Gallner: For me, I grew up in the punk scene, listening to punk and hardcore music and going to shows. I was a skate rat that was like stealing beer from people’s garages on the weekend. There’s part of that which I totally relate to, the rebelling against the suburban living. You want something more, you want something different, kind of chasing whatever that is. I would consider myself a wild child. I definitely was until I got locked down but it’s forever there. It never goes away. So I definitely relate to Simon on a lot of levels. I like what you said that you feel like you’re a combination of Simon and Patty because I don’t think that’s that uncommon. It’s really neat. I think a lot of people feel the way that Patty feels, but also relate to what Simon’s going through. I think they have those two pieces inside of them. I think together they really do complement each other. With Patty going on her journey and figuring out her self worth, I think that’s really important, but it’s also important to be able to look at somebody and tell them to go f*** themselves. Having those two things inside of you are really good. I think Simon and Patty together are really powerful.
I wanted to ask Emily, because you sing–well you and Kyle both sing in the movie, but did your experience in musical theater kind of develop that aspect of the character. I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition and I wanted to know how that worked for you.
Skeggs: It’s so funny, often when I’ve worked in theater, I’ve got the note from directors before, “I know that you’re feeling something but it needs to be bigger, it needs to be bigger in your body, it needs to be bigger in your expression”, and that was the opposite of what Adam and I did. We got in there and Adam knew that I could sing, I could belt, that I have a big range but this song is like an ASMR rock song.
It’s very small and focused and I love it and I’ve come to learn that’s my favorite sexiest song. I love when someone sings so quietly. So, in a way, Broadway prepared me the opposite. It didn’t prepare me at all for that. It was really cool to explore that side of myself. I always thought my power came from my rock belt but I learned there’s a power in being quiet and vulnerable and small.
“…I have a big range but this song is like an ASMR rock song.”
Rehmeier: Broadway taught you to emit sounds but they were really refined in this film.
It’s like your own version of the Berklee College of Music or something (Julliard would have been a more apt thing to say here but oh well).
Rehmeier: By spending a half-hour together we were able to refine the experience, the entirety of Broadway, we did it all in the thirty-minute session.
Skeggs: The part that really is cool and special is that we wrote the song together and I’ve never really written a song before. So that was something that was really cool to be able to do and to stretch that muscle and collaborate in that way with someone. I’ve never collaborated that way with someone musically before, so that was really eye-opening.
Kyle, what did you do to channel the John Q Public part of Simon because that was a very convincing punk show?
Gallner: Luckily, I did have that kind of background, like that type of music was not foreign to me. I used to watch videos of people performing, I used to go to shows, I’ve been in pits, I’ve seen it. I know that energy’s like so it wasn’t very strange to me but where I got really lucky–are we specifically talking about the punk show or Simon in general.
