You have to be clear-minded or you might not make it.

It was all fun and games till I started shaving and felt my scalp for the first time.

You're a role model.

No, I'm just RJ.

I'm Oliver Trevena here on the Young Hollywood sofa with Olivia, Thomas, and RJ. How are you guys?

Good. How are you?

I'm great since I've seen this shirt. I honestly can't get enough of this shirt. This taco shirt. Is this RJ? Does he normally rock up in something like this?

This is RJ. This is the new.

Oh, he's usually all in red.

Yeah, he's not wearing any red today, so I changed it up a little bit.

You mixed it up. You mixed it up for us. This is great.

Blending in a little bit, I guess. Yeah. Somewhat. I feel like I knew that the pillows were going to be red and black so I didn't want to overdo it.

The pillow. Okay, okay. Nice, nice. Well, let's move on to the more important things. Not that I don't love your shirt. I could talk about that all day, but I'm sure the viewers don't want to hear that. So me and L and the dying girl. Yeah. What an emotional roller coaster. Honestly, not many things make me cry. I got to be honest. When that when that guy left One Direction, that was one. Oh. This is two. This is two this year. This is two this year. You felt that as well, right? I got you. We should have called each other.

Should have called each other.

I know. I called the support lines, but they were closed. Yeah. All the time. I'm going to go now. Really, no, but it really was an emotional roller coaster. It's it's it you really feel for her. Is it draining when you're filming something like that? Like are you crying all the time?

Yeah yes. Yes. Yeah, you are. You are. You're trying to go wherever the emotion takes you and the dialogue is so good that you just really do feel so much in the moment.

So you and Greg are co-workers?

No, we're friends. He just hates calling people his friend. Dude's got issues.

Yeah, he does. What's going on?

Man, I don't even know. It might be his folks. I mean, dude's mom always tells him how handsome he is, which he ain't. So now he thinks he can't trust anybody close to him. Dude's weird ass dad don't socialize with anybody except the cat. So that's a role model. He ain't got no friends.

And this is the first time working together, right?

Yes. Oh yeah. Your first film.

Yeah. Your first film. This is it. Celebrate. It's amazing. Well, they were guns, but they were water guns because you know, regular guns. Just Just clarifying that. Everyone, he wasn't sending a message. It was water guns for the summer. Just had to clear that. I saved you there.

Thank you.

Your responsibility now. You're on television.

Yeah. You're a role model. No, I'm just RJ. Role model. I'm a model.

She's going. You scared her with the guns. Go on. Peace. Peace. Go. That's it. Go. We don't want you anymore. But yes, it was based off a book as well. It was. Were you familiar with the book when you got involved in a project like this?

Um, no, I wasn't. The script was like around first, I think, before the book had really kind of gotten a big following. The book is bigger now, but um, yeah, we I think we didn't read the book until after we had the parts because you don't want to get too invested.

Waste your time reading a book. If you're a real friend, yeah, you can read this stuff.

Yeah. Right, right. I've got you. Same guy, you know. Same guy. Pretty much same deal. Same story. And reading that script for the first time, did you instantly know like because you must, you know, as actors you get sent a lot of scripts and you're reading them and you're like this one wasn't a

No, no, it was a definite. It was like a resounding for sure. Like, let's do this. Yes. It was. Yeah. Yeah, it was so honest and so believable and stuff that I would, that humans say it was. No one's trying to say the perfect thing or the most profound thing in the moment. It's awkward. You don't know how to deal with these these situations and you're all trying to find your way through it and I just thought it was just immensely funny. It's really, really funny. It made me belly laugh every single page and then when the emotional things do start to happen during the script, you really feel so much for these characters because you've already been taken on such a journey with them.

I think that's it because when you when you when you're busy laughing and then suddenly it just pulls you back down. It's a bigger fall. Right. It's much you're not just going from there. It's like

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you will like actually enjoy spending time with the characters and then when when the good times are taken away, it's just that much more devastating.

Tough role to play. I mean, Right. Yeah. Rachel's. How was that going into into a role like that?

I just didn't want anything that I did to come across as false and I didn't want to overly play the cancer because then it's like she becomes very flat. Rachel becomes very flat and you just see her as a victim or a tragic character and she has all these beautiful layers to her and she has all these wonderful qualities that I wanted to show every single one of them and she is the stronger one out of their relationship. She's the one that wants him to realize his full potential. Um, but you know, I did want to do um, an honest portrayal. I really did.

That happened. That did work. It worked.

Okay, good. Thank you. I wasn't fishing. I wasn't like

No, but it did. I know you wasn't fishing. That's why I gave it to you.

Right. Okay, thank you.

I gave it to you.

Um and the hair shave was real. Shaved it. It was real. It was off. Yeah, I thought it would have been quite disrespectful. Shaved it in character in Rachel's room. Um, these two helped. We cut bits of hair off and then we shaved a mohawk in and it was all fun and games till I started shaving and felt my scalp for the first time.

What group are you in?

Uh, I'm not in a group, actually. I just wouldn't belong to a group that doesn't suck. You know, I'm terminally awkward and I have a face like a little groundhog, so.

You can't really think that.

No, I don't think that. I know that.

How was her director?

Amazing. Incredible. How was the best? I mean, he yeah, you can't ask for a better uh, person to work with or for, um, he's just I don't know, he loves actors and he wanted us to be just really comfortable on set and he wanted to feel all the feelings that we were feeling, you know. He was jammed in like the nooks and crannies of every single set because he just wanted to be there with the monitor just be. So it's like if this were the frame, he would be like back here with the monitor and he'd be like, guys, can you he'd be like pop up and like, guys, can you try it again? He's actually down there now, just directing. No, he probably is. Is it all good? He likes to keep an eye on all our press and stuff. So

Smart man. Smart man. And you guys are movie makers in the film as well. You make these lovely little uh, lovely little movies, pooping Tom. Yeah. And that's the thing. That's like a lot of obscure movies that most young people won't recognize and I didn't recognize a lot of the references and uh so that was a lot of our homework was like watching these films. Um, and knowing why they liked it because it'd be so easy to do, you know, a parody of like Pulp Fiction or something, like the classic teenage boy movies, but these are more obscure and I think it makes it more interesting. Hopefully people will go to discover them after. There you go. Maybe you get residuals from that from the movie too. That's all.

Well, I wasn't thinking about it's not about the money. Just thought about like that. It's not about the money.

Um if you guys were to make a movie now, any movie, what genre would you pick?

Sci-fi. I think sci-fi. Okay. Sci-fi would be fun fun to spoof. Because you could get some really. It'd be hard to make real like a really good sci-fi without special effects.

No, but yeah, it'd be really hard to make a good one, so the shiftier the better. Look great. Yeah. I would make an honest horror movie. That's what I would make. An honest horror movie. Because you know how in most horror movies, um, to be honest. I love it. When when yeah. When when the main character is running, they trip over the the the most un-obvious things. Uh, air. Uh,

This part you and I hate this. It really it really makes me mad.

Uh, I would just, you know, why would you run into a closet when the door to the house is right next to the closet.

Got you. Yeah. You ever think that maybe they're not in a clear state of mind because they're being chased by a killer?

No, cuz I'm every time I'm scared, my mind is still clear. Yeah. Yeah. Like where I'm from, you have to be clear-minded or you might not make it. This is it. This is it. And I want to make it. You survived. Yeah, I'm still here. Taco shirt strong. Okay. Right. Nobody was going to come at you with that shirt. Never.

Me and L and the dying girl.

Go, go check it out. It's uh, but take some tissues. Oh, ten, fifteen? I didn't cry.