The New Romantic is a modern love story that follows Blake, a college senior and aspiring journalist who’s tired of the lack of romantic men around her. She takes matters into her own hands when she uses her journalism skills to explore the world of sugar babies.
Brett Dier, who you may know as Michael from Jane The Virgin, takes on a different role as Jacob in the movie. Jacob is a fellow aspiring journalist and college senior with Blake. He’s a bit dorky but very lovable! We got the opportunity to talk to Brett about this role, the movie, and of course, the final season of Jane the Virgin!
Jacob is a fun character. He was one of my favorite characters while watching the movie. So what kind of drew you to his character and the project in general?
I really like how just kind of dorky and quirky but also super charming that he was in the script. Like I read it and was like “Oh man I really like this dude.” There was just something different to him that I’ve never done before. And I was also super stoked – the script was great. I also love the fact that Carly, the director was really into improvising and was just okay with making it lose and stuff. And you know obviously sticking to the script but also having takes where you can kind of add on and do whatever you want kind of thing. That was a huge thing for me that was really important for me to do because I love improv. So I just had a blast with that character. I loved it.
That’s really cool. Were there any scenes in particular that you got to improv that you really enjoyed doing?
Honestly all of the scenes I did had a bit of improv in them. I got to incorporate a lot of things like I did a one second Stephen Hawking impression in the scene. That was improv. It’s just a bunch of stuff. A lot of stuff in the really awkward sex scene was improvised. A lot of stuff was kind of on the spot. And also like talking to Carly, like the dinner scene was my favorite scene to do but the version in the script was completely different than what we actually ended up doing in that scene. We kind of had to rewrite the scene together, me Carly, one of the producers and Jessica we kind of sat down at the diner and rewrote it a bit and like did a couple takes where we improvised a little bit and went off book and then we found that scene which I think is actually one of my favorite scenes. So yeah, I like it.
That’s awesome you guys got the opportunity to make it your own.
Yeah I know I know it’s rare. Doesn’t happen all the time. I love that. I love that about Carly. She such an open – no ego, you know. She’s not worried about sticking it word for word. I loved how open she was. I really think Carly’s going to do really well, well first of all because she’s super talented and also because of her openness.
Would you say you relate to your character? If not, which character do you relate the most to?
I think I related to my character in ways. Well here’s the thing, for the character, since he was super into books and writing and all that kind of stuff. I actually read a ton of Bukowski and I’ve never read it before. I probably read two thousand poems of Bukowski. It kind of made me bitter. His poetry is like super jaded and super bitter. Because I read so much there was kind of like this almost “I don’t give a shit” tone to the character of Jacob. Like there was an underlying, for me anyways, there was an underlying “I don’t give a shit.” I’ll say what I want and act how I want and not worry about being insecure around Blake or anything you know. Because I read so many jaded “I don’t give a shit” poetry verses I kind of brought that to the character and it worked a lot. … How do I relate to him? Okay well I love reading and I love books and stuff and he’s a bit of a bookworm and loves reading and I love reading. I read tons of books. And I relate that way. I also love writing and doing my own type of poetry. I haven’t shown anyone other than my girlfriend. But I love doing that kind of stuff so I relate to that. And I was actually getting into doing poetry and reading poetry around the same time the movie came along for me so it lined up really cool. I was like, “Oh sweet this guy’s into writing and all this stuff.” It was just good timing. And he’s also really a loving person and I feel like I’m loving in my life. I am just loving.
You had mentioned your favorite was scene was the one at the diner. I’ll be honest, my favorite scene was the one at the end where you recreated one of Blake’s favorite movie scenes. Have you ever done anything like that in real life.
Um no I’ve never recreated a movie. (laughs) Except maybe when I’m by myself and talk out like Ace Venture that’s the only time I’ve recreated anything and that’s usually just by myself in the mirror. (laughs)
Have you ever done any grand romantic gesture like that? Because for Jacob, that was kind of his grand romantic gesture towards Blake. Is there anything you’ve done like that?
