For talented young actor Billy Bryk, to merely “exist” next to names like Jesse Eisenberg and Julianne Moore is enough to humble him.
“I feel very, very lucky,” noted Bryk. “I get to work with these great actors who I just exist beside and act with. It was great.” When noting his lack of scenes alongside co-star Finn Wolfhard, ironically a close friend off-screen, he was still surprisingly thankful. “I think it’s cool I just get to work with my best friend and do this movie with him, but we don’t really work together in it.”
The movie in question is When You Finish Saving The World, Eisenberg’s directorial debut and the story of a mother and son whose disparate lives have them struggling to connect with one another. Bryk plays Kyle, the son of a woman recently admitted into a women’s shelter played by Moore’s character, Evelyn.
“Kyle doesn’t necessarily know how to behave in front of Evelyn as he’s trying to figure her out,” explains Bryk, still awestruck that he got to play alongside one of his all-time favorite actors. “It wasn’t too dissimilar in real life, really. I’m not too much like Kyle, but there was definitely something there of me thinking, ‘This is somebody who I really idolize, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing.’ I think it helped the dynamic.”
The film’s characters have a blunt sincerity to them, reminiscent of stylings from directors like Riley Stearns and Yorgos Lanthimos, but never to the point that their humanity is lost. “Jesse made these characters who are flawed but very human, and he cared a lot about them,” insists Bryk. “He didn’t want to judge them. He wanted to let the audience make up their own minds…I think that that was my favorite part of working with him, that he cared so much about the character and he cared about how I felt about the character.”
Bryk and Wolfhard went from being part in a writer-director’s debut to co-writing and co-directing their own debut, Hell of a Summer, which is now in post-production. Though plot details are still scant, Bryk described the film as a “camp slasher ensemble teen comedy,” referencing films like Scream and Halloween as touchpoints.
“It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.” Bryk’s eyes light up. “Finn and I have been writing this film since we first met. I think it is very representative of Finn and I’s dynamic together. This movie is our friendship as a movie.”
He goes more into the process behind writing the film in this exclusive interview with GVN, where he also talks about his experiences working on When You Finish Saving The World and navigating the entertainment industry as a young actor. Here is our conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Larry Fried: Billy, it’s a pleasure to get to talk to you today about When You Finish Saving The World. I’ve gotten to see it twice now, and you do such a fantastic job as Kyle. How are you feeling now that this film is making its way to the world?
Billy Bryk: First of all, thank you so much for saying that. I’m glad that you liked it. I feel really good. I’m really excited for people to see this film. I think it’s really good. I’ve loved this story since I read the script for the first time. I’m really proud to be a part of it and I’m really proud of everybody else in the film. My friend Finn plays Ziggy and I think he’s really, really funny.
Fried: That’s a great segue into my first question, which is about your collaboration with Finn. I know you guys are really close friends, both on and off-camera, but ironically, your characters don’t really intersect in the story. Did you two collaborate at all while defining your characters or did you stay true to the script and keep your distance?
Bryk: Actually, we had a lot of scenes together, but I told Jesse that I wouldn’t work with Finn. I didn’t want to act with him.
Fried: [laughs]
Bryk: [smiles] No. We kept it totally separate. I don’t know if that was necessarily on purpose or if neither one of us really felt super comfortable talking about it. I mean, we would talk about how our days went at work. I think it’s cool I get to work with my best friend and do this movie with him, but we don’t really work together in it.
Fried: You character, Kyle, has this wonderful sincerity to him when he’s interacting with the adult characters in this film, which I think is very rare for a role of a character at his age. You’re also acting alongside Julianne, whose character, Evelyn, is also incredibly sincere but to a fault. What was it like to portray a character like that alongside Julianne?
