Interview: Jeremy O. Harris
When you hear the name Jeremy O. Harris, “actor” may not be the first word to come to mind. Mostly known for his work as a writer in theater and film, Harris has been quietly building an eclectic filmography as an actor, with roles in shows such as What We Do in the Shadows and Emily in Paris, and films such as States and most recently, The Sweet East, now playing in theaters across the US.
Directed by prolific cinematographer Sean Price Williams, who has shot films such as Good Time and Queen of Earth, The Sweet East follows Lillian, a high school senior from South Carolina, as she ventures through the cities and woods of the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. Lillian’s exploration of the wider world begins with a class trip to Washington, D.C., offering her a first glimpse of the bustling urban landscape and the endless possibilities beyond her small town. As she navigates the highs and lows of her journey, Lillian encounters a colorful cast of characters and discovers unexpected truths about herself and the world around her.
Harris’ journey into The Sweet East was a happy accident, stemming from a chance encounter with Williams at the MacDowell artist’s residency program in New Hampshire. “I ended up having to drive there in a car with the director Michael Almereyda,” he says. “And during that residency, he was developing his movie, Marjorie Prime, which Sean [Price Williams] was the DP of. And so at that juncture, at that moment, Sean and I were two of the younger people at the residency and we just hit it off immediately. And so whenever I would come to New York, I’d crash on his couch. I would hear about whatever things he was doing with Alex Ross Perry with stars in my eyes, and he always said, ‘I want to put you in a movie. When I make my first movie, you’re going to be in it.’ So when he called me and said, ‘I have the movie, it’s happening. You have to be in it,’ I didn’t even need to read a script. I said yes immediately.”
Filming The Sweet East was like “a breath of fresh air,” says Harris. “What was really amazing about working on this movie was that I was working on a movie not with a bunch of co-workers, but a bunch of old friends and new friends. Jacob [Elordi] and I had worked together on Euphoria and I saw him on the lot a bunch. Talia [Ryder] and I knew each other through Eliza Hittman, and Ayo [Edebiri] and I met months before through a bunch of other mutual friends. So when I showed up and had to do my thing with basically just those people, it was a really amazing experience. It felt like I was on the most chaotic class field trip one could find themselves on. It really reminded me that the actual beauty of making films is being able to create a microcosm of a family and challenging yourself with them. And I think that with this movie specifically, it’s very evident on the screen that we all stretched ourselves and had a lot of fun with our new little nuclear family.”
Harris shares most of his scenes with Edebiri and Ryder, who plays Lillian, a jaded, disillusioned adolescent who may be in over her head but makes sure to carry herself with an air of insouciance that disguises her feeling of being overwhelmed. As she finds herself separated from her classmates and teachers, Lillian encounters Matthew and Molly, played by Harris and Edebiri respectively, two filmmakers who are looking for the star of their next film. Matthew and Molly make Lillian audition for them, resulting in some of the wackiest, most amusing scenes in a film that’s filled to the brim with them, thanks to Williams’ slick satirization of the industry, but also the chemistry between all three of them and Elordi, who plays heartthrob actor Ian Reynolds. It’s a dynamic that was also reflected behind the scenes as well, made incredibly evident by the number of videos, filmed by Harris on set of the film, that have since went viral on TikTok and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter.
“There’s this video that’s going viral right now that’s from my phone,” says Harris. “There’s a couple now, but there’s one of Jacob laughing and taking photographs of Ayo in front of a pound of cocaine that’s from this one scene that’s barely in the movie. That was one of my favorite nights shooting because it was a night where they just kept having us go from party to party to party. And then we ended up in this crazy room with a puppet, and it was easy to play the sort of late-night, beleaguered energy they wanted us to play because we’ve been shooting for so long, but it was even more fun to pretend like I was at a great party with my friends because I literally was. I think that was the sense that Shaun wanted to have on set for everyone. He knew that he was asking a lot of all of us to be in this really weird, pastoral film where we didn’t even meet most of the other cast members until we premiered it in Cannes. So he made sure that any time we were on set, we were having a really good time and that we were really well-taken care of.”
While filming those videos, Harris says he never would have expected them to catch on as much as they did now, more than 2 years since they were initially shot. “It’s been really funny to see [them go viral],” he says. “I think part of the reason that everything has gone so insane with all those videos is that when we were shooting the movie and making these videos, none of us were in the social position we’re in now. This movie was shot two and a half years ago. Jacob Elordi was not everyone’s favorite internet crush. He hadn’t done a bathtub scene yet. The second season of Euphoria was being shot when we did that. Ayo hadn’t taken over the entire universe with Sydney and all the other amazing characters she’s been playing. Talia wasn’t the crush of the internet from the five different Netflix movies she’s been in. It was a bit of happenstance that that even happened so it’s really cool to see all of us in this moment before.”
Much like Elordi, Edebiri and Ryder, who have since become some of the most in-demand actors of their generation, Harris also has a number of acting roles lined up for the rest of 2024. “So I’m going to be in a film in July with this amazing Danish filmmaker,” he reveals. “I’m also going to be in a new movie directed by one of my favorite filmmakers that I think everyone should be watching out for. His name is Pete Ohs. I can’t say too much about the movie except for the fact that it is another amazingly delicious indie experiment from Pete Ohs that I think will delight and titillate a lot of people. It might just tickle you.” As for Emily In Paris, which is currently filming its fourth season, Harris is staying tight-lipped about a potential return of his character Gregory, an aspiring fashion designer and the once-protégé of Pierre Cadault, who has since become his greatest foe. “You have to watch to find out,” he teases. “Gregory has bitten into the life of Emily like a dog with a bone so I don’t think she’ll be able to shake him too quickly.”
And that’s not all – Harris has a wide variety of writing projects, in the very different worlds of film, TV and theater, currently in the works, including an HBO series, an FX series, another series he’s co-writing with Erika J. Simpson, a project at Universal that he’s been developing alongside The Zone of Interest producer James Wilson (“The people involved have been so amazing in helping me and giving me the space and time to really percolate on it,” he says. “They’ve been guiding me through the process and allowing me to really make sure that what I put on paper and hand in to the studio is something I really, really stand behind. It’s really amazing. You don’t see that kind of bravery that often.”) and another project he describes as a “big musical” that he’s been working on with music exec and songwriter Amanda Ghost. “I’m really excited for that,” he gushes. “I’m excited to see if it ends up coming to fruition the way I want it to. But I think if it does, it’ll be a really, really special thing.”
With the recent cancellations of high-profile shows led by people of color, including Issa Rae‘s acclaimed HBO Max series Rap Sh!t, many people have voiced their concerns about the future of film and TV, with Rae herself rightfully decrying the thought-process that goes into decision making in Hollywood at the moment. Is Harris, who signed a development deal with HBO back in 2020, worried about the current state of the industry? “What I see happening right now is that there is a lot of frustration because of the way in which Netflix and a lot of streamers have changed the marketplace,” he says. “We’re seeing a lot of confusion and frustration from not only creators, but executives as well, figuring out how we move on and how we move into the next phase. I think that there’s a lot of unease with this moment we’re in, but I’m still really hopeful that good work will win out, and if not, I’ll just continue doing what I’ve been doing, which is making the undercommons for myself and the people I love to be able to make that good work happen. That’s why I started my production company and why I’m championing a lot of young writers, queer writers and Black writers; to see the change that I want happen on my turn.”
The Sweet East is now playing in theaters in the US.