The FADER: Abel, this role is perhaps your meatiest acting role yet. You came from The Idol, which, by the way, loved your performance on the last episode.
Tesfaye: Oh, you were the one guy?
The FADER: Yeah, that was me.
Tesfaye: Don’t get fired. [laughs]
The FADER: In the clips that I’ve seen from this film, you seem all in, completely tapping something for this role. What was your process like to become an actor that could perform next to talents like Barry Keoghan and Jenna Ortega?
Tesfaye: Well, look, man, the camera is so sensitive. It just picks up your thoughts. And I knew going into this film, you know, especially with someone like Trey, obviously I would never want to let someone like him down. I wanted to do my job as an actor. So, you know, make my peace with the idea, with the script, give whatever notes I have to give. But essentially it being his film, where I give him the material, he makes the movie he wants to make, and I get to just focus on being an actor and not give a fuck about what’s going on behind the scenes.
And he made it easy for me. I always make this joke: Trey’s like a cat when he directs. You don’t know where he is. Like, I’ve seen him under a table one time, looking at a monitor, in a bathtub. He really doesn’t want to get in the way of whatever is happening in front of the camera. I got to just focus on performing and doing what I do in front of the camera and just stay in the role.
And we had great people working on it. We had our friend, Kevin [Turen], who passed away, who was a producer on it. Trusted him, trusted his ideas, trusted Trey as a director, trusted Chayse [Irvin, cinematographer], trusted Barry, who’s been a long-time friend of mine. I knew he was the only one that could play this role because we were like brothers already. So a lot of it didn’t feel like acting. And Jenna was so patient with me and just gave incredible notes. And she’s just doing so much heavy lifting in the film that I was in a great space to just perform. Just work with people who genuinely want to work with you.
