Brendan Meyer discusses new film “The Friendship Game”, working with Peyton List and past projects such as “The OA” and “Mr Young”.
You may recognise Brendan Meyer from his lead role on Mr Young or his work in other projects such Netflix’s The OA.
Most recently, Brendan starred as “Rob” opposite Cobra Kai actress Peyton List in new horror film The Friendship Game.
We chatted with Brendan all about working on the film, his past and future projects and so much more. Read the article below or check out the video version on the Courageous Nerd YouTube channel.
Fans will, of course, recognise you from projects such as Mr. Young, Girl vs Monster, The OA, or more recently, The Friendship Game. Before any of that, how did your journey in acting first start?
Brendan Meyer: My journey in acting started very, very early. I’ve always kind of been interested in, I don’t know, stories and being involved in theatre shows [that] my parents took me to when I was 5 or 6.
I was doing little theatre acting camps, summer camps and Saturday morning classes when I was like 7 or 8. So, that’s really when it started. I didn’t have an agent or anything, I wasn’t pursuing it professionally but that’s how it started.
I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, so I had an agent there for a little bit. Again, smaller volume of auditions, maybe one every few months, not that many.
Yeah, just kind of grew from there, eventually got into stuff like Mr Young and started being a little more into the professional realm. I guess I was in a bit before Mr Young too. In my teens probably is when I really started auditioning and working more regularly.
As well as your acting, you have also appeared in The Movie Trivia Schmoedown. Could you explain what that entails and how you became involved, for anyone who doesn’t know?
Brendan Meyer: Yeah, unfortunately, that’s no longer, they ended the show. It was a trivia show, a competition of movie trivia that you kind of work your way up to win via championships that were like wrestling belts.
It was a really, really fun thing to be a part of. I love movies and have all this random knowledge. So, not only was that a great opportunity for me to use some of the knowledge, it pushed me a little harder to study movies as well.
It was helpful. Anytime you can have a good reason beyond the craft and work to study other types of genres or other types of actors, it’s great. The Schmoedown I think really expanded how wide my net was of movie knowledge. Both as an actor and hopefully, I want to write to direct as well.
That was so enhanced by the Schmoedown. Sometimes I’d have to watch stuff I didn’t necessarily think of off the top of my head, but would come up for the show. It was fun to compete and I met a lot of great people.
What about the character of Rob most appealed to you when you heard about The Friendship Game?
Brendan Meyer: I thought it was an interesting character. It was appealing to me that he goes through a lot of different shifts and changes throughout the script.
I thought that was appealing, that he starts and is able to be different to me, but someone close to me. Hopefully a nice guy, good friend, and easy to hang out with. Kind of portray that and portray authentic friendships with the other three actresses. He goes through some interesting changes, which I guess I’ll be vague about… it was a very multi-dimensional role.
I feel like it called upon every facet of what you have to do as an actor, whether it’s emotional work. Whether it’s darker stuff and of course, light fun.
That’s kind of what’s fun about the movie, you have an element of it that required authentically creating relationships you cared about – friendship and warmth. Then, that slowly being pulled away through the craziness of the games. Yeah, I liked that.
You were on Netflix’s The OA for a few years before this film. How long ago did you shoot The Friendship Game?
Brendan Meyer: The Friendship Game, shot it last year. About a year ago now, actually, that we finished – I think October 2021. Of course, Damien [Ober] was a writer on the second season of The OA as well. He and I met only briefly while we working on OA because he was in the writers’ room and I was on set.
It was fun, we actually chatted quite a bit while we were on set for The Friendship Game. So, we got to talking a lot about our experiences on The OA. Even though we didn’t totally work together, we worked with a lot of the same people, just at different stages of the production.
The Friendship Game also stars Peyton List, who like yourself, has starred in both Disney and Netflix series. Were you able to bond with Peyton over that shared experience?
Brendan Meyer: Peyton and I definitely talked a little bit; crossed paths a little bit back in the day. We never really knew each other too well but we were in the same places at the same time back then too.
We knew a lot of the same people and had been in a lot of the same areas, back when Mr Young was on and she was doing Jessie. We definitely did speak about that a little bit and some of the people we had in common back then and even now.
Scooter Corkle directed The Friendship Game. How was your experience working with Scooter and what did he bring to the project?
Brendan Meyer: It was great working with Scooter. He’s a great director and I guess just as important, a great person to spend time with. Just like I’m still tight with the three actresses – Kaitlyn [Santa Juana], Kelcey [Mawema] and Peyton, I’m also still tight with Scooter.
Still see him when we’re in the same city, he’s now a friend. It’s great when you can work with someone like that when you like being around them personally but you also have confidence in them as a director and what they’re doing. He had a great focus to him and a great plan for the film. I think he realised it really well.
It’s fair to say that The Friendship Game falls into the sci-fi/horror category. Would this appeal to you as a viewer?
Brendan Meyer: Yeah, I think it would appeal to me. I think there’s a great mystery at the centre of it. One of the biggest strengths of the movie is that it’s difficult to totally tell where it’s going. Or, what the endgame is.
I always enjoy films like that where I can’t really predict… not even just can’t predict what a big twist would be but moment to moment where it’s going to go. Who it’s going to focus on. I think that’s pretty cool.
Other than The Friendship Game, what else can people expect from Brendan Meyer? Do you have any goals set out for yourself?
Brendan Meyer: I’m in another film called The Unheard, which I think will be out next year sometime. So, watch for that. I’ll obviously post stuff on social when I know. [It] was also a great, fun, freaky horror movie.
I have a short I wrote and directed called Delivery which is up on my YouTube channel. You can find that through my social media or just look up ‘Delivery Brendan Meyer’ on YouTube and it’s right there. I like getting that out there too.
Thank you for taking the time, Brendan. Take care and stay safe!
Brendan Meyer: Alright thank you so much, great to chat with you.
The Friendship Game premiered on Friday, November 11.
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