SXSW 2023: Daniel Dorr Talks Pure O, Exploring Vulnerability, and Why It’s Important to Embrace the Notion That It’s Okay Not to Be Okay

The ensemble of Pure O will soon be the talk of this year’s SXSW ahead of its world premiere on March 13.

Led by the extraordinarily grounded and vulnerable performance of lead actor Daniel Dorr, Pure O follows Cooper Ganz’s (Dorr) seemingly perfect life as it quickly unravels when he is diagnosed with a crippling form of OCD called Pure Obsessional. This often misunderstood illness forces him to question his identity and sanity, all while trying to keep it together for his fiancée, family, and co-workers. As he learns to accept his disease, and the vulnerability that comes along with it, his world starts to open up. The addiction recovery clients he works with at a high-end Malibu drug rehab facility return the favor and help Cooper through his darkest hour.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Daniel about tackling Cooper’s emotional arc, the beauty of embracing vulnerability and how it’s okay not to be okay, and the responsibility he felt embodying this character.

PC: Tell us about Pure O and your character.
Daniel: The film is about a character named Cooper who is a musician and screenwriter. We meet him when he’s been recently diagnosed with a rare form of OCD called Pure O and experience all the difficult shenanigans that ensue as he juggles his personal life, marriage, and job.

PC: How did this script find you? What was it about writer-director Dillon Tucker’s story and this character that attracted you to this project?
Daniel: It’s funny because Dillon and I went to the same college together, so we knew each other socially. He called me out of the blue one day and was like, “Hey, man. I know we don’t know each other so well, but I wrote this script. It’s kind of about my life in a way, and I think you’re the guy that’s going to play this part.” Up until this point, nobody was calling me and making me offers. I read the script, and I was so moved by the screenplay and the story. I had no idea that this was even a thing. I had no choice but to say yes to it. That’s how it came about. It was very serendipitous. It was very organic in how it was meant to be.

PC: This is such a deeply personal story to him. Did that bring a different weight/pressure to this project?
Daniel: That’s a good question. Initially, I put myself under a lot of pressure. I was like, “I want to do this justice. I want to honor his experience.” He had the courage to write this, so I put that on myself. But he was so gracious in that he made it clear from the get-go that he was like, “This is you now. You’re playing Cooper. I’m here as a resource. I can answer any questions, but make it your own.” It was a great partnership that we had because he was on set. It was an amazing litmus test for me to be like, “Is it working? Are we getting it? How is it reading on camera?” It was a really lovely relationship that we developed over the weeks that we shot.

PC: OCD is often misrepresented in film and television. What was that process like for you as you got ready to step into Cooper’s shoes? What was the research that you did?
Daniel: Oh man, it was so extensive. I read a lot about OCD. I read a lot about Pure O. There’s a book that Dillon gave me that he was reading at the time. It’s a book for people that are in a relationship with or know somebody with OCD and how to be of service to and support them and not trigger things. Then I found a huge network of information online. There are so many support groups, Reddit groups, YouTube videos, and people being really brave and talking about their experiences because it’s still misunderstood and misdiagnosed. It was really fascinating to dive into that and understand the mechanisms and what’s happening in somebody’s brain when they’re triggered by it. And of course, Dillon was the first one to explain it to me as we were doing scene work, breaking down the script, and looking at different things like when Cooper is really compulsing and how it’s manifesting itself.

Then the other thing I did once I was able to digest all of that really intense research was to work in a rehab facility with a colleague of ours who does improv with people in recovery. That work really grounded me as Cooper because that’s his job in the film. It’s easy for me to get very heady and into the research. At some point, I had to be like, “I’ve done as much as I can. Now let’s see what are the things that ground Cooper and what’s going to ground me in this experience.”

That was a fascinating thing—to be able to be privy to the world of recovery and meet people and have these very moving and amazing interactions. It gave me a certain feeling as I was preparing that sort of took over any research and intellectual work. I was really in this world. This is real life. People are trying to get better, and I saw how brave and amazing they are. There was a lot that fed me early on.

PC: From an actor’s point of view, is the experience different when the person who created this universe is also at the helm directing? What was it like collaborating with Dillon?
Daniel: It was really great collaborating with him. He was so adamant from the get-go that he wanted this to have a documentary feel. He was engineering situations where there was very little rehearsal. He really put me in these different situations, and I had to jump off the deep end and be like, “Here I am. I’m going to have to learn as I go.” There was a certain volatility that was there that was great. It didn’t ever feel like we were really shooting a movie. At some point, it really became a documentary that we were making in a strange meta way.

I really appreciated that. He was very generous with not micromanaging anything. He was like, “Let’s find this on the day.” There were a lot of difficult scenes that we had to do, and he was a wonderful resource. He’s an actor’s director because he’s an actor as well. We had a similar language. If he gave me a glance like, “Hey Daniel, just do a little more,” I knew what he meant. It was seamless. There was no miscommunication. There was nothing vague about how we were working.