I’ve done a couple of things not like necessary like that. But I’ve done some things that were romantic like I got – one time for my girlfriend and my second year anniversary, I got a violin player to come to the house. And I also got this little this personal chef guy to make us food while the guy plays violin.
Yes, I’d definitely say that’s romantic.
Yeah that was a good one I was proud of myself. That was actually my dad’s idea believe it or not.
So for this film, what do you want people to take away from it when they see it?
I guess I took away that there’s this subject this girl who’s like basically becoming a sugar baby and a lot of people would judge that woman to do that like that’s just kind of how it is – it’s just a touchy subject. But I never judge the character for a second. And I took away why do we judge people for the choices they makes? Like if someone wants to do something they’re going to go through it and they’re going to grow from it and they’re going to look back and think “Oh shit I shouldn’t of done that” or like “I’m glad I did that” or whatever. That’s why it’s like we judge too much as people. Constantly judging people’s journey. I could just see people if that were to happen in real life thinking like “Oh my gosh did you hear she’s a sugar baby?” Kind of like that scene in the bathroom where she walks in and those girls were talking about her behind her back like that. It’s like that’s what people do but it’s kind of like “who gives a shit?” Let her do her thing. Let her go through her journey, she’s learning. And I took away like that, stop judging people, let them do their thing.
Kind of going off that, what are you excited for people to see from the story in general?
I’m excited for people to see, well basically what we talked about. Like it’s a feel good movie. At the end you’re just feeling good. The music and this inspirational thing where it’s like “Oh man I just want to live my life and do my thing and have my stories.” I hope it inspires people to kind of like be themselves and live their life and enjoy the process even if it’s tough or embarrassing or hard. You can find joy through that in a way. I’ve been learning lately, I think it’s also because I’ve been getting into like meditating a lot these past five years and all these spiritual things, I kind of take, when I go through something hard there’s something underneath about it instead of a dread about it. And if you watch this movie, even though the character’s struggling there’s still an excitement to it at the end because she comes out the other side.
You kind of mentioned how you were excited for people accept their own process after watching the movie. What about for you – you kind of mentioned your process of getting into character but what was the process like working with the cast and crew just behind the scenes kind of work?
Yeah it was super open. I got along with everyone. I loved everyone on the crew. Yea, it was basically just set up cameras, did a couple takes, Carly would say do something different and we’d do something different. It was very much like in the flow. I was really in the flow and I think everyone was. We were all just flowing with it all and not really second guessing or getting in our heads or anything. It was a super fun experience. I think the process was just that Showing up and being open to doing anything because Carly would sometimes throw some stuff at you and you just had to go with it. There wasn’t time to get in your head.
And you got to be in the creative process in a sense with the improv. Like what you said with the diner scene so that’s cool! Were there any fun behind the scenes stories that you can share with us? Like are there any funny moments? Or did you guys have a prankster?
No not really to be honest. I feel like it was just like there was a lot of laughing a lot of fun stuff but I don’t really remember anything that was like crazy or anything. No I don’t think so. I clogged one of the toilets. (Laughs)
So Brett, are there any upcoming projects you have that we can look out for you?
Yes! So there’s the Jane The Virgin season 5 which is the last season of the show. I’m really stoked for people to see that. I can’t say anything about it because I’ll get sued, but you should see it! And also I’m doing this show called “Schooled” that I’ve been working on for the past 3-4 months and it’s coming out on ABC I think next year around late January or February. But it’s a spin off of the Goldbergs and it’s really funny. I’m excited about it and it’s a lot of improv too which is great!
I’m excited for those projects. I’m definitely Team Michael when it comes to Jane the Virgin!
Well it will definitely throw you for a loop. I saw the first three episodes of season 5 coming back and I think they’re my favorite three episodes of the entire show. I’m not even kidding. It’s going to blow your mind, I’m excited for you to see it!
