Damian McGinty on Glee Cast Bromances and What to Expect From Rory in Season 3
Ever since Damian McGinty’s Celtic thunder burst onto The Glee Project scene, we’ve been totally smitten. But y’all already know that. What you may not know is just how Damian is dealing with all this new found attention since his debut as exchange student Rory Flanagan on Glee. Well we caught up with him to get the scoop...
From his Glee girl crush to his bromance with GP alum and roommate Cameron Mitchell to what we can expect from upcoming Season 3 episodes, Damian told all in an exclusive interview with Wetpaint Entertainment. (And, yes, we followed up on that special lady he told us about back in August. Hold on to your heartstrings!)
What episode are you filming right now?
We’re kind of jumping between episode 8 and 9 which is Christmas and Sectionals at the minute. So yeah, we were filming Christmas [on Thursday, November 10].
How is it working with Chord Overstreet [Sam]?
Myself and Chord had a scene Thursday morning I think... It’s part of the Christmas episode. It was actually my first scene ever with Chord. He’s great, he’s such a good guy, he’s really cool. It was our first scene together, as in dialogue, and Rory and Sam interacting. It’s nice, it’s an interesting storyline. The Christmas episode is really cute, for Rory it’s really cute. It’s his first Christmas without his family.
Do you have a girlfriend?
I hate getting this question. It’s hard. There is somebody in my life right now, who is really a special girl, so you can take that any way you want. I never say yes, I never say no, yeah I’m staying mysterious.
Will Rory have any more love interests?
I hope so because all the girls in Glee are really cute. The thing with Rory is, I feel like there’s so much to know about him, like there’s so much of a past, there’s so much potential storyline there that maybe a girlfriend is a little bit down the list, but I hope so. Also all the girls are all like, two years older than him, which makes it a little weird. But I’m sure Rory wouldn’t mind
Do you have a crush on any of the girls on Glee?
Every single one of them. They’re all, like all the girls on that show I can’t even say how gorgeous they all are. They’re so nice, every last one of them is beautiful. It’s just an incredible cast to work with.
Do you have any duets coming up?
Episode 6 [“Mash Off], which is next, the mash-up, myself and Finn [Cory Monteith] actually have a song together. Jenna [Tina Cohen-Chang] and Dianna [Quinn Fabray] also sing on it but, yeah, it’s basically us two and then those two. I’d love a song with Kevin [Artie Abrams]. Myself and Kevin get on great. He’s such a great guy. We went to X Factor during the week.
I hear you’re a fan of [X Factor contestant] Drew Ryniewicz.
Oh my gosh yeah, I actually chat to Drew quite often. She’s such a nice girl, she’s really down to earth and I just think she’s the bomb, she’s so talented. Even though I feel like I don’t really know her. I feel like I kind of want to look after her and make sure she like, goes the right way, because it’s so easy to like, go the wrong way. I don’t know, and even though she’s got Simon [Cowell] looking after her, in this business, especially starting so young like... It’s important to have the right advice and the right people around you because there’s the opportunity to do bad things all the time, you have to have the strength and the right people around you to say no. If you don’t, it can end up bad, to be honest.
What do you like about her?
She’s got an incredibly unique voice. And I like her because it’s so effortless she just, freakin’ I don’t know, she sang “Fix You” during the week which didn’t actually get the best reviews from the judges, but I thought for the song she was given she did the best she could’ve done. And she’s young and fresh and bubbly and a kid, and I’m just rooting for her.
How will your relationship with Finn develop?
There’s definitely a bit of a bromance going on there. Off-screen Cory is definitely, he’s super cool, he’s really down to earth, really genuine. And on-screen, from day one, from “Pot of Gold,” it was kind of the first relationship you see with Rory apart from Brittany [Heather Morris] even, Brittany was kind of a relationship even though it was just Rory being a little creep trying to get a pot of gold. I mean he’s young, he was just kind of naïve. To be honest, it’s very true, it’s kind of like any kid these days probably like me, you know. [Laughs] It is what it is, there’s no point in lying.
Are you similar to Rory?
Rory is especially, in real life, like me going on the set. I’m 19, a teenager, those guys are like mid-20s, late 20s so in that sense it’s like very true to the storyline. I’ve come in and, compared to those guys, I’m very inexperienced, very young, and Rory’s the same. He’s very innocent, he’ll take anybody’s word. He just wants to fit in. Even if he gets bullied, he’ll do it with a smile.
Was there any sort of hazing for you as a newcomer?
They’ve warned me that it’s going to happen, so I’m still waiting in. I started the beginning of September and I’m just getting on the best with them. A few of them personally told me that, of all the new people fitting in, I fit in the best of all of them, you know. I mean, we hang out on weekends.
