Austin Butler Talks With Harkins Behind The Screens!

Hey, how's it going? Oh, first of all, Austin, happy birthday. Oh, that's so nice. Thank you. I have a half-eaten brownie in your honor. My husband didn't realize I was using it for a Zoom ending. That is so funny. Wow. Well, I wish you all the best. Thank you. So Austin, if you don't mind, let me start with you. I know for Elvis, you had a whole wardrobe and everything to help get you into character. And then, of course, something like Dune, same thing. What was that thing in this film that helped you the most when it came to getting into Hank's character? This one was the book. The book really was helpful because it's written from his point of view. So there's so many internal thoughts, you know? So that was very helpful. We also had Charlie who wrote the book. He was on set almost every day. Being able to have conversations with him, both about his experience of living in New York and his experience bartending. And then it was conversations with Darren and us being able to rehearse. And he just reminded me of the fact that we had these rehearsals where Darren taped off before the sets were built. And so it was like when you're rehearsing a play, where you have a taped-off environment, just like a chair, bed. And so we got to rehearse before the sets were even built. So that was very helpful. I know the film is caught stealing. I won't ask you guys if you've ever stolen anything or if you wish you could have stolen something. But I do want to ask about caught sneaking. Have you ever snuck into a movie theater? And when was the last time you did it? Oh, I thought you were going to say sneaking around like a peeping Tom or something. Oh, in a movie theater. Yeah, I used to do that as a kid. I used to jump into people's backyards. Did you do that? Oh, what? Talking about sneaking into a movie theater. I don't know if I ever snuck into a movie. Oh my, but you watched people in their backyards. You would go to somebody's yard. I found people to be very interesting. Yeah, yeah. That's almost creepy. I was like seven, eight years old. I don't know what was going on for me, but I would dress in dark colors. Is this real? Are you making this up? And I would hop into the fence in the neighbor's yards. No way. I would spy on them. I don't believe you. The dark colors is too specific. OK. I'll tell you more. I want to know if I can take this seriously. I do want to ask about the chemistry. I know that you all are great actors. I know you've had chemistry before with co-stars, but honestly, I can't recall a time this was the kind of chemistry that, as a moviegoer, I felt uncomfortable. Like, I felt like I shouldn't be here. It was so fantastic. I have experience with this. But can you guys tell when it is a little bit special? Like, there is another level here. Yeah, of course. I feel like we adore each other and get along really well and understand each other's minds pretty easily and quickly, you know? And you feel safe, you know, safe on both parts. Yeah. And then also having a great director, you know? And not only in terms of, like, shaping the scenes and the characters, but also just created an environment where we felt comfortable to try things. And he encouraged us to spend a lot of time together. And I feel like that's something you kind of can't fake, is just really getting to know each other, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was just effortless. Zoe, real quickly, as we wrap, Austin's family, a lot of them live in Arizona. And I just want you both to know that we've got 19 of them. Family members and friends heading to Harkins, a Harkins theater, to watch this next, I think, next week at early screening. And I've warned them, besides seeing Austin get beat up a lot, it is just fantastic. They're going to love it. Oh, wow. Thank you. Thank you for setting that up. Harkins is such a great theater. I love that I got to come out to Arizona and get to see. Opening week, he came with Baz for Elvis. I still can't believe it. So you guys are both due back. Yeah, yeah. Happy birthday. Congratulations. Welcome to Narnia. I know it's somewhat of a tragic story. But man, I had a grin on my face for a large part of the movie. You all were just fantastic. Brilliant. Thank you. Matt, I want to start with you. I can't get Russ out of my head. I just absolutely fell in love with him. And I know actors talk often about the process of getting into character. What about the process of getting out of character? Did he stay with you as well? I kept the haircut for like three and a half months after it. Can you believe? No. My friends were like, dude, man. This is, you know, it looks ----. My mom hated it. Aww. Like, son, you gotta work, you know. In a sort of nice moment, I was like, mom, leave me alone. I've got a braid in my hair. And yeah, so he, you know, he kind of hung around, man. It was good. I had such a fun time playing him. I sort of didn't want to let him go, maybe. So it never even grew on mom? Like, even after a few months, it didn't grow on her? She wasn't the biggest fan of it. All right. She likes me like a mom haircut. Yeah. We've got to keep her happy. Yeah, pretty much. It's a life's work. Yeah. When was the last time you talked to these guys? Regina, you didn't have a mohawk, clearly. But was there something that helped get you into that time period, that mindset for Roman? