August 20, 2025 • 44 mins
Horror movie deaths don’t get much more iconic than a full-on decapitation—and Brennan Clost just joined the club. Fresh off Fear Street: Prom Queen on Netflix, the actor, dancer, and newly minted producer stops by Pride to talk about how he found out he’d lose his head, what it’s really like to die on camera, and why he begged to keep his prosthetic head as a souvenir.
But that’s just the start. Brennan opens up about:
🩸 Playing queer roles vs. straight ones—and why it matters when casting calls actually say “queer.”
🐈 His life as a certified cat dad
🎬 Producing Love Thy Neighbor during the strikes and discovering his A-type producer side
💔 The bittersweet queer love story at the heart of The Legacy of Cloudy Falls
🌈 Coming out, labels, and why he’s learned to embrace fluidity
From horror set decapitations to heart-melting cat stories, Brennan proves he’s as multifaceted as they come.
But that’s just the start. Brennan opens up about:
🩸 Playing queer roles vs. straight ones—and why it matters when casting calls actually say “queer.”
🐈 His life as a certified cat dad
🎬 Producing Love Thy Neighbor during the strikes and discovering his A-type producer side
💔 The bittersweet queer love story at the heart of The Legacy of Cloudy Falls
🌈 Coming out, labels, and why he’s learned to embrace fluidity
From horror set decapitations to heart-melting cat stories, Brennan proves he’s as multifaceted as they come.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Strawhut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I got a call from the prosthetics artist being like, hey,
we got to, you know, schedule your prosthetics appointment to
do a body and a head cast.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
And I was like, oh do I die? Like I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Then my agents, I think, sent over the script and
then I just like flew through it trying to find
like what happens to me?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Okay, So here's the question I want you all thinking
about prior to going into this week's episode of the
Pride Podcast. So I wanted to ask if you were
to be in a horror movie and you knew you
were going to die, what death are you wanting? Like,
what are you envisioning as the best horror death? You
(00:50):
could have to be like famous about it, you know,
to have the best horror death. Obviously, that is a question.
I think people argue what horror movie death is the best?
So far? It'll make sense soon why we're thinking about this.
I think for me obviously, one like a famous horror
(01:12):
death that comes to mind is Drew Barrymore in Scream.
I want to be that for Halloween. I love it.
I love her, I love the story behind it. She
was supposed to be in the movie, and then she
ended up like everyone thought she was the main character,
and then she ended up being the first kill. I
feel like that is part of what makes it so famous.
I also just feel like it's not actually that crazy
(01:34):
of a death. It is, but I feel like it's
the sequence. It's not necessarily how she specifically dies, even
though it is crazy, and there is that whole visual
element right at the end, but I feel like for
the most part, it's really just the entire the entire sequence,
the phone call, the making, the popcorn, like all of
(01:55):
it really leads up to it, and that's hard to
kind of replicate in a that's that's how I want
to die way. And honestly, horror movies, I used to
be terrified of them and I was definitely a scaredy
cat growing up, and they've really grown on me. I
don't really love the gory horror films. I really feel
like I gravitate more towards the really ones with bigger
(02:17):
stories to tell. But I really I do feel like
there is something about a beheading that speaks to me,
you know, like the one in Hereditary obviously so iconic,
so insane, so horrible, but that's like one that really
sticks out. So I do feel like there is something
(02:37):
about losing your head in a film that can make
it really memorable, honestly, and that is what we're going
to lead into this week's episode with Beheadings. So this
week I am talking to Brennan Klost, who is an
(02:58):
amazing dance actor. He is now a producer on projects
as well. We're gonna talk about all of those things.
So I'm so excited to have him. You may have
just seen him in a horror movie called Fear Street
prom Queen on Netflix. It is adjacent to the Fear
Street trilogy that the story doesn't exactly connect, but same
(03:22):
kind of thing and someone may lose their head. I'm
gonna I was trying to like not have spoilers, but
we definitely talk about him losing his head. So that's
a spoiler. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it.
It's really good. But someone loses their head, and we're
gonna we're gonna talk about it and how that happens
(03:42):
and what you do and how you find out that
you're going to lose your head. There's really no way
easy way to break that ice to someone and not
that it needs to be. I would be really really
excited if someone told me that, As I've said so,
I mean, really you could just come out and say
it over coffee and be like, no way. But we're
going to talk about that. We're going to talk about
(04:04):
some of his other projects that he has coming out.
He has a lot going on the Legacy of Cloudy Falls,
also the finale season of the Next Step, which is
on Disney. It's been going on for a while and
he and a lot of other castmates come back to
reprive their roles in that. We're also going to talk
about cats. We're going to talk about other horror deaths.
(04:26):
We're going to talk about auditioning for movies in Hollywood,
what that looks like. How you know if the character
you're auditioning for is queer? Do you always know? Do
you get to make that up in your head? What
kind of what goes into that. We're going to talk
about coming out and labels and if we love him
or hate him, are we leaving them, how we feel
(04:48):
about that in twenty twenty five. It's a really fun conversation.
Brennan is amazing and I can't wait for you all
to hear it, so please stay tuned. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Pictures of my my cat got neutered.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I'm like taking pictures with flash to check on his stitches,
you know, like no one needs to be seeing that,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Okay, I did see that the cat distribution system shows you. Yeah,
and I was like, I have to talk about this
because I loved do you.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, Well, we're gonna talk about cats the whole time.
I love cats, and I'll I won't shut up.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So yeah, this is your like you have another cat already, right, Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So I had two cats, My like soul kitty Pippa.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
She just passed away last November, but I had her since,
like I took her to the University of New York
with me. She like moved all around with me. I
thought this cat was going to live forever. She was
like one of those so like really, it took me
by surprise when she passed away, obviously, and I was
gutted and did not think I would have I would
ever add another cat into the mix, at least not
(06:00):
this soon.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
But my cat.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Lancelot was really depressed and really lonely after and then
it just kind of worked out. My boyfriend has a farm,
and this feral kitten showed up, well, he actually showed
up with a buddy who we think must have been
his litter mate, his brother, and then and they were
kind of living on the porch and they were like untouchable,
(06:24):
very unsocialized. So I was out there like all winter
in like a full snowsuit with like spoon, feeding them
wet food because if I put it out it would
just like freeze too quickly.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So I was like feeding them. These are like our
Canadian winters.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I was like feeding them with this like little painter
stick by the hand and trying to pet them and
like slowly socialize, just because I wanted to get them neutered,
get them their shots, and like maybe they could be
barn cats. But then the brother disappeared all of a
sudden in March, and so then Toots is what we
named this new little tuxedo kitten, Like TUTSI were, but two,
(07:01):
this is just what we call him. So then he
all of a sudden now was like very social and
was like I think, like lonely also and looking for
a companion, and so it was like really cuddly with me,
all of a sudden, and like getting beat up by
the other existing barn cats.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So it just worked out.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Everything kind of matched that, like Lancelot was lonely, this
new cat like had lost his buddy.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So it literally took us.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I was ready for like a month of socializing them,
like through a door, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
It took a day and a half. And then they're like.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Grooming each other, cuddling, They're obsessed with each other. So
it just like feels like it all worked out the
way it was meant to, even though obviously, I, you know,
still wish I had Pippa, but I'm really happy for
like I keep saying, that's a Lance.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I'm like, I'm Lance, I'm so happy for you. You
have a new brother, a new buddy.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, it's like a new relationship. Like you're just like, oh,
you seem so happy. I'm so glad on them.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Do you have cats?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yes, I have one cat. Oh but he's massive. He's
like nineteen pounds actually.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
My god, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I know i'd grab him honestly to show you. I
don't know where he is, but he's like he's huge.
He's a big orange hi too.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
As you were talking and you're like, I'll pick up mine.
I'm like, I'll pick up mine.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, You're like this is easy peasy. Yeah. See that's
the's a normal size cat. Okay, we'll talk about stuff. Okay,
So you've had a crazy like you're coming up. I
feel like you've you've had fear streak come out.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I loved I love a good horror.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Oh yeah I was. I loved the first three films.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yes, yes, Like I want to hear about you know
what your yeah, what your experience with the trilogy was before,
and then how you got involved.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, so I had heard about the trilogy.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Canna Madeira is like a friend of a friend of mine,
so we're kind of in listening like Toronto network of
actor friends and anyway, so I had heard about the
film and that it like blew up for her because
I feel like there was like something. It was originally
a film, and then Sony dropped it and Netflix bought
the three films, and so that's why they came out
like so quickly after one after the other. Anyways, did
(09:09):
it turned into this like huge moment? And I always
kind of had it on my watch list and so
then my boyfriend and I did watch the first film
and it was so much corrier than I think we
were prepared for, and like, I love horror film, so
I was okay, but he really does not enjoy that.
