The kid’s a quick study. Elias Harger memorizes scripts aurally because his reading isn’t yet proficient. He’s regularly off-book ahead of the rest of the cast. He had no trouble learning a Bollywood dance sequence and is relied upon to quiet the babies on set, thanks to experience with his own younger siblings.
Elias, age 8, is also a total ham who happily runs through dozens of poses for a photographer without being prompted.
After years of drama classes and local success, Elias is about to go wide. The young Denver actor who played Tiny Tim at the Denver Center is about to be launched on the Netflix update, “Fuller House.”
The 13-episode first season follow-up to the long-lived and, in some quarters, beloved, 1987-95 sitcom “Full House,” will drop Feb. 26.
If you were born before Eisenhower or after Reagan, you may lack a nostalgic soft spot for the sappy, stilted, old-style sitcom.
Elias is aware of the show’s history. He watched several episodes of the original even before being cast. Now he owns an autographed boxed set of “Full House.” He and Bob Saget joke around on the set, he says.
“It’s weird to see them look young and then see them look old … ,” he said of meeting the original stars. John Stamos’ original mullet had to go, the young cast member says, signaling “cut” with his hand.
Candace Cameron Bure is back as D.J. Tanner, now a recently widowed mother of three boys.
Jodi Sweetin returns as Stephanie. Andrea Barber reprises Kimmy Gibbler. Saget, Stamos, Dave Coulier and Lori Loughlin are back as their old characters, each for an episode or two.
Conspicuously absent: the Olsen twins. The cast addresses the audience with a winking line about that absence in the opening episode.
The premise is familiar: Because frazzled mom D.J. needs help, everyone will rally around … and the house will be fuller than ever.
D.J. now has three kids: Jackson, Max and Tommy (played by twins); her roommate Kimmy has a daughter, Ramona. It’s a new generation of child stars being informally coached by former child stars.
Elias is prone to dancing between takes. When action stops to reset cameras or rewrite lines, he takes it upon himself to entertain the cast and crew.
“Elias is always in motion,” his mother Jeni Harger said at a meeting at the office of his local manager, Wilhelmina Denver.
He’s not shy about saying he beat out thousands of kids for the role. He’s currently in a language immersion school in Denver, after being tutored in his trailer during production in L.A. He swims, he draws and plays piano. He admires Michael J. Fox and has a special thing for “Titanic” (he created a replica of the ship in cardboard). Looking ahead, he said, “I want to do it all” — theater, movies, TV, singing, dancing, comedy, drama.
His mother knows things can go sideways for teens in Hollywood and is keeping a firm hand. “If he stops enjoying it, we’ll know when to pull the plug.” The goal is not the paycheck, but the experience, she said.
“Candace has taken him under her wing,” Jeni Harger said. In 1986, at age 10, Bure was cast as Donna Jo “D.J.” Tanner, the eldest daughter, on “Full House.” So she knows the worries Elias’ mother feels, she knows the pressure a child actor feels.
For now, the show’s writers have begun adapting the character to Elias’ personality, Jeni said. His character Max is less buttoned-up, not so much the germaphobe like his TV grandpa Danny Tanner ( Saget). When they see he easily picks up dance steps, for instance, they write to his strengths.
Judging by the first couple of episodes released to critics, Elias is a natural, equipped with perfect sitcom timing, a winning smile and telegenic eyes that he expertly bats at the camera.
The show itself? Maybe you had to be there in 1987.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830, jostrow@denverpost.com or @ostrowdp
