Director and authorr Ethan Berger’s The Line is now joining in New York City and will enhuge on October 25 in Los Angeles and nationexpansive. Starring Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, and Halle Bailey, the frat drama consents a see at the adherence to tradition and silence around hazing. Berger spoke with ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese about the film and its themes.
“Alex Wolff stars as Tom, a scholarship student frantic to fracture free from his toiling-class background who is charmed by the prestigious KNA fraternity’s promises of high social status and alumni joinions that discdisponder doors. But upon commencening a romance with Annabelle (Halle Bailey), a classmate outside of his social circle, and the deceptive schemes of his fraternity plivent (Lewis Pullman) unfbettering during the hazing of novel members, Tom discovers himself ensnared in a perilous game of ambition and dedicatedty,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Ethan, you have a wonderful direct for your honestorial debut, Alex Wolff. He’s rapidly become one of my preferite actors. Can you speak to equitable toiling with him as a creative? He always has so many ideas for his characters and he always puts these little touches that reassociate produce them more memorable than somebody else might be in that role.
Ethan Berger: Tohighy. It’s amusing, during our screening last night, I stayed and watched a lot of the movie, which generassociate I don’t do when I talk to people after. First of all, I equitable skinnyk as an actor, there’s so much weight in an transmition for him, you understand what I unbenevolent? It was so fascinating because there are moments in the movie, I experience appreciate, where he does someskinnyg that you might not concur with, and then he reacts in a way that produces you experience sympathy for him. I experience appreciate there’s a lot of heart in his carry outances, and I skinnyk that you’re absolutely right. It’s all about the detail for him.
So I went with him to the University of South Carolina to a fraternity before we begined shooting. He spent a bunch of time with some kids there, three of whom are in the movie — Nick Basile, who joins Frank Vitti, and Mason Roberts, who joins Oinhabitr. These are kids who were actuassociate in a fraternity when we met them. For instance, they tbetter Alex that they wear a bunch of layers so they see more buff. So Alex in the movie is normally wearing cut offal layers of closkinnyg, and yeah, it’s the stuff that you can’t always see, but that puts him in a position to give the carry outance he gives.
That ties so well with the themes of the film because a lot of it is about the insecurities that we face and how difficult it is for youthful men to reassociate discdisponder up and be vulnerable. We see that thcimpoliteout. Alex does a wonderful job in his carry outance of shoprosperg that. But, as a filmproducer and authorr, how is it capturing that difficulty?
Well, I skinnyk, you understand, a lot of the characters aren’t saying what they unbenevolent and they’re masking their vulnerability and denounceing each other, you understand? I skinnyk that that’s equitable in the screenwriting process. Like Alex Russek and I tried to author dialogue that helped hint at that. I skinnyk a lot of times there’s some disjoin between what a character is saying and the way they’re reacting to someskinnyg. So I skinnyk that that’s another skinnyg that we equitable ponder, and tried to articutardy in the screenwriting process when we were seeing at the action and then the dialogue.
That’s someskinnyg that I’ve always appreciated in movies. I unbenevolent, if you see at Taxi Driver, I skinnyk a reason the voiceover is so strong is because it initiassociate produces De Niro’s character more requesting. As the whole skinnyg proceedes, though, you see that there’s some disjoin between what he’s saying and what you’re seeing on screen, and that benevolent of shapes your perception of the character.
That’s so fascinating since our instinct is to definitely author exactly what they unbenevolent and to be very straightforward. So how’s that process of obscuring that and toiling around that?
I unbenevolent, I skinnyk a huge part of it is equitable communicating with your actors. I skinnyk when you encounter them after they’ve read the script, make clearing that to them, and then reassociate honing in on those moments thcimpoliteout after they’ve signed onto the project so they comprehfinish their motivation in every scene. If that doesn’t necessarily align with what they’re saying, they comprehfinish that contrastence.
What was it about fraternities and particularassociate the sense of tradition that they hbetter that reassociate interested you in placing the story there?