What do you and Cameron Mitchell do for fun?
We have a lot of fun, to be honest it’s kind of crazy. The both of us have crazy hours, like he does a lot of writing, creating more music and working with writers and recording, and he doesn’t really see me, because I’m always on set. So whenever we do see each other, which is the weekends, we hang out, we go eat a lot of food, we play FIFA, we go see X Factor, go see a few shows, walk about, we go to the Grove quite a bit. Even though we’re very different we’re the same person. We have the same interests, even though I’m a little crazier than him. We have the same values in life, like the whole Christianity thing with him, he’s really strong about it, you know. I wouldn’t be as strong, but, like, we go to church every week. It’s something that we would never miss and love to do.
In general, just being nice to people, it doesn’t take much to be nice to people. The minimum thing in life is being nice so it’s not a problem. Me and him just look at things the same way. We’ve lived together now three months and it’s the easiest relationship. There was a time we were both off, we had a day off, and it hit about noon and Cameron was awake and I remember just lying on my bed and I shouted, “Cameron, why are you awake!?” and it was noon! I mean, if we ever have a day off, we’re not out of bed ‘til like 2:30 and then we get up and just stay in our pajamas and play FIFA. Our apartment is perfect.
Speaking of values, “The First Time” got some backlash. What did you think of the episode?
My opinions are that Glee has always been realistic and people can deny it, parents can deny it, but the reality is that there’s a lot of teenagers out there these days that are having their first time. There’s no point in lying about it. I’m not going to live in this blind way and say that everybody waits ‘til marriage because that’s not the case. I think that’s why Glee has been such a success because it always stays true to reality and Ryan’s not afraid of doing that. And I think, you know, the episode was very tender and it didn’t go into much detail. It was very cute and very well put across. I thought they did a great job. I think it got people talking, it got people thinking but, you know, that’s what TV is supposed to do.
How many more episodes will we see you in?
I won a seven episode stint and we’re filming episode 9, which is my sixth so I’m just in every episode.
Did last week’s episode count as one of yours?
First Time? Yeah it did! That’s the thing on Glee, there’s so many interesting characters on Glee. You know, when Ryan said you won a seven episode stint on Glee, he didn’t say you’ve won the seven episodes where you’re the main character. I’m just happy to be there. And there’s going to be episodes where you’re barely going to sing. But the reality is, there’s other people there; you take what you get.
What’s one word you would use to describe what to expect in the next couple of episodes?
Fast. Be prepared for speed. It’s exciting for you, not for my legs. Just be prepared for fast, seriously it’s insane.
What did you think of your first song choice?
I’d never heard of “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” I was like, Kermit the Frog? Ryan,are you serious? I think it’s a gorgeous song. Sometimes you get songs on Glee that are there for entertainment or to do well in the charts. Like “Last Friday Night,” it was for entertainment, just fun, but “Green” was a storyline song.
How’s your dancing?
The dancing is getting a little bit better. We’ve had some absolutely crazy dance rehearsals this week.
Lightning round:
Kevin - hilarious
Lea Michele - incredible
Cory Monteith - genuine
Heather Morris - awesome
Naya Rivera - what’s the word? Naya is amazing, she is, I feel like she’s had the biggest journey on Glee, she started off as kind of like a background character and now, as recently as the Adele mash-up going up online has three million views in three days, we were actually sitting in the audience watching and it was the best day of filming ever. Watching hot girls dance and singing a great song, it doesn’t get better than that.
Jane Lynch - inspirational
Matthew Morrison - genius
Darren Criss - incredible, he’s so down to earth, incredible voice, he’s, I just can’t say enough good things about him, he’s just super nice.
Chris Colfer - Oh my god Chris Colfer, he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. For me coming in, I’ve been doing this since I was 14 on a much smaller scale and now, coming in at this stage at such a young age, there’s a lot of things I don’t know about. This level, it’s a different ballgame and there’s a lot of things I don’t know about that have to be done, and Chris has been amazing in helping me out. He said I remind him of himself. He was 19 when he started. We’re both very young, we both kind of started off as the same character on the show. He got bullied a lot as well so he’s just giving me so much great advice. He’s an absolute sweetheart.
What would you most want to sing on Glee?
I would love to bring Michael Buble to Glee, or Foster the People. My biggest dream is there’s a UK artist called Gary in a band called Take That which is HUGE in the UK. I would love to use more falsetto in Glee.
What are your post-Glee plans?
