USA TODAY International Edition
O’Brien talks ‘ Love,’ dogs and the Mets
“Love and Monsters” is about a boy and his dog. Or, to be more specific, a Boy and his Dylan. h In the comedic creature feature ( available Friday via streaming and on- demand platforms), Dylan O’Brien stars as Joel, a post- apocalyptic dude living in an America full of gigantic mutated animals who leaves the safety of his underground community and embarks on an 85- mile quest to find his high school sweetheart ( Jessica Henwick). A dog named Boy becomes Joel’s partner on his journey, which for O’Brien meant a scene partner who wouldn’t stop licking his face.
Filming a movie with a dog was “the best,” though it was unfamiliar ground for O’Brien. “I was super excited but then also l was like, ‘ Oh, it would be crazy if I can’t even interact with the dog. What if it’s like super professional or I can’t have a normal relationship with it?’ And that was so not the case,” says the 29- year- old star of the “Maze Runner” franchise. “If anything, it was part of my homework to have a little bond” with the two dogs who played Boy – Dodge and especially Hero, who will “always be a really special friend that I had.”
After dramas like “American Assassin” and “Deepwater Horizon,” O’Brien – a New York native and longtime Mets fan – returns to comedy with “Love and Monsters” but next wields a sword in the Antoine Fuqua sci- fi film “Infinite” ( in theaters May 28). He talks with USA TODAY about the new movies, pandemic baseball and his political side:
Question: Your character Joel is a chef in his bunker, but he doesn’t feel that useful and could be doing more. Is that mind- set a little reflective of these COVID- 19 times?
Dylan O’Brien: Totally. The ways we react to it says a lot about who we are. It’s really an educating time: You’re learning about yourself ( and) our world, which we should have always been actively learning about, but we’re all at home just trying to figure it out for ourselves and with each other. It’s an interesting experience.
Q: So whom would you brave 85 miles full of humongous, dangerous critters to find?
O’Brien: Wow. Definitely someone I love, absolutely.
( Retired Mets player) David Wright comes to mind. And my parents … after David Wright. ( Laughs)
Q: Did having the Mets to watch the last couple of months help your pandemic state of mind?
O’Brien: Actually, I struggled with it a little bit at first.
It seemed really unwise to me and unsustainable in terms of safety and health for everybody. I love baseball ( but) we just need to be prioritizing keeping everyone safe in the pandemic. But they pulled it off and it did end up being a really comforting thing.
Q: What can your legion of fans expect from you reteaming with “Deepwater Horizon” co- star Mark Wahlberg in “Infinite”?
O’Brien: Well, they can expect me not to be because I don’t work with him in the movie. I never see him.
I ran into him on set at one point, got to say hi and catch up a little. So that’s a big disclaimer. ( Laughs) Don’t get your hopes up!
Q: Your Twitter feed is filled with messages about voting in the upcoming election. When did that become important to you?
O’Brien: It was gradual as I got older and also coinciding with 2016, ( plus) what we’ve dealt with the last seven months.
Things started happening in our world that are just impossible to ignore, impossible to not stand against and to not try to educate yourself about, and it’s just too important to not try to fight.
It’s our duty as humans. A lot of us are doing that.
Whatever minuscule amount of impact that you could or would have, it’s just right to spread the word.