Drop Star Brandon Sklenar on the Link to It Ends with Us, 1923 Finale

Anyone who watched the series premiere of 1923 in December 2022 knew right away that movie stardom was an inevitability for Brandon Sklenar. His war hero and big-game hunter character, Spencer Dutton, instantly made him a popular choice among fancasters to lead any number of action and superhero franchises (more on this later). The Taylor Sheridan-penned Western drama series also made a point to give the actor plenty of dramatic and romantic material, opening the door to a trio of films with thematic connections.

Last year, Sklenar played Atlas Corrigan in the box office hit, It Ends with Us, and the drama about an abusive relationship quickly became a lightning rod for controversy due to the off-screen legal contention between star-producer Blake Lively and director-star Justin Baldoni. Sklenar’s character recognized that his childhood friend and first love, Lily Bloom (Lively), was an active victim of domestic violence, and so he came to her aid when she needed someone most.

Tonight, the Jersey native returns to the big screen in Christopher Landon’s Drop. He plays a photographer named Henry who goes on a dinner date with Meghann Fahy’s widowed single mother, Violet. Their rendezvous is Violet’s first night out in ages after surviving her own abusive marriage. However, she’s suddenly targeted by an anonymous tormenter using “DigiDrops,” which instruct her to kill Henry for the sake of her young child’s life.

The pattern involving violence among intimate partners extends beyond Drop and It Ends with Us, as Sklenar’s upcoming film, The Housemaid, also has that thread in common. (The Paul Feig-directed Christmas release is co-led by Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.) While the spiritual trilogy is largely coincidental, Sklenar does believe that this material is finding him for a reason.

“It’s a theme that’s been around me and in my life for a long time,” Sklenar tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Drop’s theatrical release on April 11. “Someone very close to me has been dealing with it for many years, and I’ve been helping her navigate that space as much as I can. So, perhaps, by the grace of God, it keeps finding its way into my sphere as a theme, because it’s a theme in my own life.”

The 1923 series finale aired this past weekend, and the question surrounding the lineage of Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone patriarch, John Dutton III, was seemingly answered by the premature birth of Spencer and Alexandra Dutton’s (Julia Schlaepfer) son, John Dutton II. However, Sklenar is now clarifying his previous stance to THR about whether he plays the grandfather to Costner’s character. 

“One would assume what it is at the end of the finale, but it still hasn’t been confirmed,” Sklenar says. “So I guess we’ll have to wait for 1944. Hopefully, they’ll reveal that in the first episode, and we won’t have to wait an entire series for confirmation of who John Dutton III’s grandfather is.”

Nothing is official at the moment, but Sklenar would welcome the chance to age himself up by two-plus decades to play 50-something Spencer on 1944. Sklenar’s favorite actor is Christian Bale, and as castmates on Adam McKay’s Vice, he got to witness firsthand one of the star’s many different transformations as Dick Cheney.

“Give me some gout, a little hunch and some salt and pepper. I’ll gravel the voice up a bit. If it comes around, I’d love to do it. I really would,” Sklenar confirms. “I definitely don’t want to say goodbye to Spencer. I love that guy.”

Bale is also Sklenar’s favorite take on Bruce Wayne/Batman, and he’s among the many reasons why Sklenar hopes to take on the mantle for James Gunn’s DCU, which is unconnected to Matt Reeves’ “The Batman Epic Crime Saga,” led by Robert Pattinson. Sklenar is currently the top choice among the aforementioned fancasters, and he already has plenty of ideas on how to differentiate his version of the character from the many other on-screen Caped Crusaders.

“I have my own ideas on the character, if that ever comes to fruition. He was my favorite comic book character as a child, and he’s superior because he is a real man,” Sklenar says. “I think there’s a lot more to explore there, and there’s a way to do it that makes it very real. So, if it ever comes around, I would gladly take that torch, and I would not take it lightly.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Sklenar also discusses Drop’s character dynamics in relation to his own life, before addressing whether there was any semblance of sincerity to Hugh Jackman’s joke about him being the heir apparent to Wolverine. 

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Drop is the second time you’ve played a guy named Henry who goes on a challenging date. Do you remember the first time? 

