Just call Kelly Blatz the go-to guy for Disney XD.
When the Mouse repackaged its Toon Disney channel as a one-stop shop for tween and teen boys earlier this year, its first effort was the techno-laden adventure series Aaron Stone, which stars Blatz as a teen who divides his time between being a mild-mannered student and the titular planetary defender, equipped with the latest high-tech gadgets to fight off evil.
After Stone became a rock-solid hit, Disney XD tapped Blatz to help it break into the realm of original movies with Skyrunners, premiering Nov. 27. Blatz plays Nick, who along with younger brother Tyler (newcomer Joey Pollari) discovers a UFO that has crashed to Earth. The spaceship has an effect on Tyler, who starts to develop superhuman abilities. It also helps the boys uncover a fiendish alien plot to take over the Earth. After the aliens kidnap Tyler, it’s up to Nick to commandeer the ship and go save his brother.
Blatz calls the movie “pretty intense,” with some frightening-looking extraterrestrials courtesy of the Weta Workshop, which won Academy Awards for its work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the 2005 King Kong remake. The production took place in Weta’s stomping grounds of New Zealand — a long way from Toronto, where Aaron Stone shoots.
It was another change from his day job, however, that really attracted Blatz. On Aaron Stone, his character is often very low-key, letting the effects and gadgets make the loudest noise. But as Nick, Blatz was given license to unleash his inner Ferris Bueller, playing him as “arrogant and kind of careless, but in a lovable way.”
The relationship between the brothers, who have lost their father, moved Blatz and gave him a way into creating his character.
“His whole objective is to love and protect his brother,” he says. “There’s this whole struggle, because Nick wants to be the fun party guy who wants to get the girl and his brother is coming to him with these problems, and he’s lost sight of that. He’s trying to get his brother’s trust back and make it right, and save the world as well.”
Of course, the world doesn’t always stay saved, and Blatz says the door is left open for a possible sequel.
After Skyrunners wrapped, Blatz went right into the second season of Aaron Stone. While he was glad to be back, the time away made him a little fuzzy on where the action would pick up. But after a quick first-season refresher, Blatz quickly got back in character.
With a year of experience and wisdom under his belt, Blatz says the second season will take the show to new heights.
“There’s so much stuff coming,” he says. “We have all-new villains, there’s new gadgets and gear, new suits and motorcycles and crazy. We really went for it with this season. We’ve continued to kind of change the look. There’s a lot of new castmates, a lot of shocking stuff happens. We really brought it this year.”