Pop-Culturalist.com

Ryan Winn and Nick Schultz are two fresh faces who are poised to take the industry by storm. The pair are making quite the impression with their performances in the award-winning film, What’s My Name Again?.

Inspired by real-life events, What’s My Name Again? is a riotous story about family, legacy, and deciding who you are going to be. It’s a raw and unfiltered look into an unconventional mother-and-son relationship and the impact of having three disengaged and often toxic fathers.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Ryan and Nick about the film, bringing the nuances of their character to the forefront, and more.

Please Note: This interview was filmed prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike. We stand in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, and will not be conducting further interviews until a fair deal is reached.

PC: Ryan, you’ve said in previous interviews that you fell in love with acting and this process because you enjoy finding that connection with your characters. What was it about Bo that resonated with you?
Ryan: Bo is quite literally going through an identity crisis. In life, you can go through an identity crisis every day. This is something that you’re constantly trying to figure out about your life. Most of it usually comes from the fact that you’re either living too much in the past or too much in the future, and constantly trying to identify yourself by your name, what you do, and the decisions that you’re making. For Bo, it’s what college is he going to go to? Is he going to stay in his relationship? What is his friendship going to be like with Nick’s character, who’s struggling with his sexuality, and then also having multiple fathers and having to choose a name, right?

It’s looking at all these outside things and outcomes and feeling like he brings a lesser value. He’s struggling because he doesn’t have that perfect life, but in all reality, he realizes at the end that it’s about having loved ones around you. It’s about enjoying the relationships that he does have and being present in those moments. There’s something so raw, true, and beautiful about Bo and the epiphany that he comes to at the end. That’s true about everyone in life. I feel like I’ve had that epiphany multiple times.

PC: Nick, similar question for you, what was it about Griff that you were excited to dive into?
Nick: Ryan, beautiful answer by the way. That was really well articulated. The thing about Griff that got me was when I first read the script, I was like, “This is so much fun. They’re doing so many fun activities. There’s drinking. There’s partying,” but just like in life, there’s so much underneath that. There’s so much internal struggle that Griff is going through.

It follows Bo’s narrative, but playing Griff, I really saw the heart that he has. He has his heart on his sleeve because what he’s struggling with is such a touchy subject, especially in the era when this film takes place. That was one of my favorite things to tackle because I feel like growing up, everyone has that fear that they’ll be judged by the world. Griff is battling so much inside himself, and he doesn’t know how to talk to anyone about that. It’s also really special to see the relationship with Bo and Griff and how they both connected and how Bo still loves Griff at the end when everything is revealed. There’s so much heart there.

PC: Both of your characters go on this incredible journey of self-discovery, which you both brought so much nuance to. How did you create the space for yourselves to dive into those more vulnerable moments?
Ryan: For me, this is the first feature film that I worked on. It’s such a blessing. Spencer Zender took a chance on me. It was an amazing experience. I was trying to connect it to different situations in my own life so I could understand what it was like again to be in that situation. He’s a high schooler who’s about to go to college. Every decision that I made in high school felt like the end of the world, that it was either going to be the best decision I ever made or the worst decision I’ve ever made. I was going to live or die by it. It was about being playful with the fact that that’s something that we never really get past.

Nick and I generated a really strong relationship and friendship outside of acting, and that allowed for the vulnerability and the more emotional aspects to come out and allowed a lot of the work that we did to show on screen. That happened because we developed that relationship offscreen as two individuals that care about each other as people.

It’s something that I’m getting more comfortable doing now. It was vocalizing my feelings and emotions, especially in a time when men’s mental health is a large issue. Some of the statistics are alarming. It’s about being comfortable talking to other male figures and friends about the hard stuff in your life, about your feelings, and what’s going on.

We generated a relationship off set that allowed for that to happen, and it perfectly flowed into our characters and the relationship that we had on set.