Was that in Westworld?

That’s the one.

I forgot I did that until you just said it.

I’ve gone out of my way to never activate Siri or iCloud on my phone, and so I’ve never utilized the AirDrop feature. Your movie calls it DigiDrop. Has it ever been a part of your digital repertoire? 

I’ve AirDropped some photos or a batch of files, for sure. It’s quicker than sending a text sometimes, but I’m not shooting off AirDrops to anybody on a whim. That’s not my style.

Where did Drop fall on your timeline of conquests? What was your headspace at the time?

It was after It Ends with Us, and 1923 [season two] had pushed for some reason. So I was eager to keep working when Drop came along, and it just seemed like a great opportunity and a great acting exercise. It was also a chance to work with Chris [Landon], and I love his films: Freaky, Happy Death Day, and We Have a Ghost. That was a fun movie. I’m just a big horror-thriller fan. I watch all types of horror: campy horror, art house stuff and whatnot. And Meghann [Fahy] was obviously brilliant on White Lotus. I’d also heard great things about her as a person, so I was happy to fill the time with this project. 

Drop, much like It Ends with Us, involves domestic abuse. Being so close together, did that overlap give you any pause at first? 

No, not really. It’s something that we touch upon in Drop, given Violet’s [Fahy] history, but it’s not necessarily in the forefront as much as it is with It Ends with Us. That film is directly about [domestic violence], and the entire plot revolves around it. So it was just purely coincidental that it’s a theme in this film. 

Oddly enough, it also reoccurs in The Housemaid, which I just wrapped. It’s coincidental as well, but it seems to keep coming about. It’s a theme that’s been around me and in my life for a long time. Someone very close to me has been dealing with it for many years, and I’ve been helping her navigate that space as much as I can. So, perhaps, by the grace of God, it keeps finding its way into my sphere as a theme, because it’s a theme in my own life.

That’s why I’m glad the marketing revealed that your character is the target of the tormenter. (The DigiDropper asks Violet to kill Henry.) If they tried to make us think your character was the tormentor, I never would’ve bought into it. No part of me would’ve ever believed that you’d sign up to torment a domestic abuse survivor so soon after It Ends with Us. That would have been a dealbreaker, right?

At that point, yeah. For sure. Definitely. There is a way to tell these stories, and Housemaid touches upon it. It’s a suspense thriller, but it’s not as true to life as It Ends with Us. The character is dealing with very real traumatic things, but it’s elevated in the way the story is told. So that hopefully takes just a little bit of the edge off as a result, and lets people digest it in a different way. Drop does it in a similar way as well. The film itself is elevated, and so it’s able to address the topic without being fully consumed by it.

Did you decipher who the tormentor was on your first read? 

Honestly, I didn’t.

Your character is quite patient with Violet. Do you think you would’ve bailed before Henry’s first attempt? 

There are certain things I have no patience for, but in human-to-human situations and that type of scenario, I’d be pretty patient. I don’t know if I’d be as patient as Henry, but I definitely would’ve held space for a while and tried to figure out what was going on. Honestly, I probably would’ve done and said the same thing as Henry: “Hey, it’s clear that you have some stuff going on that you need to handle, and you can totally go do that. We can pick this up some other time.” He really does like her. And if I was in a situation with a woman that I was enjoying my time with and I saw a possibility of us continuing to see one another, I’d want to give her that space, too. You don’t really know what anyone is going through at the end of the day.

You’ve worked with a lot of great actors now. What’d you find interesting about Meghann Fahy as a scene partner? 

She is just an exceptional human being, and she has such a great warmth and energy to her. As a scene partner, she’s hyper-present, and we both are really good at listening to each other and being there for each other, which is all you can ask for. She really loves acting, and she enjoys the moments between action and cut. She became a great friend, and she made my job incredibly easy, to be honest with you. It was not at all difficult, and that might not have been the case if she wasn’t who she is. 

Both characters have been burned by important people in their lives. Do you tend to keep your guard up most of the time? Or are you pretty trusting until you’re given a reason not to be?

