What have been these songs?
I had a Yeah Yeah Yeahs track, I had a Jeff Rosenstock track, and I had “All Eyes on Me” by Bo Burnham.
Oh, that’s attention-grabbing. What Yeah Yeah Yeahs track?
I haven’t listened to them in ages as a result of I used to be attempting to do away with them from my head. The Jeff Rosenstock one was like, [starts singing] “Somebody’s gonna bleed and dribble trails within the snow.” However I used to take heed to it for a very completely different motive. And it was an acoustic model of “Cheated Hearts” that I had. The acoustic model is de facto unhappy and exquisite.
Have you ever overcome your incapacity to bop in public as an grownup?
I nonetheless suck, however once in a while the temper strikes and I can do it.
Let’s finish with Sam’s bodily look. He has this darkish hair and orange-y glow. He additionally picks at his pores and skin and has attention-grabbing posture—it’s not ramrod, but it surely’s not completely hunched both. Are you able to speak in regards to the mixture of all of these issues? How a lot did you carry to it?
The hair was [director] Chris Lengthy and Joel and Joe’s thought. They needed him to have darkish hair. They felt my pure hair coloration wasn’t precisely proper. However I’d additionally simply completed the play, and I had my hair dyed previous to the play as a result of I used to be doing The White Home Plumbers, enjoying John Dean. There was nonetheless a few of that left. My hair coloration was just a little bit unnatural, after which they dyed it brown. They have been eager about him being barely youthful than I’m in actual life. I requested them if I ought to drop some pounds. I believed he was fairly nervous and on edge. Ought to he be fairly slim regardless of his foodie tendencies? And so they stated, “No, it’s best to take pleasure in your Christmas.” I ended up placing on some weight for it, so he’s just a little doughier than I’m, maybe.
The orange-y glow was all the way down to the make-up and the colour grade. In the event that they dye your hair darker, they need to make your pores and skin darker, too, so it doesn’t look too loopy. I used to be like, Pay attention, I’m going to play him as a model of me, so I’m not going to attempt to management his picture an excessive amount of. He simply felt just a little bit teenage when it comes to a scarcity of impulse management and never with the ability to perceive different views. Once you hit puberty, abruptly every little thing simply goes just a little bit mad in that means.
With the garments, I used to be far more concerned: how brief he wore his tie, how he tucked his shirt into his denims, his chain. He had a fixation on that space of his physique, simply having one thing round his neck that felt incongruous with the remainder of him. It needed to do with going out and pondering, Yeah, I might be robust. I can put on this chain and do this. And but that’s nothing to do with the remainder of his persona. I didn’t need him to be anyone factor the place you’d have a look at him and say, “Oh, I do know who that’s,” He may disappear in a room, however in case you checked out him for a second too lengthy, you’d go, “Oh god, he’s fairly an attention-grabbing mixture of issues.”
It creates an unsettling feeling round him. He’s not a freak, and he doesn’t stand out that a lot. However then you definately notice he has a bizarre tone to his pores and skin, and the way in which he picks at himself is just a little uncomfortable.
Precisely. He’s additionally holding so much again. When it comes to choosing at his pores and skin, I ended up with these mad welts on my arms. I wouldn’t even discover it was taking place as a result of I’d be at all of it day. I’d discover myself hitching up my trousers so much as a result of he doesn’t wish to seem slovenly. He’s all the time attempting to manage some side of himself. He units his jaw and tries to maintain issues in. I seen that in a few movies of individuals I watched, utilizing the jaw to attempt to management issues.
This interview has been condensed and edited for readability.
