Interview: Troy Gentile & Hayley Orrantia Preview Tonight’s Star Wars-Themed Goldbergs

It seems almost any sitcom that is set in the right time period, and even some set in present day like The Big Bang Theory, always end up doing a “going to see Star Wars” episode. For anyone who actually grew up in the 1980’s (and maybe some of us who embarrassingly admit that we stood in line for The Phantom Menace), “standing in line with Star Wars” is right up there with “using the Sports Illustrated football phone” or “dreading the President’s Physical Fitness test” or other tropes that show creator Adam F. Goldberg seems to have pulled from every 80’s kid’s childhood. With May the 4th only two days in the past and a new Star Wars film on the horizon, this week’s episode couldn’t be more timely.

Airing at 9PM on ABC, tonight’s show is called “A Wrestler Named Goldberg” and while the Star Wars plotline mostly revolves around Adam and Erica, there is also a plotline for Barry in which he joins the wrestling team with hopes of impressing a girl. Being Barry, he of course expects it to be like WrestleMania, and you can, of course, expect mother Beverly (Wendi McClendon-Covey) to try to put a stop to things.

We spoke with the actors who play Erica and Barry, Hayley Orrantia and Troy Gentile, about what we can expect to see tonight.

As mentioned up above, Troy’s character of Barry ends up joining the wrestling team, and — spoiler warning — his first match gets an unexpected interruption in the form of the Ultimate Smother, Beverly Goldberg.

“That was crazy,” Troy enthused. I was really sick [doing that scene], and there were so many takes; so many different angles that went on with that wrestling scene. It was crazy. It was fun; me and Wendi had to go through some stunt coordination. None of us got hurt. It was cool, you know? It was funny and great.”

“When it was on my coverage, I could not stop laughing. It was so funny, that image of having Beverly come up and stopping me. It was just so ridiculous, and I couldn’t stop laughing,” he said, pointing out that the conflicts with the parents make the show work. In this episode, specifically, Murray’s fathering approach and Beverly’s mothering approach come into conflict. “I think every episode has a little bit of that father-mother type dilemma,” Troy said. “I think that’s what makes the show so funny. With this episode, it’s heavily there. It makes the episodes so great.”

Regarding the actors who play them, Troy thinks it is “awesome” to work with talents such as Jeff Garlin and Wendi McClendon-Covey. “They’re such professionals, and they’ve been around so long, so for us – me and Hayley, and our little brother Sean to be able to go to set and be there with them just makes it better and better every day,” he said.

Over on the Star Wars side of things, tonight’s show sees Adam coaxing sister Erica into seeing Return of the Jedi — and that “nerdy side” is something Erica Goldberg might prefer to keep a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

“Erica didn’t want to go, and she tried to put that whole nerdy life behind her, but in the end, you can tell that she absolutely loved Star Wars, and she’s happy that her and Adam get to share that bond,” Hayley says. Keep your eyes open in the episode for a Princess Leia-inspired costume that Hayley has to wear as Erica later on. “At first I felt absolutely ridiculous [wearing the costume, which includes cinnamon buns], but it’s really funny, and I think it came off really well. It was actually really funny, because I had to wear that outfit the day of my 20th birthday, so walking around going ‘I’m 20 now, but I’m wearing cinnamon buns on my head’… it’s interesting what we do for a living,” she said.

Interesting trivia: The real-life Adam Goldberg who created this show wouldn’t have been able to con his sister into seeing Return of the Jedi. Why is that? In reality, Goldberg doesn’t have a sister at all! Erica was created for the series. “He has an older brother, Eric,” Hayley confirmed. “But I’m happy that he changed it, because I love being on the show, and I’m grateful for this character.” Sadly, while there is a real Barry Goldberg, he and his TV alter ego have not yet met, so Troy Gentile is unaware of how the real Barry might respond.

Like most episodes of The Goldbergs, tonight’s show is very funny and worth checking out at 9PM tonight on ABC. Below you can find some preview images. Enjoy:

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THE GOLDBERGS - "A Wrestler Named Goldberg" - Murray and Pops convince Barry to come up with an elaborate lie about him joining the wrestling team so an overprotective Beverly is duped. When the truth comes out and backfires, Beverly takes matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, Adam convinces Erica to take him to the local premiere of "Return of the Jedi" but she flakes to hang out with her friends. When Erica sees his disappointment, she makes good on her original promise with a plan, on "The Goldbergs," TUESDAY, MAY 6 (9:01-9:31 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Tony Rivetti) SEAN GIAMBRONE