally. Okay. I’m sorry but I have to ask you a People magazine question: what is the secret to keeping a six-pack?

MURRAY: [Laughs] I don’t know. I’m going to say having a pretty wife, wanting to keep her happy.

SCARABELLI: That’s the right answer.

MURRAY: Even though she’s totally not the type that would ever demand that of me, you want to look good for the Mrs. I also like to be at a certain place at all times, just in case an opportunity like this arises.  It’s a lifestyle. 

SCARABELLI: True. Okay, I want to talk a bit about the past, because obviously, there’s a lot of nostalgia for your old shows. Everyone’s been rewatching your old projects like One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girls and A Cinderella Story. Back then, when you first became a big heartthrob, did you have a lot of crazy fan experiences?

MURRAY: Yeah. I’m sure that everybody that gets in this industry goes through it. But of course there’s always that one or two that stick out. I remember we’d just finished shooting Tree Hill and Craig Sheffer and I had gone down to a place called Hell’s Kitchen and we’re having a drink at this bar. This girl comes up—she was a super big fan. She came over, and she pulled her chest out on the bar, and said, “Could you sign these?”

SCARABELLI: Oh, wow. 

MURRAY: And via peer pressure from Craig who was like, “You got to do that,” she handed me a Sharpie, and I was like, “Okay.” It was terrible. I’m talking like, the worst autograph you could ever autograph. Anyway, I’m like, “Okay, all right, great, done. Thank you so much.” Then two, two-and-a-half hours later, she comes back and she now has the autographed tattooed right there. [Points to chest]

SCARABELLI: What?!

MURRAY: That was one of those moments where I said, “I don’t ever want to write on any skin ever again, because that’s on her body forever.” And I was like, “Oh, gosh. Now some boyfriend’s going to come beat me up 20 years down the road like, Dude, your name’s right on my—”

SCARABELLI: [Laughs] I wonder if she still has it. We need to find her.

MURRAY: Oh, gosh. God bless her. She went for it.

SCARABELLI: I feel like so many actors have gone through a similar experience at a young age, but popping off and becoming this Hollywood heartthrob—you seemed to handle it pretty well. Did it ever become too much for you? Did you ever want to disappear?

MURRAY: One hundred percent. There was a moment where I was quitting. I was done. I just couldn’t do it anymore. It was right after I left One Tree Hill, and it wasn’t because of the fandom. It was because, when you’re 18 to 25, these formidable years where you’re really cutting your teeth on life experiences and your brain isn’t fully developed, you make mistakes. I mean, gosh, we still screw up when we’re grown-ups. But I think it’s hard for me to see past those moments when you’re not adult enough to understand the scenarios that you’re in.

SCARABELLI: Right. 

MURRAY: That was hard for me because there are so many eyeballs on you. And you go to the grocery store and someone points at you, “Oh, that’s the guy that’s on the tabloid, or that’s the guy that did this.” Even if they’re not talking about that, sometimes your head goes to a negative place, and I know mine really did. And so I just made a big pivot at that point in my life and said, “You know what? This is not what I want.”

SCARABELLI: Mhmm.

MURRAY: My goal in life is to just be a great father, a great husband. I love being an actor. But at the end of the day, the real grassroots thing for me was being a family man. I had to find the right partner for that. And I had to go through the right experiences and the wrong experiences to get there. 

SCARABELLI: And you’ve made it. 

MURRAY: It’s a long road. I moved from Buffalo in September of ’99. And by January, 2000 I was already with Warner Brothers and working. I was so blessed, so lucky. I was that guy that came off the boat and they were like, “Oh, yeah, come on the show.” And I didn’t understand the power that the industry can have, the respect that you must give it and give everyone and every moment. So I took a lot of time to reassess it all. It took years of talking to people much smarter than me to get where I wanted to go.

SCARABELLI: I can’t imagine, it’s hard enough growing up without being in the spotlight.  But now that you’re having another big moment, you have your CW show, you’ve got this number one Netflix movie, and Freakier Friday is coming up. How are you handling all the nostalgia and the new fans that are coming your way? 

MURRAY: My 15-month-old daughter whose diaper I just changed, she’ll keep me in check. [Laughs]

SCARABELLI: Yeah.

MURRAY: So will my nine-year-old, my wife, and my seven-year-old. Fame is taking up 0% of my time and focus. I love my job and I love meeting people. I’m the first guy to say, “Yeah, let’s take a photo.” We’re spreading joy and happiness everywhere we go. That’s what it’s about for me. I became an actor because I wanted to make people happy. 

SCARABELLI: That’s beautiful. Okay so can you tell me anything about the new Freakier Friday movie?

