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  • 4 months ago
Brandon Sklenar talks about building his on-screen bond with Blake Lively while filming 'It Ends With Us' and shares his thoughts on continuing the saga with 'It Starts With Us.' Plus, he dishes on shooting an 'It Ends With Us' promo with Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Ryan's mother.
Transcript
00:00I have to say, you just shot a promo with Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Ryan's mother.
00:05How many takes did you need to get through that? Because it was hysterical.
00:08We honestly kind of breezed through it, yeah.
00:10The first time I read it was while we were doing it.
00:14So my reactions were very genuine because I had no idea what the hell was going on.
00:19But, I mean, that's just a testament to Ryan.
00:22And that guy's incredible.
00:23To watch him work and watch him come up with things on the moment and jokes.
00:27And I'm a pretty, I'm slow.
00:30I'm not, he's so fast.
00:34Yeah, I mean, I'd try to come up with a joke ten minutes after we were, you know, done with the bit.
00:38I was like, I got something and we're already done with the thing.
00:40So, yeah.
00:42It was genius, for sure.
00:43But he was calling out, essentially, the chemistry between you and Blake on screen.
00:48Which was, I mean, it's pretty much instant when you watch the movie.
00:51How were you able to build that bond between the two of you?
00:54Were there any bonding exercises between the cast off screen?
00:57Or how did that work?
00:58You know, honestly, the first time we met in person was shooting one of the last scenes in the movie.
01:05And we didn't really talk much at all.
01:08I think it's just one of those situations where we just got lucky.
01:10You know, like, our frequencies kind of align.
01:13And, you know, just me as a person, I, when I met her, her children were running around on set.
01:19She hadn't, you know, she just had a four-month-old baby.
01:23She's, you know, her husband's away working.
01:24So, it made my job easy because me as Brandon, I was kind of looking at her the same way Atlas would look at Lily in the respect of, like,
01:30I'm just going to show up and be here for this woman and hold space for her and give her whatever she needs.
01:35And, which is ultimately Atlas's intention.
01:38So, yeah, we just, we just connected in that way.
01:42And, and, and she has the unbelievable ability to just make people feel comfortable and safe.
01:48And you just forget you're on a set, you know.
01:50So, I think we just got really, really fortunate with that.
01:53Yeah.
01:54I also wanted to ask, I know that this film and this book as well deals with a lot of heavy themes.
02:00Was there a particular scene that was challenging for you personally to work through?
02:05Or maybe a line that was tough to deliver?
02:09Yeah, the scene on the couch was challenging.
02:11That was a challenging scene.
02:14It's in that Atlas is kind of revealing something about himself that's ultimately in support of her.
02:19But it was interesting to find a way to do it where it wasn't about him.
02:24You know, to reveal this deeply personal thing about him that was in service of her without making it about him.
02:31Which is why we added, I improvised the thing in the beginning of the scene.
02:36Because I was like, we've, both of us were like, we feel like we need humor in this scene to get into this emotional space.
02:43You know, we need to go into this with humor.
02:45But that was probably the most challenging one to figure out how, because it's such a fine line to do that, you know.
02:52All right, yeah.
02:53And very quickly, because I know the fans want to know, what are your thoughts on, and it starts with us, on-screen adaptation?
02:58I mean, I'd love to do it.
02:59Yeah, if this thing hits, yeah, I'd love to do it.
03:01Yeah, I think it's a beautiful book.
03:03And I would love to get into Atlas's life more, and his mother, and the relationship with her.
03:08And, yeah, I think it would be brilliant.
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