After making waves in the independent film festival circuit last year, the crime drama Ponyboi finally received a limited theatrical run with a home release quickly following on July 4. The plot may read as a thriller, but the story (written by star River Gallo) is one of idenтιтy and acceptance. Gallo plays the eponymous Ponyboi, an interSєx Sєx worker who clashes with their pimp Vinny (Dylan O’Brien) and must go on the run.

The movie is a pᴀssion project for Gallo, and the delicate narrative benefits from Esteban Arango’s dreamy directing style. Whether witnessing Ponyboi’s mundane laundromat activities, watching a drug deal gone wrong, or getting to know his estranged family, the authenticity of the screenplay molds perfectly with the surrealism of the direction at every turn. The cast is another strong point in the movie’s favor, with Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus), Victoria Pedretti (You), Indya Moore (Pose) rounding out the ensemble.

ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley interviewed Gallo and O’Brien about why they each felt compelled to bring Ponyboi to the big screen. Gallo, of course, shared the real-life connections they felt between character and creator, while O’Brien pointed to his desire to escape the specter of typecasting. In addition, O’Brien reacted for seemingly the first time to the idea of a Maze Runner revival.

River Gallo Marries The Real & The Surreal In The Achingly Intimate Ponyboi

“There’s A Healthy Dose Of Dissociation That I’ve Had To Incorporate Into My Being”

It’s no secret that Ponyboi is a personal story for Gallo, who was gracious enough to share how some of their childhood experiences helped them craft the narrative. “I exist a little bit in a dream world, and I always have since I was little,” the actor began, pointing to “filmmakers like David Lynch, who write movies where the lines between reality and fantasy are really blurry” as a big part of their inspiration. There is a painful reality underlying the dreamlike nature of the film, however. “A lot of that has to do with personal trauma,” Gallo confessed.

“There’s a healthy dose of dissociation that I’ve had to incorporate into my being in order to deal with some really difficult things that I had to go through as a kid, particularly around being interSєx and the medical experiences that I had to deal with.” Despite those struggles, Ponyboi resonates with a sense of hope by its conclusion. “The film helped embody and give form to a lot of my own thoughts about myself and the human experience of becoming who you want to be and of not letting the things that are stopping you hold you back anymore.”

“I do think, at the end of the day, the movie is about someone finding redemption and someone realizing that they’re worthy,” Gallo concluded with gusto. “They’re so much more worthy than they thought they were of achieving acceptance of themselves.”

Ponyboi Is Out Of Dylan O’Brien’s Usual Wheelhouse – Which Is Exactly Why He Took The Role

“It’s Not Something People Would Ordinarily Believe In Me For”

As for O’Brien, his desire to dive into the deep end with the Ponyboi team emerged from the moment the script came across his desk. “Fortunately, yes, I was lucky enough to receive this script and read it to potentially take a meeting with River and Esteban and participate if all mutually felt like that was the vibe,” the actor set the scene in his usual tongue-in-cheek manner. “And when I first reacted to the screenplay itself, I was like, ‘This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever read.’”

O’Brien admitted his surprise at being considered for Vinny. “I really loved that I was even given a chance to be this guy. It’s not something I think ordinarily people would believe in me for.” He got more specific about the industry while explaining his choice. “As an actor, so much of your range and ability comes down to opportunity. Sometimes when you succeed in a space, which is obviously a fantastic thing, it can paint you in a certain way and not afford you different opportunities. You might be always be thought of for the same thing.”

Not only was he eternally grateful to Gallo and Arango for seeing past his YA heartthrob filmography in casting him, he also insisted that “it felt right” from the start. “We hit the ground running, even just from the first Zoom. River and I are the same age, and we’re both from North Jersey, and there’s just a connectivity there. It just felt right out of the gate, and it felt safe and trusting, and it was going to be a really artful and collaborative venture. It’s everything that you look for, basically.”

“There are so many unique aspects to it, and yet it follows such a nostalgic, old-school structure of this ’90s crime thriller or neo-noir,” he went on, acknowledging that the fascination extended beyond his own character. “I love the set and setting of North Jersey in the early 2000s, which threw a lot of humor into it. It was really well infused, I thought. And I just understood the voice and the language.”

Ponyboi May Be Intricately Tied To River Gallo’s Idenтιтy, But It’s Not An Autobiography

“It’s Really A Meditation On How I’ve Perceived Myself”

Regardless of how personal Ponyboi is for Gallo, it’s not an autobiography by any stretch of the imagination. “I would say it’s very emotionally autobiographical,” Gallo clarified. “I think Ponyboi is really a meditation on how I’ve perceived myself either worthy or unworthy of love at different points in my life. Ponyboi feels like if I let all my vices just fly and decided to not give a s–t about my life. I would probably be living under a laundromat in New Jersey with a meth dealing pimp. But I’ve decided to make better choices than that.”

Jokes aside, the artist explained that “Ponyboi has become sort of an avatar for me to really investigate certain parts of myself.” Not only is it an exercise in self-reflection, it’s also a part of their survival. “It’s sustained and nourished me as an artist in an industry where it is hard for people like me – who are trans, non-binary, interSєx – to have any role or footing in a movie. Creating a role in which I could thoughtfully [deal with that] takes a lot of f–king bravery.”

Similarity to one’s character does not necessarily mean an easy ride, either. “It was a really hard role that I wrote for myself, and one that I was so thrilled to do because it encompᴀssed such a broad spectrum for an actor,” Gallo emphasized. “There’s action in it, there’s drama, there are comedic bits. But in many ways, I am Ponyboi. There’s not really much separation, other than those details of not doing meth.”

The Potential Return Of Maze Runner Blows Dylan O’Brien’s Mind

“These Are Very Fundamentally Informative Experiences For Me”

When I previously alluded to O’Brien’s YA days, the first image that comes to mind is no doubt Stiles Stilinski from Teen Wolf. But while the actor wasn’t busy winning hearts with his snarky asides over at MTV, he was also participating in the dystopian fever with Maze Runner. Given that reports have been circulating of a “sort of continuation” with the original director of the franchise, we naturally asked O’Brien for his take – not realizing he was more surprised about it than anyone else.

“I don’t even get a call, let alone a check!” He teased good-naturedly. After gleaning precisely what a continuation meant, he weighed the possibilities of Thomas returning to the story. “It doesn’t seem like they’re interested in having me because I haven’t heard about it. They’re interested in capitalizing on the success for the thing that we built and not even acknowledging or giving us any slice of the pie. But hey, that’s how it goes, baby.”

“This is genuinely the first time I’m hearing about it,” O’Brien continued, before acknowledging that “I had once thought there was a prequel or something that was happening.” But his reaction wasn’t all gasps and jokes, as he did have some warm words for both of his biggest roles. “The show Teen Wolf is very similar [to Maze Runner] for me. These are very fundamentally informative experiences for me in this industry, and these were mᴀssive experiences for me as a young adult… I learned so much from these hours on these sets.”

“These will always be things that I hold dearly with me, but as far as these new iterations of them? I don’t know,” the actor answered truthfully. “I mean, that’s a whole different chapter, and I guess I would tackle it if it were brought to me.”

Source: Screen Rant Plus