Shifting Gears stars Maxwell Simkins and Barrett Margolis spoke to ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese about the new ABC sitcom. The duo discussed playing the children of Kat Dennings and working with Tim Allen. The hilarious show, which stars Allen and Dennings, airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streams on Hulu the next day.
“Shifting Gears stars Tim Allen as Matt, the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. When Matt’s estranged daughter (Kat Dennings) and her kids move into his house, the real restoration begins,” says the synopsis for Shifting Gears.
Tyler Treese: Maxwell, I was curious about your character, Carter. He has learning problems and he’s getting accommodations — getting the help he needs. What did you find most interesting about portraying that aspect of your character?
Maxwell Simkins: I think it really dives into something that’s true and really happens. We all have anxiety and get stressed in life, but Carter deals with it a lot, and I actually am dyslexic in real life. So sometimes I’ve had to do certain things with books or chapters and stuff in actual life with school. So I got to use that towards the character and that really helped bring the realness and groundedness to those scenes.
Barrett, your character – Georgia – is fiery. She clearly takes after her mom in this show. What did you like most about the character? You’ve got some great one-liners.
Barrett Margolis: I love her. I feel like there’s something new with her every episode. Like in the first one, she really loves Shark Tank and all that. I love getting to do something new and help people learn more about Georgia. And I love getting to bring her to life because she’s a fun kid. She’s definitely [got] a little bit of teenager in her. She might be some trouble when she turns 13, but she’s definitely super fun, and I like her a lot.
Maxwell, Tim Allen, he’s like the grandfather to all of America. So, how is that experience of playing his grandson? Because that has to be kind of a trip.
Simkins: It is. It’s been really fun, though. It’s been really fun. He’s incredible to work with, super fun, super energetic, always giving his advice and always helping you become not only a better actor but better as a professional in a professional field.
Like you said, he’s the grandfather of America, which I think is true. You know, he’s been the dad on so many [productions] to so many people, I think, from afar. Being able to play his grandson has been so much fun so far. It’s been the best really.
Barrett, I can’t think of a cooler mom than Kat Dennings. So how has that experience been, working with her? She just has such a good energy and warmth to her onscreen. Is that how it is on set?
Margolis: Oh yeah. She portrays her character so well, and then she’s so sweet off-camera. I love it when we get to talk in between scenes ’cause she’s so sweet, and you can tell that she’s just awesome, and she cares about everyone, and she’s amazing to work with ’cause it’s nice to have. It’s nice when people are super sweet on and off camera, and she definitely is one of those people. She is just awesome. She’s so good at also what she does. ’cause She’ll give you tips, she’ll give you little like secrets and stuff. Because she just wants you to do the best because she knows that she does the best.
Maxwell, the first episode has this fun plot where your character doesn’t have his driver’s license yet. He is really struggling to drive a car. He has some fears. Did that mirror your own experience or are you a natural behind the wheel?
Simkins: You know, not the best driver. I’m a good driver. I’m a safe driver. But I’m a slow driver. So I don’t have my license yet. I’m 18, I have my permit, so that counts for something. I should get it.
The biggest thing that hurts me in terms of [getting it is] the parallel parking, I’m gonna be honest. When you see the guys in Fast and Furious, they’re swerving. They’re doing it real easy. But then you think to yourself, “Yeah, yeah, you have a highway. Cool, but what happens when you get to the parallel park?” All I wanna see is a Hobbs parallel parking scene. I’d love to see that scene. I’d love to pay to see that scene – just Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson going, “…Oh.”
That’d be incredible. That’d be his biggest stunt yet, for sure.
Simkins: We’d love to see that. And that’s the real man’s problem. That’s the true people’s problem. But yeah, the character and I have a lot in common when it comes to hard-driving abilities.
Barrett, you are just firing off these one-liners. How’s it been really working on your comedic timing and playing off these great actors?
Margolis: It’s not easy. I was like, “I think it’s gonna be kind of easy.” But it wasn’t because you gotta adjust, and it’s different. But once I started watching everyone – I would, like, watch everyone – I was like, “Okay.” S,o I start to understand that you gotta work with the audience. You gotta be like, “Okay, they laugh right before me, I gotta stop.”
Or if they laugh in between my lines, I gotta know that I need to take a break. But then continue it just normally. It’s also a little hard because [the characters] dunno the laughter’s there. It’s like you’re watching someone’s life, but it’s not like the laughter. They can’t hear the laughter.
And so by watching all the amazing people in our cast, [they] tell you, “Okay, so we gotta like be normal about it, but you gotta like play it like you don’t know about it.” I’ve definitely learned how to do that by watching everybody – noticing how they do it. [I’ve] been like, “Okay, so I’m just gonna replicate that or try my best.”
Yeah. You’re learning from the best. And that’s an interesting circumstance. I didn’t really think of that. Maxwell, how is that experience of dealing with the live audience? I’m sure that brings in energy to filming, but that’s a trickiness as Barrett is describing.
Simkins: A hundred percent. You know, I’ve been lucky to do a few sitcoms in my day but I’ve never done live audience. And as Barrett said, it’s a whole different ball game. ’cause you take a quiet sound stage and mix it with a comedy club, and all of a sudden, you have a hundred, 200 people in the audience just laughing, giving their real feedback. You can tell how people feel about the timing and how the joke lands just by their laugh, which helps so much. Because Instead of a director giving a note, you get the people’s opinion, which is honestly one of the most important things.
Barrett, you’re gonna be on millions of televisions. So many people are gonna see you. What’s most exciting about getting to be on TV and having this big role on a sitcom?
Margolis: Oh gosh, so many things. I mean, it’s an opportunity, like so many kids I know just like dream of this. And so it’s like kind of crazy to think about. And it’s just really nice because I’ve met so many like people I never thought I’d meet before, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is like really crazy.” And it all comes so fast, you’re not ready for it. So I’m just so lucky to get to do this. I think it’s really an opportunity.
Thanks to Maxwell Simkins and Barrett Margolis for taking the time to talk about Shifting Gears.