And so then I only watched the first at the
time when then my audition came about, but I didn't
(09:31):
even know what I was auditioning for, like they really
kept it under wraps.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Sorry, you can probably hear all the sirens like DOWNTI town.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So so yeah, I think I auditioned for three different characters,
which and then I ended up booking it, which is
nice because sometimes if you get brought in a bunch
of times, you're like, Okay, they don't know I don't
even fit on this project, Like they don't know where
I fit anyways, And the first time I auditioned for
it just called like Prom or maybe it was called
Prom Queen, but like nothing fear straight. There was nothing
(10:04):
out online like and the breakdown was very cryptic, so
I was like, what is this prom like high school
kids movie?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Like what is that?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Like I didn't get it? Did the audition send it off?
Then they brought me in again for a different character.
Again still there was like nothing online about it. Whatever
tape sent it off. Then finally when I auditioned for
the character ended up booking, there had been the deadline
article and I was like, ohe oh it's a horror
Oh I get the tone now, and everything just kind
(10:34):
of connected. And then it was really wild working on
a project that has like an existing franchise and fan
base and was just like really exciting to join something
that had such a following before. But I think, I
mean I was then ready for it to be like
connected to the trilogy. I assumed it was like the
fourth in the sequel, but this one really is like
(10:56):
a standalone exists like in the universe, but not connected
at all character story wise to the other three.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It was really fun to work on and just fun
like while we were filming, conversation online started happening, and
like it was really exciting being on a project that
the network and like Netflix supported so much and championed
so much. And like, I think we had only been
shooting for maybe a week and they had flown in
like a ePK like behind the scenes person to film
(11:26):
something and we all were like, okay, fine, whatever, Like
that happens when you film stuff, but it doesn't usually
come out until the project airs. It got Netflix edit,
it posted, it came out like the next week while
we were still filming. So it felt very like, oh, like,
people are excited about this, This is very exciting to
be working on. Like it was a really cool experience
shooting it and knowing that like the franchise and the
(11:48):
fans were excited for another film.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I mean, I feel like no one knew another one
was going to come out, but it was definitely welcomed.
It was like, oh, okay, yeah, sure, when did you
find out how you were gonna die?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So yeah, I got the offer.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Was so excited, was like, of course, yes, Like finally
they gave me apart.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I've been auditioning really tragic for like a.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Month, and then I got a call from the prosthetics
artist being like, hey, we got to, you know, schedule
your prosthetics appointment to do a body and a head cast.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And I was like, oh, do I die?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Like I didn't know My audition seemed didn't have any
of the like death in it or anything, and they
hadn't hadn't received the script, like the full script yet,
so it was kind of like I heard about that.
Then my agents I think sent over the script and
then I just like flew through it trying to find
like what happens to me. So it was like, I
think the night before my prosthetics appointment, I got the script,
(12:49):
pieced it all together, went did the head casting, had
a meeting with our director, wardrobe fit, and then it
all like happened very quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So they just like soft launched your death.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, becode the riddle like why is my head going
to be getting a pressthetic cast made of?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Oh am I detapped? And then I'm like I get decapitated.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Anyways, it's just fun, very fun. I've like been dying
a lot in projects recently, and it's very fun to
die on camera and like cool to see how they
do it because it's so like a stunt the way
that it's shot and the timing of everything is so specific.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So yeah, it was very fun.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Is it hard to die on screen? Like, do you
think that's a difficult part of acting?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I didn't think so.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And then and I was sort of like I was
really excited for my death day shooting prom Kreen and
then then kind of like two nights before I sort
of was like, oh, hold on, like to really sell this,
like obviously I have to, you know, give a good scream,
be afraid, like check all the like horror movie boxes.
(13:52):
But I was like, you have to see in my
eyes that I believe I'm going to die, And like that's.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
A hard.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Thing to really go to that of like you believe
you're going to die, like that's where the fear is
living and coming from. So then I kind of I
was starting to like psych myself out, being like is
it going to be believable?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Like does it even matter? Does it have to be?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, So it wasn't hard to do, but it was
like hard you wanted to plan the like moments I
turn around, my best friend screaming herd legs cut off,
there's a lot of blood.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I look up, killer coming at me.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I'm gonna die, Oh my god, my and then and
like all those had to happen in like three seconds.
So that felt like a nice challenge and I was
really happy seeing how it all cut together. But what's
the really hard is playing dead, like when you're laying
there because you have to hold your breath the whole take,
(14:50):
or like very shallow breathing like that.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
That actually is hard. And just like boring.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And I fell asleep a couple of times laying on
the ground, so I had that green screen stock on
my head like I was just like laying there for hours.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
So yeah, No, I think I saw an interview that
David our New Superman did and he was talking about
laying on the floor and just like yeah, like being
dead and he was doing like a high school play.
But he was like I was practicing my breathing and
like no one cared. No one's looking at my chest.
But I'm like, don't let it rise.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I don't think anyone told me like don't breathe. I
was just like saying, I'm just I'm an actor, Like
I must really body the dead.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, you're laying there. You're like, what would my character
be thinking? Now, Oh they're dead?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
What's my motivation at this moment?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Let's backstory? Right, Yeah, okay, got it?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, all that.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Is that like a highlight like check off list of
ways to die. Though I feel like like, well from now.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You know, no, and I like begged them to let
me keep the head.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I just think it's so cool that I had like
a full decapitated fake head. They wouldn't let me keep it, unfortunately,
but I really thought it would have been a nice
like centerpiece. Put a little candle in the.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Mouth, and what are they going to do with it?
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I hope nothing. I hope like in lock Up.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, you're like, goodbye, I can't have it, No one
can be.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
What are you guys doing with it?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah? Yeah, you're like, I can have rituals and light
candles in its mouth, but if anyone else does else,
it's in the garbage somewhere, just in a dumpster.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Well that's what I'm like, I believe once the movie's
like locked, oh, we're not doing reshoots.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Are they just gonna chuck it? Probably? I don't know,
or I don't know. If they do keep I don't
think they can like use it again, I don't know.
Prosthetics studio that worked on prom Queen was also working
on Frankenstein Caramut del Toro's film, and so while I
like after the head cast, they gave me a little
bit of a breather before doing the body cast, and
(17:09):
they took me over to the other studio and showed
me all the body parts and me a goth's head
on a like the same sort of head casting, and
but they had just like a bin of limbs that
they're like, oh, these are limbs that we've made for
other things that get reused here or there, and I
guess they like rent them out. So now I'm kind
of thinking, like, my head gonna be in like a
head bin that gets just like rented out on for
(17:32):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Your head, the rumor will start. Your head was reused
for Frankenstein's Head, you know, mm hm, they altered it
and now it's in that movie.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, so my head lives on.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
At least we have that, you know, I know.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
I love that better than I'm doing like some weird
ritual with the head.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, we'll take what week and get Well, that was
such a fun movie, Like I'm so excited that enjoying it,
and then we have a couple more that you have
coming out. I want to talk about the legacy of
Cloudy Falls, because it does look like such a fun
project genuinely.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, it's so Yeah, it is very quirky. That's the
perfect word.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah. I saw our director posted.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Like I think like it was like a letterbox review
or like a clip that a quote that someone had
had reviewed the film and they were like, I forget
how it was like a wacky bunch of characters and
oddly compelling, and I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's
like perfect. It really is. It sort of like that
(18:41):
film follows the tenets of this rundown motel or apartment complex.
We shot it at a motel, but in the film
it's an apartment complex, and it really is just that
idea of like you never really know who you're living
next to, like what their actual inner the inner world
of their life is.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
It's very quirky, but it's like very sweet. And my
character storyline is really just like all about falling in
love and like your first love and how it disappoints
you and breaks your heart in the end. So like
my little pocket of the film, because the film really
follows like three storylines that don't intersect until the end.
