Nick Jonas reveals how Joe Jonas will celebrate his 35th birthday
While promoting his new movie “The Good Half,” Nick Jonas tells USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa how his brother Joe Jonas will celebrate his 35th birthday.
In “The Good Half,” Nick Jonas plays Renn, a young writer who flies home from Los Angeles to Cleveland for his mother’s funeral. In real life, the actor and singer was even allowed to fly home – to New Jersey – to film the project.
“It felt kind of perfect,” Jonas, 31, tells USA TODAY about working in the Garden State on his new film (now in theaters). He was born in Dallas but grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey. “Being in Jersey brought an element that I didn’t really expect. There was a kind of melancholy about being back in your home state that I think was good for this film.”
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Jonas notes that he enjoyed seeing his oldest brother Kevin (36), his wife Danielle and their two daughters. Although he sees Kevin and his older brother Joe (35) quite often anyway: The three were scheduled to play a show on Joe’s birthday (August 15) and then prepare for another leg of the Jonas Brothers world tour. The tour continues on August 21 in Mexico City and ends on October 16 in Poland.
But first, Jonas’ latest film hits theaters Friday. “The Good Half” also stars Brittany Snow, Matt Walsh and David Arquette. Elisabeth Shue plays Jonas’ mother, who is saddened by the characters while facing her own problems. Alexandra Shipp plays a stranger Jonas meets on the flight home who ends up helping him deal with emotions and situations he’s tried to avoid.
Walsh plays Renn’s father. The dialogue between the characters made Jonas think of his own child, Malti Marie, 2, whom he has with wife Priyanka Chopra.
“I think parenting, even early in my daughter’s life, is about moments like that,” he says, referring to a scene in which Renn and his father, Darren, form a deeper connection amid their grief. “That (Renn’s) father doesn’t know what to say or how to act is just so painful and real.
“I think that’s what a lot of us go through when we’re trying to comfort someone. You just don’t know what to say, and you don’t want to say the wrong thing, but you have no idea what the right thing might be.”
Creative outlets can certainly help, and the Jonas Brothers have plenty of them. Kevin and the youngest Jonas, Franklin, co-host ABC’s “Claim to Fame.” Joe will release a solo album, “Music for People Who Believe in Love,” on October 18. And in addition to his films, Nick is returning to Broadway in March of next year. He will star opposite Adrienne Warren in “The Last Five Years.” Jonas, who last appeared on Broadway in 2012 for a role, calls the project “a dream come true.”
Regarding “The Good Half,” Jonas notes that although it is a sad story, there is “also some humor in it.”
“There’s no right or wrong way” to deal with the loss, he says. “Every person approaches the grieving process differently. I think you can see a lot of yourself in each of these characters and sometimes just feel seen and know that it’s OK to not be OK… that conversation is important, I think.”
