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Q&A: Dylan Talks ‘Maze Runner,’ ‘Teen Wolf’ and Comic-Con Run-Ins

September 13, 2014EmilyNo Comments

As a co-star on MTV’s supernatural series “Teen Wolf,” Dylan O’Brien has already gained quite a fan base. The young actor will test whether the “Wolf” pack will follow him to the bigscreen on Sept. 19, when he stars in Fox’s adaptation of the popular YA novel “The Maze Runner.”

Compare “Teen Wolf” with the “Maze Runner” shoot.

(In “Teen Wolf”), my character has the least amount of action on the show. It’s kind of the same mode as “Maze Runner.” Both characters are always helpless and trying to survive.

How did you and “Maze Runner” co-star Will Poulter get along?

Straight off the bat, we just clicked. When I met up with him later in his room, the whole cast was there cooking dinner. From there on out, we were always together.

You’re no stranger to Comic-Con, having gone for “Teen Wolf.” This year, you repped two projects.

I was told it was going to be crazier, and I ended up thinking it was easier, because I was bouncing back and forth talking about both projects rather than one thing all day.

Which fan base would you say is the most passionate?

I haven’t gotten a huge glimpse of the “Maze Runner” fan-base quite yet. Seems similar with age and casting, and they share a similar audience. To me the “Maze Runner” fans have been so supportive of everything I have done. It makes it easier to adapt a book that is popular with kids because of how excited they are about the project you don’t get the criticisms you would get with other projects.

What is the strangest thing a fan has done at the Con?

We were walking through Petco Park after a signing, and this girl plowed through security and grabbed onto my neck and started pulling. Her grip was so impressively strong that this huge security guard was struggling to get her off of me. I was like, “Whoa. That’s kind of crazy.”

-Source: Variety

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The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show

September 06, 2014EmilyNo Comments

Articles - Interview

Tyler Posey and Dylan O’Brien of ‘Teen Wolf’ on fans, first impressions

August 28, 2014EmilyNo Comments

In four seasons, Teen Wolf has morphed from a guilty pleasure into a bloody thrill ride, making teen-scene royalty out of leads Tyler Posey (as titular teen wolf Scott McCall) and Dylan O’Brien (as his trusted friend Stiles). Offscreen, the 22-year-old actors are real-life pals who display an easy rapport despite some philosophical differences on things like sports and tattoos.

EW visited the show’s Los Angeles set recently for scoop on the sexiest, scariest, most bonkers show on MTV. Check out the extended interview below:

EW: This year, you premiered the season while still working on it. Did that throw you off to watch the premiere then come to work?
TYLER POSEY: It caught me completely off guard. We never really had a season start filming as we’re shooting it. It’s hard to be focused on both, but it’s exciting. The next day, I’ll always wake up to a text from Dylan like, ‘The episode was great, you kicked ass.’”
DYLAN O’BRIEN: I watched it at like 3:30 in the morning.

Is that your preferred viewing experience?
O’BRIEN: Sometimes that’s how it has to be. We used to do viewing parties all the time. This is something we’re not used to, how the show just comes out while we’re working. But I was stoked to go home and watch the episode. I had adrenaline.

As you near the end of season four, do you ever think back to how much Teen Wolf has changed since that first year?
POSEY: All the time. So much of this show is Dylan and me and our relationship, and the thing that blows my mind is how young I felt when we first started hanging out.
O’BRIEN: And at such a transitional point in our lives, too. We were 18, and it’s only been four years, but I feel like for us that’s a lot longer of a four years than for anyone else.
POSEY: We’ve gone through some really cool stuff with each other.

Do you remember the screen test?
POSEY: That’s where we first really hit it off.
O’BRIEN: I’ll never forget that.

What was your first impression of each other?
O’BRIEN: [laughs]
POSEY: You go first.
O’BRIEN: Well, the first thing I remember about Tyler… He walked in and asked immediately where the bathroom was. And I remember just thinking, “Wow, he’s really comfortable. That’s so badass.” And then we started talking immediately, because the test was a disaster. It took seven and a half hours.
POSEY: It took a long time.
O’BRIEN: And at one point, they let us go across the street to have lunch because they were still working things out.

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Dylan O’Brien says Stiles would probably survive ‘The Maze Runner’

August 23, 2014EmilyNo Comments

Stiles Stilinski has survived serial killer werewolves, being possessed by Japanese trickster spirits and (so far) a benefactor bent on killing all of his supernatural friends on “Teen Wolf.” Could he survive a constantly changing maze filled with robotic spider-slugs with gigantic fangs though?

