Yahoo Sports Finn Wolfhard says financiers thought he was too young to direct his slasher comedy
Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard recently wrapped filming his directorial debut, a slasher comedy called Hell of a Summer, up in Canada with Billy Bryk of Winona Earp.
"Every day on set we'd just start laughing," Wolfhard tells EW in an interview for PlayStation Players, a celebrity program he joined at Sony. "'Oh my God, they gave money to two kids to make a crazy [movie].' Not to downplay it, I'm incredibly proud of it, but it was a crazy thing."
The actor, 20, recalls having to drum up financing to make the movie and how often potential investors would remark on his age. "That's what everyone said when we tried to get money for this movie. They're like, 'You're a little young to be directing a movie,'" he says. "I'm like, 'Yep.'"
Wolfhard doesn't see his youth as a hinderance. "We'd like to let the film speak for itself," he adds. "I don't think age defines filmmaking in any way. I think everyone has stories to tell, and if you have the chance to do it, then do it."
He does admit it helped to have "enough self-awareness" to realize what they were getting into. "This is our first feature. We're really young, we're gonna mess up a lot, and we're gonna make mistakes. Let's just ride the wave and be as communicative with everyone as possible and make everyone feel a part of the team," Wolfhard says. "It was really informative. I learned more on that set about myself and about other people and about running a set and working with different personalities. I learned more in those three weeks than I have my whole life."
Aggregate Films Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard in 'Hell of a Summer'
Like the slashers that helped define the genre, Hell of a Summer, co-directed and co-written by Wolfhard and Bryk, is set at a summer camp. "It centers around an older camp counselor in his mid-20s who used to be the boy wonder and now is too old to be a counselor," Wolfhard teases. "It's a slasher movie where people start dying and everyone blames it on him, and it's about the ensemble of teenagers trying to survive the night."
Wolfhard also acts in Hell of a Summer alongside Bryk, Fred Hechinger (The White Lotus), D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs), Abby Quinn (Mad About You), and Pardis Saremi (Career Opportunities in Murder & Mayhem). Stepping into the director's chair, Wolfhard admits, was "incredibly daunting," but he gives a lot of credit to Bryk for being with him every step of the way.
"Since I was maybe 10 or 11, I've been watching tons of movies, I've been watching behind the scenes on movies, I would stay after work on set to watch all the directors and learn from them and how sets work," he says. "So I felt a little in my element at some points. At some points, I felt completely terrified and like I was flailing, but we had a great cast and crew. It was great. It was all the things, right? It was a small movie in the middle of nowhere in Canada, and it was incredible and hilarious. It was one of the best experiences of my life."
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