We were lucky to catch up with Robert Capron recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Robert thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

In some ways, the answer’s my whole life. My earliest memories all have something to do with stories: I was riveted by Thomas the Tank Engine and would recite entire episodes at the dinner table. In hindsight, I think getting a GameCube was a major part too. One of the first films I ever saw was the original Spider-Man, and my mom’s constant questioning of whether or not the movie was appropriate for a 4 year-old (compounded by Willem Dafoe beating the ever-loving crap out of Tobey in the film’s finale — the first truly great film sequence I ever saw) helped me realize somewhere, subconsciously, that there were entire worlds out there of information I didn’t know about. The Gamecube game of the movie made me an actual participant. I WAS Spider-Man. The lines got blurred early, and by the time I saw a theatrical production of “All the King’s Men” at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island with my grandfather, I was already taking an acting class with the theater after school. That was the play that did it. It was real, and right in front of me. I’ve known that in some way, shape or form I was a storyteller ever since.

Robert, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Robert (or Rob Capron). I’ve acted since I was eight. I’ve starred in film and television projects including the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film trilogy, and I’ve moved over to writing in the last five years — where I worked on the Disney Plus show Muppets Mayhem and have developed many projects of my own. I got into the industry thanks to the kindness of a few key mentors. I had acting teachers who gave my parents a very important nudge; some early agents willing to take a chance on a clueless child; a father willing to leave his job to support my own career; and an author that crafted a character with whom I shared a temperament.

I write freelance, develop my own screenplays and projects, work as a filmmaking and VFX instructor at AFA HUB (the vocational college offshoot of the charity Actors for Autism), and offer acting lessons. Thanks in no small part to my early entry in the industry, I value education immensely. I think the most important thing in the world we can do is transfer our knowledge to others, be it swapping stories or helping construct them. It should come as no surprise I’m also a massive history nut, and a lot of my projects tend to focus on overarching themes of generations across multiple eras and places.

I adore the research stage. I’ll read, watch, play, consume whatever I can find. There’s always something to learn. And living in Los Angeles, I go to the movies a frankly obscene amount of times — you gotta understand the craft!

What keeps me going the most, and what I believe to be my personal superpower, is my passion. I can rant about something I find interesting or a nugget / perspective I hadn’t considered before for days on end, as my poor roommates and girlfriend are clearly aware. Jokes aside, you gotta throw yourself into it, man! That’s the key. Whatever’s in front of you, love it. Try and leave it a little bit better off than it was before.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The downside of early success is an early sense of arrogance. That’s not to say I was a jerk (though I have definitely proved capable of being one) but that fast acceptance can lead to a false sense of security in your field of choice. I carried a certain complacency in my teen years I didn’t even realize I’d developed; I felt I was on a particular path and there was no alterations in sight. It was a straight shot up, baby!

But the truth, as many of us has come to learn, is that life is way more like a rollercoaster. And when I developed multiple eating disorders, I found many of the roles I was put up for were contingent on my larger weight. I wasn’t the same “type” anymore. That threw people off — myself included. When I tried to write and direct a feature film for my senior project in high school, I made it two days before I realized that despite a decade in the industry I had absolutely no clue in hell what I was doing. Compound this with college — a totally new environment with incredible people from all over the world who seem way more independent than you — and you get a serious crisis of confidence in who you really are and what you’re capable of. I now think this period was one of the most important in my life. It was a stark introduction to the fact that absolutely nothing is guaranteed, and that you’re capable of a lot more than you think you are. In fact, it’s times and situations of self-doubt that lead to the most growth.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

There’s a Virgil Abloh quote I absolutely adore, and I’m confident it’s because I got into entertainment as early as I did. Here it is: “Everything I do is for the 17-year-old version of myself”. For me, that’s THE one requirement we all have as human beings. And I don’t mean buy a PS5 on release day because the PS4 was such an integral part of your teen years (though I’d never tell anyone NOT to). It’s that there’s certain lessons, experiences, timeless narratives and senses of being that the best art can communicate to you at a time where you might not know you need that kind of reflection most. Like I said earlier, a huge part of my youth was witnessing films and playing games and taking in experiences that I didn’t necessarily understand, but I could tell were trying to communicate something to me. Something universal. And by the time you’re seventeen — if you’re really giving a damn about the world around you, or at least open to trying — you’re at a point where you can really start comprehend the weight of your own experiences, begin the journey of you want to be. It helps to have people share their ideas; to have a reference point, or someone in a handful of stanzas communicate a truth within you you hadn’t been able to articulate before. The day I make a movie or show that contains everything I wish I could’ve told my seventeen year self — and the other teens around me — I’ll be happy. Of course, there’s only so much you can say versus the weight of the lived-in experience; but I chose a career in writing and in art because it’s the real means in which you can pretend to walk in another person’s shoes, even for a second.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robert_capron/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-capron-95b372135/

Image Credits

Twentieth Century Fox for the Wimpy Kid Poster.