DYLAN ARNOLD WANTS TO PETITION TO BRING BACK OSTERIA LA BUCA’S CREAMED CORN, AND SO SHOULD YOU
BY: CLARA SEELY-KATZ
Something about Dylan Arnold has made him the perfect actor to continuously portray heartbroken or in-peril boys/men, and he is the first to admit he isn't sure why. After our conversation, however, I would have to say it is because Arnold is the kind of person you want to root for in general, which makes his heartbreak or death on screen all the more devastating (and therefore–in a twisted way–entertaining).
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Aside from his recent string of horror/thriller roles, Arnold has also shown his range in everything from YA films to his run on stage at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2019. Most recently, he has amassed a following due to his performance as the innocent, pure, and utterly scene-stealing Theo on the third season of Netflix's series, "You." Arnold's Theo is at times the comic relief of the show, the breath of fresh air, and is one of the aforementioned heartbroken and/or constantly-in-mortal-peril characters that Arnold has come to play so well.
A self-proclaimed theater kid, Arnold's passion for acting, regardless of genre or format, is intoxicating. After just one conversation with him, I, someone who has never acted before, even thought about becoming an actor– he makes it sound so fulfilling and exciting. As a person newly in the spotlight who is coming to learn what it means to have a large following of fans eager to know more about him and his life, Arnold has become a source of inspiration or comfort to many of his fans. His goofy nature and passion for life is infectious. You would just have to look at his Twitter feed to understand that.
Read on to learn more about Arnold’s exploits in film and television, how he gets past creative slumps, and how live theater has been pivotal in his acting career. And if you want to get hit right in the feels, go watch his incredible performance in “You” season three, and have a box of tissues ready.
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My first question is in regards to the pandemic. I'm really curious about if your experience and generally the changes that have been made over the past two years, have made you shift your priorities in terms of your career or your personal life?
That's an excellent question. I think that because we usually have so much coming at us from all different directions when that's all suddenly stripped away, it really forces us to reflect and look inward in a way that I feel like a lot of people, myself included, didn't have to do before. I really found myself struggling (as I imagine everyone did) at the very beginning of the pandemic, not knowing what to do with myself. As an actor in a typical year, work tends to fluctuate in such a crazy way that you really have to find ways to stay grounded. For example, you might not work for a year, but you have to trust that a job will come in the next year– otherwise, you're going to drive yourself crazy. So, I think not having even the possibility of work really forced me to be like, Okay, how do I creatively fulfill myself in other ways. I found that painting wound up being something that I really enjoyed, I would draw when I was younger, but I rediscovered that love for visual art and writing during the times when I couldn't work. And I mean, writing and directing is something that I'm definitely interested in down the road.
Actually, for about three months in the summer of 2020, I went up to my parents' house in Washington, and I stayed with them, which was wonderful. And while I was there, I wound up writing this short that I filmed with my brother and his girlfriend and our friend just for fun. Who knows if we will do anything with it, but it was just such a fantastic way to creatively express myself and makes me want to do more work like that. I definitely feel like having to manage my time in that way and having to actively find ways to fulfill myself between jobs helped me renew my love and drive for creativity.
Would you say you started to see acting less as “a job" and more as another outlet for you to be creative?
I mean, I never really saw it as "a job" because it really is something that I've wanted to do since I was six. I did all the theater school plays, and as a kid, whether it was at the dinner table or at the theater, I took every opportunity to act. So when I found out that I could do this as a profession, it was a done deal. I was like, great, sign me up. I definitely chased it since I was young, but I would say I have started to look at different ways to be inspired outside of acting work for sure.
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So you were a theater kid is what you're saying?
Definitely. I was, and still am at heart, a theater kid. I remember talking to some of my old friends from school years back after not seeing them for a while and when they found out that I was still acting all these years later, they were like, that makes sense to me. You for sure seemed like the kind of kid who would just continue to go for it. It was to no one’s surprise that I became an actor.
A couple of years ago, you were in the show “Good Boys” at the Pasadena Playhouse. Can you tell me about that experience and about how you feel about live performance versus working in film and television?
I feel like theater and film/television have their own wonderful and unique ways to deliver a story to an audience. I did so much theater growing up, so it was really lovely to return to that atmosphere after not acting in theater since college. LA is not necessarily a theatre town – there for sure is theater here that is great, but it's certainly not as prevalent as New York.