“Stiles would probably survive,” actor Dylan O’Brien admits during a Q&A session following a screening of his new movie “The Maze Runner.” “I also played a fun guy named Jimmy in ‘High Road’ — it was one of the first things I did — and I think it’d be pretty fun to see him in the maze.”

“The Maze Runner” is based off the first book in James Dashner’s best-selling dystopian young-adult trilogy. The series follows Thomas (O’Brien), a super-intelligent young man who gets his memory wiped before being dropped into a giant maze called “The Glade,” already populated with other memory-less young boys. Once Thomas arrives the routine of “The Glade” goes haywire and it becomes clear that Thomas is the key to all of the boys escaping.

The dramatic adventure thriller is a bit of a departure for O’Brien, who is most known for being the sarcastic sidekick to Tyler Posey’s Scott McCall on “Teen Wolf.” He’s also had comedic turns in feature films like “The Internship” and “The First Time.”

“I was nervous, but I’m thankful I had such an amazing cast around me,” O’Brien says about taking on his first dramatic lead. “I just wanted to do the movie justice.”

O’Brien completed filming for “The Maze Runner” last summer, right before jumping into production on “Teen Wolf” Season 3B — a season that showcased a whole new side of O’Brien’s acting potential. Instead of sarcastic remarks and spastic physical comedy, Stiles became one of the most terrifying villains the show has seen. O’Brien credits his “The Maze Runner” experience with helping him prepare for Stiles’ dark turn.

“Drama is what I need to practice the most,” O’Brien says. “It was great to take [this experience] back to Stiles and see that I’ve learned some things.”

You can catch Dylan O’Brien as Thomas in “The Maze Runner” when it opens in theaters on Sept. 19.

Season 4 episode 10 of “Teen Wolf” — titled “Monstrous” — will premiere on Sun. Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. ET as a lead in to the VMA pre-show on MTV. It’ll re-air at “Teen Wolf”‘s regular time at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Aug. 25.

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Video: The Maze Runner: Cast Interview at Apple Store

August 22, 2014EmilyNo Comments

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Video: Interview on TV Guide Magazine Yacht at Comic-Con 2014

August 20, 2014EmilyNo Comments

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‘Teen Wolf’: Dylan O’Brien On Season 4 Finale Deaths

July 28, 2014EmilyNo Comments

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CBR TV: Dylan O’Brien & James Dashner Bring ‘Maze Runner’ to Life

May 15, 2014EmilyNo Comments

The Maze Runner screenwriter James Dashner and star Dylan O’Brien, who plays Thomas in the upcoming film based on Dashner’s trilogy of young adult novels, stopped by the CBR Tiki Room at WonderCon 2014 in Anaheim to chat about bringing the book to life. After spending so much time with the characters in his head, Dashner talks about what it’s like to see them become real and whether the reality lives up to his imagination, as well as what he was most interested in the film getting right. O’Brien then talks about how his future filmmaking inclinations and how that affects the roles he takes and people he works with. Things wrap up with O’Brien divulging just how much of himself he brought to the role of Thomas and whether seeing Thomas played in a certain way will affect how Dashner plans to write him if the book series continues.

On whether the film version matches up to the vision Dashner had in his head when writing the novels: “Honest, total truth, is I cannot believe how much they matched my vision,” said Dashner. “I’ve just been pleasantly surprised, shocked, over and over how spot-on they’ve been with the script, the maze itself, the blade — I just could not be more thrilled, and I’m not just blowing smoke. It’s awesome.”

On what one thing was most important for Dashner that the film get right: “For me it was always that they captured the spirit of the book. I am totally fine with making the changes because a book is not the same as a film,” said Dashner. “But I wanted them to capture the spirit of it, which was the relationships of the characters, the mystery of it — just the ‘what the hell’s going on’ feel to it — and, man, I think they just nailed it.”

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Interview with Collider

April 29, 2014EmilyNo Comments

Last year, when director Wes Ball was filming his adaptation of the James Dashner YA novel The Maze Runner near New Orleans, I got to visit the set with a few other reporters. While some movies are made primarily on soundstages, the production found a rough patch of land filled with poisonous snakes and transformed it into a filming location in order to bring this film to life. And if you think I’m joking about the snakes, the production had a few snake wranglers on set at all times and their sole mission was to make sure where they were filming was snake free. For more on that, watch this interview.

