A 14-year-old boy is the most ambitious playwright of his generation in Griffin in Summer.
The film stars Everett Blunck in his feature film debut as Griffin Nafly, whose suburban summer takes a turn when his mom hires the handsome, 25-year-old Brad Rizzo (Owen Teague) to be a handyman.
Blunck told ABC Audio playing Griffin for his first-ever leading role was “really fun.”
“I think it was a very good first leading role to have. It was challenging, but in a really good way,” Blunck said.
Teague, known for his leading role in 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, said “it was astonishing to watch” how Blunck carried this film with ease.
“When I was doing Apes, one of our producers one day said to me, ‘#1 sets the tone,’ which means #1 on the call sheet — the lead of the film — if they’re cool, if they are doing their job and [are] a nice person, everybody else is gonna be good, too. The set’s gonna be easy. It’s gonna be a nice place to work,” Teague said. “We had a great set. And that’s because Everett was, A, so good, but also just such a genuinely fun person to be around.”
The film, which premiered at Tribeca Festival in 2024, touches on a lot of topics. Teague hopes it resonates with those who see themselves in Griffin.
People who were also “14 years old, in love with somebody much older, and maybe [someone] who’s a little bit different from the rest of their friends,” Teague said. “I feel like it’s going to help a lot of people feel recognized and feel seen and validated and not alone.”
Griffin in Summer arrives in select theaters on Friday.
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