Exclusive Interview: George Jaques and Neil Patrick Harris on the Heart and Humor of ‘Sunny Dancer’

In Sunny Dancer, his sophomore feature, writer-director George Jaques sets out to tell a story about young people whose lives have been shaped by cancer without allowing it to define them. Through the lived-in performances of its young ensemble, the film captures the joy, uncertainty, and occasional chaos of coming of age, along with the unexpected comfort of finding people who understand what you’ve been through. Their histories are always present, but so is everything still ahead of them.

After beating cancer, 17-year-old Ivy (Bella Ramsey) can’t think of anything worse than being treated like a Make-A-Wish kid. When her parents send her to a summer camp for young people affected by cancer, she has little patience for its rules or its promise of a life-changing experience. But as the weeks pass, she finds herself drawn into an unlikely group of friends who make room for her exactly as she is, and a summer she never expected begins to change what she imagines for herself.

Pop Culturalist spoke with George and Neil Patrick Harris, who plays camp counselor Patrick, about the trust that allowed the young ensemble to make these characters their own, the moments of improvisation that found their way into the film, and the care behind its shifts between humor and heartbreak. Neil also opened up about the revelation that changed how he understood Patrick and gave the character a chance to surprise audiences, just as he surprised him.

PC: George, one of your goals was to make a cancer film that isn’t about cancer, and you more than accomplished that. We quickly become immersed in a coming-of-age story about friendship and these characters rediscovering their love for the world, while their circumstances come into focus only when the story calls for it. How challenging was it to find that balance, knowing when to lean into moments of levity and when to give the story more emotional weight? How much of that was informed by what the actors brought to their performances?
George: That’s so kind. Thank you. It was clear early on that we wanted to capture an incredible summer for this group of young people and show the full range of what they were feeling: anger, joy, happiness, and everything in between. But I also wanted to make sure we weren’t making a film defined purely by what they had gone through. I wanted them to have a second shot, another chance to rediscover all of those things. At the same time, there are certain heavy scenes in the movie that we treated with a lot of respect. That’s important for a film like this. It’s important that we portray the young cancer community in a way that makes them feel represented. That’s something I’m really proud of.

PC: Neil, I love how this film reminds us that we are all more than one thing and that everyone carries a story we may not immediately see. When Patrick opens up to Ivy about his past, it completely transforms our understanding of him. How did that revelation deepen your understanding of Patrick and inform the way you approached his journey? Can you also talk about bringing the emotional weight that makes the scene so impactful?
Neil: I appreciate that scene so much. It was probably the reason I wanted to play this part. In the first half of the script, Patrick seems like he’s supposed to be the comic relief, the buffoon. As I was reading it, I thought, “I don’t know if I want to play the buffoon, the awkward guy who tells jokes that don’t land and tries to dance but isn’t very good at it. I don’t know if this is right for me.” Then you find out he’s a person with a past, and he becomes emotional without meaning to when he’s supposed to be admonishing someone. I thought it was a good opportunity to do exactly what you said: humanize someone you’ve already passed judgment on and recognize that we all have different sides to ourselves, as well as reasons why we do what we do and feel how we feel.

PC: George, this is such an ensemble-driven film, and you gave the cast a lot of freedom to improvise, which makes the connections between the characters feel incredibly organic. Can you talk about finding this young ensemble? Were there any scenes or moments that didn’t exist on the page or took on a new life through improvisation?
George: I always say there’s the script you write, the script you direct, and the script you edit. They’re all different scripts. For me, working with a young ensemble was so much fun because they brought such energy. On the days they weren’t there, you’d really miss them. You’d think, “Where are they?” They were so electric.

It was about letting them bring themselves and bits of their own lives to the film, and letting them burst onto the screen whenever they came together as a group. I wanted it to feel like a mini explosion of fireworks. To do that, you have to get them excited with music and make them feel that they have ownership and that they’re safe. They knew that if they made an off choice, I’d protect them. That was amazing.

One moment I’ll always remember is a scene in the woods where they’re chatting about all sorts of things, like being canceled and ghosted. They started making these outrageous jokes about their fingers smelling because they were smoking with sticks. It was so funny. I was wetting myself laughing beside the monitor because they were smoking these little twigs, and there wasn’t any actual smell of smoke. Then it became this whole bit about Patrick smelling their fingers. It was stupid and fun. I loved it.

Neil: I have a question about that. When you have this cast and they’re all talking over each other, ad-libbing and going beyond the scene, was it hard to wrangle them and say, “Guys, we need to do another take now”? Or would you start rolling and film them when they didn’t realize it?

George: In my first movie, I had a group of young rappers on a roof, and I never told them when we were filming. They were just in it. I swear half of them were stoned before the shoot. It was wild and amazing, and I loved that experience. But that was one day, and that was enough because it was so electric.

What was different about this experience was that these were all young actors. I gave them three rules: pick up after yourselves, turn up early, and know your lines. I told them, “If you can do those three things, we’ll have a good time.”

There was a lot of mutual respect. I’d let them play and try things as long as they followed those three rules. So when I said, “Guys, let’s do this,” we were all in it. And when I said, “We can have some fun with this bit,” they were ready for that too. That was really special.

Make sure to follow George (Instagram) and Neil (Instagram). Sunny Dancer is in select theaters now.