Jonathan Lipnicki On ‘Circus Kane,’ Bullying & Fighting Back [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

Jonathan Lipnicki, 27, stars in Circus Kane, a cheeky new horror film that revolves around Jigsaw-like manipulator and his pawns. “Basically Circus Kane is about a group of social media stars who get an invite to this house of horrors from this famous circus ringleader, and if they survive the challenges they get $250,000,” Lipnicki explains in an exclusive video with uInterview. “But they find out quickly that they’re in for more than they bargained for. I play Scott who is a petty thief, and also heavily involved in the horror genre.”

JONATHAN LIPNICKI ON CIRCUS KANE, BULLYING

“[The shoot was about] 12 or 13 days,” he continues. “It was good, you’re running around a lot, t goes by quickly. You’re expending a lot of energy ’cause a lot of the scenes are running, jumping, and doing a lot of crazy stuff.”

Lipnicki was a child star, first appearing in Jerry Maguire in 1996, and is know for his work in the Stuart Little movies and The Little Vampire. Since then, Lipnicki has continued his acting into adulthood, but opened up about being bullied when he was younger. He recently posted on social media about the issue, which was a widely respected move by fans.

“It just kind of all started from one post i made about just being like, ‘hey, I’m proud that I’ve done more work as an adult than I’ve done as a kid, because a lot of people told me that I wouldn’t get work as an adult, and I was teased a lot for that,” he began. “And the bullying thing really connected with a lot of people out there, so I went more into detail about that and dealing with anxiety and depression. And it was awesome to see the response I got from people who really connected with that, I felt like it was important that hey see me talk about it, and a lot of people were really cool and really grateful about me opening up about it and making it more normal, and trying to end the stigma.”

The actor delved into his own experiences with bullying, which began at a young age. “I dealt with it really heavily in middle school and, you know what, I’m a better person for it. It taught me resilience, it taught me how to deal with people and, I’m not gonna say I’m grateful for the bullying, but I definitely grew a lot from it. I get a lot of prank calls, people threatening me,” he added, giving specifics on what he’s had to deal with. “Got my car keyed in high school several times for no reason, just people threatening to beat me up and stupid stuff. And just dumb stuff, just really they go for the lowest hanging fruit and that would me being short,” said the actor who stands at 5 foot 7 inches. “Or they’d try to insinuate that I was gay and then call me hate words based off of that. It was definitely a low period in my life that I’m happy is not happening right now anymore.”

Lipnicki also had advice for people who get bullied on the internet. “Social media, don’t give them the time of day. Just block everybody that’s mean,”  the actor says. “Don’t give them the time of day.” As for being bullied in person, Lipnicki adds, “it’s a very hard thing to give advice on because it’s a very difficult situation and a very unique situation to each person. I would say, find things that you’re passionate about that you can focus your energy on that are positive for you. And that seems to lessen the effects of whatever’s causing you distress, whether it be ppl or anxiety or depression or being bullied. But try to find something you really love and focus on that and become amazing at it.”

Circus Kane is currently available on demand.