Ethan Berger’s Frat Drama The Line Is the Antithesis of Animal House

Director and writer Ethan Berger’s The Line is now playing in New York City and will expand on October 25 in Los Angeles and nationwide. Starring Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, and Halle Bailey, the frat drama takes a look at the adherence to tradition and silence around hazing. Berger spoke with ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese about the film and its themes.

“Alex Wolff stars as Tom, a scholarship student desperate to break free from his working-class background who is charmed by the prestigious KNA fraternity’s promises of high social status and alumni connections that open doors. But upon beginning a romance with Annabelle (Halle Bailey), a classmate outside of his social circle, and the manipulative schemes of his fraternity president (Lewis Pullman) unfolding during the hazing of new members, Tom finds himself ensnared in a perilous game of ambition and loyalty,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Ethan, you have a great lead for your directorial debut, Alex Wolff. He’s quickly become one of my favorite actors. Can you speak to just working with him as a creative? He always has so many ideas for his characters and he always puts these little touches that really make them more memorable than somebody else might be in that role.

Ethan Berger: Totally. It’s funny, during our screening last night, I stayed and watched a lot of the movie, which generally I don’t do when I talk to people after. First of all, I just think as an actor, there’s so much weight in an expression for him, you know what I mean? It was so interesting because there are moments in the movie, I feel like, where he does something that you might not agree with, and then he reacts in a way that makes you feel sympathy for him. I feel like there’s a lot of heart in his performances, and I think that you’re absolutely right. It’s all about the detail for him.

So I went with him to the University of South Carolina to a fraternity before we started shooting. He spent a bunch of time with some kids there, three of whom are in the movie — Nick Basile, who plays Frank Vitti, and Mason Roberts, who plays Oliver. These are kids who were actually in a fraternity when we met them. For instance, they told Alex that they wear a bunch of layers so they look more buff. So Alex in the movie is often wearing several layers of clothing, and yeah, it’s the stuff that you can’t always see, but that puts him in a position to give the performance he gives.

That ties so well with the themes of the film because a lot of it is about the insecurities that we face and how difficult it is for young men to really open up and be vulnerable. We see that throughout. Alex does a great job in his performance of showing that. But, as a filmmaker and writer, how is it capturing that difficulty?

Well, I think, you know, a lot of the characters aren’t saying what they mean and they’re masking their vulnerability and insulting each other, you know? I think that that’s just in the screenwriting process. Like Alex Russek and I tried to write dialogue that helped hint at that. I think a lot of times there’s some disconnect between what a character is saying and the way they’re reacting to something. So I think that that’s another thing that we just consider, and tried to articulate in the screenwriting process when we were looking at the action and then the dialogue.

That’s something that I’ve always appreciated in movies. I mean, if you look at Taxi Driver, I think a reason the voiceover is so powerful is because it initially makes De Niro’s character more charming. As the whole thing progresses, though, you see that there’s some disconnect between what he’s saying and what you’re seeing on screen, and that kind of shapes your perception of the character.

That’s so fascinating since our instinct is to definitely write exactly what they mean and to be very straightforward. So how’s that process of obscuring that and working around that?

I mean, I think a big part of it is just communicating with your actors. I think when you meet them after they’ve read the script, explaining that to them, and then really honing in on those moments throughout after they’ve signed onto the project so they understand their motivation in every scene. If that doesn’t necessarily align with what they’re saying, they understand that difference.

What was it about fraternities and specifically the sense of tradition that they hold that really interested you in placing the story there?

I think it’s just that I’ve encountered them so often, and I just think it’s from personal experience, from seeing in the news every year that a kid was dying in one and that nobody was really being held accountable and that it would happen again the next year. Also the kind of like silence surrounding them. We all know people in fraternities, if we grew up in the US, if we weren’t in them ourselves. I feel like there’s a real culture of silence around them, and they’ve been consistently depicted one way in popular culture. I think, in some ways, we were trying to make the antithesis of Animal House.

That’s interesting because it is this cycle that’s never really been broken. This is a different situation, but I live in central Pennsylvania, and I remember when the Penn State Sandusky scandal came out, and the response that I saw from a lot of people was almost like a cult. They did not want to admit any wrongdoing that happened. There is full loyalty to these schools, and it’s like, why aren’t we caring about the humans?

Did you see at the end of the movie, the image on the television screen? That was Timothy Piazza, who passed away at Penn State. His parents watched The Line. We asked them for permission to use his image at the end of the movie because he passed away when that part in the story takes place at the very end. His parents watched the movie and agreed to let us use his image because they felt that the messaging, they agreed with it. That was incredibly important to me because I feel like we wanted to make clear at the end of the movie that although it’s fictional, the problem is real. Despite the fact that Tom appreciates his life at the end, their silence perpetuates the cycle.

That’s a really powerful inclusion. Thank you for spotlighting that.

One actor I wasn’t very familiar with was Bo Mitchell, but he really impressed me. How did he come on board?

He came on board, first of all, because I saw him in Eastbound and Down, he plays Kenny Power’s nephew, John Hawkes’ son in Eastbound and Down, the HBO show. Then because Lewis Pullman had seen him in a short recently and had suggested I look at him. Then, basically, at a certain point, we did three auditions for Mitch with three actors. Alex read with all of them. And after Bo’s audition, he texted me and was like, “This is the guy.” I was like, “A hundred percent.” We just knew.

I love that Lewis also recommended him. He has such a creative mind. He just really seems on the ball. Can you speak to just working with Lewis Pullman? It seems like he has talents beyond acting as well.

Lewis is incredible. He is very easy to work with. He’s very creative as you’ve said. I really enjoyed constructing this character with him, and then him bringing things I didn’t even envision. One of my favorite moments of his in the movie was a late edition, which is his speech at the vigil. He was flexible enough to roll with me when I added this moment last minute, then gives an amazing performance in that scene.

I just really appreciate him. I feel like his character is like a politician who’s all about public face and all about protecting the institution at all costs. When we were prepping, I gave him senators and congressmen to look at as opposed to other performances in movies. He was able to then give what I feel like is a great performance.

It’s interesting because he’s able to both do that intense prep work but also seems like somebody who can really just roll with the punches when changes come up.

I mean, look at what he’s done over the past couple years. Even since this, he has been working nonstop, and he’s just got a real fire.

I really enjoyed the interrogation scenes. Especially like some of the dialogue, like, “Are you a moron?” How was it laying out those scenes?

So that scene was insane because, for one, they called us into the hallway halfway through and told us our AC had COVID, and we lost him then for the rest of the shoot. So that was an interesting thing that happened there. Scoot [McNairy] kind of scoots in. When we lost a part of our camera department in the middle of that scene, Scoot was like helping us put in the light fixtures and like started to be a part of the crew.

The “Are you a moron?” line. Something Alex improvised is the thing about the water. Do you remember when he goes on that tangent about swimming? So then I went up to Scoot and told him to say that in response. It was something that the two of us workshopped in the moment.

Thanks to Ethan Berger for taking the time to talk about The Line as the film expands.

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