Oh, that’s a good question. I think it’s changed over the years, especially being in this industry. You have to have a bit of a guard up, and you have to protect your space. I’m a pretty private person, generally. It’s not that you have to prove yourself, but you can only let so many people into your sphere. It’s not necessarily a case of not trusting them, but you only have so much room in your heart for deep connections and relationships. It doesn’t mean that you can’t connect with people and be warm and kind; you should always be that way. But in terms of those [closer] relationships, I’d say it takes a bit for someone to get on that level. 

[The next six questions and answers contain spoilers for 1923.]

Well, after frolicking in the tropical waters of Zanzibar in season one, Spencer Dutton went through hell to return to Montana. Between the reunion with Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) and their bed-ridden goodbye, was that quite the emotional rollercoaster for you?

Oh, absolutely. I was a wreck many times on that set, especially during the finale. It was so emotional. That show changed my life, my career and my personal life. I grew tremendously as a human being and as an actor through that experience. I will forever be grateful for all of it, and to Taylor [Sheridan], Ben Richardson, 101 [Studios] and Paramount for the opportunity. 

Taylor being Taylor, everything was done for real. You’re doing all your stunts, you’re going to all these locations. If your character is in Africa and he’s outside all day in the sun, you’re outside all day in the sun in Africa. If he’s on a beach in Zanzibar, you’re on a beach in Zanzibar. If he’s riding a horse, you’re riding a horse through Texas. If he’s in a car and getting flipped in it, you’re getting flipped in a car. If he’s swimming underwater, trying to save somebody, you’re swimming underwater. So we really lived those characters, and my memories are his memories. I have a deep emotional response to them as a result. 

So it was incredibly emotional for a number of reasons. I was closing the book on that chapter of my life, and then I was processing the last three years and the effect that it’s had on me. It was emotional, but not necessarily sad. There’s a lot of energy moving through you when you culminate something that significant in your life. And then when you tack on what Spencer’s dealing with in the story, and the loss and the regret, it’s very painful that he’ll never get to carry out the amount of love that he has. 

With Taylor Sheridan producing 74 shows at the same time, is he like the Wizard of Oz now? Or did he still appear on set every now and then? 

He’s not one for set visits, but he is always watching what you’re doing. He’s hyper-aware of what everyone is doing, and if he feels like something needs an adjustment, he’ll call you. The thing that he does really well is he trusts his instincts and his gut. So he casts people who he believes can do the job and also understand his tone and his vision. Then he lets you go do it, but there’s a lot of anxiety at first. A lot of showrunners, directors, et cetera, don’t necessarily give you that much of a leash to just go do it. But he really wants you to believe in yourself and trust yourself and trust that you know what you’re doing. So he puts you in a position to level up, which is such a gift that he gives the actors he hires. You do learn that through the process of working with him, and it was such a special experience. I just love working with that guy. I really do.

There were questions online about why Spencer blames Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) for his wife’s death, but it’s because his attempted land grab is what forced Spencer and Alex to make the dangerous trip to Montana. Otherwise, they’d still be frolicking in Zanzibar, right?

Exactly. There was a bit of dialogue that I had in that scene, but we cut it out. Spencer was incredibly emotional during that bit of dialogue, and we had already had this emotional moment with Alex. So it just felt like the balance would’ve been off, and they felt it was more effective to go right to the point with Whitfield. They felt that people would feel that and understand why without having to spell it out. 

But initially, there was a bit of dialogue where Spencer essentially said the same thing: “You came after my family, and that forced me home.” He went through the chain of events as far as why he feels that Whitfield is responsible. So I think the fans of the show can understand why it’s Whitfield, without us fully explaining it, as you have. None of this would have happened had Whitfield not come after the Dutton family. Alex would not have followed Spencer home, and she would not have gotten stranded in the snow. His family also wouldn’t be in the position they’re in, and Spencer wouldn’t be on this war path where he’s now standing there with a gun at Whitfield’s head. So it is his fault.

It must’ve been quite something to confront Timothy Dalton with Harrison Ford by your side. Your 13-year-old self didn’t see that coming, did he?

