Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > July > 12 > Entry
‘American Teen’ cast socializes in Austin
A movie forced them together. The same movie has reunited them periodically over the past two years.
“We’re all best friends now,” say about the subjects of the documentary “American Teen,” which was filmed over the course of 10 months at an Indiana high school.
The five former classmates whose stories emerge as the spine of Nanette Burstein’s doc, due out in movie theaters soon, are touring America to promote it. Thursday and Friday, they stopped in Austin and our conversation wandered far off topic (for which they repeatedly apologized, forgetting that the interview fed into a social column, not a movie feature, so all was well).
Now graduating into adulthood, they resemble only remotely the posed and doctored images on the yellow version of the movie poster — which they disdain, preferring the “Breakfast Club” concept for an earlier marketing device. Instead of stock characters in a teen comedy, in life they embody a range of confidence, reticence and curiosity common to many Americans of college sophomore age.
Between Krizmanich and Hannah Bailey, the hip, witty yet clearly skeptical one in the urban cap, was Colin Clemens, pegged as “the jock,” good-natured but more guarded, perhaps less worldly than Reinholt, his head into basketball practice. He appeared to gain subtle strength by his association with Krizmanich and Bailey, but his body language most matched Tusing’s.
Responding to questions about their past, current and future friendships — they didn’t really know each other until the documentary settled their immediate fates — Krizmanich, Reinholt and, tardily, Baily, chimed in as a cheerful chorus, while Tusing and Clemons glanced into the middle distance. Did they suspect that, after this rush of celebrity-induced intimacy, they might drift apart? After all, what do they share in common other than the accident of appealing to Burstein’s documentary eye? (Granted, also, some personal history, since the movie reached full form.)
Only one has “escaped Indiana,” in their words. After a hiatus in San Francisco, Bailey now attends arts-oriented State University of New York-Purchase. The others scattered closer to home, to university towns instate.
Tusing, exhausted from travel, went back to his room instead to contact his friend Molly. “With IM you can take the time to think,” he said. This observation was followed by a discussion on the crucial value of “BRB” — “be right back” — in texting slang, which allows for composition time. (Apparently, texting plays a major role in the romantic storylines of the movie, too.)
Has the experience changed their lives? The group talked earnestly if glibly about helping other teens or serving as mentors, but Tusing provided the most personal response.
“It has given me a good confidence boost in real life,” he says. “I feel better. I didn’t think I was special, that I was important. Seeing reactions to the results, (audiences) like who I am. At least the part they can see. If strangers like who I am, I don’t need to be concerned.”
A lesson every performer — come to think of it, every human — learns, at least momentarily.
“We were more alike than we gave ourselves credit for,” Clemens says. “I’m glad we could put stereotypes aside.
As the interview disintegrated, in a natural way, they continued to tease and sweetly torment each other, testing boundaries. A good sign for future friendship.
You can visit them at their Facebook page.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Movies
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.