Summary
Griffin in Summeris a new coming-of-age comedy debuting atTribeca Film Festival 2024. Led by first-time feature film director Nicholas Colia, the movie tells the story of a young boy, Griffin, who elects to spend his summer putting together a dramatic play. While the precocious 14-year-old writes his opus, he meets Brad, a handyman, who captures his attention and changes his play—and his life.
The comedy stars Everett Blunck (Blood for Dust) in his first leading role, and sees the actor pair up withKingdom of the Planet of the Apesstar Owen Teague, who plays Brad. The movie’s cast also includes Melanie Lynskey (The Last of Us, Yellowjackets) and Kathryn Newton (Lisa Frankenstein, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania). Together, the actors lean fully into characters and a world inspired by Colia’s own childhood in theater, and which borrows from the director’s 2017 shortAlex and the Handyman.
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Screen Rantinterviewed director Nicholas Colia and stars Everett Blunck and Owen Teague about their work onGriffin in Summer. They discussed character inspirations, hilarious personalities, and their favorite parts of the process.
Nicholas Colia Reveals His Inspirations For Griffin In Summer
Screen Rant: Nicholas, where did this come from in terms of your life? How much of Griffin’s story was your experience?
Nicholas Colia: A good amount of it. During COVID, I started digitizing my old home movies, including plays and films that I directed out of my basement when I was a teen. I was finally old enough to be able to see the unintentional humor of kids in bad wigs with lines drawn on their faces drinking fake martinis and talking about their divorces. I just got hooked on this whole idea of kids playing adults, and that was really the impetus. That part of Griffin definitely is me.
I saw that you had a 2017 short calledAlex and the Handyman, which seems like it has some similar themes happening. How did that short help you figure out what you wanted to do or not do in this?
Nicholas Colia: It’s interesting. When I started writing Griffin, like I said, the impetus was really looking back at the theater stuff from when I was a teen. Then, I thought, “The most interesting thing to happen to somebody who’s so living like an adult but is actually 14 is to have something actually adult happen to them [in] meeting someone like Brad.”
I had thought, “Well, maybe it’s a neighbor boy,” or for a while it was maybe going to be Griffin’s sister’s boyfriend, and then I just made him the handyman again. It was the easiest way to just get him in the house. But I learned a lot from that short, especially working with kids, although that kid was a nine-year-old. A fourteen-year-old is different.
And [I learned] about how audiences react to children in movies and in comedies and that maybe aren’t made for children. Audiences seem to have a softness and empathy towards kids, which can be useful in terms of storytelling. They [wouldn’t] necessarily have that if Griffin was a thirty-four-year-old guy with writer’s block. They maybe would find that less cute.
Owen Teague: Griffin would be way less endearing.
Nicholas Colia: Right. When casting, I’m like, “What’s the exact age where people stop caring and stop having empathy?” And we determined that’s about 17 or 18. So, we kept everybody under that age.
To kick this question off, I want to also give a shout-out to your composer Nami Melumad, whose music music sometimes felt like early 2000s comedies in the sense that it’s beautiful and fun. In terms of directing and writing, were there movies that you were referencing in your mind?
Nicholas Colia: I wasn’t really, initially, because the movies were these home movies that I was referencing. We’ve definitely gotten people referencing the Wes Anderson movie Rushmore and Eighth Grade and movies like that. I love those movies, so I’m happy with those.
The only movie that I thought about a little bit is Bugsy Malone. It’s a movie from the ‘70s that’s a 1920s gangster movie, but everybody in it is 13. It’s Jodie Foster and Ralph Macchio, and the bartenders are 13 and the cab drivers are 13. I had always thought it’d be funny to do a Marriage Story-type film, but where everybody’s 13 and take it really seriously. The Regrets of Autumn Show is kind of my version of that, of doing an adult dramatic play but everybody’s just 13.
Nami is fantastic, and in terms of the score, we thought a lot about filmmakers like Alexander Payne and James L. Brooks in terms of movies that have a score that has to cover the more emotional stuff, but also the more subversive, spikier, saltier stuff. That’s really what Nami was genius [about] in terms of finding pieces of music and a voice to the music that really covered that.
Everett Blunck & Owen Teague Talk Bringing Big Personalities To Life
Everett, what made this project exciting to you?
Everett Blunck: For me, it was really cool to be able to play a character that is a kid but is also an adult. It brings a different level of maturity that’s super fun to play with, because you don’t get to act like an adult as a kid all the time. I think that was just really fun for me—to explore that and see how I wanted to play it.