(19:24):
But so we like I only worked with two other
actors when we shot like our stuff, and meet the
rest of the cast until Screw like they had a
cast and crew screening, and then like at a film festival,
I met the rest of the cast when we like
went up on stage like do a Q and a
I was like, Hi, Nasa and Brennan, you know, always
like meeting each other for the first time and going
(19:44):
up to like talk about our film. Yeah, which is
very funny and very I think like a reflection of
the work too, that it's all of these stories and
lives happening at the same time that don't intersect.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah. True, You're like, you don't even know who your
neighbor is, you don't know who your cast mate is. Yeah,
I mean I watched the trailer. It seems like it
has a really really sweet little queer story which I'm
excited to dive into. So what did that mean for
you to play that?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I just always I was talking to a friend about
this recently, Like I've played straight audition for straight characters
all the time. I you know, I enjoy every character
I work with or work on, but there is just
something that like settles in my heart when I get
an audition and it says like queer or like LGBT,
(20:39):
like we're looking to cast from the LGBT community, And
I'm like, oh, it's like a relief.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
It feels like, Okay, I don't have.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
To silence any small corner of myself for this but
like I can bring my fullest self, my fullest life
experience to this character, and that's always really exciting and
really just I think every time it feels like a
dream come true. Just I think every queer person can
remember when they were back in the closet and like
(21:05):
quieting that part of themselves or hiding it, and that
the like fear and paranoia around being sounded out and
like holding onto this secret. So yeah, it just it
feels really special to get to work on a film
our director's queer. There was like a lot of queer
people working on the project, and I think this the
(21:27):
little the queer storyline, my sort of little storyline, and
the piece I think it felt very special working on
because I think we all knew what it meant to
all of us personally.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yeah, did I answer your question?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So no, No, I love that. I really love what
you said just about when you know you're going in
for a queer role and just knowing that you get
to be yourself, Like I was really I feel like
I was reflecting on that because I hadn't really thought about,
you know, if you're going in for a straight role,
Like obviously anyone can play any role. But there's just
in how you approach things.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, well, and I mean this is a bit of
maybe like a read on the like white straight male community,
because that's what I would play if I'm playing straight.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
That even that they.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Quiet parts of them in that like in the idea
of like toxic masculinity, like they're always presenting themselves to
be accepted by their peers of like other straight white men.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And so anytime I'm playing straight.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
It's never as satisfying for me as playing a queer character,
because one, I'm already like burying a lot of what
makes Brennan Brennan. But I'm also then like it feels
like I'm working through such a narrower filter of like
what's allowed to be brought to this character's life versus
(22:54):
when it Yeah, like it's such it makes such a
difference when you look at the break casting breakdown and
it says queer, and I'm like, oh my god, I
get to like I can bring all of this to
the table and nothing is gonna be too outlandish or
too much or to anything. It kind of just gives
it feels like it gives me permission to like bring everything,
you know, anything's loud versus see the word straight and
(23:17):
I'm like, okay, gotta like you're ring.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
It back in and we're only gonna play with this much.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And yeah, is it always labeled that way? I've never
seen like a casting call so that they always say no,
they don't.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
And then sometimes it's just up to me of like
like I always will decide. I'm like, all right, this
character is by okay, no he's gay. Oh, this one's straight,
this one's straight. But like maybe in the closet, you know,
like I'll literally I'll figure that out. It's important to me,
I just think because it's something I've thought about so
much growing up and it's so part of my experience
of the world that I that's always part of the
(23:54):
backstory and like the prep that I do. Yeah, but
sometimes it's sometimes it will say like gay whatever, or
sometimes I'll have to like riddle it together and be like, oh,
like I just auditioned for a project and I'm trying
to remember what the love interest name was. It was
like Jamie or something, and I was like, could be
(24:16):
a boy, could be a girl, So what it's then
I'm like scrolling through all the other character breakdowns to
try and figure out, and then I'm always like, oh, it's.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
A girl, Okay, so he's straight. Okay, that's fine, that's fine,
I can sell, you know, and like yeah, or by,
we'll see yah or ry And yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I've seen that you've talked about labels and LGBTU community
before and your views on them, Like are you comfortable
talking about where you stand on them now and how
you identify?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I found my experience with coming out was really sort
of like out of my control and before I was
ready for for.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
That to happen in my life.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And I feel like, I'm sure that's a common experience
with a lot of queer people. And it wasn't that
I was necessarily outed, but I was sort of just
like ostracized and like bullied, not bullied, but like excluded
unless I came out, I don't know, which is very
odd because I went to like a liberal arts conservatory.
(25:16):
I went to Juilliard, which actually, when you mentioned David Kornswan,
David and I were in the same year at Juilliard.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, he was in the drama division. I was in dance.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So our academics only were the only classes that overlapped.
But but yeah, there was like this saying in the
like in the dance program with the like upper classmen
the gays, the upper classmen gaze. They would always say
gay by May. So it was a lot of the
(25:47):
like incoming freshmen. If they kind of were like you
could be gay, They're like, he'll be gay by May.
And it was just like stamped on you and people
would say it's your face all the time. And then
it ended up being that like a bunch of the
gay guys in my class then literally said to me,
we don't want to hang out with you until you
come out, because we can't hang out with someone who
(26:07):
like doesn't know who they are. And I was like
what what It just it seems really counterintuitive to me.
You'd think that it'd be like so accepting and so
like everyone is welcome.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
It's Julliard, it's an arts academy.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And it was like almost even worse than high school
in a way where it was like the guy the
gay guys in my class didn't even want to be
friends with me until I came out, and I didn't
even know if I was gay or by or anything.
It was just like a big question mark for me,
and I never really had answers and I did an
experiment really at all in high school and so I
(26:39):
just like didn't know. But so then I kind of
I had a boyfriend in university and kind of like
honestly we dated for six months secretly, and I would
sneak out of the dorms. So funny thinking back to
it now, I would like sneak out of the dorms
to his apartment. And anyways, it ended up that one
(26:59):
of the eyes in my class we were in the
same like dorm suite. He was in like a double
room and I was in one of the single rooms
in the suite, and he like caught on to me
like sneaking out all the time. And then after rehearsal
one night, was like, can I take you to a diner?
Can we get burgers? And I was like okay, and
we went. It was like eleven pm after rehearsal, and
before we even ordered, he was like, Okay, so where
(27:21):
are you sneaking off you every night?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
And it was I was so caught off guard and
was like, uh.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
And so then I ended up telling him I'm seeing
this guy whatever, and he's like, oh, Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Great, can I tell everybody?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And I was like, well no, like I'd like to
tell my best friend first, like I hadn't even tell
my best friend and like at school. So he's like, okay, well,
then you need to go and stop at her room
now and tell her because I'm telling everyone tomorrow morning.
And I was like, so I then like at midnight,
went and like knocked on her door and woke her
up and was like, Hi, I just need to tell
you I have a boyfriend, and she was like okay,
(27:53):
good night and went to bed like didn't care. And
then the next morning I walked into ballet class and
my whole class like clap, and everyone knew and it
just felt very like taken away from me or you know,
and like I wasn't even officially dating this guy yet,
like it was just kind of seeing him and trying
to figure out what it was. And then it just
(28:13):
like everyone knew all of a sudden, and that the
program was really that way, like everyone knew everyone's business.
But yeah, so I felt like then I kind of
just had I then had this boyfriend, and ever this
guy had gone and told everyone that I was gay.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
So then I was like Okay, I guess I'm gay.
I'll use that label.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And so I used that label for a little while
because my sexuality had also been questioned a lot. I
was on a TV series while I was at university
and it was for like Disney Channel Family Channel here
in Canada, and the fans of the show were really
like everything I post on Instagram, it be a picture
of me and my mom in the.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Comments to be like is he gay? Are you gay?
Is he? Like it was just like inescapable.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
And so then I made a coming out video on
YouTube that was like kind of a like my straight
girl best friend also came out as straight as straight
as a straight.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
She came out a straight in the video too.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
It's kind of a way to be like, it's it's
unfortunate that I'm being forced to like publicly make this
video and label it because it's just like everything on
anything I posted, any interview I gave, was like that
all accouments were only about my sexuality when it was
already like a big problem in my own mind, you know,
(29:31):
I was trying to figure this thing out. And then
honestly it was covid I had had. I had another
boyfriend after that and then even like it was very
interested in women and just like didn't really know but
was sort of like, no, but I was told that
I was gay, Like everyone at university decided that I was.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Gay, So no, I can't.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
But then I kind of like sat with myself in COVID, honestly,
like in my little apartment and was just reminiscing and
thinking back on some like female friendships of mine that
were like way more than a friendship. And then I
was like, I don't think I'm actually gay. Maybe I'm
by or pan or does it matter? So now I
(30:12):
just kind of say pan sexual or fluid or I
think I made a TikTok back in COVID because tiny
pretty things came out and I played a gay character
on that. But like in my you know, the like
sexuality spectrum, Shane felt like dialed to one hundred, Like
I really dialed the flamboyant, gay like vivaciousness of him
(30:39):
to like one hundred, way more than how like I
present in the world. But then there I, you know,
I did some press whatever, and then this journal is
published and the headline was gay actor Brennan Claus and
I just had.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Like a bit of a meltdown, being like I just
decided that I was pan, and now I'm being like
all over this like Huge.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Magazine is said gay Like so I had my publicists
like had them just change it and be like queer actor,
and I was like the queer that label just feels
like more of an umbrella term and I don't have
to then, just like I don't know again, it feels
like conformed to just like this one label or box
or I don't know who knows what I am. I
(31:20):
still don't really know. So yeah, sorry again, long roundabout answer.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Oh it was good. It was good, and it's so true.