MURRAY: I don’t want to give anything away. But I really am excited to be a fly on the wall, sneak into a theater, and see people’s reactions. Here we are 22, 23 years later, and the team is incredible. Nisha, our director, was just a ball of energy, and our new cast members were just awesome. Then there’s Jamie, the consummate professional, queen, and leader that she is. And of course the unbelievable talent that is Lindsay Lohan.

SCARABELLI: It’s almost like a high school reunion or something.

MURRAY: It was like a high school reunion.

SCARABELLI: Speaking on that, you’ve done a lot of coming of age projects. Which of those are you most excited for your kids to see?

MURRAY: I don’t have an answer for that. I can only go off of the reactions that I’ve had from other people. I will say I was shooting The Merry Gentleman and I came home one day from work and Cinderella Story was on. I look over and my wife, my seven-year-old, and the baby are all in bed snuggled up watching little Chad, like, “Hey, there’s Dad.” And what’s bizarre is my son, who’s nine, is closer in age to Austin Ames than I am now.

SCARABELLI: Right.

MURRAY: And it’s weird to see him look so much like him. I know that sounds crazy. So these are the experiences that I’m going through. I don’t know if I’m going to be sitting there going, “Hey guys, let’s watch A, B, C, or D.” It’ll be up to them. But we did watch Freaky Friday, because I was going back to work and I wanted to refresh myself on everything. They loved it.

SCARABELLI: Would you be supportive if your kids want to get into acting?

MURRAY: I’m 99.99999%, my daughter will be following suit, quite soon. And then I would say, my son, that’s not something he wants to do. And the new one, she’s only 15 months. We’ll let her figure it out. [Laughs] But would I be supportive? A hundred percent. I wish that I had a kindred spirit over my shoulder to guide me and help me when I first came in. It’s not that I want to be a no person for my daughter, but I want to be able to at least pave the road and say, “Hey, here’s the consequences to action A, B, C, and D. This is how you conduct yourself on a set. I want you to be over-prepared so that no matter what comes your way, you’re ready for it.” 

SCARABELLI: Totally. So are there any dream projects for you on the horizon?

MURRAY: Taylore, this might sound bizarre, but I truly feel like I’m just getting started. So I would say that the entire world of cinema is my oyster. I’m open to really stretching my wings, and having some fun, and just taking some chances. Sometimes I’m going to fall flat on my face and other times we’re going to make things that really touch you emotionally. I’m just excited about that journey. It’s all just a learning opportunity for me.

SCARABELLI: Yeah.

MURRAY: I have a different appreciation, and a different love and respect for it, and I have a different freedom. I think that there’s a moment when you have kids, for me at least, where something changes in your brain, this chemical thing of wanting to protect, and take care of them, and show them a fearless environment that kicks in. And it’s like, “You’ve been peed on, on a plane, in front of people. Let’s go out there and act.”

SCARABELLI: All the teenage shame is out the window.

MURRAY: Yeah, it’s not like when I was 25. I’m not fearful anymore. Now it’s, “Just go to work, have some fun.” For right now, I want to keep it wholesome just because I do have young kids and I don’t want them going to school and getting belittled because of Dad’s choices. But when they’re older, when projects come along we’ll discuss them as a family. Of course, my wife is in charge of—not in charge, but responsible for more than 50% of every decision I’ve ever made. 

SCARABELLI: So you’re saying the edgiest you get right now is your Magic Mike moment.

MURRAY: For now. We threaded the needle, there, where it’s still totally free, and fun, and not…you know what I mean?

SCARABELLI: There’s a little thrusting…

MURRAY: There’s a spicy version that had more thrusting.

SCARABELLI: Okay.

MURRAY: [Laughs] But I’d love to continue to push myself, and take risks, and things like that. But right now, in a perfect world, it’s like a Sonic the Hedgehog kind of thing where the kids can finally go, “Dad, you did something cool.” 

SCARABELLI: Cute. Okay, last question. What are your plans for the holidays?

MURRAY: We just got a house in my hometown of Buffalo and we’re moving in. I’m excited. I go full Clark Griswold, and so I’ve got some plans ready for the kids. I typically take decorating all into my own hands. 99% of it is going to be me, but this year I did have to call someone to put lights on the house because I’m not there to do it. But as soon as I hit the ground, I’ll be up and running. We go big.

SCARABELLI: Your life sounds like a holiday rom-com. You’re literally moving to your hometown with your family during the Christmas holiday. It doesn’t get more Hallmark than that. 

MURRAY: Do you want to know the best part? It was my wife’s idea.