Pop-Culturalist.com

This is the year for David Henrie, who’s making the transition from actor to writer and director. The former Disney Channel star, best known for his role as Justin Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place, is teaming up with some familiar faces as he makes his full-length directorial debut in This Is The Year.

The coming-of-age rom-com follows the adventures of nerdy high school senior Josh (Lorenzo Henrie) as he embarks on the road trip of a lifetime with his best friends to see their favorite band at the biggest music festival of the year and, hopefully, win over the girl of his dreams.

Pop Culturalist caught up with David to learn more about This Is The Year, how his previous shorts helped him prepare for the film, and what it feels like sharing this milestone with those closest to him.

PC: Tell us about This Is The Year and the inspiration behind the film.
David: I was always a fan of classic coming-of-age movies, and it was always a desire of mine to want to make one of those movies, but in a modern-day setting. I really liked those movies because they deal with such primal themes that can strike a chord with young people. I was influenced by them growing up, so I wanted to explore the theme of expectation versus reality set in a love context in modern day.

I feel like people nowadays, young people especially, are very influenced by social media, TV, movies, and they might expect love to be just what they see in all of those influences. So I really wanted to explore that theme in a very classic way, but directorially tell it in an interesting fashion. That was my inspiration behind the film. I wanted to pay homage to a lot of my favorite movies but also relate some of my love life, for lack of better words, throughout my life in this story and the lessons that I’ve learned, so it definitely came from a place of passion for me.

PC: This project finds you reuniting with some familiar faces. As you were cowriting this story, did you have these particular actors in mind?
David: I didn’t have particular actors in mind other than my brother, Lorenzo Henrie, who plays the lead. It was an independent film, so the enemy of all independent films is time. You need a lead actor who you have a good relationship with, you trust, and can pull off what they need to pull off on time. I always knew that Lorenzo could do it. I have a great relationship with him and he saved us a lot of time. It was a win, win, win, plus, plus, plus with him. He really delivered. I was very happy.

PC: With this being your full-length directorial debut, how beneficial was it to have these prior relationships with the actors when embarking on this journey? How much more special is it to have your friends and family as part of this huge milestone?
David: There’s not a word to describe how grateful I am that I got to work with people that I trust and respect and that respect me and trust me and who united to pull this off. It was a very ambitious shoot, a very ambitious schedule for an independent film, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without close friends and family who I’ve worked with in the past that united behind me for this film. I’m incredibly grateful and humbled that some really talented people would get behind me for this—so incredibly humbled.

PC: You’ve directed a couple of shorts in the past. How have those experiences prepared you for this full-length future? What was the biggest takeaway from this project?
David: Absolutely. I wouldn’t have been able to direct this feature film if I hadn’t done shorts previously because it really got me the experience that I needed. I made the mistakes that I needed to make on those and learned. So what I took from my short films was I needed to place a high emphasis on preparation for this film because what a lot of people will tell you with your first feature is don’t have a lot of locations. Make sure you do a lot of handheld because that’s quicker and easier. Don’t do a lot of effects. I didn’t do any of that for this film. There’s no handheld. It’s all set up on dollies, sticks, the tripod, steady cam, technocrane, so there’s a lot of technical things that went into the film. There are effects. There are a lot of locations. So I pretty much broke every rule.

So I needed to be as prepared as humanly possible, and I studied directors like Edgar Wright, Spielberg, and a lot of others who storyboard. So to me, getting to storyboard was a real time-saver because I was able to show a complicated transition or a complicated move to everyone right then and there. So the explanation time and the figuring-it-out time was greatly reduced because they were able to see the vision very clearly. I could hold it up and say, “This is what I’m doing.” Storyboarding saved the day in a lot of instances on set.

PC: You cowrote, directed, and also have a role in this film. How challenging was it to wear all those different hats?
David: It was just like “What do we need to do to get it done?” As an actor, I wasn’t even going to play Sebastian in the film. It was actually supposed to be someone else, and then it kind of came by way of necessity. It was like, “Oh no. Now I need to play it.” I was like, “Great. I can totally play this role. I love it. I wrote it. It’s something I know I can do.” And I actually had a lot of fun with it and was able to, I think, pull off a good performance. I had my trusted writer on set, Pepe Portillo, who would get behind the camera when I was acting and he kind of pseudo directed me. It was very helpful to have him there because I trust him and he gave me solid feedback in the moment. So it was, again, great to have someone I trusted right then and there with me to help.

PC: With the film coming out on August 28, what do you hope audiences take away?
David: My hope is that they’ll come away discussing the theme of expectation versus reality and discussing love and saying, “How do those things work? What is love? Is it what I thought? What is love rooted in? What is the foundation of it?” I hope they’ll talk about things like that because I definitely chewed on a lot of that in the film through a traditional love plot and also through friendship and family. There are different ways love can articulate itself in different relationships, so hopefully they’ll find some common denominators there and have discussions on it.

PC: You’re having a live premiere on the 28th. What can fans expect? Can you tell us about partnering with PLUS1 COVID Relief Fund?
David: Absolutely. All I can say to fans is bring a Kleenex because you’re definitely going to have tears of nostalgia shed throughout the evening because me and Selena [Gomez] are reuniting for the first time in eight years. We haven’t been together in eight years on camera. This will be the first time you’re going to see us. It’s going to be live, so you’re going to see our live interaction, our live banter, all of that. And not only that, we’re also going to have Q&As with the whole cast. So you’re going to see Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. Charli’s the most popular TikToker in the world. She will be hosting a little Q&A with me, Selena, and the cast, which will be fun. It’s one portion of the evening, and she was a big fan of the show. So it’s like, you’re seeing a fan up there sit with people she likes and have a good time with us.

That’ll be nice. There’s also a performance by lovelytheband, which will be great. They’re going to play some new music. They’re going to play some music from the film, so you’re going to get a mini concert as well. It’s going to be a little over two-hour fun live evening where you get a feel-good movie, see some familiar faces that’ll hopefully put a smile on your face during your quarantine, and have a performance by an awesome band.

We really think it’s going to be a great lineup, and to make it even more of a win-win, we partnered with Selena’s nonprofit, the PLUS1 COVID-19 Relief Fund, and they’re benefiting two amazing organizations in that fund. They’re going to be benefiting the World Central Kitchen, which has been around for a long time. They help bring food to those who need it, especially those affected by COVID and children as well. The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which is struggling musicians in a COVID era. So it’s hopefully a win. We wanted to create a win-win-win atmosphere for everyone. Put a smile on your face, have some fun, see some faces, listen to some music, and benefit a great cause.

PC: What’s one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started working on this project?
David: Oh, that’s a great question. Selena has always been one of my best friends. She knew about the project for a long time, and she was pseudo producing it in a sense that she was always giving me advice and always talking about it, but nothing was official until she saw the movie. When she saw the movie, she went, “Whoa, David, I love the film. It’s got a great message that I want to share with people.” And especially with the female characters—having an empowering message—she really connected with the meaning and feel-good nature of the film. I wish I would have known [that before]. She’s an executive producer now, but when I started making it, I would’ve got her on board then because I think that would have been a bigger help to the film in what we’re doing, so that probably would have been it.

To keep up with David, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Get your tickets to the live premiere of This Is The Year on August 28 today!

Photo Credit: Benjo Arwas