It's like we're, especially at such a young age, we're
just expected to know who we are or else like
you we're you know.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
We'll tell you we don't want to hang out with
you until you figure out your sexuality. It's like what, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Like I don't have anything figured out.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I don't know, seventeen living in New York for the
first time, Like I don't even know which way is
up let alone, Like yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, And it's hard when it's like somewhat of an
inclusive kind of environment where they're trying to be like supportive,
but at the same time you're like you're trying to
fit me into a box. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, And like you know, you at a house party
and everyone's having shots and I would go and be like, oh,
can I have a shot, And they'd be like if
you kiss me, and I'd be.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Like, oh, I can't kiss the ball out in front
of everyone, you know, Like it was.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It just felt like it was at every turn people
were trying like confronting me about it. It was like fans
on social media, people at school, like house parties, in
rehearsals and yeah, anyways, that was like my experience. So
I felt like I just picked a label to pick
a label and to get everyone to like shut up
for a bit. And then I've kind of like just
you know, done the personal self work to realize like, oh,
(32:36):
maybe that wasn't my decision.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
It's not I honestly now I'm kind of just like
whatever label, I don't really care.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Right, It's like, say what you want, I I totally
get that, and at least have queer that we can
lean on and be like, you know that works.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah, regards like a nice umbrella.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
And the show that you mentioned was that for the
next step or was that a different project.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Yeah, that was the next step. Yeah, the Disney Show.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
How does it feel now that you've gotten to come
back to it kind of now that you you've kind
of got into your career and your person and then
now you kind of get to revisit what it was
like on the show.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, it's been really nice also because it did, like
I was saying, it felt like the my relationship with
the fans of the show in like those early years,
it didn't feel supportive, you know, it felt like they
were like I was under a microscope. They were investigating,
you know, everything I posted online, anything I any interview
I gave anything. You know, I was like constantly worried about,
(33:52):
like how I was walking or what I was wearing
or you know, just versus Now it feels like we're
in on the same joke, Me and the fans of
the show and I have a lot of fun, especially
on TikTok, like making you know, using trending audios and
making them relate to the show. And the show really
had like a second life through covid too. Netflix bought it,
so then a whole new younger generation of people found
(34:15):
the show again.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And I think someone like.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Uploaded it to you too illegally, like all the episodes,
and I know I've seen pretty much full episodes on TikTok,
Like I think a lot of people did a rewatch
in COVID two, and a lot of the fans are
older now, and so it just feels it felt like, yeah,
it's been really fun to engage with the fans in
a way that feels more authentic to myself now that
I've grown into myself, and.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Yeah, just like we're on the same side now versus before.
It really felt like adversaries.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
I honestly watched the first season of the Next Step
and I got that I did that, and so I
was like rewatching and I was like, this feels like
a fever dream, Like oh my.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
God, even some of it like for me, like I'll
see clips on TikTok. I'm like what they had us
do that, Like I don't even remember how the things
that went on and oh my god, some of the
stuff that was crazy on that show too.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Oh yeah, no, I used to watch you back.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
I'm like, I love this, Like there's such a fun
balance between like grounded and like it being real and
like the mock reality and then it feeling very like
Glee giving camp giving, like.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
You know absolutely, yeah, Well I don't want to keep
you for too long, but I do want to talk
about load thy neighbor. I know that's a big one,
and you actually have a producer role in that one
as well, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Yeah, it's my first time producing.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah, and that came about during the strikes.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, the writers and Actor strikes of twenty twenty three.
Everything dried up obviously in Hollywood and Canada very much
as well, even though we weren't on strike, but whatever.
And so my friend Lauren, who we had worked together
on tiny pretty things, her and I were then really
just like we had always wanted to collaborate on something,
(36:04):
and then it kind of felt like this is the
time to do it because everybody that we would want
to be in it, all of our like talented friends
are available, no one's working, And then it just turned
into being like because that of that time, so many
favors that people normally probably would have been too busy
to help us out, or like our director, he's always working.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
He was able to.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Come Panavision lent us like a huge lens package for
free because the equipment wasn't being used. You know, like
we just pulled off incredible things because of the strike,
and it really did feel like we were taking back
some creative control and like power for ourselves when it
felt like corporate greed was like, you know, an AI
(36:46):
was maybe going to take everything away, and so it
really was just like a bunch of us getting together
and being creative and collaborating on this project that then
has just like continued to go on and on and
be way bigger than I I think, I know myself
bigger than I anticipated it being.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I feel like that like description reminds me of like
Spy Kids, where it was like, you know what, I'm
just gonna make something so fun with all my friends
and not care and great, you know, and that sounds
the best way to do a project, No, honestly, Yeah,
just get everyone's creative minds, but everyone just takes time
to do it and figure something out.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, we really like reverse engineered how a movie gets made.
Like normally you'd have like the script would be written
for years, and then you'd attach your director, and then
maybe you'd cast your actors and then you would find
your locations.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
We literally did in the reverse order.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
We had the location first, then we were like, Okay,
these friends are going to be in it, so now
we need to think of a story and write parts
that work for this location and for all these people.
So it was kind of like we had all these
like rules that then had to like work into I
don't know, and I like working that way. I feel
like it's fun to feel like you're problem solving and
figuring out, like what story could exist that would involve
(38:02):
all these people and it only takes place on this
one property. Yeah, from like start to finish, it was
seven weeks from like the script started to be written
to when we were done shooting, which is very fast.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
But I mean it seems it seems like fun. Like
I feel like every day you're just kind of getting
to clash with an amazing cast of people.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
So it was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Yeah, how was it working with I mean you kind
of hinted at it, but I mean, just how was
it like really just getting to take that step into
behind the scenes and kind of getting to decide what
you wanted it to look like in more than just
an actor role.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Well, I'm a control free week and I'm very a type,
So it was a perfect It was like a perfect
storm for me. I love I love being able to
collaborate creatively and like a in a bigger way than
just on the day in the scene. So yeah, honestly
it was a dream, I'm true, and I would want
to do more producing after this. I some of my
(39:05):
co producers have been like, you're a really good producer.
You got to keep going with this, and I was like, yeah,
I think it's my like organization a type nois and
then obviously creative.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
It's like it's a happy mix for me. And it
was really something that I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
I'd have the opportunity to do until way later in
my career. But one of the other actors in the film,
Brittany Raymond, who plays Valerie, has been a long time
friend of mine. She was on the next step as well,
and she kind of pulled me aside on like day
two of shooting and was like, can you believe this?
Like you've been talking about wanting to produce for like
the last fifteen years, and you know, talking about it
(39:39):
when like when you're forty and you're forty five and
now you're doing it, And it did kind of make
me like step back and zoom out and be like WHOA,
I'm so grateful for this opportunity. It's like came way
sooner than I ever anticipated.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Yeah, So just on.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
That note, like, what what are you looking to do next?
I know, we just talked about all these amazing things
you've done. I'm still soaking in, you know, in that moment.
But what is like a dream next role for you?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I really do have the like production producer bug, but
I really want to try my hand at show running
or directing. And I'm not quite sure what this project
is going to shape up to be. But the project
that I'm developing is based on a book that's about
(40:28):
dance supernatural sci fi elements, kind of like giving a
dance comedy horror if I were to like give it
a genre. So just very like leaning on my experience
as a dancer in this book that I read, I
just absolutely loved, and I then wanted to like infuse
a lot of my own life experience in the dance
(40:49):
industry and at a conservatory program into this story. And
I love pairing something very like you know, done before,
like a dance conservatory drama with then like a huge
supernatural element I think is Yeah, so that's a project
that I'm developing and I'm really excited about. And you
don't know yet if it lives as a film or
(41:10):
if it fits more as like a series.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
But yeah, I love the idea of like a dance
supernatural horror because I don't think I've seen anything like that.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
Oh yeah, dance would exist in a very like crunchy
contemporary dance way, polished ballerina ballet academy. Not that kind
of a series, more like ritualistic contemporary.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah. Nice, I love it.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I think it would blend very well with like a horror.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Yeah, I see the vision. I like it. I like
The last thing usually I have people do on this
show is if there's anything you would like to come
out as, and that doesn't have to be actually related
to anything about your sexuality. He's just anything that's been
on your mind and you're like, I would like to
come out as this, and just kind of say your piece.
(42:06):
Is there anything that comes to mind for that?
Speaker 2 (42:08):
The first thing that popped to mind, I would love
to come out as a cat dad that I just
think that is That is one label I and I do.
I have actually two hats one that says cat Dad
and one that says cat Daddy. Af both gifted to
me by my brother. Actually he knows because he knew.
(42:31):
That's like when you come out to someone and they're like,
I knew he wants to label himself as cat Dad.
And so this is my moment. I'm finally coming out everyone.
I'm sure it's a big surprise, and I'm a cat.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
Dad and we see you and we love you for that.
Thank you, Thank you so much. Is there anything else
you want to say before we close?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Just that load Thy Neighbor hits theaters across Canada and
coming to the state soon August twenty nine releases in
theaters and we'll have news about streaming and all of
that later.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
That's so exciting. Yeah, theatrical release.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Well, where can people find you if they want to
keep following you?
