Bart Johnson says Excessive Faculty Musical was “horrible” for his profession early on.
Bart Johnson performed Coach Jack Bolton in Excessive Faculty Musical
The 55-year-star claimed his earlier appearing credit had been ignored and he was “put out to pasture” as a result of he performed a “Disney dad” – Wildcats basketball Coach Jack Bolton – within the 2006 movie.
Bart – whose alter ego’s son was Wildcats member Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the protagonist within the 2006, 2007 and 2008 films – informed TMZ: “When the film got here out, it wasn’t nice for me.
“I would already been appearing for a very long time. I would had a TV collection with Warner Brothers from the fellows who did Thirtysomething. I had a physique of labor already, after which I did this film, and I feel there was like this sort of – you are put out to pasture once you begin being a dad on a Disney present.
“And I used to be like, ‘Whoa, what’s taking place?’ And again then, there wasn’t a bunch of streamers. There weren’t loads of locations you possibly can go.
“I used to be making an attempt to get on a cool collection on HBO. That was just like the one actually cool spot again then, 20 years in the past. And so they’re like, ‘Oh, the dad from Disney? No, we do not need.'”
Excessive Faculty Musical grew to become a success when it premiered on the Disney Channel in 2006 – delivering 7.7 million viewers within the US, a file ranking for the community, and it grew to become the primary TV film soundtrack to prime the Billboard High 200 chart.
However, for Bart, he didn’t profit from its success till 2016, when the movie’s later cult standing revived trade curiosity.
The star defined: “All people’s like, ‘Oh, wow, did this actually blow up your profession?’ And I used to be like, ‘Really, no, it is horrible.’ For like 10 years, it was horrible.
“After which the film, I do not know what occurred, prefer it adjustments classes when it turns into like a phenomenon or one thing I do not know, or it is like a cult traditional.
“The final 10 years have been superb, as a result of a few of my Wildcats are on the market as studio heads and showrunners on collection, they usually’re calling me, going, ‘Oh, we bought to get coach in for this position.’ I am like, ‘I am all about it. Let’s go.’ So it has been nice.”
He added: “They did not do any particular promoting like another film, and when it premiered, it was the most-watched cable film within the historical past of tv. That blew me away.”
Twenty years after Excessive Faculty Musical’s launch, it’s nonetheless one of many Disney Channel’s prime franchises – with all three films being among the many hottest Disney Channel Authentic Films on streaming platform Disney+ in 2025, globally and domestically.
And followers of Excessive Faculty Musical recognise Bart extra so now than when the film first got here out in 2006.
He stated: “I am going to stroll by way of the airport, and I am going to get stopped 10 instances. It is wild, and typically they’re little children. They had been born after the film got here out, which is tremendous enjoyable.”
Bart – who has daughter Kate, 20, and sons Baylen, 22, Wyatt, 17, along with his 53-year-old spouse, actress Robyn Full of life – added: “After which I assume taking my children to high school at elementary college, like, two weeks later, and there have been 400 children on the playground.
“I used to be like, ‘What the heck’s happening?’ After which the college was like, ‘Hey, you may’t come right here anymore.’ It was like an issue.
“It is so enjoyable to journey around the globe, particularly when it is like a rustic you least count on, like a small city in a rustic on the opposite aspect of the world, and folks have this response of like, ‘Coach, what are you doing right here?’ And so they’re freaking out. It is so enjoyable.”