Bryk: That’s a great question. That’s something that drew me into the character of Kyle, for sure. As soon as I read the script, I really connected to how Kyle is very kind and honest and sincere and kind of quiet. You’re right, I feel like that’s not a character young people really get to play, but I think that there are so many young people that exist who are like that. Working with Julianne was an incredible experience. She’s one of my favorite actors ever and she was so kind to me. She was so incredible to act with that it made my job feel easy. Kyle doesn’t necessarily know how to behave in front of Evelyn as he’s trying to figure her out. It wasn’t too dissimilar in real life, really. I’m not too much like Kyle, but there was definitely something there of me thinking, “This is somebody who I really idolize, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing.” I think it helped the dynamic.
Fried: We should also spend some time talking about Eleonore Hendricks, who plays your mother. Your characters come from a home of domestic abuse, which is a very heavy subject matter. You can feel that there is so much your characters have been through before the movie even begins. Did you guys do any work to cultivate what that relationship would feel like?
Bryk: We tried. [We shot the film in] January of 2021 and we were very, very strict with COVID precautions. We didn’t get to meet until a day before our first scene, but as soon as we did meet, she gave me a very long hug. We tried to get to know each other as fast as possible. Kyle’s whole character exists in relation to other people, which is something I found really interesting, so I’m glad we were able to form a dynamic on pretty short notice because it is crucial to the film. Eleanor is a really, really cool person and I have a lot of respect for her. She also made it pretty easy for me, that’s the other thing. I get to work with these great actors who I just exist beside and act with. It was great.
Fried: Speaking of working with great actors, you also have a director who was previously an actor, Jesse Eisenberg, in a bold directorial debut. What do you think makes Jesse such a strong voice in the world of cinema?
Bryk: As is the case with many great actors, you have to think about your characters as human beings, and I think that came very naturally to Jesse. I think that a lot of people are quick to make assumptions about characters that exist on a page and then, as an actor, you try to humanize them. Jesse made these characters who are flawed but very human, and he cared a lot about them. He didn’t want to judge them. He wanted to let the audience make up their own minds about these characters without hitting you over the head with it. I think that that was my favorite part of working with him, was that he cared so much about the character and he cared about how I felt about the character. He just is very, very thoughtful. And, obviously, he loves filmmaking and is an incredible actor in his own right.
Fried: There’s a great line from one of the characters in the film where he says, “I live with a bunch of narcissists,” which is a beautiful one-liner to explain what this film is really about: narcissism that comes from people in positions of power. You come from a family that’s in the film industry, so I’m curious if you’ve ever had difficulty maneuvering around an industry that many people, from the outside, see as one of incredible privilege and power.
Bryk: Well, not until this question I haven’t.
Fried: [laughs]
Bryk: But I’m so aware, always, of how privileged and lucky I am, the fact that I grew up with my dad as an actor and I got to see a person doing that for a living firsthand and that it was a possibility for me as well. You’re right, for so many people it feels like an impossibility, it feels like something that’s so alien, this idea of being a working actor. But I’ve also seen the sometimes-harsher realities of it. My dad didn’t want either me or my brother [Dempsey Bryk], who’s also an actor, to act. He told us, “It’s a lot. It’s tough.” Obviously, there are jobs that are a lot harder than being an actor, but I just mean I feel really lucky that I got to see both sides of it. And then, my parents and my family were very supportive of me when I decided I did want to get into this industry. I feel very, very lucky.
Fried: Most people know you as an actor, but you and Finn have also made the transition to directing and writing with your upcoming film, Hell of a Summer. I believe you guys wrapped production on that not too long ago, is that right?
Bryk: Yeah, we shot that this summer and it was amazing. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Finn and I have been writing this film since we first met. I had a very small part in Ghostbusters: Afterlife a few years ago and Finn and I started talking about films. We both want to be filmmakers and I had just dropped out of film school. I was like, “I’m going to start acting, try to get on sets, and learn about filmmaking.” Then we actually set out to write. We were like, “We should make a divorce drama, like The Squid and the Whale.”
