‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ Stars Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Writer Jesse Andrews Open up About The Film

Sandra Miska

Sundance hit “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is hitting theaters June 12. This coming-of-age indie gem boasts an impressive cast, including cool rising star Thomas Mann and vibrant newcomer RJ Cyler.  Entertainment Voice recently sat down with these two leading men, as well as with writer Jesse Andrews, to discuss “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” their careers and latest ventures.

Thomas Mann, who plays outsider Greg, got his start performing in theater productions at his high school in Dallas. From there, he went on to do commercials before relocating to Los Angeles at age 17. Now 23, he is best known for his role as the host of an outrageous party in the comedy “Project X.”

EV: What attracted you to this project?

Thomas Mann: Everything. It was combination of the script being great, the role being something… The role was such a new challenge for me. I’d never been asked to pour that much of myself into a character. I saw so much of myself in [Greg]. I knew that it was something that was going to be really personal and intense. In that way I was attracted to it, but also knowing that [director] Alfonso [Gomez-Rejon] was involved, I knew visually that it was going to be really interesting and be different from a lot of coming-of-age films.

EV: What’s your favorite scene in the film?

Thomas Mann: My favorite, I think, is the where – without revealing anything – it’s where Rachel tells Greg some news and he doesn’t know how to take it. He sorta lashes out and they just kinda spew venom at each other for, like, six minutes… The whole thing plays out over one take, and as an actor, it was just such a great opportunity. I really just thank Alfonso for allowing us to live in that moment for that long. It just makes us look really good.

EV: That scene was very powerful.

Thomas Mann: It’s probably the one I’m most proud of. From my entire career.

EV: What was your favorite scene that you did with RJ [Earl]?

Thomas Mann: With RJ, probably our confrontation scene. Just to watch him really discover himself as an actor and go deeper and deeper until he, like, had no control over his emotions and it was really hard for everyone to watch. But Alfonso just has this way of getting people to a place that didn’t realize that they were capable of going. I can’t explain, but it was really great to see RJ discovering himself as an actor.

EV: In the film, Greg sorts everyone in his high school into different groups. Where you part of a group in high school?

Thomas Mann: No, and I always thought that that was pretty false in high school movies, where there’s all these cliques. And I think it says more about Greg, that he has to make sense of people, not necessarily that they do belong in any clique, you know? Those cliques exist in his mind. That’s how I see it. It’s just his way of trying to make sense of all the chaos.

EV: What’s next for you?

Thomas Mann: Up next, I have a movie called “Brain on Fire” that I’m doing with Dakota Fanning. It’s a really, really intense movie. It’s about this woman who thinks she’s going crazy for a couple months because the doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with her and she’s having all these weird symptoms. There’s this descent of madness that takes place over the course of a few months before she gets the help that she needs. It’s a true story.

EV: And you play her friend?

Thomas Mann: I play her boyfriend in the film. …I’m about to start shooting it. I’m really excited.

EV: In the film, Earl and Greg make a lot of short films, parodies of classics. Have you ever done anything like that?

Thomas Mann: Yeah, I did, when I was younger. In middle school and a little in high school, we’d make parody of different movies. We did a parody of “Saw” that was called “Spoon.” …We shot a few scenes out of “The Matrix.” There’s one where Neo is breaking out of an egg, so we put Saran wrap over a bathtub and had someone in tight whities crawl out of it. Just like really absurd things like that.

EV: Which of the films within the film did you like best?

Thomas Mann: “Don’t Look Now” was fun. “Burden of Screams” was a lot of fun to film. It was just like in the middle of a park with me cursing at the top of my lungs, and there were kids running around. That was the first day of shooting, I think.

EV: What are your goals for the future?

Thomas Mann: I try not to have them. As an actor, it’s so hard to control what your trajectory is going to be like. Now I’m focusing on who’s the filmmaker? Is it going to be timeless, or is it something that people are just going to watch this year and then forget about? You want to be part of something that’s going to stick around for a long time.

EV: So no found footage films?

Thomas Mann: No, I mean, it’s not like there’s any sort of dream role that I have in mind. It’s about a certain response to a script.

RJ Cyler makes his film debut as Earl, Greg’s best friend. Outgoing and fun (the day of our interview he was wearing a white fisherman hat, an assortment of jewelry and a buttoned-up shirt printed with tacos) RJ in real life is a lot like Earl, who serves as a foil to the sometimes fearful Greg.

EV: This was your first acting job. How did you get involved?

