- Vanilla Bean.
- [Man] This one is Bay.
- Baby, Nick, they love you.
- Yeah.
- Oh.
(creaking sign)
(happy pop music)
- I'm so distracted, I can't look at this little guy.
- Stuff like this, this is what I set out to do,
is just play with puppies all the time.
I think the great thing about acting
is that you step into somebody else's shoes
without suffering the consequences.
- I was the kind of person, who was like, I was a swimmer.
I also really loved art
and I trained classically as a vocalist for 10 years.
I watched a Gaga concert,
and I started writing music, and at the end of that year,
I auditioned for drama school and I didn't get in,
so I decided to do a deployment of music theater
and then from that I figured I liked the acting thing.
Anyways, so now I'm here.
(happy electronic music)
- What's your drag name?
- Ooh, yeah. - 'Cause it's hard, man.
- That's a good one.
I'd get on board with that, drag name.
What breed of dog are you?
- I have a-- - That's pretty good.
- Temporary drag name (mumbles) anyway.
- What's your temporary drag name?
- I don't know if I can swear on BuzzFeed, so.
- Oh. - No. No.
- What is your? - No.
- What are you doing? - No? No.
(contemplative pop music)
- I hope that this movie furthers the conversation
of representation and inclusiveness and tolerance.
See, your story represented on a screen
is a really powerful thing.
- I think representation is crucial.
It's so important to see people who look like you
and act like you and to see stories that you can relate to,
because it's what makes you feel not crazy, or not alone.
This is a story that, it's overdue,
but I hope that it normalizes those feelings,
'cause I think it's so underrepresented in the media
and if you don't see those stories,
you don't understand them.
And then it makes it weird to be that, and I just,
I think it takes so much courage to come out
and hopefully this film can--
- He's nibbling on my shoe.
- Be a talking point to ease that, aw.
So cute.
- There's actually a scene in the movie, if you watch it,
there's something that exactly this happens,
except the dog's maybe not quite as cute as this one.
- I love you so much.
Little Vanilla Bean, this guy might have to come with me.
(serene pop music)
- I feel like now more than ever is a time
where you find a community, whether it's online or,
you can find people with like-minded views.
Don't be afraid to be vulnerable.
- I can't give personal advice, because like,
everyone's story is different,
and I've never had to go through coming out,
or anything like that.
Knowing that you're not alone and your friends,
if they're real friends, will accept you and love you and--
- Oh, wait now, there, these guys are not friends.
I'm gonna have to separate you two.
(upbeat guitar solo music)
(laughter)
- Sorry.
I never fit in, like I was an athlete,
but I was also musical, and I was also a super nerd,
but also like, none of them ever felt right.
You're conflicting ideas of like,
you're trying so hard to be authentically you.
- Yeah.
- But at the same time, you're like, who am I?
And trying to figure that out.
What were you like in high school, Nick?
- I feel like I was kind of a misfit.
I didn't really belong to any one group.
I've never had to do anything with puppies before.
This is harder than I thought it was going to be.
(energetic pop music)
Don't try and fit in as hard.
Don't be afraid to be vulnerable.
And trust your instincts a little bit more.
High school's a time when you're trying really hard to
express yourself, but you don't always have the tools,
emotional tools to do that.
Just pet puppies.
- My advice would be keep doing what you're doing,
'cause I feel like I wouldn't change anything.
(upbeat rock music)
I read it, did you read it?
- Mm-mm.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- I read it, after, I loved it.
I was such a fangirl of the book.
I reached out to Becky on Instagram, and just like fanned.
Here, this is your guy.
Adapting a novel for a film is tricky,
'cause there's backstory you have to include
in like an hour and a half.
♪ Baby don't leave me ♪
(Katherine laughs)
If you want a little backstory, the novel's really great.
In the book, they go much more
into Leah and her insecurities,
and I think that's a really large part
of what's going on with her.
Not only the whole emotional journey,
but also how she feels about herself.
- I got to read the book and
it just added a lot of depth to these characters,
like maybe this is because of her background.
She used to be a school counselor,
but she's really good at making these characters
three-dimensional and showing their journey.
I think we did justice to it.
I hope that, if you liked the book, you'll like the movie.
And if you've never read the book,
I highly recommend checking it out.
(cheerful rock music)
- We went to Savannah, which was cool,
except for the Ghost Tour, I did not enjoy that.
- Oh, yeah, Savannah was actually the best part of that.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- You also taught me how to drive.
- You knew how to drive.
You drove on the other side of the road, right?
- Yeah.
- You've driven a car before, right?
- Yeah, no, no, no, I'd driven a car.
- Okay, I was worried for a second.
- Let's specify, he didn't teach me how to drive, but--
Ow, babe, come on, that's not fun.
That's my fingers, not like delectable or something.
Sorry, (laughs) puppies.
(happy rock music)
- Definitely not ready to direct a movie,
but, if I was to direct a film,
I like movies that they're hard to pin down.
I like Donnie Darko, like something along those lines
in that vein. - You remind me of a young
Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie, when I watched it.
- Oh, really?
- I was like, that's Nick, yeah.
- Huh, actually I don't know if that's a compliment,
but I'm gonna take it as a compliment.
- Okay.
I don't feel ready to direct something.
I'd like to direct, but if I did it,
I'd wanna be ready to do it.
I really like the idea of capturing parts of yourself
that you keep to yourself, and you don't show to people.
I think that's really cool.
Actually I had this idea to tell,
when you fall in love with someone,
but from a girl's perspective, for another girl,
I had a friend who told me about that
and she just had a really beautiful story.
(intense rock music)
- Oh, God, I can't even think,
I can barely like think about what I'm doing tomorrow.
I can't think about five to 10 years.
- Yeah, I'd like to do more acting.
I'm gonna say it quietly.
Here I'll tell you.
I'd also like to do some music,
'cause I think I came from a music background,
and the last two years for me,
I did 13 Reasons and I did this,
and they're just coming out now,
but like I think music is still at my core.
So I don't know, maybe put some music out,
'cause my friends desperately want me to do that,
'cause they've known me since I started writing.
So, we'll see, we'll see.
- [Man] Alright.
- He's not leaving me.
(upbeat rock music)
(whoosh)
(creaking sign)