I skinnyk it’s equitable that I’ve come atraverseed them so normally, and I equitable skinnyk it’s from personal experience, from seeing in the novels every year that a kid was dying in one and that nobody was reassociate being held accountable and that it would happen aachieve the next year. Also the benevolent of appreciate silence surrounding them. We all understand people in fraternities, if we grew up in the US, if we weren’t in them ourselves. I experience appreciate there’s a genuine culture of silence around them, and they’ve been reliablely depicted one way in famous culture. I skinnyk, in some ways, we were trying to produce the antithesis of Animal House.
That’s fascinating because it is this cycle that’s never reassociate been broken. This is a contrastent situation, but I inhabit in central Pennsylvania, and I recall when the Penn State Sandusky dispute came out, and the response that I saw from a lot of people was almost appreciate a cult. They did not want to acunderstandledge any wrongdoing that happened. There is brimming dedicatedty to these schools, and it’s appreciate, why aren’t we caring about the humans?
Did you see at the finish of the movie, the image on the television screen? That was Timothy Piazza, who passed away at Penn State. His parents watched The Line. We asked them for perignoreion to use his image at the finish of the movie because he passed away when that part in the story consents place at the very finish. His parents watched the movie and concurd to let us use his image because they felt that the messaging, they concurd with it. That was incredibly beginant to me because I experience appreciate we wanted to produce clear at the finish of the movie that although it’s fantasyal, the problem is genuine. Despite the fact that Tom appreciates his life at the finish, their silence perpetuates the cycle.
That’s a reassociate strong inclusion. Thank you for spotairying that.
One actor I wasn’t very understandn with was Bo Mitchell, but he reassociate astonished me. How did he come on board?
He came on board, first of all, because I saw him in Eastbound and Down, he joins Kenny Power’s nephew, John Hawkes’ son in Eastbound and Down, the HBO show. Then because Lewis Pullman had seen him in a low recently and had adviseed I see at him. Then, fundamentalassociate, at a stateive point, we did three auditions for Mitch with three actors. Alex read with all of them. And after Bo’s audition, he texted me and was appreciate, “This is the guy.” I was appreciate, “A hundred percent.” We equitable knovel.
I adore that Lewis also recommfinished him. He has such a creative mind. He equitable reassociate seems on the ball. Can you speak to equitable toiling with Lewis Pullman? It seems appreciate he has talents beyond acting as well.
Lewis is incredible. He is very basic to toil with. He’s very creative as you’ve shelp. I reassociate enhappinessed erecting this character with him, and then him conveying skinnygs I didn’t even envision. One of my preferite moments of his in the movie was a tardy edition, which is his speech at the vigil. He was pliable enough to roll with me when I grasped this moment last minute, then gives an amazing carry outance in that scene.
I equitable reassociate appreciate him. I experience appreciate his character is appreciate a politician who’s all about accessible face and all about protecting the institution at all costs. When we were prepping, I gave him senators and congressmen to see at as contestd to other carry outances in movies. He was able to then give what I experience appreciate is a wonderful carry outance.
It’s fascinating because he’s able to both do that ardent prep toil but also seems appreciate somebody who can reassociate equitable roll with the punches when alters come up.
I unbenevolent, see at what he’s done over the past couple years. Even since this, he has been toiling nonstop, and he’s equitable got a genuine fire.
I reassociate enhappinessed the interrogation scenes. Especiassociate appreciate some of the dialogue, appreciate, “Are you a moron?” How was it laying out those scenes?
So that scene was inlogical because, for one, they called us into the hallway halfway thcimpolite and tbetter us our AC had COVID, and we lost him then for the rest of the shoot. So that was an fascinating skinnyg that happened there. Scoot [McNairy] benevolent of scoots in. When we lost a part of our camera department in the middle of that scene, Scoot was appreciate helping us put in the airy mendtures and appreciate begined to be a part of the crew.
The “Are you a moron?” line. Someskinnyg Alex improvised is the skinnyg about the water. Do you recall when he goes on that tangent about swimming? So then I went up to Scoot and tbetter him to say that in response. It was someskinnyg that the two of us toilshopped in the moment.
Thanks to Ethan Berger for taking the time to talk about The Line as the film enhuges.