RJ Cyler: While I was in [my hometown] Jacksonville, Florida I heard a commercial that came on the radio, and it was a commercial for a program that was put on by Adrian R’Mante, and he was like, “Do you want your kids to be on this and that?’ And was like, “I do!” So I told my dad to call and try to get me in, even though he was like, “It’s a scam.” I was like, “Dad, no it’s not, because it’s with Adrian R’Mante from Disney.” He was like, “They all say that,” and I said, “Okay, so you’re saying no?” And he was like, “Yeah, I’m not calling.” So I was like, “That’s cool. I’ll go to Mama and she’ll do it.” So I told my mom, and then I went in and auditioned for Phill Lewis and he loved me. I was really nervous, because I watched he and Adrian on “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and “The Suite Life on Deck,” like, every day. Then after that I signed with [a talent agency] in Orlando, Florida, but I didn’t get anything, no auditions… After that, Adrian called my mom and wanted me to do the camp [in Los Angeles] so I came up here and that’s where I met my agency now…. They sent me the script and I was just like, “I like it. I need this to be in my life, y’all.” So I went to the audition with [casting director] Angela [Demo] and she just like, “Yeah,” and I was like, “Yeah?” I called [my agent] Judy and told her, “She likes me!” And she was like, “Okay, cool. We’ll see what happens.” So I was called back, and then I did my chemistry read with Thomas. A few days after the chemistry read, they told me I had booked it while I was in Missouri for my brother’s military graduation. So that was a big day for us. And now we’re here!

EV: So has your dad since come around to your having a career in entertainment?

RJ Cyler: Yeah, he was mostly worried about us getting scammed and me being set up for a disappointment… My dad is very protective of my brothers, and me, and my mom. It’s a dad thing… When it worked out, he was like, “Okay, I’m sorry. It’s a good thing you called, Katina.” He gave my mom her props. Now he’s just in awe, really.

EV: This was your first film and you played one of the title characters. Did it feel like there was a lot of pressure on you?

RJ Cyler: At first, it was. Before we started filming, I felt a little nervous before I got to Pittsburgh. I was like, “What if they don’t like me? I’m the new one, so I’m the easiest to replace. I can’t do this.” But Mama was like, “Breathe. Just calm down, RJ” So I was like, “Okay, I’ll breathe. And then I got to set and everyone was so cool and genuine and so supportive, and just helpful. I was like, “Okay, never mind. I don’t need to be worried.”

EV: Did you enjoy filming in Pittsburgh?

RJ Cyler: I loved filming in Pittsburgh. I don’t think this movie could’ve been anywhere else. Other than the fact it’s where it’s based at in the novel, Pittsburgh is just the perfect place for this movie. It’s also just a good place. I don’t think Pittsburgh gets the acknowledgment that it should. People downplay Pittsburgh, but it’s literally the perfect place. If you want to raise a family, you can raise them in Pittsburgh, easily.

EV: You say you’re a lot like Earl. Is there a Greg in your life?

RJ Cyler: I have a lot of friends like Greg, which is very odd. …Look, if you make something creative, push it out. I used to have a thought in the back of my mind, “Oh, what if people don’t like it?” But at the end of the day, if people don’t like it, I still like. I think that’s why I wear such weird clothes.

EV: Was it fun making the little films within the film?

RJ Cyler: That was a whole lot of fun. We shot most of them the first day of production. It was just me and Thomas and the two artistic geniuses Ed [Bursch] and Nate [Marsh]. …It was very guerrilla style, just us driving around in a van with a bunch of costumes. It was like being in high school and just riding around with your friends shooting Instagram videos. It was a lot of fun.

EV: What was your favorite one?

RJ Cyler: “2:48 Cowboy.”

EV: What was your favorite scene?

RJ Cyler: It’s a tie between the cafeteria scene where I had to fight Ill Phil to protect Thomas, and the confrontation scene between me and Thomas. The confrontation scene was a challenge for me; that’s why it’s one of my favorite scenes. The one with Ill Phil, it just brought back a bunch of memories of my high school days. If anyone gets into a scrabble or something, the whole school will gather around and be like, “Yeah! Do it!” And I was like, “You’re provoking him now! Goodness gracious.”

EV: There’s much discussion in the film about he different cliques in high school. Were you a part of a group? If so, which one?