I would say the thing that's so amazing and unique about the theater versus film, although I love both, is that from an audience perspective, if you're not there and don't experience that performance firsthand, you're never going to get what it was to be there. And in that way, as an actor, I feel a certain level of ownership over my performance a little more in the theater than on film. You film for like six months for a movie, and people can binge the show in six hours. And because of editing and all these other elements that go on behind the scenes, a lot of it really doesn't feel like me when I watch it back. It doesn't feel like you have as much ownership over your performance because it is cut and edited and manipulated in such a way that there are times where I watch myself and I'm like, oh, that's how that scene goes? It works, but it's for sure not what I thought it was going to be. In theater, you act in the moment every night from the first to the last scene. You get to really control your performance in a special way. And, of course, being able to truly feel the visceral reactions of the audience is like nothing else.
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As an actor, you get more agency almost because you could literally do whatever you wanted in the moment and take it whichever way you want to go during live theater. That is something that is pretty exceptional and is why I love theater as well. Was there a first play or musical you can remember from childhood that inspired you?
The first big show that I saw was when I was eight-ish. My parents took our family on a trip to London, and we saw "Billy Elliot," and I remember walking out of the theater just being in awe. I saw all of these kids my age on this huge stage, doing incredible dancing work and incredible singing. I was amazed that someone my age could do something at that level. I remember dancing out of the theater and just being so jazzed about the whole thing. But also, every show that I saw I was just captivated by. I always wanted to know the performers and meet them if I could. I was always one of the people waiting by the stage door to congratulate them on their performance. So I think every show I saw as a kid I really took something from.
That awe you experienced as a kid watching live theater is how many people feel watching you in shows like "You" and films like "Halloween.” Because of the heightened isolation during the pandemic, people more than ever have been looking to celebrities, especially actors, as a source of comfort – particularly through the use of social media. Knowing there are people out there that feel the same way that maybe you felt about actors on the stage as a kid, do you feel any sense that you have to maintain a specific appearance when you are engaging on those platforms for the sake of your fans or people who might be looking up to you?
That's interesting. I definitely don't want to feel like I run my life based on what other people will perceive of me because then I would constantly be doing things for other people and other people that I don't even know. It has been very interesting on social media since "You" season three came out. I do have a lot of people reaching out and a lot of people who seem to be very, very interested in my life in a way that I've never experienced before. And it does feel weird because I'm like, Who am I to them? They don't know me. They don't know me personally, and it's interesting because, with a show that you can binge in your home, it becomes very intimate; it becomes very personal because of all of the time you spend with the characters. I understand why people look at these actors and feel like they know them. That being said, they don't know me, so I don't really understand why people would want to look up to me.
But when you put it that way, how you compared it to me talking about the stage actors I really looked up to as a kid, I do remember how it did mean a lot to me when they would take the time and talk to me. If anyone is looking up to me as an actor who wants to be an actor too, I want to encourage them for sure. But I think I'm still getting used to it; I'm still getting used to how to handle myself. I am still not used to people coming up to me in public and talking to me in this way that I've never been spoken to before because it is different. And there is this sort of energy behind it that I'm not used to.
I'm really trying to figure out how to manage it. I want to be honest and be myself. I think it is something to get better at. I look up to these older actors who handle themselves in such an amazing way with fans, and I definitely aspire to be like that.
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To be honest, I wanted to discuss social media also because I found your Twitter feed. And I want to ask you about your tweeting thought process. Some of my favorites are: "Whatever happened to Skype?" "Do birds sometimes just fly for fun?" and my personal favorite because I definitely related to this one, "Whenever someone lets me go ahead of them in traffic I always say “thank you” under my breath and just assume that they heard it.” Also, have you had kettle corn recently? Or do you still miss it?
Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. I'm actually pretty proud of my Twitter. I haven't gone on there recently, and I do feel more of a pressure to go on there now because there are more people paying attention. I was tweeting those things when I had like, 500 followers. And to answer your question, I do still miss kettle corn. I don't see it as much as I think it deserves. The buttery, sweet and salty flavor is a really excellent combination.
An utterly underrated snack for sure.
Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking. So many of those I just thought it, and I was like, I'm gonna tweet this. I've definitely have been more nervous about doing things like that, but part of me doesn't want to be worried. You asked earlier about managing who I am based on what people on social media or fans see, and it's like, I really don't want to have to do that. I want to find a way to be myself but also maintain that sort of protection because I do understand that people really do care about what actors have to say. I do just want to be able to say stupid things sometimes. Maybe I should jumpstart my Twitter again.