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I wore, I didn't have a mohawk, but I wore a wig. And he didn't have, he didn't wear a wig. It's not too bad. One of the things that we, our hair designer, John Carter, just absolutely amazing. All of us went through major hair transformations for our characters. And for me, you know, just the conversation of, this is a detective. She probably is not keeping a regular standing hair appointment, so her roots should be showing a little bit. You know, it should not be just a perfect dye job. You know, what does that look and feel like? And from wearing wool coats in the winter all the time, you know, your hair kind of gets a little damage from the wool. So let's kind of make your ends a little thin. And it was fun. Yeah, just playing with all that. Yeah. Talk about details. That's one thing I loved about this movie. I mean, so many details. No character is wasted. I just thought everybody deserved their own film. And I'm wondering, besides the people you all play, who was maybe a side character that you were fascinated by that you would love to see in their own standalone? The two Russians. Yuri and Akita. Yeah, exactly. One thousand percent. Like, I'd watch whatever they're doing at home on a Wednesday and then getting into trouble. Yes, fully. You know. I mean, just even watching them in conversation. In real life. Yeah. I know it is Austin Butler's birthday. I'm not sure who decided that he should do a press junket on his big day. But in honor of Austin, can we gush about him for a second? Just tell me the biggest thing that surprised you about Austin Butler when you got a chance to work with him. I'll be honest. I keep my expectations low and my energy high. So I don't think I went in with any particular expectations, but he is truly a joy. I mean, so giving. He's a giving human. And that is just, you want that as a scene partner. You want someone that is fully committed and is understanding that they're as good as you are. So he wants you to be great. You know, he's a very humble, graceful man and very hard-working. But also I think, you know, he sort of has a quality in life. I think that you want to lean into, which is why he's interesting and, you know, truly is a, you know, I don't use the term lightly. He's a movie star, you know, but actually he carries that mantle with real grace and he's got a good sense of humor about himself. And yeah, I can't speak highly enough of him, to be honest. He had that idea of doing the head to the throat. Yeah, that was, he created that scene. Darren, I'm Tara Hitchcock. I work with the largest independently-owned theater chain in the U.S., Harkins Theaters. I'm so happy to see you. Thank you for the work you do. Well, thank you. In fact, we've got 19 of Austin's family members who live in Arizona and friends going to the Harkins for an early access screening on the 23rd. And I told them they're going to love it. That's amazing. Thank you. Congratulations on this. You and I, I think, are about the same age, but I know back in the late 90s is where they are. You look so much better than me, dear. So much better. I've got a big ring light. I don't know about you, but the ring light. Believe me, I got more lights than you do. Okay. Well, the ring light definitely helps, to be honest with you. But I'm curious, what did you want someone who at the time was 7 or 8 to know about the late 1990s? You're talking about Austin. Yeah. You know, he does his homework so hard. He's such a hardworking guy. You know, I definitely had to teach him how to operate an answering machine. That was a big one for him. But really, he, you know, explaining the ins and outs of a flip phone, a StarTech phone. There were a lot of little details that he had to figure out. Like, do you pull the antenna out? Do you drop the antenna? All that type of stuff. Really difficult acting stuff for the boy. Well, speaking of details, that's another great thing about this film. I mean, there is no role that is wasted in this. Every single person or animal in this film, I was fascinated by and wanted to know more by. Was there a character, obviously not the main characters, but was there someone that just merits their own film? They were so much fun to do on screen. Oh my god, I would love to do the prequel with Russ, you know, Matt Smith's Mohawk character, meeting Liev and Vincent D'Onofrio in that early story. So, you know, that would be a fun film to make. This does such a great job of explaining, and I know there are a lot of movies that do this, how one thing can go wrong or right in your life and it sends you on a whole different path. There are many reasons why you are here doing what you do and you're so good at it, but is there one particular thing that you find yourself thinking about often that really explains why you are here today doing what you do? Oh, wow. In my life? Yeah. I mean, I think I was blessed with my college roommate assignment that the college picked because he was an animator, he was in the arts, and he gave me the courage to start drawing. Really, it was that simple. The right person at the right time to send me down that path and get me kind of fascinated and interested in kind of looking at the physical world and how to represent that on a two-dimensional surface. So, I mean, we're like best of friends from when we met freshman year. So it's nice to see him. He actually did all the visual effects on this movie, so we still work together. Chemistry is a tough thing, in my opinion. I know these are great actors. I know they've acted before with people where they share and have chemistry, but this was the kind of chemistry that almost made me uncomfortable. Like, at one point, I'm like, I shouldn't be in the room right now. How do you know you've stumbled upon chemistry that good? That's all luck, to be honest. You never, ever know. It's all luck. You can't tell when you're— I mean, can you tell when you're shooting? They actually never did even a— I guess they call it a chemistry meet or something. They never even did that because Austin was somewhere and Zoe was somewhere. When they started to hang out, it was just clear we were all going to be the best of friends and we're still all the best of friends. I thought you were talking about Austin with the cat, Tonic. That was the real thing. Well, that's undeniable. I couldn't control that. That was out of control. I like you, Hank.