Jacob Wysocki on Terri, and What He Wants From Transformers 3

In a second floor of The Regency Hotel on Park Avenue, someone left an apple on the conference table. Not that Jacob Wysocki minded. "I wish someone was like, 'Here's an apple for your interview!' I would just eat it the whole time. Crunching in the microphone." The young star of the new indie film Terri (out Friday) was in good spirits during his first ever trip to New York two weeks ago -- animated and excited to endure his first press day. Put another way: He was the exact opposite of Terri.

Wysocki stars as the titular high school misfit in Azazel Jacobs' slow-burning comedy, a pajama-wearing enigma who lives with his sick uncle (Creed Bratton) and likes watching birds eat dead mice. It's not until the school's vice principal (played by John C. Reilly) takes an interest in Terri does his life start to slowly get better -- though not before a few more bumps arise along the way. It's a strong film debut for Wysocki (his first role was ABC Family series Huge), an improv comic from Los Angeles who hopes to take his career to Apatowian levels.

Wysocki chatted with Movieline about the difficulty of creating Terri, how his improv background helped with his scenes opposite Reilly, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon -- because, why not?

Just speaking with you for a couple of minutes, you're extremely personable and animated. How difficult was it for you to inhabit a character who is so internal with his emotions?

That was the hardest struggle for me -- toning it back. My natural wont is to be funny and to bring the humor and find the things that are funny. But that's not Terri; that's not who Terri was. It was a lot of work with Azazel Jacobs slowly dialing it back until we found it, and once we found it, being in that zone and staying there as long as possible so I could get used to it. There were several times where Azazel would be like, "Is that something Terri would do, or is that something Jacob would do?" That was enough for me to realize that, "You're right, that was something Jacob would do." It was just about finding it -- about finding that place where he's at. There's a reason he doesn't want to find the humor, and there's a reason that I do. It was just all about figuring it out, and finding that very subtle line. I think Terri is humorous; I think in the movie there's moments where he's very funny. But it's very subtle.

When I got the script, I read it and my frame of mind was not like, "Oh, this is going to be hilarious!" But I did expect some leeway with it. Some ability to stretch it. Once I started working with the director, and really got into the script, I realized that the script is telling a story, and it's not my story to tell. I am playing this person, and we are looking at this person's life. And that's what you get. Once I got that mentality, it was very easy to shut it all away. It was very easy to take things off, when you really want to, and be this other person.

You had been cast on Huge, and then Terri was only your second audition. What was that like?

Well, for Huge, I was doing improv in Hollywood, and someone Facebooked me or something and was like, "I want you to connect with this person." So, I sent that person an email, and it was like, "Why don't you come out to do this thing." It was completely new. I did one audition, then the callback. I was like, "Oh, cool." Then with the Terri audition, I was doing Huge, and was like, [sing-song-y] "Oh, a movie, I don't know what this is! This seems fun." I went, and it was very much -- as I've come to learn -- the typical audition, at first. The further and further I got closer to getting the role, the weirder it got. Well, not weirder...

It's got to be strange, though, having not gone through it.

Exactly. Every bit of the Terri experience, including right now, is a first. I've never had a press day. I've never been to New York. This is my first time. Everything is like, information, information, information.

I would imagine finding out that John C. Reilly was involved with Terri only added to the surreal nature of the process, too.

The first I had heard about John, I was going in to do a chemistry read with some of the other kids. This was before I knew I had gotten it. So it was like, "Hey, we want you to come in and do a chemistry read with some of the other Chads and Olivias. Oh, and John's going to be there to read with you at the end of the day." And I was just like,"[Boing]" My jaw hit the floor. I was like, "John C. Reilly?! If I don't get this part, at least I did a scene with John C. Reilly, and I can die happy!" That enough -- to me -- was the pinnacle. "This is where I'm going, and we'll see what happens." I was super nervous, but I calmed my nerves, and went and did it. I was excited, because I was like, "Oh, we're going to do all this improv together." And then I started reading the script more, and getting more in-tune with it, and there is very little improvisation on my part in the film. Which sort of hurts, as an improviser, starting off in improv roots. But the script was so good, there was no way I could improvise at a level that is intelligent as the script, and as good and as true and authentic. I just stuck with it -- I thought it was really good, and well-worded, and correct. Don't break it, if it's not broken.

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