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Austin Abrams – Wolfs

So many of your scenes in Wolfs are just you and these two Hollywood legends, Clooney and Pitt. A bit surreal?

I’m sure some years will pass and I’ll look back on it with a different perspective. Sometimes it’s hard to process things in the moment. But the whole thing is incredible — being able to work with not one of them, but both of these guys. It’s pretty wild and definitely something that is still, at times, difficult to fully comprehend.

Was it intimidating at all to figure out how to add your energy to their particular, Ocean’s Eleven-ish dynamic?

Completely, yeah. They have a very specific dynamic, and a great dynamic. You don’t want to mess that up. Of course, it’s written a certain way, so you have those kind of guidelines, but you don’t want to impose your energy when it’s not going to be most helpful. You don’t want to spoil the dynamic that they have. You want to build upon it and add to it — if that’s even possible. A part of it was just being sensitive to the moment-by-moment of where you could be an addition to the scene — and not overstepping out of one’s own ego or anything like that.

Wolfs on Apple TV+. Pictured: Filmmaker Jon Watts and Austin Abrams
Apple TV+

This film has such a singular tone. It feels like a serious thriller much of the time, and the comedy is almost incidental.

Yes, that’s something that I think Jon [Watts, director] knew, tone-wise, and it’s something you could feel on the page — that it would kind of oscillate between comedic moments, and then also thriller. But you want to keep whatever it is grounded as best you can — keep the characters grounded in real emotion so they feel like they have true weight and meaning to them — so that, as an audience, you can connect to the characters.

You spend a long time running around in your underwear. Was that your personal choice of wardrobe?

I mean . . . he wasn’t fully clothed when he was running and I was like, “I want to do it in my underwear! Jon, the script is amazing, I just have one note — if I could be naked for this part . . .” [Laughs] But yeah, of course, I was part of [the costume process].

Wolfs on Apple TV+. Pictured: (Left to right) George Clooney, Austin Abrams and Brad Pitt.
Apple TV+

Seriously, how long were you sprinting around New York in your shorts?

It was certainly longer than I expected. Like, a month or so. It presents its own challenges, but in the end you have a purpose behind it. You’re not just taking a jog on a Sunday — you have a reason to do it, and it’s for the movie. With the right purpose, you can do anything.

Over to Euphoria, that show impacts fans in such a profound way. Has that been a rare experience for you, as an actor?

It’s certainly one that seemed to hit the zeitgeist . . . It hit to the core of people in some sort of way. When [viewers] do connect with something that you were able to be a part of, it is really a beautiful thing.

In light of all the big opportunities like Wolfs you’ve had lately, do you ever look back on that community production of Beauty and the Beast that gave you your start and marvel at how far you’ve come?

[Laughs] I mean, in the moment you don’t really look back too much, because you’re so nervous and intimidated about what’s coming ahead, and what you need to prepare for. But I think coming out of it, especially doing all of this press, has afforded a bit more of an opportunity to reminisce. So, certainly those thoughts have come into my mind. It’s a situation I never suspected I would actually be in, and to have it happen is a pretty amazing thing.

Wolfs, streaming on Apple TV+

MEMORABLE ROLES:

Having gotten his start at nine years old, playing scrappy young teacup Chip in a community theatre production of Beauty and the Beast, the Florida native has gone on to appear in Silicon Valley as whiz kid programmer The Carver, The Walking Dead as doomed zombie apocalypse survivor Ron, This Is Us as Kate’s abusive ex-boyfriend Marc and HBO’s taboo-busting teen drama Euphoria, playing “heroic” theatre phenom Ethan.

CURRENT GIG:

Abrams now co-stars with Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Apple TV+’s crime flick Wolfs, playing a character known only as Kid, whom Clooney and Pitt’s mismatched scandal fixers mistake for a corpse — leading to a night of darkly comedic shenanigans.

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