Ezra Miller
(photo: Getty)
Author Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower ranks among the most familiar and cherished books of Gen Y teenagerdom, that ubiquitous lime green book about high school friendship and self-discovery. Since Chbosky himself wrote and directed the recent film adaptation of Perks, which comes out on DVD today, it's no surprise that the warmth and power of his epistolary novel truly comes to life on the big screen. What's slightly more surprising is the utter precision of the casting: Logan Lerman is perfect as the conscientious, but troubled Charlie; Emma Watson is lovable as his new friend Sam; but best of all, Ezra Miller is wonderful as the funny, charismatic, and Dr. Frankenfurter-impersonating gay character Patrick.
Miller has been provocative on screen as the titular psychopathic teen of We Need to Talk About Kevin and as Ellen Barkln's son in Another Happy Day, but in Perks, he's both cheeky and freewheeling as the wisecracking Patrick. You know this kid. He's both gregarious and a burnout, and Miller plays him with what appears to be wonderful ease. In fact, he's so good that I requested he play more gay characters in the very near future. So there.
We caught up with Miller to discuss his work in the movie, what surprised him about his costars, and the joys and comforts of identifying himself as "queer."
AfterElton: Perks is such a good movie. I've seen it three times now. Has your perception of the movie changed since making it and its release?
Ezra Miller: I mean, I only saw it once. You're actually two ahead of me. It fulfilled and then exceeded my expectations of what I thought this film could be to such a huge degree that there hasn't really been an evolution or an arc of how I perceive the film. There's been a really pleasant continuity, especially hearing people -- especially kids -- react to this film in a way that's so reminiscent of how I reacted to the book when I was that age. It's all been sort of on the same really wonderful heel. It hasn't changed. My perception of what the story is and why the story, because it's so personal and so intimate, is so universal and relatable, that's still very true to me. With the film, with me being so attached to it -- I mean, my face is in it -- that's been the only very minor alteration. I still feel the same about Stephen and the story as I did when I was 14.
AE: There's never a point in this movie when I think, "Ezra Miller isn't quite going for it." Patrick is an ebullient character, and you really energize him. Was it also exhausting to play him?
EM: I think there is something a little challenging about playing someone who's so constantly on, in the way you just described. That's tricky. To play Patrick's manic ability to be constantly the proverbial life of the party and then really only have that be a manic overextension at very certain points in the plot line where, for me, being that manically joyous and hilarious all the time would be a sign that something terrible is going to happen. You know what I mean? Like a crash is just around the corner? It was important that that actually only be at a couple specific points in the story arc, that we feel that. The rest of the time, it's genuine, you know? He's a genuine life force. It's tricky to capture that when I might not be as constantly enthusiastic. [Laughs.]
AE: He's a very physical character, much more so than your role in We Need to Talk About Kevin and presumably more than your upcoming role in the new adaptation of Madame Bovary. Was it a one-of-a-kind experience, being this physical on film?
EM: Actually, the physicality of a character is usually the first thing I think about. Even with Kevin, the creepy way he held his shoulders was kind of like a starting point for me. I find that finding the body of whoever this [role] is lends itself to all of the other parts of the sort-of deconstruction required to then reconstruct and play a character. Definitely in terms of the dancing and jumping around, I hope it's not a one-of-a-kind experience for me! It's a great deal of fun. I would love to be able to dance and jump around in some other film. But yeah, it was definitely a joy. He's definitely the most physically buoyant I've ever played.
AE: Peter's a big fan of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Do you have cult movie obsessions?
EM: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a bunch of those. In terms of cult films specifically, I'm a huge fan of -- I couldn't act this movie out because it's in Japanese -- but the very epitomizingly cult film Suicide Club, which is actually about a cult. That's one of my favorites. Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of my favorite cult films, just to be real. I saw that movie when I was way too young, and it scarred me in a very irrevocable, permanent way. It's a scar I cherish, and one of I've been able to use to my advantage in my professional career and whatnot. I'm a huge Tim Curry fan all around. I really can't speak highly enough of Mr. Curry. He's a personal hero of mine.
AE: Hell yes. I'm a Clue man.
EM: Oh, yeah. Oh, I've seen Clue. Many times. That's the thing, man. Tim Curry dominates. Tim Curry is the cult king, the cult leader. His booming voice, you know? Many follow it. He's like the pied piper.
AE: When I read your interviews, you seem both... compulsively introverted and compulsively extroverted? You're cerebral and articulate, but also super social and inquisitive.
EM: I strike you as being bipolar. [Laughs.] I can't exactly express why I understand what you just said, but yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe I'm extraverted but introspective? Maybe that's the best way to put it. I would say you've gleaned some truth in that.
AE: So my question is: Do you relate to many people in the business?
EM: Well, particularly, I love the way that in this industry everybody kind of has their own style. There are no set rules, per se, of how you go about doing this. In the end, it's just like this right now: two people having a conversation on the phone. I could f*cking say anything. I think a lot of actors become keenly aware of that, and the idiosyncrasies of how everybody gets the same job done are kind of what makes this whole crazy circus so endlessly entertaining.
AE: This movie brings a lot out of your fellow actors -- plenty of emotional moments. Did your costars often surprise you with what they brought to the screen?
EM: Every day. I was stunned by the other cast members on this film every single day. I mean, not only just in the work that they were bringing to the table of the film, but then also discovering each of them as human beings. Finding out good Logan is at piano, or how truly Mae Whitman is the funniest living human being. These realizations. Finding out that Johnny Simmons is one of the most deep-thinking individuals I've ever met, it was constant surprises for me, from these kids. Everyone kind of surprised each other, and I think we still are, every time I see them. There's a whole new side to these human beings. It just so happens that Steve chose these actors with incredible depth. He was really trying to find wonderful human beings to be a part of the story, and he did just that.
AE: Stephen Chbosky wrote the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower over a decade ago, and he directed you here. I assume his instructions for bringing Patrick to life were very specific.
EM: You know, I think Steve has known these characters for so long in his head. He had them in his head for years and years and years before we made this film. Usually the notes that came from him were more in the direction of the preservation of his vision of the character. Like, maybe I was doing something crazy and new to the character for him that wasn't resonating as the character that he birthed. That was more the direction of how notes went on the days when we were making the film. "I think this is more Patrick, actually, if you could turn this down a little, or turn this up a bit." It wasn't so much wild experimentation, because why wildly experiment such an already wild and surprising and exciting character?
AE: You routinely refer to yourself as "queer," which I love. It's an old word, but it's kind of a new form of self-identification.
EM: It's true! And it's a different form of LGBT culture for sure. It's even almost defiant of each of those letters. It's kind of wonderfully all-encompassing. I'm all about it. I'm all about that word. I think it's incredibly useful just as we head into an era of a more indiscriminate and open spectrum of human gender and sexuality. I think it's good for us to have a word that isn't so ultimately definitive, that leaves room for people to always be discovering and exploring who they are as a loving being.
AE: It's defiant of that expectation to narrowly self-assign, I think, but it still aligns you in camaraderie with everything "LGBT."
EM: Well, right. It's funny how quickly so many heteronormative standards have crept their way into conventional gay culture. I think already even though we've done an incredibly productive cycle of opening up gaps in human rights in this particular area, I think there's a whole new recycle that has to take place.
