How Austin Abrams Kept Up With Clooney and Pitt in Wolfs

WHEN AUSTIN ABRAMS signed on for Wolfs, where he stars alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt, he knew he was signing up to make a movie with two of the biggest movie stars of the last 50 years. And he knew all about the character he was going to play, an unnamed kid (credited only as “Kid”) who finds himself at the center of the messy situation that both Clooney and Pitt’s fixer characters (the titular “Wolfs”) have come in to fix. But what he didn’t know was just how much running he was going to have to do.

“By the time I realized, it was too late,” he says with a laugh, referring to the mid-film chase scene where Pitt and Clooney both chase him around New York City, as he’s running block-to-block wearing only his underwear. “At that point, you’re already running, and you’re going every day.”

Abrams knew he was going to have to run—it’s in the script, obviously. But he just didn’t realize how long the scene, which was filmed over the course of a month, was going to take. And, well, as he details, when you’re making a movie with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, you can find a way to make things work—even if its running, and running some more, and running some more.

“You’re doing, it in the end, with the purpose of the movie,” he says. “You’re not just doing it for fun; well, fun, in the sense that you’re not just going for a nice sprint on a Sunday night for no reason. There’s a purpose behind it, and that gives you the motivation to be able to do it, because you can do almost anything with the right motivation.”

Abrams, who has shined in recent years with roles in projects like Euphoria and Netflix’sDo Revenge, more than holds his own in Wolfs, playing the de facto third lead behind Clooney and Pitt’s dueling protagonists; he’s the heart of the story, as a kid who got sucked into something he hardly even understands. Abrams plays him with the naiveté of how just about anyone shot into that situation would; he comments in the film on how cool Clooney and Pitt’s characters are, just after seeing them for a couple minutes. Hard to not relate with that!

Ahead of the release of Wolfs on Apple TV+, Abrams spoke with Men’s Health about working with Clooney and Pitt, prepping for his surprisingly intensive role, his upcoming work in director Zach Cregger’s Weapons, and when, if ever, we can expect Euphoria to return for season 3.

MEN’S HEALTH: Your two co-stars are obviously a couple of the greats. What are some of your favorite movies of theirs?

AUSTIN ABRAMS: Definitely Ocean’s Eleven. And also Burn After Reading with the both of them. The Descendants is amazing. George is amazing in that. Brad, I mean, God, Fight Club. There’s so many things they’ve done, and so many great things—it’s pretty insane, you know.

MH: Did you feel a different kind of pressure compared to some other things you’ve done working with those guys?

AA: Oh yeah, for sure. It was a crazy amount of pressure that forces you to just be in the moment as best you can. Because otherwise, if you try to think about any sort of end goal, you just freak out. So it makes you have to really stay in the present. But it’s super intimidating.

MH: You’re the legit third lead of this movie, and you really get places to hold your own with these two guys, including a monologue that comes in a single take about halfway through the movie. How did you prepare to do a scene like that with Brad and George?

AA: Yeah, it was a single take, and I knew [director Jon Watts] wanted it as a single take, so I knew going in that’s what it was going to be. I mean, it’s kind of a blur. You’re trying to focus on the present and trust the work you’ve done before, and just do the best you can, you know? But there’s a certain amount that you just have to surrender, because it is daunting. You’re trying to get it in one, and and live up the expectations in your head as much as you try to let them go, and then you’re doing it in front of the two of those guys… it’s a real task, for sure.

What was going on in my head? Probably a lot of things. I don’t even know—anything you can think of was probably happening in my head.

MH: What was a bigger challenge—the lengthy monologue, or the long chase scene in your underwear?

They’re both completely different challenges. One, the running, the physical aspect of it has its own challenges to it. Anything physical, to that extent, where you’re pushing your body to some degree. We also shot it for about a month, so it was a lot longer than I expected it to be. I was completely underprepared, physically, and when it comes to the other stuff, a monologue creates a different kind of challenge. You’re just trying to be settled, and be in a place where you can let go of expectations, and just let it be what it is so that it has life to it in the moment.

The most exciting things are the things that happen, or the things that aren’t planned, and letting that be a possibility instead of trying to control an outcome.

