Darren Criss’ Secret To Meeting Gwyneth Paltrow On ‘Glee’ Set: Dental Floss
First Published: April 19, 2011 8:06 PM EDT Credit: Access Hollywood
Caption Access Extended: Darren Criss Shares Details About New ‘Warblers’ Album
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- As The Warblers’ lead singer Blaine on “Glee,” Darren Criss doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to interact with McKinley High substitute teacher Holly Holliday, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, but that didn’t stop him from hatching a plan to meet the actress.
“I had to kind of go out of my way to say hi because I was so star struck,” Darren told Access Hollywood on Tuesday as he promoted “Glee: The Music Presents The Warblers” album. “My character doesn’t go to the school. We’re doing our own other show, we shoot in a different area, different people, so I was on set once and I pretended to go get floss or something completely arbitrary [to bump into her]. ‘Oh, hi! [I’m] Darren. Gwyneth? Nice to meet you.’”
Despite their absence of on-screen time together, Darren said the Oscar winner is a joy to be around.
“She’s very sweet. She’s been very kind to me. She’s been very amazing,” he said.
Beyond the treat of meeting A-list celebs like Gwyneth, Darren is currently enjoying the release of The Warblers’ album, which came out on Tuesday. The record features a host of tracks from the show, including their version of the Destiny’s Child classic, “Bills, Bills, Bills.”
“I feel like I have to write her an apology now,” the self-deprecating actor said of his version of the cut. “I mean, come on, Beyonce’s the queen of pop music. She’s the queen. If you could run for queen… I would put her name in the suggestion box. She’s incredible. I tried to do it as best as I could.”
The album also features “Silly Love Songs” too, a track penned by Sir Paul McCartney and his late wife, Linda.
“I grew up being a huge Beatles fan. Paul is one of my go-to icons,” Darren said of being able to cover such a classic number.
The Warblers will be part of the “Glee” tour, which kicks off this summer and Darren said he can’t wait to hit the road with his castmates.
“It’s just been really a treat to do any of this,” he said. “Rock ‘n’ roll, man. Bring it on!”
As for his role on “Glee,” Darren confirmed the cast recently shot the prom episode, but he wouldn’t confirm that Blaine and Kurt (Chris Colfer) attend together.
“We’ll have to find out, won’t we?” he said.
Darren did note that the episode was a blast to shoot.
“Everyone was really dressed up.. We were at prom for three days… We were playing in the sun, barbecuing outside,” he said. “When we weren’t shooting, we were like playing basketball and just having a fun, fun time.”
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