Nick: For me, it was a very interesting process of tapping into my younger self. There’s such a youthfulness with Griff. What he’s struggling with is so personal and so private. As a straight man who is portraying someone who is struggling with their sexuality, I had to go beyond. I had to go back to when I was very simple and just full of heart as a kid. I had to imagine and play with the heartbreak of what it felt like not to be accepted or the fear of what people thought of me or other big fears that I had as a kid. I brought that heart to Griff. That’s how we connected. I spent a lot of time talking to friends who did come out recently as I was filming. That was helpful. But, the strongest thing was making that bridge between my childhood self and my fears and the fears that Griff had and merging those.

It’s funny. When it settled in, it really settled in. My scenes with Ryan really hit that home. It was like, “Wow, Bo is so different than Griff.” I was also like, “It hurts Griff because he wishes he could be like Bo, but he’s not.” It was such an interesting push and pull, and it brought so much life to it. So much of the discovery—Ryan will agree to this—happened in the moment. With so many of the scenes that we shot, Ryan and I would talk in between takes. We’d be like, “What if we did this? What if we did that?” There’s a scene, and I know Ryan knows it—

Ryan: Yeah, there’s a scene where I actually slap Nick’s character. It was one of those shocking moments. But to jump on the push and pull, it was one of the things where it was like, “Hey, I totally accept you. I love you, but I’m still going to tease you, though.” It’s this playful banter. Griff is out to Ryan, but he’s not out to the public…but I’m going to give you crap about it because we’re friends. It was a push and pull. It’s one of those loving relationships where we’re almost like brothers. We can chirp and make fun of each other, but this is my guy. This is my best friend. The record shop was a lot of fun to play around that.

Nick: Yeah, even watching the film, I don’t think there’s anything that can break that friendship. What Ryan said about them being brothers is the perfect way to put it. They fight like brothers. Bo teases Griff like a brother. Karen views Griff as part of the family, which he is. That relationship makes it so much easier to relate to all of these characters. You feel the family, the love, the push and pull that any family feels, and the dilemmas that any family has.

PC: Spencer wrote and directed this project. Is the experience different when the person who created this universe is also at the helm directing? What was that collaboration like?
Ryan: Spencer is a wrecking ball; he does it all. He wrote it and fully understands what he wants out of it. There were times when I knew that I did a take, and it wasn’t getting the point across that he wanted, but he was so animated and adamant about the things he wanted to get across. He was such a great coach and mentor on set. It definitely adds a whole extra layer because it’s his baby. You want to do proud by him.

At some point, I wanted to be a tool for him. I wanted him to be able to paint the image that he was imagining for what he had written. I wanted to take everything that he was saying in, and I wanted to be that tool for him. What do you want to see out of me for this scene? What are you trying to get at? It was a constant conversation because I know how I’m identifying with the character, and that’s coming internally, and then it’s what does Spencer want to see. He wrote it. He directed it. He can see what’s coming across on screen. What’s coming out? What’s not coming out? From there, it’s about getting to a picture that everyone is happy with.

Nick: Yeah. One of the first things that I learned about being an artist and an actor is that you have to honor the story and writer and be totally selfless. I’m here as a tool. I’m here to, yes, bring myself to the story, but I also had such a passion for sharing Spencer’s vision. It’s about his family. It’s about his dad. It’s personal to him. I wanted to give him my all and be the absolute best that I could be while helping shape his vision the way that would be best.

He was really busy on set. He was doing absolutely everything. The fact that he created such a bond with Ryan and me allowed us to settle into these characters. I knew we were in good hands with him. I knew if he wanted something different, he would give us simple notes. It made us so comfortable knowing that Spencer always had our backs and that I could trust that we were honoring his vision because this was his baby. There was a lot of trust.

PC: This film has made its way around the festival circuit, and it’s been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating most with audiences? What do you hope they take away?
Ryan: I think it’s because this is a film about life. When people ask me what it’s about, that’s usually the easiest response to draw on. It’s a dramedy, but it’s about life. It’s a guy, and he’s coming of age. He has to make a lot of decisions about his identity, but at the end, he realizes that all the things that he’s worried about take away from everything that he already has around him. It’s something that everybody needs to be reminded of. We all need to be reminded that these decisions come and go. You have decisions to make every day, and they’re never going to be the end all be all. Life is hard sometimes. Life’s also really great sometimes, and sometimes it’s in between. That’s why audiences are resonating with it.