Was that hard for you at any point? Griffin talks like a 40-year-old disgruntled man.
Everett Blunck: Yeah, it was hard. The hard part was at the beginning. I was just trying to discover who he was and trying to make a character. Obviously with Nicholas’s help, we created Griffin—Nicholas created Griffin—but after that it was really easy. I had a connection with him and I just played who I thought he was. After I figured out how I wanted to do it, it got a lot easier.
Nicholas Colia: Meredith Tucker and Betsy Fippinger, the casting directors, saw over 400 kids for Griffin. Ultimately, by the end of the shoot, it got to the point with Everett where if Everett was like, “I don’t know about this line,” or, “This line feels a little bit weird,” I’d be like, “We should just cut it.” At that point he was so in the character and it was so much a part of him that I was like, “Well, I trust his instincts more than mine.”
Owen, I just saw you inKingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Jumping to this and seeing your performance is amazing, because Brad is such a character. How would you describe him, and what was the most exciting thing about playing him?
Owen Teague: I really wanted to do this because Nicholas was letting me do something that people don’t really let me do very much. This was a character that I’d never gotten to play. Brad thinks of his life as a tragedy, and he has this cushioned, supported, good, totally normal life. He’s so like, “Oh, I’m in so much pain.”
There is no self-awareness to this guy, and that was really fun to play—somebody who takes himself so seriously and is so lacking in perspective on his place in the world and how people view him and how his behavior affects others. I had a great time. And working with Nicholas and Everett, who just… (to Everett) Was this your first time leading a movie?
Everett Blunck: Yeah.
Owen Teague: You never would’ve guessed. I was like, “Oh yeah, this guy’s a seasoned actor.” So it was a blast.
Everett: I honestly feel the same. It was so awesome. Everyone was just so welcoming. I was so nervous the first day—I had never led a film before—but 15 minutes in, I was like, “Okay, this is home.”
Owen and Everett, both Brad and Griffin are incredible personalities. Did you take inspiration from any people or things that you’ve seen? What were you pulling from?
Everett Blunck: Like I said earlier, I was trying to figure out how I wanted to play it, and I ended up going with almost young Sheldon, but with writer’s block, and a little more out there. And instead of being this super smart genius, [he’s] more of an artistic person. I know some writers and I know some friends who write, so I took inspiration from that.
Owen Teague: When I did this movie, I had just done a movie with Matthew McConaughey and Matthew McConaughey has a way of standing and walking that I saw, and I was like, “Oh, yeah, that’s Brad.” Not to compare Matthew McConaughey to Brad—I know that’s the clickbait headline—because he’s a lovely man. He’s just got this physicality that’s awesome, and that was kind of the first thing I saw.
Then, I watched a lot of Marlon Brando and James Dean [movies], and movies that I can imagine Brad having watched for school or seen when he was younger and taking completely the wrong meanings from. Seeing those kinds of characters in Streetcar and being like, “Oh yeah, I want to be like that.” The physicality is—as you probably know, because I’m an ape—is always a good place to start and find your way in. The voice, too.
Nicholas Colia: I think Owen was still part ape when he showed up on set. There was still some leftover ape towards the beginning.
Owen Teague: This has been said about me before. But I think it kind of works for Brad.
What are you all most excited for people to see with this movie?
Owen Teague: I’m pretty excited for people to see the solo show sequence. It’s so extreme that I’m like, “I can’t wait to see the reaction.” And then the rehearsal scene too with all the kids. All the scenes where Brad kind of flies off the handle and Griffin’s like, “Oh my God.” It’s going to be fun.
Evertt Blunck: I’m just excited for people to see Griffin. He’s really complex, but he’s also very relatable to a lot of people. I think a lot of people are going to connect to him whatever their age is. It’s going to be nice to see how people relate to him, and that’s going to be really exciting for me because I relate to Griffin in some areas of my life too. It’s cool to be able to share that with people.
About Griffin In Summer
When fourteen-year-old playwright Griffin Naffly strikes up a surprise summer friendship with handsome failed performance artist turned handyman Brad, his life (and play) will never be the same.
Griffin in Summerwill premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2024. It will screen June 6 at SVA Theatre, June 7 at AMC 19th St. East 6, and June 13 at Village East by Angelika.
Griffin in Summer
Cast
Griffin in Summer is a coming-of-age comedy released in 2024. It follows a fourteen-year-old aspiring playwright who, during summer vacation, becomes captivated by a local handyman, leading to unexpected personal growth and humorous adventures.