Speaker 2 (43:15):
My handle is at Brennan claust on everything, YouTube, TikTok
and instagram, TikTok and Instagram I use most frequently.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Perfect. All right, Well, thank you so much. This was
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
This was really fun. Yeah, yapp.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Thank you so much for watching and listening to this
episode of the Pride Podcast. And thank you Brennan so
much for coming on. I know I really enjoyed listening
to his behind the scenes takes on Hollywood horror and
of course being a cat dad. If you take anything
away from this episode, I think that it should be
that if a cat is not coming to you, you
(43:56):
should go to the cat. So get to the shelters,
adopt a cat, buy cat dad hat. So that's your
takeaway for the week. I'll see you next time. Please
follow us at Pride on social media and you can
watch and listen to us anywhere you watch podcasts and
listen to podcasts at Pride as well. I'll see you
next time. Bye,
Strawhut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I got a call from the prosthetics artist being like, hey,
we got to, you know, schedule your prosthetics appointment to
do a body and a head cast.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
And I was like, oh do I die? Like I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Then my agents, I think, sent over the script and
then I just like flew through it trying to find
like what happens to me?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Okay, So here's the question I want you all thinking
about prior to going into this week's episode of the
Pride Podcast. So I wanted to ask if you were
to be in a horror movie and you knew you
were going to die, what death are you wanting? Like,
what are you envisioning as the best horror death? You
(00:50):
could have to be like famous about it, you know,
to have the best horror death. Obviously, that is a question.
I think people argue what horror movie death is the best?
So far? It'll make sense soon why we're thinking about this.
I think for me obviously, one like a famous horror
(01:12):
death that comes to mind is Drew Barrymore in Scream.
I want to be that for Halloween. I love it.
I love her, I love the story behind it. She
was supposed to be in the movie, and then she
ended up like everyone thought she was the main character,
and then she ended up being the first kill. I
feel like that is part of what makes it so famous.
I also just feel like it's not actually that crazy
(01:34):
of a death. It is, but I feel like it's
the sequence. It's not necessarily how she specifically dies, even
though it is crazy, and there is that whole visual
element right at the end, but I feel like for
the most part, it's really just the entire the entire sequence,
the phone call, the making, the popcorn, like all of
(01:55):
it really leads up to it, and that's hard to
kind of replicate in a that's that's how I want
to die way. And honestly, horror movies, I used to
be terrified of them and I was definitely a scaredy
cat growing up, and they've really grown on me. I
don't really love the gory horror films. I really feel
like I gravitate more towards the really ones with bigger
(02:17):
stories to tell. But I really I do feel like
there is something about a beheading that speaks to me,
you know, like the one in Hereditary obviously so iconic,
so insane, so horrible, but that's like one that really
sticks out. So I do feel like there is something
(02:37):
about losing your head in a film that can make
it really memorable, honestly, and that is what we're going
to lead into this week's episode with Beheadings. So this
week I am talking to Brennan Klost, who is an
(02:58):
amazing dance actor. He is now a producer on projects
as well. We're gonna talk about all of those things.
So I'm so excited to have him. You may have
just seen him in a horror movie called Fear Street
prom Queen on Netflix. It is adjacent to the Fear
Street trilogy that the story doesn't exactly connect, but same
(03:22):
kind of thing and someone may lose their head. I'm
gonna I was trying to like not have spoilers, but
we definitely talk about him losing his head. So that's
a spoiler. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it.
It's really good. But someone loses their head, and we're
gonna we're gonna talk about it and how that happens
(03:42):
and what you do and how you find out that
you're going to lose your head. There's really no way
easy way to break that ice to someone and not
that it needs to be. I would be really really
excited if someone told me that, As I've said so,
I mean, really you could just come out and say
it over coffee and be like, no way. But we're
going to talk about that. We're going to talk about
(04:04):
some of his other projects that he has coming out.
He has a lot going on the Legacy of Cloudy Falls,
also the finale season of the Next Step, which is
on Disney. It's been going on for a while and
he and a lot of other castmates come back to
reprive their roles in that. We're also going to talk
about cats. We're going to talk about other horror deaths.
(04:26):
We're going to talk about auditioning for movies in Hollywood,
what that looks like. How you know if the character
you're auditioning for is queer? Do you always know? Do
you get to make that up in your head? What
kind of what goes into that. We're going to talk
about coming out and labels and if we love him
or hate him, are we leaving them, how we feel
(04:48):
about that in twenty twenty five. It's a really fun conversation.
Brennan is amazing and I can't wait for you all
to hear it, so please stay tuned. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Pictures of my my cat got neutered.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I'm like taking pictures with flash to check on his stitches,
you know, like no one needs to be seeing that,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Okay, I did see that the cat distribution system shows you. Yeah,
and I was like, I have to talk about this
because I loved do you.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, Well, we're gonna talk about cats the whole time.
I love cats, and I'll I won't shut up.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So yeah, this is your like you have another cat already, right, Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So I had two cats, My like soul kitty Pippa.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
She just passed away last November, but I had her since,
like I took her to the University of New York
with me. She like moved all around with me. I
thought this cat was going to live forever. She was
like one of those so like really, it took me
by surprise when she passed away, obviously, and I was
gutted and did not think I would have I would
ever add another cat into the mix, at least not
(06:00):
this soon.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
But my cat.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Lancelot was really depressed and really lonely after and then
it just kind of worked out. My boyfriend has a farm,
and this feral kitten showed up, well, he actually showed
up with a buddy who we think must have been
his litter mate, his brother, and then and they were
kind of living on the porch and they were like untouchable,
(06:24):
very unsocialized. So I was out there like all winter
in like a full snowsuit with like spoon, feeding them
wet food because if I put it out it would
just like freeze too quickly.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So I was like feeding them. These are like our
Canadian winters.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I was like feeding them with this like little painter
stick by the hand and trying to pet them and
like slowly socialize, just because I wanted to get them neutered,
get them their shots, and like maybe they could be
barn cats. But then the brother disappeared all of a
sudden in March, and so then Toots is what we
named this new little tuxedo kitten, Like TUTSI were, but two,
(07:01):
this is just what we call him. So then he
all of a sudden now was like very social and
was like I think, like lonely also and looking for
a companion, and so it was like really cuddly with me,
all of a sudden, and like getting beat up by
the other existing barn cats.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So it just worked out.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Everything kind of matched that, like Lancelot was lonely, this
new cat like had lost his buddy.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So it literally took us.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I was ready for like a month of socializing them,
like through a door, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
It took a day and a half. And then they're like.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Grooming each other, cuddling, They're obsessed with each other. So
it just like feels like it all worked out the
way it was meant to, even though obviously, I, you know,
still wish I had Pippa, but I'm really happy for
like I keep saying, that's a Lance.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I'm like, I'm Lance, I'm so happy for you. You
have a new brother, a new buddy.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, it's like a new relationship. Like you're just like, oh,
you seem so happy. I'm so glad on them.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Do you have cats?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yes, I have one cat. Oh but he's massive. He's
like nineteen pounds actually.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
My god, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I know i'd grab him honestly to show you. I
don't know where he is, but he's like he's huge.
He's a big orange hi too.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
As you were talking and you're like, I'll pick up mine.
I'm like, I'll pick up mine.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, You're like this is easy peasy. Yeah. See that's
the's a normal size cat. Okay, we'll talk about stuff. Okay,
So you've had a crazy like you're coming up. I
feel like you've you've had fear streak come out.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I loved I love a good horror.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Oh yeah I was. I loved the first three films.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yes, yes, Like I want to hear about you know
what your yeah, what your experience with the trilogy was before,
and then how you got involved.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, so I had heard about the trilogy.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Canna Madeira is like a friend of a friend of mine,
so we're kind of in listening like Toronto network of
actor friends and anyway, so I had heard about the
film and that it like blew up for her because
I feel like there was like something. It was originally
a film, and then Sony dropped it and Netflix bought
the three films, and so that's why they came out
like so quickly after one after the other. Anyways, did
(09:09):
it turned into this like huge moment? And I always
kind of had it on my watch list and so
then my boyfriend and I did watch the first film
and it was so much corrier than I think we
were prepared for, and like, I love horror film, so
I was okay, but he really does not enjoy that.
And so then I only watched the first at the
time when then my audition came about, but I didn't
(09:31):
even know what I was auditioning for, like they really
kept it under wraps.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Sorry, you can probably hear all the sirens like DOWNTI town.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So so yeah, I think I auditioned for three different characters,
which and then I ended up booking it, which is
nice because sometimes if you get brought in a bunch
of times, you're like, Okay, they don't know I don't
even fit on this project, Like they don't know where
I fit anyways, And the first time I auditioned for
it just called like Prom or maybe it was called
Prom Queen, but like nothing fear straight. There was nothing
(10:04):
out online like and the breakdown was very cryptic, so
I was like, what is this prom like high school
kids movie?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Like what is that?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Like I didn't get it? Did the audition send it off?
Then they brought me in again for a different character.