Fried: Great movie.
Bryk: Oh, one of the best. We ended up writing something very, very different. It’s a camp slasher ensemble teen comedy. It’s basically as far as you can get from a divorce drama, but that’s sort of where our heads were at and then we couldn’t help ourselves. I just feel really grateful that I’ve been able to work with actors who direct as well. Working with Jesse and seeing an actor direct really rubbed off on us a lot. It was really cool to see. But yes, I’m excited about our film. We’re finishing editing now and I’m really excited for people to see it. I think it is very representative of Finn and I’s dynamic together. The movie is our friendship as a movie.
Fried: Were there horror films that you guys were thinking about while you were writing it?
Bryk: It’s a horror-comedy, so we looked a lot at Scream, which is just one of the great screenplays. It’s just so effective in its horror, the characters are great, and it’s hilarious as well. Shaun of the Dead was a reference we talked about a lot in terms of how it balances the tone. Also, the original Halloween, just the way that that was shot, obviously a masterpiece. I like slasher films, but anything that’s going to make me think about it too long afterward, I have a hard time getting into. I’m a bit squeamish. So, Finn got me into them and I grew to love the genre a lot more over the course of the years that it took to write the film.
Fried: Last question here for you, Billy. I always love to ask the people I’m interviewing if there’s been any films or television that they’ve been watching recently that’s captured their attention. As a movie nerd yourself, I’ve got to ask if there’s anything you’ve seen recently that you think our readers should pursue.
Bryk: Yes, definitely. For me, Triangle of Sadness blew my mind. I’ve seen it a couple times and I absolutely love it. TV-wise, everybody’s talking about it but I feel like not a lot of people—not enough people, I should say—are watching it: Severance is just unbelievable. It’s so incredible. I could not stop watching it. Then, obviously, The White Lotus was great. Not to plug Hell of a Summer too much, but our producer and star of the film, Fred Hechinger, was in the first season of White Lotus, so obviously I was really excited to see the second season. It’s great. Aftersun, too, had one of my personal favorite performances. I thought it was such a beautiful movie. If you had asked me the type of movie that I would think I would want to make, I would’ve thought Aftersun.
Fried: Did you know that you would be working with Fred on this movie before you had seen White Lotus? Or did seeing White Lotus encourage you guys?
Bryk: Fred is the most well-liked person I’ve ever met in my entire life, for good reason. He’s the sweetest guy and everybody loves him. For years, from when we first started writing this script, Finn would be like, “There’s this guy Fred, and he was in Eighth Grade, and he was great in it.” So, we had Fred in mind and then White Lotus helped seal the deal. We were like, “Holy…he’s brilliant.” All our producers were watching it and they were like, “This is the guy. He’s incredible.” Then we had lunch with Fred and sat for, like, five hours straight talking about movies. He was great to work with. He did a short film called David that Zach Woods directed. Have you seen that?
Fried: That’s the one with the therapist, right?
Bryk: Yes, yes.
Fried: Yeah, I saw that as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in 2021.
Bryk: It’s brilliant, and Fred is brilliant in it. There’s this actor called Will Ferrell, who I don’t know if anybody’s ever heard of—
Fried: Yeah, underground guy.
Bryk: …but he’s in it as well. That was a big one where I said, “Okay, even if we don’t work with Fred, he’s brilliant.”
Fried: Billy, it’s been such a pleasure to talk with you. Best of luck on Hell of a Summer!
Bryk: Thank you so much. Likewise. Thanks for talking.
When You Finish Saving The World is now in select theaters, courtesy of A24.
Larry Fried is a filmmaker, writer, and podcaster based in New Jersey. He is the host and creator of the podcast “My Favorite Movie is…,” a podcast dedicated to helping filmmakers make somebody’s next favorite movie. He is also the Visual Content Manager for Special Olympics New Jersey, an organization dedicated to competition and training opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities across the Garden State.