Yeah, I think so. I think it's incredibly endearing. And I know you said you don't understand why people are looking up to you, but I think it's because of stuff like this. As an actor, you are just a person with all of this exposure, and I believe that when people are feeling isolated or questioning their own lives, it's really helpful to talk to friends and family, but a lot of people don't have those kind of connections. And so looking to actors is just like looking to other people, just as a person, and feeling familiarity towards somebody can make them feel less alone. So you being yourself is probably the best thing you can do, goofy tweets and all.
Yes, and honestly, it's stressful to just try to manage how I present myself at all times. Of course, I want to be respectful, but I do want to be able to say stupid things. I don't want to feel terrified of saying something stupid and seeing people say, "Wow, he's stupid." Who cares. Sometimes I am silly, and I say stupid things.
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You’re a person! You are nuanced.
I'll take that. I'm not stupid. I'm nuanced.
On the topic of your nuance, your role on the third season of Netflix’s “You” is as Theo, a new fan favorite. Do you think you share any traits with your more puppy-like innocent Theo counterpart?
Puppy-like, that definitely is the case with Theo. I think it is funny because I'm 27, almost 28, and he's 19, so I really had to dig back in my memory to how I was when I was 19, and I think when I was 19, I probably did share a lot more qualities with Theo than I do now. I definitely really did love hard and in many ways, even if it was just a crush. I fell hard, so in that sense, I definitely understand his infatuation in the show. In terms of his strained relationship with his parents, I don't feel similar to him. I have a very good relationship with my parents, I was very fortunate in that, so I don't necessarily relate to him that in a sense. That being said, I do understand what it's like to have a strained relationship with people that you love. There is also a very playful element to him that I really relate to and enjoy and honestly want to incorporate more into life. I think it's wonderful to be playful and have fun, and maybe be a little sarcastic sometimes.
That is what I really appreciated about your performance this season, the playfulness. "You" is a very twisted show, and I remember after watching it, I just felt drained; I didn't even know how to feel. So I want to know, as someone who essentially played the bright spot in the season, and at times the comic relief (which made what happened to your character later all the more devastating), did you ever feel drained or affected while you were filming?
I think definitely, towards the end when it got a little heavier for my character, I felt it a bit more. It is funny because, throughout the whole show, Joe and Love deal with a lot of really intense things, and my character is just like, oh, what's going on? He's really not privy to any of this stuff going on. At times it did feel like I was in a different world in some sense than the rest of the cast. And then, towards the end of the series, Theo definitely gets caught up on what's going on. I did feel the weight of wanting to have a good story arc in terms of the entire show and have a good character pay off. I definitely felt the intensity when that intensity wrapped up in my scenes towards the end, but it was really funny during the majority of filming. I just felt like I was in a different world for so much of it. I was in this love story, I was the puppy dog in this love story – and then behind the scenes, all this crazy stuff is going down with all of the other characters. After the show came out, I did enjoy some of the comments I would see. And of course, I don't want to look at comments too much online, but you know, it's hard not to sometimes. A lot of people were talking about how stupid Theo was, saying like What are you doing? And it is interesting because I'm not used to people talking about me or my character or whatever, I had to not take it personally. At first, I was like, hey, I'm not stupid! But then I had to take a step back and realize, Oh, they're just talking about my character. I can relax.
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Aside from "You," you were in the new "Halloween" movies and also the "After" franchise as Noah, the high school ex-boyfriend. I want to know what is it about you that makes you get cast in these roles as a 19-year-olds hopelessly in love or in peril?
I have no idea what it is, but I have started to wonder. It seems like people either want to see me get heartbroken or put in danger; that's really the pattern I've seen. I was reflecting recently, and I was thinking about how I got my first professional job 10 years ago. I realized I've never really thought of why anything's happening in the roles I've been getting necessarily. I've just always wanted to act, and when a part comes along that I enjoy doing and I get the job, I'm like, great, another opportunity to act! I really have had such a wonderful time on every job that I've done. But to answer your question, I guess I can't speak to why people want to see me get killed or heartbroken. I must do it well, I don't know.
In the future, do you want to take more roles in blockbuster films or in small shows? Or, is that not a concern to you, and it's more about what feels right in the moment?
I don't think it really matters to me what scale it is on. I'm really interested in portraying different characters and working on different types of shows and movies, whatever that may be. In terms of what I am looking for, I'm more interested in working with different filmmakers. And although I think that it's cool to be in something that a lot of people see, the joy that I get is from doing, it is from being part of the process and being on set or being in rehearsals and working with amazing actors and incredible directors and fulfilling myself creatively. It's so hit or miss with how final products are received, and it's often years or a year before it comes out. So I feel it would be very stressful for me to rely on the response to a project I work on to fulfill me creatively. It really doesn't matter what level of production it is at the end of the day. If it's an exciting story, and an interesting character and an interesting cast and director, I'm game.