RJ Cyler: I had friends in every group at my school. Friends from every religion, race and culture. I was friends with teaches. I had bus driver friends. Anybody you could think of in the school, I had at least some type of connection to. But my group would be band – I wouldn’t say geek because that’s a little offensive to the people that are in band – band percussionists, there you go. Band percussionist/class clown/boss. …I was on the tenor drum.

EV: What’s next for you?

RJ Cyler: I’m doing an HBO show right now with Danny McBride called “Vice Principals.” I play a character named Luke. And he’s just like an honest but really misbehaved child [laughs]. I have a brother on the show named Mario and they both are just mischievous. They’re always in some trouble.

EV: So it’s a comedy?

RJ Cyler: Yeah, it’s a comedy. …They’re filming right now in South Carolina. I just finished shooting the first episode and it was a lot of fun.

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” was written by Jesse Andrews, who at only 32 years of age has already published a successful novel he adapted into his first ever screenplay, a soon-to-be hit film.  Andrews, who graduated from Harvard and currently calls Boston home, wrote the novel while he was working full time editing textbooks.  He sat down with Entertainment Voice to discuss his inspirations, the writing process and what’s next for him

EV: How did the idea for the novel come about? What inspired you?

Jesse Andrews: I just knew that I wanted to write something funny, and I wanted it to mean something. I wanted to write a funny book about something that was not funny at all. My grandfather was terminally ill at the time that I was preparing to write this book, so I was thinking a lot about the exchanges that I was having with him, especially that my mother was having with him, everyone in the family, and how you always leave them with regret. You wish you said something different, done something different, because you want that exchange to really contain your entire relationship with someone, but it never does and it never can. I knew that if I could write something that got some comedy out of that, it would take something that’s hard to look directly at and make it less hard to look at. It made sense to set it at a high school. …There’s a lot of cool stuff happening in that space. It was very appealing to me. High school’s a funny world.

EV: Was it always your intention to adapt the novel into a screenplay?

Jesse Andrews: Oh, no. That was an opportunity that turned up very surprisingly and organically. [My agent] put the book in front of, among others, Dan Fogelman, who was a producer on this movie, and it was his idea for myself to write it. He is himself a super accomplished and gifted writer. He pitched on writing it with him mentoring me and shepherding me along. I didn’t really need a lot of persuading. It was an amazing opportunity.

EV: Had you written a screenplay before?

Jesse Andrews: No, never. I hadn’t read a screenplay at that point. I had to sit down and read a bunch of them to get used to it.

EV: Would you write more in the future?

Jesse Andrews: Yes, in fact I already have. I’ve written a few. A couple of adaptations and one on spec which I’m insanely, probably ill-advisedly going to direct next year.

EV: What’s it about?

Jesse Andrews: That one is about a father and a son who are grieving because the mother just passed away, and they go on a cruise. The son really hates it and does not want to go on the cruise but the father has guilted him into it. It’s about grief again. It’s also funny. It’s about grief and legacy and figuring out who you are and how you’re shaped by your parents and stuff. But it’s also about how cruise ships are really strange places.

EV: Kind of like high school.

Jesse Andrews: Yeah, a bit, yeah, actually, the proximity of everyone. You’re just thrown in with all these people. But, people are way older on a cruise ship than in a high school.

EV: Why did you make the decision to not have Greg and Rachel be romantic?

Jesse Andrews: I just wanted to make something unexpected. I know that’s sorta the expectation. You have a boy and a girl and they’re straight and they’re together a lot, so they should fall in love. But I just wanted to do something different with it, something surprising. And there are, you know, platonic relationships that happen all the time in high school, and they’re very interesting and they can be very deep. You know, you just don’t see them explored that much in movies or TV or books, and they’re worth exploring, so I wanted to do that.

EV: Do you identify with Greg at all? Or are you more of an Earl?

Jesse Andrews: [Laughs] I identify with everyone in that book. I get asked sometimes if I’m like Greg, and I think I’m more like him than I’m comfortable admitting to myself. I think family and friends feel that’s pretty much me on the page. I sorta hate the idea, but then that would be Greg’s response to that too, so that just confirms what they think.

EV: What’s next for you? You already talked about the cruise ship script, but do you have anything else planned for the future?

Jesse Andrews: I have my second book, which is coming out in spring of next year, which I’m really excited about. It’s called The Haters, and it’s again about three teenagers, two guys and a girl, but it’s a little different. It’s not about sickness or death. It’s about music and love. They meet at jazz camp, but they hate jazz camp, so they run away, and they try to have an authentic band experience as fugitives, essentially. And I’m going to adapt that one too.

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” opens June 12.