Colt Prattes has more than a few things to be grateful for when it comes to his time filming Netflix’s sexy holiday rom-com The Merry Gentleman — but his newfound friendship with Chad Michael Murray is at the top of the list.
“[Chad is] such a great person and such a great performer, especially of our generation,” Prattes, 38, exclusively told Us Weekly. “But the thing that I respect most about him is that from day one, he was a leader for us on that set. Especially for the guys. He was the one who was going, ‘OK what is this gonna be like? How far should we take this?’ And we’ve had a lot of talks about this because we’ve actually become friends. … He’s just the best.”
The Merry Gentlemen — which hits Netflix on Wednesday, November 20 — follows out-of-work dancer Ashley (Britt Robertson) as she returns to her hometown in hopes of helping her parents revive their family-owned bar. To earn the money needed to stay afloat, she recruits a band of hunky men to perform a holiday revue.
Prattes and Murray play two of the enlisted heartthrobs, meaning that in addition to working together on set they also spent hours alongside each other during dance rehearsals, guided by choreographer Christine Lakin.
Prattes noted that it was Murray who led the group into making sure the revue felt more Full Monty than it did Magic Mike — often teaming up with Lakin behind the camera to ensure everything was reading just right.
“And just that role of leadership, I learned a lot from him,” Prattes continued. “And to this day, every time that we talk, [which is] a couple times a week, I’m like, ‘Bud, you’re just dropping gems constantly.’ And so it makes me really happy that more people are going to get to see that because who he seems [to be] is exactly who he is. And that’s the highest compliment that I can give to someone like him.”
While rehearsals were a time to perfect their on-screen revue performance, Prattes confessed that the cast also found time to joke around.
“It was a lot of us trying to focus because we were all laughing so hard,” he explained. “The chemistry just came through immediately … If somebody’s suddenly doing a little shimmy, you’re like, [you] can’t not laugh … you’re constantly trying not to laugh. So a lot of what it was … us getting ready to start a number and [we’re] just shaking, because you’re absolutely not supposed to be laughing. You’re trying so hard to focus. You’re like, ‘Don’t let me ruin this shot.’”
“We had a really, really good time,” he added.
In addition to trying to keep each other from breaking during a scene, Prattes said he and Murray often shared workout advice while on set — when they weren’t engaging in pushup competitions, of course.
“So we would all do little, um, pushup competitions right before certain shots,” he explained with a laugh. “Chad would always win … he could just do pushups for hours. It’s remarkable. But yeah, we did all share our little tips and tricks [for working out] — you know, different strokes for different folks.”
Some of those “tips and tricks,” according to Prattes, included “cryo and infrared sauna,” things that according to the actor “help you recover quicker, especially with rehearsals.”
“Someone like Chad, who hadn’t really danced before and then [had] to go into these rehearsals and full-tilt boogie out there, ya know what I mean?” he added. “Like, you need to recover.”
While the pair were navigating the intense rehearsals and necessary recovery process, Prattes said Murray came up with “the calendar idea” — a promotional calendar featuring the actor in various states of undress to promote the film. Naturally, Murray reached out to Prattes to help him with regimen to look his best for the photoshoot.
“When the calendar idea came around, he reached out to me and was like, ‘Hey, what do you think? Like, could you help me?’” Prattes said, adding that the pair would continue to exchange workout tips in preparation for the raunchy photoshoot. “I [would] just give him stuff, and it’s literally the same thing that I would do with exactly the equipment that he has. And so we’re always talking about that and joking. He’s like, ‘Man, I couldn’t, I couldn’t walk yesterday. So, um, can we change that?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely, bud, I got you.’”
Prattes and Murray’s off-screen bromance aside, the Georgia native also had nothing but kind things to say about his fellow costar Robertson, 34.
“I mean, Britt is one of the most hilarious and non-sequitur people,” he gushed. “Like, she can pull comedy out of nowhere. And it’s, it’s just amazing. She’s also so genuine and heartfelt.”
While Prattes was certainly inspired by Murray and Robertson, he also drew inspiration for his character from his wife, Angelina Mullins. In the film, Prattes plays local bartender Troy, hungry for the opportunity to prove that he’s more than just a man slinging drinks.
“He’s the one that’s on YouTube looking up dance instructional videos and musical theater stuff,” Prattes said. “He’s back there learning the choreo behind the bar … so when the opportunity arises he’s like, ‘I was made for this. This is my opportunity.’ And he’s so excited. That’s not a far cry from literally me and how I felt.”
In one scene in which Prattes was tasked with bartending, he relied on his past experience as his wife’s “sous chef” and in-house mixologist.
“My wife is a phenomenal cook and she had a catering business at one point as a side job when she was on Broadway,” he said. “Like, she’s amazing and does so much in the house, and I got to a point where I was like, ‘I don’t really do anything and she’s making these amazing things and all I am is a sous chef.’ So I learned how to bartend in the house, just for us. And I really got into mixology and all that stuff.”
That’s not to say that mastering the bartending scene(s) came easily for Prattes, who admitted he “messed up so many hotel rooms” because he was practicing flinging around bottles.
“I would throw them everywhere and water goes everywhere,” he said with a laugh. “Because I don’t understand how to do it. But man, did I have fun doing that.”
The Merry Gentlemen is now streaming on Netflix.
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