Again still there was like nothing online about it. Whatever
tape sent it off. Then finally when I auditioned for
the character ended up booking, there had been the deadline
article and I was like, ohe oh it's a horror
Oh I get the tone now, and everything just kind
(10:34):
of connected. And then it was really wild working on
a project that has like an existing franchise and fan
base and was just like really exciting to join something
that had such a following before. But I think, I
mean I was then ready for it to be like
connected to the trilogy. I assumed it was like the
fourth in the sequel, but this one really is like
(10:56):
a standalone exists like in the universe, but not connected
at all character story wise to the other three.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It was really fun to work on and just fun
like while we were filming, conversation online started happening, and
like it was really exciting being on a project that
the network and like Netflix supported so much and championed
so much. And like, I think we had only been
shooting for maybe a week and they had flown in
like a ePK like behind the scenes person to film
(11:26):
something and we all were like, okay, fine, whatever, Like
that happens when you film stuff, but it doesn't usually
come out until the project airs. It got Netflix edit,
it posted, it came out like the next week while
we were still filming. So it felt very like, oh, like,
people are excited about this, This is very exciting to
be working on. Like it was a really cool experience
shooting it and knowing that like the franchise and the
(11:48):
fans were excited for another film.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I mean, I feel like no one knew another one
was going to come out, but it was definitely welcomed.
It was like, oh, okay, yeah, sure, when did you
find out how you were gonna die?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So yeah, I got the offer.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Was so excited, was like, of course, yes, Like finally
they gave me apart.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I've been auditioning really tragic for like a.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Month, and then I got a call from the prosthetics
artist being like, hey, we got to, you know, schedule
your prosthetics appointment to do a body and a head cast.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And I was like, oh, do I die?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Like I didn't know My audition seemed didn't have any
of the like death in it or anything, and they
hadn't hadn't received the script, like the full script yet,
so it was kind of like I heard about that.
Then my agents I think sent over the script and
then I just like flew through it trying to find
like what happens to me. So it was like, I
think the night before my prosthetics appointment, I got the script,
(12:49):
pieced it all together, went did the head casting, had
a meeting with our director, wardrobe fit, and then it
all like happened very quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So they just like soft launched your death.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, becode the riddle like why is my head going
to be getting a pressthetic cast made of?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Oh am I detapped? And then I'm like I get decapitated.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Anyways, it's just fun, very fun. I've like been dying
a lot in projects recently, and it's very fun to
die on camera and like cool to see how they
do it because it's so like a stunt the way
that it's shot and the timing of everything is so specific.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So yeah, it was very fun.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Is it hard to die on screen? Like, do you
think that's a difficult part of acting?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I didn't think so.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And then and I was sort of like I was
really excited for my death day shooting prom Kreen and
then then kind of like two nights before I sort
of was like, oh, hold on, like to really sell this,
like obviously I have to, you know, give a good scream,
be afraid, like check all the like horror movie boxes.
(13:52):
But I was like, you have to see in my
eyes that I believe I'm going to die, And like that's.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
A hard.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Thing to really go to that of like you believe
you're going to die, like that's where the fear is
living and coming from. So then I kind of I
was starting to like psych myself out, being like is
it going to be believable?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Like does it even matter? Does it have to be?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, So it wasn't hard to do, but it was
like hard you wanted to plan the like moments I
turn around, my best friend screaming herd legs cut off,
there's a lot of blood.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I look up, killer coming at me.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I'm gonna die, Oh my god, my and then and
like all those had to happen in like three seconds.
So that felt like a nice challenge and I was
really happy seeing how it all cut together. But what's
the really hard is playing dead, like when you're laying
there because you have to hold your breath the whole take,
(14:50):
or like very shallow breathing like that.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
That actually is hard. And just like boring.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And I fell asleep a couple of times laying on
the ground, so I had that green screen stock on
my head like I was just like laying there for hours.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
So yeah, No, I think I saw an interview that
David our New Superman did and he was talking about
laying on the floor and just like yeah, like being
dead and he was doing like a high school play.
But he was like I was practicing my breathing and
like no one cared. No one's looking at my chest.
But I'm like, don't let it rise.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I don't think anyone told me like don't breathe. I
was just like saying, I'm just I'm an actor, Like
I must really body the dead.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, you're laying there. You're like, what would my character
be thinking? Now, Oh they're dead?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
What's my motivation at this moment?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Let's backstory? Right, Yeah, okay, got it?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, all that.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Is that like a highlight like check off list of
ways to die. Though I feel like like, well from now.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You know, no, and I like begged them to let
me keep the head.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I just think it's so cool that I had like
a full decapitated fake head. They wouldn't let me keep it, unfortunately,
but I really thought it would have been a nice
like centerpiece. Put a little candle in the.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Mouth, and what are they going to do with it?
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I hope nothing. I hope like in lock Up.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, you're like, goodbye, I can't have it, No one
can be.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
What are you guys doing with it?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah? Yeah, you're like, I can have rituals and light
candles in its mouth, but if anyone else does else,
it's in the garbage somewhere, just in a dumpster.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Well that's what I'm like, I believe once the movie's
like locked, oh, we're not doing reshoots.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Are they just gonna chuck it? Probably? I don't know,
or I don't know. If they do keep I don't
think they can like use it again, I don't know.
Prosthetics studio that worked on prom Queen was also working
on Frankenstein Caramut del Toro's film, and so while I
like after the head cast, they gave me a little
bit of a breather before doing the body cast, and
(17:09):
they took me over to the other studio and showed
me all the body parts and me a goth's head
on a like the same sort of head casting, and
but they had just like a bin of limbs that
they're like, oh, these are limbs that we've made for
other things that get reused here or there, and I
guess they like rent them out. So now I'm kind
of thinking, like, my head gonna be in like a
head bin that gets just like rented out on for
(17:32):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Your head, the rumor will start. Your head was reused
for Frankenstein's Head, you know, mm hm, they altered it
and now it's in that movie.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, so my head lives on.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
At least we have that, you know, I know.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
I love that better than I'm doing like some weird
ritual with the head.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, we'll take what week and get Well, that was
such a fun movie, Like I'm so excited that enjoying it,
and then we have a couple more that you have
coming out. I want to talk about the legacy of
Cloudy Falls, because it does look like such a fun
project genuinely.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, it's so Yeah, it is very quirky. That's the
perfect word.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah. I saw our director posted.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Like I think like it was like a letterbox review
or like a clip that a quote that someone had
had reviewed the film and they were like, I forget
how it was like a wacky bunch of characters and
oddly compelling, and I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's
like perfect. It really is. It sort of like that
(18:41):
film follows the tenets of this rundown motel or apartment complex.
We shot it at a motel, but in the film
it's an apartment complex, and it really is just that
idea of like you never really know who you're living
next to, like what their actual inner the inner world
of their life is.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
It's very quirky, but it's like very sweet. And my
character storyline is really just like all about falling in
love and like your first love and how it disappoints
you and breaks your heart in the end. So like
my little pocket of the film, because the film really
follows like three storylines that don't intersect until the end.