PC: He was also very intentional with the way that he cast this project. How did working alongside people who suffer from OCD and mental health professionals help elevate your performance and bring that authenticity to the project?
Daniel: Going back to your previous question, that authenticity came about because a lot of the people that were cast in the support group sequences work at the rehab facility. They’re people from his own life. When Dillon was making this, he pulled these people together and was like, “Do you want to be in this movie with me? I’m telling my story.” It immediately brought this realness to it. It’s a different thing for me as an actor. All of a sudden, I’m dealing with people who aren’t actors. It’s such a joy because they don’t know the tricks. They are not self-conscious about acting. They’re not acting in that sense. They’re just being themselves. It immediately let me be present in the moment. It was such a cool thing to speak with people that have OCD and have gotten help, battled sobriety, and what have you. It was art mirroring life, and everything was feeding itself in this really amazing way.

PC: Cooper also emerges as a mentor to the other characters within the film. Who are the people in your own life who shaped the storyteller that you are today?
Daniel: It starts with my parents. My dad is an actor. My mom is an opera singer. I got screwed from the get-go. [laughs] I was very, very blessed to have people in my corner from the get-go that really supported me with all my doubts. They supported my artistic way of life, whether it was my mom taking me to the symphony as a kid, even though I hated it, or my dad taking me to movies and plays. It started from an early age. Then it graduated towards me finding the drama department in high school and having great mentors there as well as in college and acting school.

It was a huge community of all of my colleagues and friends that are actors. I learned so much from them, and I’m very lucky to have so many wonderful people around me. They’ve inspired me to keep going within this industry and during times when things get you down. It’s difficult to keep your head above water sometimes, so it’s the work of other people and my family that always give me the wind in my sails that I need.

PC: Community is such a huge theme within this film as well. There are so many vulnerable moments with your character and the experiences that he’s going through. You handled that with so much nuance. As an actor, how did you create the space for yourself to dive into those moments in particular?
Daniel: That’s a great question. At the end of the day, it’s about giving myself over to the scene and the other people that I’m playing with. That’s it. I had the best people around me. I was able to be present and listen and trust the work that I did to ground this person and bring as much humanity, care, and pain to it as I possibly could. I tried to live in the moment. It was uncomfortable and difficult to live with for four weeks. I was walking around as this open wound of a person who had no idea who he was anymore because of the stigma of this illness and of mental health in general. I had to take my own ego and my own judgments about that and leave it at the door and show up and be like, “Here I am!” It’s a tough thing to do, and I hope I was able to do it justice. I love playing, and I’m excited to share it with people and hope it resonates.

PC: You deliver such a standout performance in this film. When it makes its premiere at SXSW, is there a scene in particular that you’re really excited for audiences to see?
Daniel: You know what? I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I don’t know. But my partner Hope [Lauren] plays Emily in the film. It was a trip to have that be broadcasted in a way and have us go through that journey together. I’m excited for people to see that dynamic. But there’s also a scene towards the end of the movie. It’s a big cathartic moment between my character and one of the patients in the rehab facility, Brandon. It was the first scene that I read as I was reading the script. I loved that monologue that Cooper gives to Brandon as he’s realizing what it’s going to take for him to heal. That’s the vulnerability and being there with other people and being like, “I’m not okay. You’re not okay. Let’s hold this space for one another.” I love that scene. I’m selfishly excited to see that scene and have people see this whole thing in general.

PC: You’ve also worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative and as a storyteller?
Daniel: It reminds me of theater. It reminds me of being in the drama club in my high school. It’s the indie spirit where it’s all hands on deck. There’s no fanciness. There’s nothing to hang onto. It’s about the work and getting the shot and hopefully telling a good story. There’s a camaraderie with that guerilla style of making something. It’s for the love of it. It’s such a thrill. It’s always a good reminder of why I’m doing what I’m doing and to not get my head lost in the clouds. It’s like, “No, this is it. It’s about these stories. It’s simple stories about people.” It reminds me of being in high school and college and doing plays because we’re all a bunch of theater nerds.

PC: There are so many universal themes within this film. Was there one in particular that hit home for you?
Daniel: I’m always struck by courage in vulnerability. That’s what real strength is. In a time when everybody is so reactive and tense, it’s the notion that it’s okay not to be okay. You don’t have to white knuckle it as Cooper does. It’s something that really spoke to me. He’s this person who’s like, “I’m good. I’ve got it all together. Don’t worry about me.” But on the inside, he’s really not okay. He hasn’t given himself the permission to even say that because…who knows? Maybe it’s his upbringing. Maybe it’s toxic masculinity and society. That’s something that always gets me. It’s okay not to be okay. Let people see you. Let people in. It’s how we’re going to, at the end of the day, be better people and better citizens moving in a direction of empathy and care and not just blunt-force trauma.

To keep up with Daniel, follow him on Instagram. To see when Pure O is screening at SXSW, check out their official website.

Photo Credit: Jonny Marlow