Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – we meet the cast
A YA weepy centred on a terminally ill teen might have some reaching for the sick bucket, but Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, dubbed "the Citizen Kane of teen cancer tearjerkers" by one US critic, is a different breed. We meet its talented young cast
Viewers with qualms that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl may turn out to be merely another best-selling YA novel-to-film tearjerker will be surprised by the film’s insightful focus on a decidedly nonsexual boy-girl relationship.“If this was a touching, romantic love story,” says teenage protagonist Greg (Project X star Thomas Mann) in droll voiceover, “suddenly we'd be furiously making out with the fire of a thousand suns, but this isn’t...” Busy escaping the social hell that is high school with his best friend and “co-worker,” Earl (impressive newcomer RJ Cyler), Greg is unexpectedly forced by his mother to spend time with Rachel (Manchester-raised Olivia Cooke), a classmate diagnosed with cancer.
Thanks to Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s dynamic direction – demonstrating the influence of Martin Scorsese, whom he previously worked for as a personal assistant – and the irresistibly hip, sarcastic wit of its dialogue, Me and Earl... provides painfully honest laughs along with more fragile, dramatic moments. The film also serves as a delightful paean to filmmaking, with its abundance of savvy movie references, and even some films-within-film, as Greg and Earl churn out quirky, homemade parodies of Criterion classics, like 400 Bros, The Seven Seals and A Sockwork Orange.
On a warm afternoon in London, The Skinny heads to the swanky Soho Hotel to delve into death, teenage angst, and classic movies with Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’s young and talented cast.
Greg (Thomas Mann) and his “co-worker” Earl (RJ Cyler) in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
The Skinny: What was it like working with Alfonso Gomez-Rejon?
Thomas Mann: It was one of the most collaborative experiences I’ve ever had with a director. I felt very safe with him.
Olivia Cooke: Sometimes Alfonso was so moved, he couldn’t bring himself to say ‘cut’.
RJ Cyler: If there’s a scene where you need to be emotional, and he sees that you’re in too deep, he knows how to bring you back out.
Olivia, how did you prepare to play a teenager who has stage-four leukaemia?
OC: I went and met a girl at the UCLA Children’s Hospital who had the same leukaemia as Rachel had. We talked about pop culture and her likes and dislikes. You don’t suddenly become this cancerous object, you’ve still got your personality and have still got yourself – which is what I took on with Rachel. I didn’t ever want her to be seen as a victim or a tragic character.
There’s a crucial moment when Greg emphasises that his relationship with Rachel is not romantic. If it had been a love story, how would it have changed the film’s dynamic?
OC: I think it would have become less profound and more self-serving.
RJC: Or just like any other teen movie.
TM: It would have been less believable. The movies put this pressure on kids to think that if they’re not in a romantic relationship, they’re inadequate.
OC: That shouldn’t be the focus when you’re growing up.
Some critics view Earl as the stereotypical “black friend” whose function is to help the white protagonist grow. RJ, do you feel that, in this sense, your role was at all limited?
RJC: No, not really. In real life, none of my friends come from the same background. I don’t get why people say it’s a stereotypical role when it’s just true and honest. You never know who’s going to help you grow in life. Throughout the whole story, Greg and Earl learn from each other. I don’t see my role as just a black kid helping his best friend to become a man, or none of that bullshit. The thing is, all three of them learn from each other.
TM: I was always so surprised when I saw that. It’s about Greg’s life, and this was his best friend – why did it have to be weird? People are fishing.
How is Me and Earl... different from the recent slew of young adult films that deal with death, like The Fault in Our Stars and Restless?
TM: I never think about it in terms of other YA movies. There’s like three war or boxing movies a year...
OC: Or intergalactic adventure movies.
TM: I liked the script because it felt different from any other coming-of-age movie I’d read, in its tone and approach.
“Movies put this pressure on kids to think that if they’re not in a romantic relationship, they’re inadequate” – Thomas Mann
Are you surprised at how viewers have interpreted the film?
TM: Here’s one thing I think people take way too seriously: that they’re supposed to be on Greg’s side. I like that he’s a selfish teenager, and that the movie is about someone who isn’t so noble. But people put so much stock in him that they start to hate him, and hate the movie because they see it through his eyes. But it’s not necessarily that Rachel is just this burden to him. Earl isn’t just his co-worker. All these kids are just these groups he puts them in. That’s all Greg, and it’s up to you to realise that Greg is wrong about everything. He thinks the world is about him, but it’s not.
OC: I think people are really spoon-fed the content that comes out these days. No one’s given the opportunity to work things out for themselves. So when you do get a main character who is not reliable, then people just get really confused and leave the cinema not really getting it.
Greg refers to everyone in his high school in terms of specific groups, like jocks, geeks, goths, etc. Was your own teenage experience similar to his?
TM: That’s the thing I didn’t identify with. I think it’s much more fluid than that. It says more about Greg than anyone else. His life is mediated through movies, and he has to make sense of this chaos to protect himself. I went to a huge high school where everyone was friends. There were cliques to some extent, but people were never just one thing.
OC: Oh God, no. Especially in England. You don’t really get to have a sense of identity here as much as in America. You’re in uniforms, and it’s quite strict. At the school I went to, I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup or dye my hair. I remember people saying, ‘Cherish this, these are going to be the best years of your life,’ and thinking, God, my life is going to be so shit.
RJC: I loved high school. It was like popularity was handed down to me from my dad, who was the best dancer when he was young.
Greg and Earl hilariously remake a lot of art-house classics. But aren’t most of the film references a bit too sophisticated and esoteric for a teenage audience?
TM: Yes! But it says a lot about Greg’s father, and the movies he´s passed down to Greg. It’s more interesting than them watching typical movies like Pulp Fiction or Fight Club. It gives the film a special flavour and a timeless quality – and also allowed us to use all these great scores.
Which particular film remake is your favourite?
RJC: 2:58 p.m. Cowboy!
OC: Burden of Screams. Just because Thomas’s impression is so hilarious. And Peeping Tom, with the plunger coming towards you...
TM: Burden of Screams was probably the most fun to make, just because it was out in the park with kids running around screaming in a German accent. It was a great time.