There’s also the aspect that it’s a summer movie. It’s a high school dramedy. It’s hitting the festival circuit at the right time. But it really is about life. There’s an internal dialogue that people can have when they’re watching this film. It’s similar to the one that we both had while we were filming it, and one that I’m having now more and more after having watched the finished product. It’s really amazing.

You give your all to becoming this character, but you never know how it’s going to be received or how the piece of art will land with people. It’s been incredible being at the premiere with Nick and seeing how it’s done at other festivals.

Nick: Yeah, it’s really amazing to see how well it’s been received already. It’s about so many things, just like life. We have the mother-son relationship. We have the son with three chaotic fathers. There’s so much that you can take away.

Being at the premiere and watching the film from beginning to end, it’s not just Bo that has a character arc. It’s Karen (his mom). It’s all the dads. It’s Griff. There’s so much development in that amount of time. It shows that everything is not concrete. Things change. Life moves forward. Even though Bo is feeling this weight on his chest, things get better. It’s very optimistic. He realizes that there was so much beauty around him the whole time. All you have to do is take a breath and be like, “I’m okay.” I feel like that’s such a big thing, and also leaning into the relationships that are already there.

I hope that when people watch this film, they can take a step back and be like, “There are people in my own life that I can lean into, that I can love a little harder, that I can open up to more.” There’s a lot of reflection that can happen from viewing this film. It’s also so much fun. There are so many great laughs and cries in this film.

Ryan: That’s such a great point. If you don’t identify with Bo, you might identify with Griff. If you don’t identify with Griff, you might identify with Alea or my mother or my three fathers. That’s such a great point, that every character has an arc, because it’s true. No one is the same at the end of the movie as they were at the beginning. That’s unique because this film takes places within a 72-hour period.

PC: This is arguably the biggest role for both of you. Did anything surprise you about this overall experience? What did you learn about your craft that you’re going to bring to future projects?
Ryan: This is definitely the biggest project that I’ve worked on. I would love to work on more. The biggest thing that I took away from it is how important the relationships are that you have with the cast and your ability to be vulnerable and support other people that are working on this project with you. Like Nick and I said, Spencer created a very safe space. He created a space where people were comfortable being vulnerable, working on their craft.

People were also able to develop professional relationships beyond the screen. I’m glad to say that I’m still in touch with Nick. It was good to see him when I was out in L.A. That was the biggest thing for me, especially with this being the largest thing that I’ve worked on.

You’re always trying your best to humanize the character. You want that humanization to show through. That’s a never-ending journey that you’re trying to achieve, trying to strip off and unlearn what society has pushed over us year after year and bring it down to being playful and childlike again. It was an incredible experience.

Nick: It was an incredible experience. Having a larger role, the impact that you have on set is significant. Whoever is on set that day, you’re family for that day. That energy creates a creative and safe environment. Moving forward, I want to keep being that positivity on set. There’s no reason to be pessimistic. This is so much fun. It’s a dream to be on set. Even when there’s a problem, let’s work through it. Let’s not crap on ourselves. It’s about having that positive mindset and giving it our all. As an actor, it was amazing to watch it back and be like, “Oh, I really trusted myself. I trust my instincts.”

Every day before set, I did a lot of mediation and breathwork and tapping into my own heart. I’d be like, “Today, I’m not going to act from my head. I’m going to act from my heart. If I do that, everything will be truthful. I can trust myself and let go. I can play off Ryan, I can be childlike, and I can trust my impulses.” That really did come through. In the future, I know the work that I do beforehand is so strong, but I’ll have that confidence and trust in myself.

Make sure to follow Ryan (Instagram) and Nick (Instagram). Stream What’s My Name Again? today!