(19:24):
But so we like I only worked with two other
actors when we shot like our stuff, and meet the
rest of the cast until Screw like they had a
cast and crew screening, and then like at a film festival,
I met the rest of the cast when we like
went up on stage like do a Q and a
I was like, Hi, Nasa and Brennan, you know, always
like meeting each other for the first time and going
(19:44):
up to like talk about our film. Yeah, which is
very funny and very I think like a reflection of
the work too, that it's all of these stories and
lives happening at the same time that don't intersect.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah. True, You're like, you don't even know who your
neighbor is, you don't know who your cast mate is. Yeah,
I mean I watched the trailer. It seems like it
has a really really sweet little queer story which I'm
excited to dive into. So what did that mean for
you to play that?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I just always I was talking to a friend about
this recently, Like I've played straight audition for straight characters
all the time. I you know, I enjoy every character
I work with or work on, but there is just
something that like settles in my heart when I get
an audition and it says like queer or like LGBT,
(20:39):
like we're looking to cast from the LGBT community, And
I'm like, oh, it's like a relief.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
It feels like, Okay, I don't have.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
To silence any small corner of myself for this but
like I can bring my fullest self, my fullest life
experience to this character, and that's always really exciting and
really just I think every time it feels like a
dream come true. Just I think every queer person can
remember when they were back in the closet and like
(21:05):
quieting that part of themselves or hiding it, and that
the like fear and paranoia around being sounded out and
like holding onto this secret. So yeah, it just it
feels really special to get to work on a film
our director's queer. There was like a lot of queer
people working on the project, and I think this the
(21:27):
little the queer storyline, my sort of little storyline, and
the piece I think it felt very special working on
because I think we all knew what it meant to
all of us personally.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yeah, did I answer your question?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So no, No, I love that. I really love what
you said just about when you know you're going in
for a queer role and just knowing that you get
to be yourself, Like I was really I feel like
I was reflecting on that because I hadn't really thought about,
you know, if you're going in for a straight role,
Like obviously anyone can play any role. But there's just
in how you approach things.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, well, and I mean this is a bit of
maybe like a read on the like white straight male community,
because that's what I would play if I'm playing straight.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
That even that they.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Quiet parts of them in that like in the idea
of like toxic masculinity, like they're always presenting themselves to
be accepted by their peers of like other straight white men.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And so anytime I'm playing straight.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
It's never as satisfying for me as playing a queer character,
because one, I'm already like burying a lot of what
makes Brennan Brennan. But I'm also then like it feels
like I'm working through such a narrower filter of like
what's allowed to be brought to this character's life versus
(22:54):
when it Yeah, like it's such it makes such a
difference when you look at the break casting breakdown and
it says queer, and I'm like, oh my god, I
get to like I can bring all of this to
the table and nothing is gonna be too outlandish or
too much or to anything. It kind of just gives
it feels like it gives me permission to like bring everything,
you know, anything's loud versus see the word straight and
(23:17):
I'm like, okay, gotta like you're ring.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
It back in and we're only gonna play with this much.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And yeah, is it always labeled that way? I've never
seen like a casting call so that they always say no,
they don't.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
And then sometimes it's just up to me of like
like I always will decide. I'm like, all right, this
character is by okay, no he's gay. Oh, this one's straight,
this one's straight. But like maybe in the closet, you know,
like I'll literally I'll figure that out. It's important to me,
I just think because it's something I've thought about so
much growing up and it's so part of my experience
of the world that I that's always part of the
(23:54):
backstory and like the prep that I do. Yeah, but
sometimes it's sometimes it will say like gay whatever, or
sometimes I'll have to like riddle it together and be like, oh,
like I just auditioned for a project and I'm trying
to remember what the love interest name was. It was
like Jamie or something, and I was like, could be
(24:16):
a boy, could be a girl, So what it's then
I'm like scrolling through all the other character breakdowns to
try and figure out, and then I'm always like, oh, it's.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
A girl, Okay, so he's straight. Okay, that's fine, that's fine,
I can sell, you know, and like yeah, or by,
we'll see yah or ry And yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I've seen that you've talked about labels and LGBTU community
before and your views on them, Like are you comfortable
talking about where you stand on them now and how
you identify?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I found my experience with coming out was really sort
of like out of my control and before I was
ready for for.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
That to happen in my life.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And I feel like, I'm sure that's a common experience
with a lot of queer people. And it wasn't that
I was necessarily outed, but I was sort of just
like ostracized and like bullied, not bullied, but like excluded
unless I came out, I don't know, which is very
odd because I went to like a liberal arts conservatory.
(25:16):
I went to Juilliard, which actually, when you mentioned David Kornswan,
David and I were in the same year at Juilliard.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, he was in the drama division. I was in dance.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So our academics only were the only classes that overlapped.
But but yeah, there was like this saying in the
like in the dance program with the like upper classmen
the gays, the upper classmen gaze. They would always say
gay by May. So it was a lot of the
(25:47):
like incoming freshmen. If they kind of were like you
could be gay, They're like, he'll be gay by May.
And it was just like stamped on you and people
would say it's your face all the time. And then
it ended up being that like a bunch of the
gay guys in my class then literally said to me,
we don't want to hang out with you until you
come out, because we can't hang out with someone who
(26:07):
like doesn't know who they are. And I was like
what what It just it seems really counterintuitive to me.
You'd think that it'd be like so accepting and so
like everyone is welcome.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
It's Julliard, it's an arts academy.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And it was like almost even worse than high school
in a way where it was like the guy the
gay guys in my class didn't even want to be
friends with me until I came out, and I didn't
even know if I was gay or by or anything.
It was just like a big question mark for me,
and I never really had answers and I did an
experiment really at all in high school and so I
(26:39):
just like didn't know. But so then I kind of
I had a boyfriend in university and kind of like
honestly we dated for six months secretly, and I would
sneak out of the dorms. So funny thinking back to
it now, I would like sneak out of the dorms
to his apartment. And anyways, it ended up that one
(26:59):
of the eyes in my class we were in the
same like dorm suite. He was in like a double
room and I was in one of the single rooms
in the suite, and he like caught on to me
like sneaking out all the time. And then after rehearsal
one night, was like, can I take you to a diner?
Can we get burgers? And I was like okay, and
we went. It was like eleven pm after rehearsal, and
before we even ordered, he was like, Okay, so where
(27:21):
are you sneaking off you every night?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
And it was I was so caught off guard and
was like, uh.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
And so then I ended up telling him I'm seeing
this guy whatever, and he's like, oh, Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Great, can I tell everybody?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And I was like, well no, like I'd like to
tell my best friend first, like I hadn't even tell
my best friend and like at school. So he's like, okay, well,
then you need to go and stop at her room
now and tell her because I'm telling everyone tomorrow morning.
And I was like, so I then like at midnight,
went and like knocked on her door and woke her
up and was like, Hi, I just need to tell
you I have a boyfriend, and she was like okay,
(27:53):
good night and went to bed like didn't care. And
then the next morning I walked into ballet class and
my whole class like clap, and everyone knew and it
just felt very like taken away from me or you know,
and like I wasn't even officially dating this guy yet,
like it was just kind of seeing him and trying
to figure out what it was. And then it just
(28:13):
like everyone knew all of a sudden, and that the
program was really that way, like everyone knew everyone's business.
But yeah, so I felt like then I kind of
just had I then had this boyfriend, and ever this
guy had gone and told everyone that I was gay.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
So then I was like Okay, I guess I'm gay.
I'll use that label.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And so I used that label for a little while
because my sexuality had also been questioned a lot. I
was on a TV series while I was at university
and it was for like Disney Channel Family Channel here
in Canada, and the fans of the show were really
like everything I post on Instagram, it be a picture
of me and my mom in the.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Comments to be like is he gay? Are you gay?
Is he? Like it was just like inescapable.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
And so then I made a coming out video on
YouTube that was like kind of a like my straight
girl best friend also came out as straight as straight
as a straight.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
She came out a straight in the video too.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
It's kind of a way to be like, it's it's
unfortunate that I'm being forced to like publicly make this
video and label it because it's just like everything on
anything I posted, any interview I gave, was like that
all accouments were only about my sexuality when it was
already like a big problem in my own mind, you know,
(29:31):
I was trying to figure this thing out. And then
honestly it was covid I had had. I had another
boyfriend after that and then even like it was very
interested in women and just like didn't really know but
was sort of like, no, but I was told that
I was gay, Like everyone at university decided that I was.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Gay, So no, I can't.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
But then I kind of like sat with myself in COVID, honestly,
like in my little apartment and was just reminiscing and
thinking back on some like female friendships of mine that
were like way more than a friendship. And then I
was like, I don't think I'm actually gay. Maybe I'm
by or pan or does it matter? So now I
(30:12):
just kind of say pan sexual or fluid or I
think I made a TikTok back in COVID because tiny
pretty things came out and I played a gay character
on that. But like in my you know, the like
sexuality spectrum, Shane felt like dialed to one hundred, Like
I really dialed the flamboyant, gay like vivaciousness of him
(30:39):
to like one hundred, way more than how like I
present in the world. But then there I, you know,
I did some press whatever, and then this journal is
published and the headline was gay actor Brennan Claus and
I just had.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Like a bit of a meltdown, being like I just
decided that I was pan, and now I'm being like
all over this like Huge.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Magazine is said gay Like so I had my publicists
like had them just change it and be like queer actor,
and I was like the queer that label just feels
like more of an umbrella term and I don't have
to then, just like I don't know again, it feels
like conformed to just like this one label or box
or I don't know who knows what I am. I
(31:20):
still don't really know. So yeah, sorry again, long roundabout answer.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Oh it was good. It was good, and it's so true.