During a break in filming, I participated in a group interview with Dylan O’Brien. He talked about how he landed the role, why his MTV hair almost cost him the job, what the film’s about, if he feels pressure being the leading man, what it’s been like working with Ball, his reaction to the production artwork, the stunts, and a lot more. Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Before going any further, if you’re not familiar with The Maze Runner, the film centers on a group of teens who appear in an area known as “The Glade” but have no memory when they wake up. The only way out appears to be through a shifting maze of massive walls that harbor dangerous creatures known as Grievers. Only one of the teens, Thomas (O’Brien), holds the secret to their escape. The Maze Runner also stars Kaya Scodelario, Aml Ameen, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, and Patricia Clarkson.

Question: Was this a project you went after? Did they come after you?
DYLAN O’BRIEN: Just like anything, I just auditioned for it. It’s funny. The way Wes told me it happened was, at first, I went in on it initially with the casting director, just like everybody. I didn’t hear back for like a month and a half, because Wes was like, “His hair is too MTV!” That’s what he thought, which was so funny. Then he saw a picture of me with more regular hair, the buzzcut or something from Teen Wolf, and he brought me back and it worked. It just ended up working out.

So, your hair almost cost you your job?
O’BRIEN: Yeah! [Laughs] Isn’t it funny how that can happen?
[Will Poulter passes by and calls out, “I love you Dylan!”]
O’BRIEN: That’s Will. He’s my boyfriend here. You have to latch onto somebody while you’re working. It is a little bit like prison, what we do here.

His character is like your enemy in the movie. Are you having fun being horrible to each other?
O’BRIEN: It’s actually uncomfortable! We’re so funny. Even tonight, what we’re doing right now. We wrestle. He’s vicious. He’s scowling. He’s the antagonist of the movie and I’m the protagonist. Wes always says we’re opposite sides of the same coin, so we’re always supposed to be butting heads. Even after every take, he’ll go, “Are you okay?” I’ll go, “Yeah, are you?” He’ll go, “Yeah, but oh, I hit your knee!” And I go, “Yeah, my knee is fine! But how’s your elbow?” It’s just hilarious. We’re buddies off screen, as we all are. Having to then just act, like, awful to each other. It’s always weird with acting.

There’s a scene where your character goes into the maze, basically to sacrifice yourself. Do you think you would do that for your friends?
O’BRIEN: When you think about it, I think it gets in your way, in your head about it. But instinctively, I’m always one who will lash out at anyone hurts my friends, viciously, kind of. Like, murder. [Laughs] No, but I’m very protective of the people I love. Sacrificing is a whole other thing. I don’t think you often come to that situation in life. But it’s a primal instinct, but maybe. Put me in that situation and we’ll find out!

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Dylan O’Brien Interview with TVLine

March 24, 2014EmilyNo Comments

It’s been a hell of a year for Stiles on Teen Wolf – he’s spent the better half of Season 3 possessed by a killer Japanese spirit — and tonight’s finale (MTV, 10/9c) might just prove to be his most harrowing hour yet.

Dylan O’Brien spoke with TVLine about Stiles’ dark turn in Season 3B, the affects of Allison’s death — on himself as well as his character — and what the future might hold for Stiles’ love life.

TVLINE | Stiles has been unrecognizable this season. How have you handled that huge shift?
It’s been incredible. I mean, I still can’t get over the fact that I’ve gotten to be on a show for a few years now — my whole acting career, literally — and that I’ve gotten to play a character that provides so much humor. And then to get an arc like this, and to do it with my family — I’ve been working with these people for the last four years of my life, and [they’re] really close to my heart — has been the best experience I could ask for as an actor.

TVLINE | Is this something you asked for, or did they just kind of throw it at you?
I wouldn’t say they threw it at me, but there was never really a discussion. The first time it came up was this one night when I sent an e-mail to [executive producer Jeff Davis] with some random thought like, “Hey, it could be really cool to go evil with Scott.” And he e-mailed me back immediately, saying, “It’s funny that you said that, because we were already planning to go evil with you.” My immediate thought was, “Whoa, really?” I was sort of nervous and not sure what to expect, but also so game to do it.

TVLINE | I have to say, you carried it well. I think everybody was really impressed.
I really cared about it. It was a huge challenge for me, and I was scared at first. I’ve never even tried something like this. But you have to just go for it, and that’s why I love acting; it’s made me face my fears and try things I’d normally be too uncomfortable to try. It’s therapeutic.

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