Exclusive Interview: Jonah Ehrenreich Discusses Hooked Up

With his latest movie shot completely on an iPhone, there was only one way to open our interview with Hooked Up star Jonah Ehrenreich – and no, it didn’t begin with us asking ‘what’s APPening!?’


BGG AFTER DARK: So do you have an iPhone?

JONAH EHRENREICH: Yes, I finally got one about a year and a half ago, because my ex-girlfriend would make fun of me a lot for still having a flip phone. Maybe that’s why she’s my ex-girlfriend.

BGG AFTER DARK: How challenging was it making a movie with an iPhone? Or was that less your challenge and more director Pablo Larucen’s?

JONAH EHRENREICH: The technical aspects were Pablo’s challenge as far as having to rotate 3 or 4 iPhones in and out constantly so they could upload footage and recharge. If the battery got below a certain level the phone would start to lag and cause interference with the frame rate and picture quality so we had even less battery power than you think. A challenge for me as an actor was having to address the DP who is holding the phone like he is the character who is actually the actor talking to me off right. That required me to listen that much harder and it took some getting used to but I guess that’s more of a general found footage acting challenge rather than just an iPhone one. Other than that I had to do the filming once when Tonio and Noemi are in the room together. They had to pile pillows underneath both of my arms to get me to hold the camera steady. Filming and acting at the same time is hard.

BGG AFTER DARK: What appealed to you about this project?

JONAH EHRENREICH: Pablo Larcuen the director appealed to me about this project. And the character. Then working with Stephen. Mostly Pablo though. He got me with his short films. He’s a true storyteller first and foremost.

BGG AFTER DARK: Can you tell us about the initial meeting with Pablo?

JONAH EHRENREICH: Yeah he liked my audition videos and came to NYC for New Years Eve and stayed with me and then Stephen Ohl the other actor met up with us and we went over the iPhone idea and how production would go but we were still unsure if we had the roles but by the end of the night all of us had matching tattoos on our gluteus Maximus’ of NYC in a heart which kind of sealed the deal I suppose. Who wants to be the director who meets a couple of actors for the first time, gets matching butt tattoos with them and then doesn’t end up costing them in their movie, you know what I mean? That sounds like a character study for whole other movie. I’d watch it.

BGG AFTER DARK: How alike are you and your character?

JONAH EHRENREICH: Fortunately I’m different from Tonio. He’s mostly throbbing libido and it’s that one track mind partnered with an acute lack of self-awareness that made him so much fun to play. I’ve always been relatively shy, especially when in a foreign country and with women. If it was me in the movie it would have been over within the first 5 minutes because I would be too neurotic and worried to consider a trip let alone some strange sexually depraved excursion to another country. I’ve also never had the voyeuristic desires of a Tonoi, I quite like my privacy. I do however relate to the feeling of wanting to travel with friends and also try to help them out of a funk from something going on in their personal lives. Tonoi has a different and maybe harsher blend of medicine for that than I think most people would consider appropriate for a mutually beneficial friendship but he really does care about Peter and look at him like a best friend he would stick with through thick and thin or who knows what, Hooked Up has the answers. With that being said, anyone up for a trip to Europe to get some chicks? Just kidding.

BGG AFTER DARK: Was it an emotionally-grueling shoot? There’s some pretty heavy moments in the movie!

JONAH EHRENREICH: Yes, a lot of heavy breathing, blood, sweat and tears, sleepless nights. We did all of our own intentional and unintentional stunts so what you see is what you get. I am happy to have a clean bill of health after this one.

BGG AFTER DARK: Have you found Hooked Up has opened doors for you?

JONAH EHRENREICH: So far it has just been in the sense of my own confidence as an actor. It solidified my pursuit to be a professional actor. What comes next? I don’t know, watch Hooked Up to find out.

Hooked Up is released on VOD April 7