Austin Abrams on the third season of ‘Wolfs’ and ‘Euphoria’ – Interview

Is it possible to steal a movie from George Clooney and Brad Pitt, two of the matinee idols of our time? With “Wolfs”, Austin Abrams defends that it is possible.

The 28-year-old star, perhaps best known to this point for dancing shirtless on stage to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” in an extravagant musical sequence on HBO’s “Euphoria,” once again finds himself stripping down on Jon. Watts comedy film for Apple TV+. Here, he’s in just boxers and a pair of socks, running around Lower Manhattan trying to evade two repairmen (Clooney and Pitt) working hard into the twilight to clean up his mess.

In the big-budget but minor-key comedy written and directed by Watts, in a return to adult films after his duties on Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” films, the charismatic Abrams is simply known in the script as ” Child.” When this one-night stand begins, he is presumed overdosed and dead after a failed one-night stand with a district attorney (Amy Ryan). Enter Jack (Clooney) and Nick (Pitt), rival repairmen who have been sent through a logistical mix-up that turns out to be a deliberate ploy by their boss (Frances McDormand, only heard in phone calls), to dispose of the body. and restore the orbit of the night. But Kid gets out of his car drunk alive, but not so well, revealing in at least one incoherent and nervous one-take monologue what really happened to the district attorney.

In a breathless, looping rant with sly comic timing, Abrams reveals that the Kid went on a drug heist for the thrill of the story. And in a performance reminiscent of Griffin Dunne’s manic turn in another New York all-nighter, Scorsese’s “After Hours.”

“It’s certainly a genre that’s interesting to me,” Abrams told IndieWire via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles, a “2001: A Space Odyssey” poster taped to the wall behind him. “Something like ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ I love that movie, even though I know it’s not always people’s favorite Kubrick movie. I love how it’s filmed and takes place mostly in one night. In terms of how much it would influence a performance, not necessarily a lot, because what are you going to do? Try to replicate something? “I try to just be present in what’s going on around me.”

Abrams had never been to the Venice Film Festival, where “Wolfs” premiered out of competition this year, and during an especially hot start to September along the Adriatic Sea lagoon. “Fortunately, it cooled down enough at night and it’s still warm, but you were sweating a little less, like a quarter cup less,” he said. “It was crazy. It was crazy to be on the mat with those guys and watch them do the mat, and the whole day was just something you had to jump into and go with whatever was happening.”

When he first received the script for “Wolfs,” Abrams only knew that Clooney and Pitt would star. (There’s already a sequel in the works at Apple, which Abrams said he hopes to be a part of.) “Nobody knew anything other than that Brad and George were in it and that Jon was directing,” he said. “I had no idea what it was about or anything like that. All I got was the interrogation scene.”

Abrams said he didn’t do a chemistry read with the actors. “It was a standard audition and then meeting Jon, who I’ve known for a while through other friends… A big part of it was convincing myself that it was possible to do this and work with those two guys.” . You see those names and you don’t think it’s possible at all. It was very difficult for me to think that it was possible.”

As for the sequence in which Abrams runs through lower New York City in just his underwear and socks, he said, “Every night was the longest night. We were filming that scene for, I don’t know, like three, four weeks, a lot longer than I thought we were going to last… They just put me in the car and told me to go there and ‘run there’ as fast as I could. could. I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was (in New York). They would close certain parts of the street, while other parts were open to the public by simply walking. There’s a lot you can do in New York in terms of what you can close. I would turn a corner and meet normal people. “They don’t see any cameras, so they’re a little scared because they see a guy in his underwear running towards them.”

So really, it’s just another day in New York City.

Meanwhile, Apple scrapped broader release plans and ended up releasing “Wolfs” in theaters just a week before its streaming premiere on Apple TV+ (today, Friday, September 27), and with notable stars like Clooney and Pitt, here There is a movie that could have done solid business with a wider theatrical window. Unfortunately, “Wolfs” is part of Apple’s ongoing push for big-money projects to attract more subscribers. (See the recent streaming success of “Presumed Innocent,” Apple’s bona fide water cooler hit starring Jake Gyllenhaal.) Although Apple would have needed a strong theatrical partner, like Paramount, which distributed “Killers of the Flower Moon” last year, to make a big push.

“The vision was always for it to be released widely and certainly looking at it, we released it the other night and it was great to see it with an audience. It really worked out well,” Abrams said. “People have any priority that I don’t know or know anything about, and everyone made the decision that they thought was best for them. The desire was always for it to be seen in theaters and it makes a difference.”

The question Abrams always gets asked is: What’s the problem with the third season of “Euphoria”? The filming date, with main cast members like Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney set to return, now points to January 2025 after numerous starts, stops, ups and downs at HBO for the teen drama created by Sam Levinson. How Abrams’ Ethan will influence that season is another question. Ethan was Kat’s sweet boyfriend, played by Barbie Ferreira, who cut ties with the series after the character was relegated to the background in Season 2, and that also included a tough breakup with Ethan that some viewers felt was wrong. He betrayed both characters.

Abrams said that while he is “not tired” of being asked about “Euphoria” and when the new season will premiere, he added: “I just don’t have anything to say about it simply because I don’t know. I don’t know if I anticipate being included in the third season if they do a third season. I would love to be included in it. I loved working on that project. “That’s all I can really say.”

The new season is supposed to include a time jump, appropriate given the young actors and that Season 2 premiered almost two years ago in early 2022, and given Ethan’s breakup with Kat, it may not be this time. there is room for Abrams. Who knows if she would get back in touch with her classmates like Rue (Zendaya)?

“One hundred percent. Totally. You got it.”

Next, Abrams stars alongside Julia Garner and Josh Brolin in the film “Weapons,” from “Barbarian” director Zach Cregger, whose filming wrapped last July. It is set in a small Florida community and revolves around a series of missing children with a supernatural underpinning.

“It’s kind of in the same vein as (‘Barbarian’),” Abrams said. “It follows a few different people and it’s all intertwined, that kind of style. There’s only so much I can say about it because I don’t know how they want to present it to the public… A big part of what sets Zach apart is his comedy and how cutting it is, how cool it is. is.

Abrams also stars in Ethan Berger’s upcoming film, “The Line,” as a fraternity member subjected to brutal hazing exercises. Moving forward, Abrams said his goal is to “continue working with great directors. I would really love to work with some classic directors that I have seen during my childhood. Being able to step forward and rise to the occasion.”

That’s something I’d have to do a lot of homework for, but Abrams said, “I do a lot of homework. I try not to talk about those things too much, so I don’t know how they present themselves. Maybe it seems like that (I don’t think so), which is a good thing. You don’t want to show any kind of homework. That’s the point.”

“Wolfs” is now streaming on Apple TV+.