Ryan Eggold made his feature-length directorial debut at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival at the SVA Theatre on April 22, with his film ‘Literally, Right Before Aaron.’ The romantic comedy is starred by Cobie Smulders and Justin Long.
You may know Ryan Eggold from his roles in ‘The Blacklist’ or ‘90210.’ But the actor debuted as director with his 2011 short film ‘Literally, Right Before Aaron,’ story of a guy who never could get over his ex, and suddenly she invites him to his wedding. The short, written by Eggold and loosely based on his personal life, was later adapted to a feature-length and premiered last week at the Tribeca Film Festiva.
The cast, which also includes John Cho, Luis Guzman, Peter Gallagher and Lea Thompson, stepped out to premiere the film. Later, Longed talked about his role and how he got really involved with the character, in an interview with Bustle.
Long felt really vulnerable with his role
On the film, Long plays the role of Adam, a guy who is still struggling to get over his college sweetheart, Allison, played by Smulders. In the middle of that emotional fight, Allison invites Adam to her wedding with Aaron – the guy literally right after him.
Not only Adam hasn’t got over Allison, but also, after finding out about the wedding, he gets so very deeply sad, a sadness that paralyzes him and disconnects him from his reality. “He’s in a tough spot emotionally and he’s suffering,” Long said about his character. “He’s untethered, and those were all very interesting things to play.”
“It was a pretty unique experience for me,” he said about watching the movie at the premiere. “[There] was an openness and vulnerability when you’re doing it, and you don’t think about what’s going to be like a year later to see [the film] with an audience.”
He confessed that he felt he revealed a lot of himself in the film, and felt embarrassed when he had to watch it, especially with his parents. His mother, in particular, had a bad time seeing him in on screen, being so deeply miserable and sad. “She was feeling very empathetic because she was wrapped up in the tragedy of it all.”
Eggold wanted Long for Adam’s role since the beginning
In a Q&A at the Tribeca screening of the film, Eggold said Long was the person he always had in mind to play Adam in the film. Long confessed he was not aware of that when he accepted to join the project, and he was glad he wasn’t because that would have added a “bit more pressure” for the already emotionally draining performance.
Even though Adam’s character is based on Eggold’s own life, Long said he agreed to play the role because he saw a lot of himself in Adam – let’s remember how almost always, Long is playing the role of the good guy that needs to try really hard to get the girl at the end.
“I think that’s something that I struggle with, too,” he said. “The idea of never seeing somebody you know so well for so long. That they can exist in the world and you have no contact with them anymore is a pretty daunting thing to move on from.”
We don’t know when the movie will arrive to theaters, but we can’t wait to see it for ourselves – and to probably cry our hearts out.