My aim is to get a full time role on Glee - that’s my number one aim. It’s a big decision. I feel like what I do after Glee is going to be prime, key in what I want to become. Now that I’ve started acting, I’ve got the bug, so I want to get better. For me, it’s not even about the fame, but it’s just about doing what you love. It happens to be on a pretty big scale.
wetpaint
From his Glee girl crush to his bromance with GP alum and roommate Cameron Mitchell to what we can expect from upcoming Season 3 episodes, Damian told all in an exclusive interview with Wetpaint Entertainment. (And, yes, we followed up on that special lady he told us about back in August. Hold on to your heartstrings!)
What episode are you filming right now?
We’re kind of jumping between episode 8 and 9 which is Christmas and Sectionals at the minute. So yeah, we were filming Christmas [on Thursday, November 10].
How is it working with Chord Overstreet [Sam]?
Myself and Chord had a scene Thursday morning I think... It’s part of the Christmas episode. It was actually my first scene ever with Chord. He’s great, he’s such a good guy, he’s really cool. It was our first scene together, as in dialogue, and Rory and Sam interacting. It’s nice, it’s an interesting storyline. The Christmas episode is really cute, for Rory it’s really cute. It’s his first Christmas without his family.
Do you have a girlfriend?
I hate getting this question. It’s hard. There is somebody in my life right now, who is really a special girl, so you can take that any way you want. I never say yes, I never say no, yeah I’m staying mysterious.
Will Rory have any more love interests?
I hope so because all the girls in Glee are really cute. The thing with Rory is, I feel like there’s so much to know about him, like there’s so much of a past, there’s so much potential storyline there that maybe a girlfriend is a little bit down the list, but I hope so. Also all the girls are all like, two years older than him, which makes it a little weird. But I’m sure Rory wouldn’t mind
Do you have a crush on any of the girls on Glee?
Every single one of them. They’re all, like all the girls on that show I can’t even say how gorgeous they all are. They’re so nice, every last one of them is beautiful. It’s just an incredible cast to work with.
Do you have any duets coming up?
Episode 6 [“Mash Off], which is next, the mash-up, myself and Finn [Cory Monteith] actually have a song together. Jenna [Tina Cohen-Chang] and Dianna [Quinn Fabray] also sing on it but, yeah, it’s basically us two and then those two. I’d love a song with Kevin [Artie Abrams]. Myself and Kevin get on great. He’s such a great guy. We went to X Factor during the week.
I hear you’re a fan of [X Factor contestant] Drew Ryniewicz.
Oh my gosh yeah, I actually chat to Drew quite often. She’s such a nice girl, she’s really down to earth and I just think she’s the bomb, she’s so talented. Even though I feel like I don’t really know her. I feel like I kind of want to look after her and make sure she like, goes the right way, because it’s so easy to like, go the wrong way. I don’t know, and even though she’s got Simon [Cowell] looking after her, in this business, especially starting so young like... It’s important to have the right advice and the right people around you because there’s the opportunity to do bad things all the time, you have to have the strength and the right people around you to say no. If you don’t, it can end up bad, to be honest.
What do you like about her?
She’s got an incredibly unique voice. And I like her because it’s so effortless she just, freakin’ I don’t know, she sang “Fix You” during the week which didn’t actually get the best reviews from the judges, but I thought for the song she was given she did the best she could’ve done. And she’s young and fresh and bubbly and a kid, and I’m just rooting for her.
How will your relationship with Finn develop?
There’s definitely a bit of a bromance going on there. Off-screen Cory is definitely, he’s super cool, he’s really down to earth, really genuine. And on-screen, from day one, from “Pot of Gold,” it was kind of the first relationship you see with Rory apart from Brittany [Heather Morris] even, Brittany was kind of a relationship even though it was just Rory being a little creep trying to get a pot of gold. I mean he’s young, he was just kind of naïve. To be honest, it’s very true, it’s kind of like any kid these days probably like me, you know. [Laughs] It is what it is, there’s no point in lying.
Are you similar to Rory?
Rory is especially, in real life, like me going on the set. I’m 19, a teenager, those guys are like mid-20s, late 20s so in that sense it’s like very true to the storyline. I’ve come in and, compared to those guys, I’m very inexperienced, very young, and Rory’s the same. He’s very innocent, he’ll take anybody’s word. He just wants to fit in. Even if he gets bullied, he’ll do it with a smile.
Was there any sort of hazing for you as a newcomer?
They’ve warned me that it’s going to happen, so I’m still waiting in. I started the beginning of September and I’m just getting on the best with them. A few of them personally told me that, of all the new people fitting in, I fit in the best of all of them, you know. I mean, we hang out on weekends.
What do you and Cameron Mitchell do for fun?
