The Square Life

Ah c’mon, you totally know who Bart Johnson is. Remember the WB series Hyperion Bay? Okay…well, maybe you saw one of his guest starring roles in CSI: Miami, JAG, Babylon 5, Walker, Texas Ranger or Tremors: the Series.

Still doesn’t ring a bell? How about this: he played Zac Efron’s dad in a little TV movie called High School Musical.

Unless you live in a Nickelodeon-fortified pop culture vacuum, you already know that High School Musical is huge. The Disney Channel Original Movie became a surprise hit when it premiered in January 2006, spawning two DVD editions, a top-selling soundtrack album, countless items of tie-in merchandise, a live concert tour and not one but two planned sequels.

Johnson got a big break when he was cast in High School Musicalas Jack Bolton, the basketball coach who pushes his son Troy, the star player, to pursue a future in sports instead of singing his heart out in the school musical. (So yeah, he’s the closest thing the movie has to a villain.)

So how did a working actor like Johnson get to be part of a pop culture phenomenon?

Friends with High School Musical director Kenny Ortega for fifteen years, Johnson got a surprise phone call one day.

“He called me up just out of the blue and said, ‘hey, I’m going to Utah to make this movie. There’s no money in it, but it’s a really cute movie, I think it’s going to be really good, and I promise you that if you come up, you’ll have a blast,” said Johnson on the set of High School Musical 2: Sing It All or Nothing, which shot in Salt Lake City and St. George this past April.

“I always look for excuses to come back to Utah.”

One reason to make it to the Beehive State is to visit his lodging retreat, the Johnson Mill Bed & Breakfast in Midway, which he owns. “Every extra penny I’ve made has gone into [it],” he said. “I joke that I’m going to be the poor man’s Robert Redford.”

For richer or poorer, Johnson’s love affair with showbiz runs deep. His mother as a hair stylist, for numerous TV shows. Johnson’s father was also an on-set chiropractor. Johnson was just starting high school when the family moved to Utah. Originally he thought that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a chiropractor. Instead, he caught the acting bug in college and, much to his parents’ chagrin, moved back to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time.

He married actress Robyn Lively, star of the 1989 teen flick Teen Witch, and has siblings and relatives who all work in the entertainment industry. His sister-in-law is Blake Lively, star of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the upcoming movie Elvis & Annabelle. His brother, Adam, is best remembered as Heather Beers’ ex-boyfriend in Jack Weyland’s Charly. Showbiz runs on both sides of his family. “Sorry, Mom and Dad.” Johnson said.

If you look up his name on IMDB.com, the Internet Movie Database for movies, you will find a lot of acting credits under his belt. Johnson said working in High School Musical was really what opened doors for him. “The most important thing is that I’m a rock star with my nieces and nephews,” he said. “On the first (film) I couldn’t get my friends to visit the set. On this one, everybody wants to visit me, cousins I’ve never heard of and friends [are] coming out of the woodwork.”

In between the first and second Disney films, Johnson, has worked on four other movies—including Daddy Day Camp with Cuba Gooding, Jr.. He also wrote and co-starred in his first director debut film, The Run.

Happy to be caught up in the whirlwind of High School Musical mania, Johnson never imagined that the first film would be a huge success. Inklings? Yes. A burning in the bosom? No. The thought that the film would be a hit first entered his mind when they shot the musical number in the cafeteria.

“The rehearsals looked really cool, but on the set…when everything was lit and it was happening and…these hug cranes [were] hanging over the second story above the cafeteria and getting these huge epic shots…I remember thinking, this is big. This doesn’t look like a little movie,” he said

So, what can Johnson reveal about the second film?

“They got Kenny Ortega involved again,” he said. “They got all the kids back. The music is great—again. The dance numbers are way bigger, way harder. Just larger than life.”

Originally, Johnson’s character and Ms. Darbus (played by Alyson Reed) were to have a duet in the first film. “I wanted a song so I could be in the musical tour and make some extra dough,” said Johnson.

Will we see Coach Bolton get in touch with his musical side in High School Musical 2?

“Nope. Sorry, kids,” he said.