Tonight’s the big night — Jace Norman is returning to the canine world in Rufus 2!
WATCH: Nickelodeon Reveals Trailer for Rufus 2
For those of you that don’t know about Rufus, here’s the scoop. Rufus is Manny (Davis Cleveland)’s family dog. Manny finds a mysterious necklace and puts it on Rufus, and suddenly, Rufus turns into a boy! When the kids at school notice Rufus’s silly dog antics, he immediately becomes the most popular kid around. Soon, Manny becomes jealous of his new best friend, but eventually learns that a dog’s loyalty to his owner always comes first.
In Rufus 2, Rufus (Norman) has trouble controlling his transformations due to a crack in his magic amulet, and unexpectedly pops back to his dog body at the least opportune times. This makes things particularly challenging when it comes to finding a girlfriend.
When new girl Kat (Jade Pettyjohn) shows up at school, Rufus is immediately smitten despite some of her peculiar behavior. Even though she drinks a lot of milk, loves yarn, and hates dogs, Rufus is sure she’s the girl for him.
But with the evil Mr. S plotting to get his hands on that amulet, Manny (Davis Cleveland) and Paige (Haley Tju) are unsure of who they can trust.
“Rufus 2 kind of picks up right where it left off, and Rufus is kind of trying to adapt to this new world that he lives in,” Jace told us exclusively. “He finds a girl that he likes [Pettyjohn] and he’s kind of going through that as well.”
Celeb Secrets caught up with Jace recently to talk about becoming a dog for the second time, working with the cast, and why you should tune in to the TV movie!
Check out the full Q&A below — Rufus 2 airs tonight, January 16th @ 7PM ET/PT on Nickelodeon.
Celeb Secrets: You play a dog that transforms into a human, but still has dog instincts. How did you prepare for that?
Jace Norman: “The director and me worked on the one in the first movie, and then on the second, we kind of adapted him into a little more older, because he got older. I got older, the character got older, and so as he learns how to be a human more, you can kind of see him change a little bit, which is cool.”
Celeb Secrets: You’re getting older, you’ve been acting since you were 12. You have done a variety of shows and movies. How do you think you’ve grown as an actor?
Jace Norman: “I think I’ve grown a lot. Every single week on Henry Danger, I learn something new; and with the movies, I learn something new every time too, because there are just so many different characters and the business is so weird. Experience is like the best way of learning I think.”
Celeb Secrets: Yeah, that makes sense; and then, you love acting and filmmaking since you were young. You even started a YouTube channel. What would you say is the difference between acting and creating your own content?
Jace Norman: “Acting is less creative because you kind of are portraying—you’re creating a character, but you’re portraying a vision of someone else’s. You’re kind of collaborating I guess. And, as far as YouTube, it’s more like me coming up with the idea and then executing it; and, acting is just more like the execution, not necessarily the creating part.”
Celeb Secrets: Which one do you prefer?
Jace Norman: “I love them both equally. I mean, I prefer any of them honestly.”
Celeb Secrets: Nice, since we’re Celeb Secrets, can you share your behind the scenes secrets from filming Rufus 2, that your fans wouldn’t know?
Jace Norman: “Me and Frankie are best friends off set.”
Celeb Secrets: And, why do you think fans should tune into Rufus 2?
Jace Norman: “I think it’s better than the first one; and there’s a whole—all the things that weren’t really revealed in the first one, are now revealed, so they’ll get to know that.”
Celeb Secrets: And, do you have a favorite scene from the movie?
Jace Norman: “I don’t, I don’t think I have a favorite scene. The whole movie is good (laughs).”