We have a lot of fun, to be honest it’s kind of crazy. The both of us have crazy hours, like he does a lot of writing, creating more music and working with writers and recording, and he doesn’t really see me, because I’m always on set. So whenever we do see each other, which is the weekends, we hang out, we go eat a lot of food, we play FIFA, we go see X Factor, go see a few shows, walk about, we go to the Grove quite a bit. Even though we’re very different we’re the same person. We have the same interests, even though I’m a little crazier than him. We have the same values in life, like the whole Christianity thing with him, he’s really strong about it, you know. I wouldn’t be as strong, but, like, we go to church every week. It’s something that we would never miss and love to do.
In general, just being nice to people, it doesn’t take much to be nice to people. The minimum thing in life is being nice so it’s not a problem. Me and him just look at things the same way. We’ve lived together now three months and it’s the easiest relationship. There was a time we were both off, we had a day off, and it hit about noon and Cameron was awake and I remember just lying on my bed and I shouted, “Cameron, why are you awake!?” and it was noon! I mean, if we ever have a day off, we’re not out of bed ‘til like 2:30 and then we get up and just stay in our pajamas and play FIFA. Our apartment is perfect.
Speaking of values, “The First Time” got some backlash. What did you think of the episode?
My opinions are that Glee has always been realistic and people can deny it, parents can deny it, but the reality is that there’s a lot of teenagers out there these days that are having their first time. There’s no point in lying about it. I’m not going to live in this blind way and say that everybody waits ‘til marriage because that’s not the case. I think that’s why Glee has been such a success because it always stays true to reality and Ryan’s not afraid of doing that. And I think, you know, the episode was very tender and it didn’t go into much detail. It was very cute and very well put across. I thought they did a great job. I think it got people talking, it got people thinking but, you know, that’s what TV is supposed to do.
How many more episodes will we see you in?
I won a seven episode stint and we’re filming episode 9, which is my sixth so I’m just in every episode.
Did last week’s episode count as one of yours?
First Time? Yeah it did! That’s the thing on Glee, there’s so many interesting characters on Glee. You know, when Ryan said you won a seven episode stint on Glee, he didn’t say you’ve won the seven episodes where you’re the main character. I’m just happy to be there. And there’s going to be episodes where you’re barely going to sing. But the reality is, there’s other people there; you take what you get.
What’s one word you would use to describe what to expect in the next couple of episodes?
Fast. Be prepared for speed. It’s exciting for you, not for my legs. Just be prepared for fast, seriously it’s insane.
What did you think of your first song choice?
I’d never heard of “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” I was like, Kermit the Frog? Ryan,are you serious? I think it’s a gorgeous song. Sometimes you get songs on Glee that are there for entertainment or to do well in the charts. Like “Last Friday Night,” it was for entertainment, just fun, but “Green” was a storyline song.
How’s your dancing?
The dancing is getting a little bit better. We’ve had some absolutely crazy dance rehearsals this week.
Lightning round:
Kevin - hilarious
Lea Michele - incredible
Cory Monteith - genuine
Heather Morris - awesome
Naya Rivera - what’s the word? Naya is amazing, she is, I feel like she’s had the biggest journey on Glee, she started off as kind of like a background character and now, as recently as the Adele mash-up going up online has three million views in three days, we were actually sitting in the audience watching and it was the best day of filming ever. Watching hot girls dance and singing a great song, it doesn’t get better than that.
Jane Lynch - inspirational
Matthew Morrison - genius
Darren Criss - incredible, he’s so down to earth, incredible voice, he’s, I just can’t say enough good things about him, he’s just super nice.
Chris Colfer - Oh my god Chris Colfer, he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. For me coming in, I’ve been doing this since I was 14 on a much smaller scale and now, coming in at this stage at such a young age, there’s a lot of things I don’t know about. This level, it’s a different ballgame and there’s a lot of things I don’t know about that have to be done, and Chris has been amazing in helping me out. He said I remind him of himself. He was 19 when he started. We’re both very young, we both kind of started off as the same character on the show. He got bullied a lot as well so he’s just giving me so much great advice. He’s an absolute sweetheart.
What would you most want to sing on Glee?
I would love to bring Michael Buble to Glee, or Foster the People. My biggest dream is there’s a UK artist called Gary in a band called Take That which is HUGE in the UK. I would love to use more falsetto in Glee.
What are your post-Glee plans?
My aim is to get a full time role on Glee - that’s my number one aim. It’s a big decision. I feel like what I do after Glee is going to be prime, key in what I want to become. Now that I’ve started acting, I’ve got the bug, so I want to get better. For me, it’s not even about the fame, but it’s just about doing what you love. It happens to be on a pretty big scale.
wetpaint