It's like we're, especially at such a young age, we're
just expected to know who we are or else like
you we're you know.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
We'll tell you we don't want to hang out with
you until you figure out your sexuality. It's like what, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Like I don't have anything figured out.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I don't know, seventeen living in New York for the
first time, Like I don't even know which way is
up let alone, Like yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, And it's hard when it's like somewhat of an
inclusive kind of environment where they're trying to be like supportive,
but at the same time you're like you're trying to
fit me into a box. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, And like you know, you at a house party
and everyone's having shots and I would go and be like, oh,
can I have a shot, And they'd be like if
you kiss me, and I'd be.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Like, oh, I can't kiss the ball out in front
of everyone, you know, Like it was.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It just felt like it was at every turn people
were trying like confronting me about it. It was like fans
on social media, people at school, like house parties, in
rehearsals and yeah, anyways, that was like my experience. So
I felt like I just picked a label to pick
a label and to get everyone to like shut up
for a bit. And then I've kind of like just
you know, done the personal self work to realize like, oh,
(32:36):
maybe that wasn't my decision.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
It's not I honestly now I'm kind of just like
whatever label, I don't really care.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Right, It's like, say what you want, I I totally
get that, and at least have queer that we can
lean on and be like, you know that works.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah, regards like a nice umbrella.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
And the show that you mentioned was that for the
next step or was that a different project.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Yeah, that was the next step. Yeah, the Disney Show.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
How does it feel now that you've gotten to come
back to it kind of now that you you've kind
of got into your career and your person and then
now you kind of get to revisit what it was
like on the show.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, it's been really nice also because it did, like
I was saying, it felt like the my relationship with
the fans of the show in like those early years,
it didn't feel supportive, you know, it felt like they
were like I was under a microscope. They were investigating,
you know, everything I posted online, anything I any interview
I gave anything. You know, I was like constantly worried about,
(33:52):
like how I was walking or what I was wearing
or you know, just versus Now it feels like we're
in on the same joke, Me and the fans of
the show and I have a lot of fun, especially
on TikTok, like making you know, using trending audios and
making them relate to the show. And the show really
had like a second life through covid too. Netflix bought it,
so then a whole new younger generation of people found
(34:15):
the show again.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And I think someone like.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Uploaded it to you too illegally, like all the episodes,
and I know I've seen pretty much full episodes on TikTok,
Like I think a lot of people did a rewatch
in COVID two, and a lot of the fans are
older now, and so it just feels it felt like, yeah,
it's been really fun to engage with the fans in
a way that feels more authentic to myself now that
I've grown into myself, and.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Yeah, just like we're on the same side now versus before.
It really felt like adversaries.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
I honestly watched the first season of the Next Step
and I got that I did that, and so I
was like rewatching and I was like, this feels like
a fever dream, Like oh my.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
God, even some of it like for me, like I'll
see clips on TikTok. I'm like what they had us
do that, Like I don't even remember how the things
that went on and oh my god, some of the
stuff that was crazy on that show too.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Oh yeah, no, I used to watch you back.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
I'm like, I love this, Like there's such a fun
balance between like grounded and like it being real and
like the mock reality and then it feeling very like
Glee giving camp giving, like.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
You know absolutely, yeah, Well I don't want to keep
you for too long, but I do want to talk
about load thy neighbor. I know that's a big one,
and you actually have a producer role in that one
as well, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Yeah, it's my first time producing.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah, and that came about during the strikes.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, the writers and Actor strikes of twenty twenty three.
Everything dried up obviously in Hollywood and Canada very much
as well, even though we weren't on strike, but whatever.
And so my friend Lauren, who we had worked together
on tiny pretty things, her and I were then really
just like we had always wanted to collaborate on something,
(36:04):
and then it kind of felt like this is the
time to do it because everybody that we would want
to be in it, all of our like talented friends
are available, no one's working, And then it just turned
into being like because that of that time, so many
favors that people normally probably would have been too busy
to help us out, or like our director, he's always working.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
He was able to.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Come Panavision lent us like a huge lens package for
free because the equipment wasn't being used. You know, like
we just pulled off incredible things because of the strike,
and it really did feel like we were taking back
some creative control and like power for ourselves when it
felt like corporate greed was like, you know, an AI
(36:46):
was maybe going to take everything away, and so it
really was just like a bunch of us getting together
and being creative and collaborating on this project that then
has just like continued to go on and on and
be way bigger than I I think, I know myself
bigger than I anticipated it being.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I feel like that like description reminds me of like
Spy Kids, where it was like, you know what, I'm
just gonna make something so fun with all my friends
and not care and great, you know, and that sounds
the best way to do a project, No, honestly, Yeah,
just get everyone's creative minds, but everyone just takes time
to do it and figure something out.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, we really like reverse engineered how a movie gets made.
Like normally you'd have like the script would be written
for years, and then you'd attach your director, and then
maybe you'd cast your actors and then you would find
your locations.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
We literally did in the reverse order.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
We had the location first, then we were like, Okay,
these friends are going to be in it, so now
we need to think of a story and write parts
that work for this location and for all these people.
So it was kind of like we had all these
like rules that then had to like work into I
don't know, and I like working that way. I feel
like it's fun to feel like you're problem solving and
figuring out, like what story could exist that would involve
(38:02):
all these people and it only takes place on this
one property. Yeah, from like start to finish, it was
seven weeks from like the script started to be written
to when we were done shooting, which is very fast.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
But I mean it seems it seems like fun. Like
I feel like every day you're just kind of getting
to clash with an amazing cast of people.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
So it was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Yeah, how was it working with I mean you kind
of hinted at it, but I mean, just how was
it like really just getting to take that step into
behind the scenes and kind of getting to decide what
you wanted it to look like in more than just
an actor role.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Well, I'm a control free week and I'm very a type,
So it was a perfect It was like a perfect
storm for me. I love I love being able to
collaborate creatively and like a in a bigger way than
just on the day in the scene. So yeah, honestly
it was a dream, I'm true, and I would want
to do more producing after this. I some of my
(39:05):
co producers have been like, you're a really good producer.
You got to keep going with this, and I was like, yeah,
I think it's my like organization a type nois and
then obviously creative.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
It's like it's a happy mix for me. And it
was really something that I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
I'd have the opportunity to do until way later in
my career. But one of the other actors in the film,
Brittany Raymond, who plays Valerie, has been a long time
friend of mine. She was on the next step as well,
and she kind of pulled me aside on like day
two of shooting and was like, can you believe this?
Like you've been talking about wanting to produce for like
the last fifteen years, and you know, talking about it
(39:39):
when like when you're forty and you're forty five and
now you're doing it, And it did kind of make
me like step back and zoom out and be like WHOA,
I'm so grateful for this opportunity. It's like came way
sooner than I ever anticipated.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Yeah, So just on.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
That note, like, what what are you looking to do next?
I know, we just talked about all these amazing things
you've done. I'm still soaking in, you know, in that moment.
But what is like a dream next role for you?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I really do have the like production producer bug, but
I really want to try my hand at show running
or directing. And I'm not quite sure what this project
is going to shape up to be. But the project
that I'm developing is based on a book that's about
(40:28):
dance supernatural sci fi elements, kind of like giving a
dance comedy horror if I were to like give it
a genre. So just very like leaning on my experience
as a dancer in this book that I read, I
just absolutely loved, and I then wanted to like infuse
a lot of my own life experience in the dance
(40:49):
industry and at a conservatory program into this story. And
I love pairing something very like you know, done before,
like a dance conservatory drama with then like a huge
supernatural element I think is Yeah, so that's a project
that I'm developing and I'm really excited about. And you
don't know yet if it lives as a film or
(41:10):
if it fits more as like a series.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
But yeah, I love the idea of like a dance
supernatural horror because I don't think I've seen anything like that.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
Oh yeah, dance would exist in a very like crunchy
contemporary dance way, polished ballerina ballet academy. Not that kind
of a series, more like ritualistic contemporary.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah. Nice, I love it.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I think it would blend very well with like a horror.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Yeah, I see the vision. I like it. I like
The last thing usually I have people do on this
show is if there's anything you would like to come
out as, and that doesn't have to be actually related
to anything about your sexuality. He's just anything that's been
on your mind and you're like, I would like to
come out as this, and just kind of say your piece.
(42:06):
Is there anything that comes to mind for that?
Speaker 2 (42:08):
The first thing that popped to mind, I would love
to come out as a cat dad that I just
think that is That is one label I and I do.
I have actually two hats one that says cat Dad
and one that says cat Daddy. Af both gifted to
me by my brother. Actually he knows because he knew.
(42:31):
That's like when you come out to someone and they're like,
I knew he wants to label himself as cat Dad.
And so this is my moment. I'm finally coming out everyone.
I'm sure it's a big surprise, and I'm a cat.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
Dad and we see you and we love you for that.
Thank you, Thank you so much. Is there anything else
you want to say before we close?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Just that load Thy Neighbor hits theaters across Canada and
coming to the state soon August twenty nine releases in
theaters and we'll have news about streaming and all of
that later.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
That's so exciting. Yeah, theatrical release.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Well, where can people find you if they want to
keep following you?
Speaker 2 (43:15):
My handle is at Brennan claust on everything, YouTube, TikTok
and instagram, TikTok and Instagram I use most frequently.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Perfect. All right, Well, thank you so much. This was
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
This was really fun. Yeah, yapp.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Thank you so much for watching and listening to this
episode of the Pride Podcast. And thank you Brennan so
much for coming on. I know I really enjoyed listening
to his behind the scenes takes on Hollywood horror and
of course being a cat dad. If you take anything
away from this episode, I think that it should be
that if a cat is not coming to you, you
(43:56):
should go to the cat. So get to the shelters,
adopt a cat, buy cat dad hat. So that's your
takeaway for the week. I'll see you next time. Please
follow us at Pride on social media and you can
watch and listen to us anywhere you watch podcasts and
listen to podcasts at Pride as well. I'll see you
next time. Bye,
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