MH: You’ve got both George and Brad chasing you in that scene. Were they in the same boat as you as far as feeling prepared?

AA: I think they seemed OK. They seemed in the right zone, physically. George was able to be in the car the whole time, which I’m sure was nice [LAUGHS]. It’s fine. It’s just a part of the job.

MH: How much was you and how much was a stunt double? Were you switching in and out at all?

AA: I think it’s all me. I’m pretty sure, because you’re not wearing any clothes. So you can’t really… you know what I mean? You can see your whole body, so there’s really only so much that you can fake in that way. You can’t really use a stunt double for those specific things.

MH: We’ve heard for so long about George pulling pranks on sets. Was that the case on Wolfs?

AA: Yeah, a little bit. I remember the first day coming in, and someone on production in the green room—probably by happenstance, just because of what they had—had put two big, tall chairs for George and Brad, and then put one small one for me, and we all kind of laughed about that.

A couple weeks down the line, we’re shooting, and the room we were staying in, between set-ups, was this kind of big ballroom, for some reason, just in the location we were shooting. And they had found these 10-12 foot chairs—these really regal-looking chairs—I don’t know what people were using them for, but these regal-looking white chairs. And they had taped ‘Brad’ on one, and ‘George’ on the other, and in between those two huge chairs, they put one tiny one for me, which was pretty funny. Brad took a photo, and he’s got it somewhere. I don’t have it myself, but that was a great one.

MH: The chemistry between you three grows as the movie goes on, which is the intention. Did you guys do any kind of bonding or activities off camera?

AA: In a different scenario… it’s not like they’re playing my dads, or something like that. It’s one night, where we’re meeting each other all for the first time. So, you want to utilize that, and let that be there—the fact that you don’t know each other. But there became a natural camaraderie through working with each other for so long. That happened naturally throughout the process, but there wasn’t necessarily anything done specific; it’s not like we took a road trip, or anything, because that’s not necessarily going to serve the film. We’re supposed to be coming into it not having any relationship with each other.

MH: Speaking of someone who played your dad, though, Richard Kind is one of my favorite people.

AA: Yeah, man.

MH: What was it like just getting to do a little bit with him?

AA: He’s great, man. I really love that guy, and he’s been a friend of George’s for a long, long time. Being able to be with the both of them, and hearing Richard tell other stories with him and George…he’s just really quick. Really smart and funny guy. Very, very quick mind—he’s hard to keep up with. In fact, maybe even impossible.

MH: I have a couple other questions about some other projects you’re a part of. I loved Barbarian…

AA: Yeah, man!

MH: I know you’re in Weapons, Zach Cregger’s next movie. I know you probably can’t say much, but I’m curious what you can tell us about the movie and your part in it.

AA: I’ve thought about what I can share, just because I don’t know how they want to present it to people. I don’t want to overstep. Also, I don’t want to ruin anything for anybody. But, like you, I loved Barbarian, and was really just eyeing trying to work with Zach. It’s a whole original piece: it feels like it still has Zach’s great comedic bite, but it feels, to me, in the vein of one of those great movies like The Shining, mixed with the Magnolia kind of filmmaking of following different characters.

The character I was able to do was a really special one to me. It was a person struggling with addiction, and homelessness. That was an amazing one to be a part of.

MH: And you’ve wrapped filming on that?

AA: Yeah. We finished a couple months ago.

MH: Interesting. And you got to work with Josh Brolin, another awesome leading man who’s been doing it for so long. What was it like working with him?

AA: Yeah, man, he’s amazing. To be able to go from working with George and Brad, and then working with Josh, these guys are really veterans, and have really mastered what they do. He’s an amazing dude. Working with him, hearing his stories, and then working with Julia Garner, and Alden Ehrenreich—there are really a lot of incredible and inspiring actors in that movie, so I’m stoked to see it, myself.

MH: I can’t wait. Last thing I’ll ask you, and I know this has been up in the air… any word on the Euphoria season 3 return/schedule?

AA: Yeah, stuff on that I simply don’t know, so there’s nothing really to be said about it [LAUGHS]. You may even know more than I do. Dude, I just have no idea.

I love Sam, so I’d go back instantly. But in terms of if they’re gonna shoot it, when they’re gonna shoot it… I just don’t know.