Atticus Shaffer – The Middle

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) What can you tease is in store for the season finale?

A) It seems like every year our season finales are packed with everything, but the kitchen sink! In this one, specifically for Brick, he is presented with an opportunity that he hasn’t before. He is usually falling behind and having to scramble to finish so he’s always barely passing his grade. This year he is offered to skip a grade and go straight into high school. He’s faced with the challenge of what he wants to do or would he rather stay behind in middle school. It’s going to be pretty cool because it continues to show Brick evolving and maturing more mentally and emotionally. It shows he is the smart quirky Brick that we know and love.

Q) He’s gotten more comfortable in social settings. Talk about his evolution.

A) He has been socially inept, but at the same time he thrives with people who understand him. That’s why he was able to thrive with the social group for so long. This year he has a girlfriend, but she is someone who he can understand and she understands him. They have that knowing of each other because they are both in that socially awkward inept way. To them, it’s not awkward or abnormal. That’s cool because Brick is maturing and becoming more aware in situations and productive and a part of certain situations, but at the same time he is still him. He still loves to read and loves his fonts. He still loves everything that makes him who he is. He still stays true to himself, but he does evolve a bit.

Q) He has certainly also struggled to find his place in the Heck family. With Sue going off to college, what can we expect between the dynamics of the family changing?

A) It’s going to be very interesting because for the first couple of years you saw the kids dependent on the parents. They needed to ask their parents for everything and were all together a lot. Now how they are breaking it up and how it is going to be, in my opinion, is probably going to be something where you are really going to see the difference between two or three separate storylines. The kids are away at college and they are doing their thing there, but you have the parents who are just left with Brick and not knowing what to do. And you have Brick growing more independent and going off to do his own thing, too. So, there is probably going to be dynamics of the family where they are together because as Frankie says, “You do for family.” At the same time, there are now independent issues among each of the family members. I’m excited to see how this pans out and how they are going to break things up with the A storyline, B storyline and C storyline.

Q) Talk about your personal growth and journey being a part of the show.

A) This has been a completely different experience for me. Ever since day one of acting, when I wanted to do this as a job, it was one of those things that it has been different from the beginning. Every job I do and every work I do is very different. Being on this series where I am part of the main cast, we have been super blessed that the series has been successful. It’s an interesting learning experience to be able to see a successful series that now the writers have to be creative and write stories. It’s interesting for my character because it is not like it’s a movie where you have to portray all these things at once into a character through the time span of an hour and a half to three hours and then it is the end of it. This is a series where you have one issue and a character’s quandaries and troubles for this week and then the next week there is a different issue or thing going on. You have to pick and choose what you portray each week. That is definitely something I’ve learned about. Also, because I do have an interest in film making my hope is to go to college and study at film school to become a director and writer. Being able to see all the different ways the different directors we have had film and work and how the crew works and all the different things that makes the show possible has been a huge learning experience for me. Being able to see the different equipment and how the different directors shot, that was really cool to me and gets me fired up because I’m getting the best hands on learning experience I could ever get.

Q) With Sue and Axl away at school, will it be hard for you not seeing your costars as much?

A) They successfully did it with Charlie’s character when he first started going to college. I’m pretty sure they will do it successfully with Sue as well. In my opinion, it is one of those things where it can be a blessing and a curse. It can be a curse because now those characters aren’t interacting with the family as much; however, it is a blessing because since they are away there is more potential for storylines both in the household with Frankie, Mike and Brick and then with the kids who are away at college. Because there is a separation, there is more of a unique storyline capability between the kids, Brick and his parents. It can go both ways. We really just need to see how everything pans out.

Q) You are a part of social media. Do you enjoy the instant fan feedback you receive?

A) When you have a multicamera show that is in front of a live audience they are hearing it and seeing it for the first time. You rehearse it and perform it and like a play you get that instant feedback. With us, we’re a single camera show so we have no live audience. It’s just our crew. The crew has heard it a bunch of times over so there is no feedback from them. When I get social media responses, it is so much fun to be able to see the feedback that is coming instantaneously after episodes air! It’s like we’re performing in front of an audience only virtually. It’s really cool because as an actor, we want that feedback so we can take it as constructive criticism so you can be like, “Okay, they loved it like this so let’s continue it,” or “This wasn’t successful so let’s change it to something better or different.”

Q) Is there anything you want to be sure fans know about the season finale?

A) It’s going to be a doozy. It’s going to be cool to see the reaction to it. As long as people tune in, we’re happy!