Why Jack Reynor bared all for thriller
“Midsommar” isn’t your typical summer thriller.
“It’s a horror movie, among other things” says Jack Reynor, who stars in “Hereditary” director Ari Aster’s sophomore feature.
“Midsommar” follows a group of friends who travel from New York City to the Swedish countryside for a once-in-every-90-years celebration that involves drugs, sex and ritual killings.
Reynor plays Christian, a Ph.D. student who is on the verge of breaking up with his girlfriend (played by Florence Pugh). After she experiences a horrifying loss, he reluctantly invites her on the excursion to Sweden.
“It’s a breakup movie, it’s a folk horror movie,” Reynor says. “There’s a lot going on.” There certainly is.
The 27-year-old actor sat down in New York City for an episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeart’s movie podcast. (Warning: This includes a few spoilers because “Midsommar” is not the kind of film one can discuss without revealing key details.)
“‘Midsommar’ is very bright — literally,” Reynor says of the folk horror film. “Sun-filled fields of grass are punctuated by villagers dressed in all-white, flowing hippie attire with flower details. All the terror in the film happens in broad daylight. That’s a testament to the skill of the filmmaker to be able to find that depth of darkness in blistering sunlight.”
He hadn’t seen “Hereditary” when he signed on for the movie, but after reading Aster’s “Midsommar” script, Reynor said, “This is something that isn’t really getting made.”
“This is an opportunity to do something that’s unique,” he said. “None of the camera direction or any of that was written into the script, so when (Ari) spoke to me about it in person I understood what his vision was, how he was going to execute it visually. There was no way that I could’ve said no to doing it.”
And then there’s Reynor’s full frontal sex scene.
“I was advocating for as much full frontal as possible,” he said. “I felt like it was really important.
“When I read the script, I saw an opportunity to take a character who exhibits a lot of archetypal male characteristics — like male toxicity — who has all of the stuff stripped away from him through the course of the film and then ultimately finds himself in this situation, which is kind of the ultimate humiliation … It was always intentional to have the full frontal. That was what Ari wanted to do.”
Said scene isn’t a sexy bedroom romp. Instead it’s a twisted mating ritual. Reynor’s bewildered looks when he realizes what is happening while continuing to partake makes the scenario even weirder.
Next for Reynor is the premiere of his writing and directorial debut, “Bainne,” a ghost story short.