Do you have any idea where you might be in five years from now? Would you ever take a step back from acting to do more writing and directing?
The only way I would take a step back from acting is if I were directing and writing, but I definitely still want to act. I really don't see myself in any other field, but who knows? That may change in five years. I have always been someone who struggled with having a five-year plan, you know. Honestly, I don't know what I'm even gonna want to do next week, let alone five years from now. I recognize and appreciate that people change so rapidly, so it's dangerous to put someone in a box by comparing where they are at to where they said they were going to be a year ago. We all change, we get more information, we grow. I really hope that I am just finding fulfillment in what I do. I think that that's all I can say. And maybe have a dog. Okay, that's my answer. I see myself having a dog.
Get a dog and keep on being creative.
Get a dog. That's all I can say is my plan.
That's a very solid plan.
Yeah, I think it's doable.
Seems pretty doable for sure. I am a writer, and some days my creativity and inspiration just leave me. I wanted to know, what do you do when you feel completely uninspired? How do you continue on in those circumstances?
Meditation has been really effective in my life. It doesn't even have to be a specific type of meditation. I set a timer or not, and I sit and feel my body and breath. Just sitting and listening to what's around me can be really grounding. Also, taking walks is terrific. I love listening to music as well. In terms of writing, listening to music, especially without lyrics, is really helpful to get in that kind of mindset. It's almost like building a playlist. When I listen to certain songs, I imagine myself in a movie scene where that song would play, and that's really helpful to figure out the mood and the tone of my writing at the moment.
But also, I've been given this advice (and I have done this sometimes, but I need to do it more), which is when I'm creatively blocked writing, it's good to either read or just try to write. Just put a word on a page no matter what it is. Often I try writing even when I feel uninspired and just putting a word down helps. The second I start writing, things eventually start moving. But it is hard, and I think inspiration comes in waves. So when you feel it, you just got to go for it.
Are you the kind of person who finds themselves writing all at once? Or do you write little bits throughout the day?
I have got to take breaks. My mind winds up being so scattered if I don't. What's unfortunate is I always worked best when I went to coffee shops or really anywhere outside of my house because I didn't have any of those distractions. But obviously, with the pandemic, it's not the same. I used to have this coffee shop I would go to by my house almost every day and just sit for hours and either write or read or work on an audition. It was just so nice to be in that atmosphere.
And what kind of writing are we talking about? Scripts? Creative writing?
Scripts, a little poetry but not anything that's, I think, super profound or inspiring– t's just a mess of words. Also, some narrative stuff. Wrapping back to your previous question, I think that writing was something that I really, really started doing during that time, and I was actually very happy doing it. I felt really centered when I wrote. It was a way to get my thoughts out of my mind and put them somewhere else. And I admit I have not written much recently, but that's going back to the inspiration thing. It's hard to be creative when you just feel blocked. I need to take my own advice and just sit down and do it.
You mentioned that you like to get out and write at coffee shops in LA. Where is somewhere in LA that you love to go for food?
So El Coyote is a classic. I used to live right in that area, I would go there a lot with my roommates. It's this fantastic Mexican place. Also, Osteria La Buca. It's a great place, so great. And their creamed corn is delicious, but they took it off their menu. So maybe we should start a petition to put it back?
If we all band together, maybe we can get it back.
Yeah, make sure to put that as the headline. Petition to bring back delicious creamed corn. Pretty good.
My last question today is, if you were a book, what book would you be and why? It can be a book you love that you think encapsulates who you are. Or, if you're feeling creative, you can also make up a book title, like a "title of your life."
I would always joke with my friends that name my autobiography would be called "Downhill Both Ways," just because I like the sound of it. And, it's always nice going downhill. But it also is kind of tongue in cheek because it's like I am a white man, so of course, everything is nice and easy for me which is something I acknowledge. But also, I honestly really love self-help books and spiritual books or what have you. If not for any reason other than I really love reading something and feeling like I can try to apply it to my life that second and feel a little better. I think there's a lot of wonderful ways to lead different lives and find happiness in different ways. Whether or not I agree with it, or it resonates with me, I just really enjoy reading other people's perspectives on life. So maybe "Downhill Both Ways" could be a self-help book. I don't know. That sounds like a good self-help book title to me.
Honestly, I would read it.
Yeah, yeah. Well, maybe I'll go for it. I'll write it after this.
Okay, good, go for it.
