Everybody Wants Some!!, the “spiritual sequel” to director Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, may not contain Matthew McConaughey’s signature “Alright, alright, alright.” But, it does contain the 80’s energy of that film, according to actors Blake Jenner, Ryan Guzman and Tyler Hoechlin.
Everybody Wants Some!! takes place the weekend before the first day of college in 1980. Jenner plays new freshman baseball pitcher Jake as he moves into the raucous baseball dorm that will be his home for the next four years. In that house lives Roper (Guzman) and McReynolds (Hoechlin).
Jenner is best known for his role as Ryder in the later seasons of the hit TV show Glee. Guzman has starred in two Step Up films, The Boy Next Door, Jem and the Holograms and most recently the reboot miniseries Heroes Reborn. Hoechlin is best known for portraying Tom Hank’s son in Road to Perdition and Derek on MTV’s TV show Teen Wolf.
Jenner said he did not have a college experience growing up, so being on the set of the film was like being a real college freshman.
“You get checked in, be at college with my friends, get to know these guys both on and off set,” Jenner said.
The roles each actor in the film would play were different, Guzman said. He said they were given a list of six characters, and the actors picked three to audition for. Guzman said the three personalities of the characters he auditioned for came together to make a brand new character, Roper. Hoechlin said he did not even know what role he would be playing when he was about to leave for the set.
Hoechlin said making the film was similar to his college experience, especially in the relationships with the other actors.
“The dynamics of those relationships were something that I got to kind of live over again,” Hoechlin said.
Guzman said there was a constant competitive nature on set between all the actors, calling it the “best adult camp” he could have ever been in.
“It was constant pushing each other to grow as an actor,” Guzman said.
Hoechlin said the main difference between this film and Dazed and Confused is the theme. Dazed and Confused was about the restraint of the people around the characters. Everybody Wants Some!! is about the characters being on their own and looking to find themselves.
Jenner said the challenge for him and the other actors was not to focus on how much time left they had with each other on set.
“Nobody wanted it to end,” Jenner said.
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