How Whalefall star Austin Abrams makes extreme survival roles feel relatable
In Resident Evil and Whalefall, the actor navigates worst-case survival scenarios. In real life, things seem to be going just fine.
Austin Abrams yelped and grumbled in the face of zombified mutants. He screamed his way down the gullet of a sperm whale that had accidentally swallowed him, and then he fought to survive inside its slimy stomach.
Perhaps most impressively, he made those outlandish scenarios feel ... relatable.
As the star of Resident Evil, the latest film adaptation of the video game franchise, and Whalefall (in theatres now), based on the Daniel Kraus novel, Abrams delivers two essentially one-man shows of heightened agita.
Off screen, Abrams, 30, is more mellow.
He describes the fanfare of the last few weeks – which has included Resident Evil earning more than US$320 million ($559m) at the global box office – as “kind of fine”.
“It feels OK and not too bad,” he said.
For Abrams, the starring roles are the culmination of a career that began when he was a child. Among a bevy of supporting roles, he’s had arcs on The Walking Dead and This Is Us, played Kat’s boyfriend, Ethan, on the first two seasons of Euphoria, and starred in the Netflix holiday series Dash & Lily.
More recently, Abrams has excelled at playing ordinary guys navigating extraordinary situations – like the addict who stumbles upon the missing children in Weapons, and the kid who gets entangled in a cover-up with Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Wolfs.
In a recent video interview from London, where he had been promoting Whalefall, Abrams was affably evasive as he discussed his recent roles and how he got here.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Q: What was your reaction when you first read the Whalefall script?
A: It was easily the wildest thing I had ever looked at. Every bit of it seemed daunting and exciting.
Q: Talk me through the mechanics of shooting inside a fake whale stomach.
A: There was a full stomach built, and then it was like, to the camera crew, “OK, now figure out how to shoot it.” So, that means either some guy squeezing himself in there or trying to figure out where you can cut a hole. Each thing was built: the first stomach, the second stomach, the throat was something you could actively climb up. It was really wild.
Q: You do a lot of non-verbal acting in Whalefall and Resident Evil. Are your grunts and screams scripted or off the cuff?
A: I honestly can’t remember, but I feel like a good amount of it is off the cuff. There’s an understanding that little things like that help you connect more with an audience.
Q: It’s a more vulnerable connection than what might typically be seen in male action characters.
A: I mean, that was what was needed. Neither of these guys were that kind of stoic dude. I also find it more interesting, at least in these cases, to be a fish out of water – or, I guess, a fish in water – and lean into that.
Q: You previously worked with Resident Evil director Zach Cregger on Weapons. Is it true that when you first met to talk about that role you showed up to lunch in character?
A: That’s what he says.
Q: What’s your account?
A: Oh gosh, I don’t know. I was just trying to get some food. I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. I was just trying to have some lunch. But yeah, I wanted to work with him, so whatever little thing you need to do to make that happen, you test things out.
Q: Is that how you operate going into most projects?
A: It’s just a case-by-case basis. Every time is different. Every time kind of feels like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
Q: Resident Evil has a very devoted fandom. You’d never played the games before. Did you have any reservations about stepping into that space?
A: No, not really. I just wanted to work with Zach. I knew what a great director he was, so I would have done anything that he asked me to do. I don’t give a damn what anyone else says.
Q: How did you feel about the ending of Resident Evil?
A: I felt like it was surprising, but also I love that Zach will do the thing that maybe you’re not supposed to do or the thing that is upsetting. I like that Zach is willing to go to a place that’s not so cushy.
Q: Have you two talked about future collaborations?
A: Yeah, it’s something that I would love to do. I know he’s focused on his next one with Jennifer Lawrence [The Flood], but I love him so much as a creator.
Q: You’ve had a string of very physical roles – even Ethan’s dance scene in Euphoria. Do you have a background in dance or sports?
A: Not particularly. It’s not like I was on the football team. With dancing, that was really my first time doing that. It’s something I love now a lot. When I read these things, I don’t fully comprehend the action of it. When Zach and I were doing Resident Evil, like halfway through, we were like, “Are we doing an action movie right now?”
Q: You’re also really good at physical comedy. How did you hone those skills?
A: I mean, you can watch the older stuff where it’s silent or maybe there’s not many words – something like Mon Oncle. But a lot of it is just kind of feeling it out.
Q: I read an interview from when you were 13 –
A: What did I say? What the hell did I say?
Q: You said you knew you wanted to be an actor from the time you were 5 and that you asked your parents for an agent when you were 8. How did you know about needing an agent at that age, growing up in Sarasota, Florida?
A: I have no idea. I must have seen it on TV. I feel like if you grow up in a family that doesn’t live in LA or New York, once you bring up the concept of doing anything in this realm, it seems insane. You just walk blindly and hope for the best.
Q: Your parents were doctors. What was their reaction?
It took time and warming up. My mum definitely believed in me the most. One of my grandmas still thinks I need to go back to school.
Q: Did any of your co-stars instil confidence or make you feel like you belonged when you were younger?
A: Ryan Gosling on Gangster Squad. I owe him a lot. Just seeing the way that he treated me and how he operated on set was really inspiring. I worked like four or five days on that, and there was a true kind of caring.
Q: How did you feel about turning 30 this year?
A: It’s kind of crazy. It’s like time is happening and it’s not stopping. It’s also whatever. It’s just numbers and time and stuff like that. But if you think about it conceptually, then it is quite strange.
Q: Are there any genres you haven’t done yet that you would be excited to tackle?
A: Jeez, I’m not sure. Like with the horror genre, it was never like, I really want to do horror. Once you start to come up with a plan, I just think it feels like it’s not the way to go.
Q: When you’re not acting, how do you spend your downtime?
A: I’m staring at walls, mostly. I don’t know, man. The things that probably everyone does.
Q: Are you getting offers now, or do you still have to audition?
A: Definitely more of that stuff is happening, which is really cool.
Q: You seem very chill about it all.
A: You can’t let it be something more than it is. It’ll destroy you. It’s just something that’s happening. It’s really awesome, but your own joy has to come from within.
This article originally appeared in the New York Times.
Written by: Ashley Spencer
Photographs by: Rachel Lamb
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