My 34-year-old self also didn’t see it coming because I don’t look at shooting schedules. (Laughs.) I just prepare the entire season and memorize everything, and then I show up on the day and see what I’m going to shoot that day. That’s just how I work. It’s easier for me to not forecast what I’m doing and then trip myself out about it. So I just over-prepare, and then I show up on the day and do it. So I had no idea what I was shooting that day. 

I then got to set, and I was like, “Oh, damn. This is the scene with Harrison and Dalton. I thought we were shooting this in Montana. I didn’t realize we were shooting this in Austin. I thought we were shooting this two months from now.” And thank God I didn’t know what I was shooting. I probably would’ve had nerves and tripped out about it a little bit. I would have walked around being like, “I’ve got that scene in a week. I’ve got that scene in three days. I’ve got that scene tomorrow.”

This was essentially the resolution to Spencer’s character arc, and before we did the first take of him charging Whitfield with the gun and being very emotional, I remember looking at Harrison and Timothy, and just going, “Damn, this is a pretty wild situation.”

Did the cast have any wagers about how the Dutton family tree would shake out?

(Laughs.) No wagers, but I’ve always had a feeling of where it was going. It still hasn’t been fully confirmed by anybody who knows If my suspicions are correct. One would assume what it is at the end of the finale, but it still hasn’t been confirmed. There’s definitely been a lot of internal debates over the years about who is who and what is what, but we still don’t really know. It hasn’t been fully spelled out. So I guess we’ll have to wait for 1944. Hopefully, they’ll reveal that in the first episode, and we won’t have to wait an entire series for confirmation of who John Dutton III’s [Kevin Costner] grandfather is. (Laughs.)

Are you ready to slap on some older-age prosthetics for 1944?

Oh yeah! Give me some gout, a little hunch and some salt and pepper. I’ll gravel the voice up a bit. If it comes around, I’d love to do it. I really would. I definitely don’t want to say goodbye to Spencer. I love that guy.

[The 1923 spoiler section has now concluded.]

Well, you know you’ve made it in this town when fanboys cast you as a different superhero every other week, but the DCU’s Batman sounds like something that you’re actually considering. After so many great actors have played him, including your bar fight buddy Bale, do you think there’s still enough uncharted territory to explore? 

Absolutely. Every actor that’s played the role has done a very different incarnation of Bruce Wayne/Batman. If you compare Christian’s to Robert’s [Pattinson], it couldn’t be any more different. I also have my own ideas on the character, if that ever comes to fruition. He was my favorite comic book character as a child, and he’s superior because he is a real man. He’s just really hurting and reeling from the death of his parents, and Batman is his way of coping. So I think there’s a lot more to explore there, and there’s a way to do it that makes it very real. I’ve honestly enjoyed every incarnation of Batman, but Christian’s was my favorite. I do love what Rob is doing with it now. It’s a really bold choice, and Rob is just an incredible actor, in general. So, if it ever comes around, I would gladly take that torch, and I would not take it lightly. 

Hugh Jackman jokingly nominated you to be the next Wolverine at the end of a sketch. Did you guys ever talk about it behind the scenes in more sincere terms?

No, I would be terrified to ask Hugh about that. Hugh is one of the warmest, kindest male actors I’ve ever met in my life. He’s shockingly kind and warm and affable, and he’s just very endearing. So I’ve had some lovely moments with him, but I would never dare dream to ask him about that. Ryan jokes about how he’ll probably die playing Wolverine at some point, and I can’t see anybody else ever playing Wolverine. He is Wolverine. So I would love for him to continue to be Wolverine for as long as he physically can.

You also told Ryan Reynolds’ mother in that same sketch that you aren’t crazy about interviews. Is this really not your favorite part of the job?

It depends on the interview and the interviewer, but I think a lot of actors feel the same. Some actors do love promoting things, but it is part of the job as far as I’m concerned. I love acting and it doesn’t feel like a job. But promoting movies does feel like a job, and that’s totally okay. We all need to work, and we all need to do stuff sometimes that we don’t love to do. And it’s not that I don’t love interviews. It’s just that I don’t particularly enjoy talking about myself all that much. Being myself in front of a camera is a different level of anxiety than being a character in front of a camera, and I don’t have much anxiety about [the latter] at all. But I think a lot of actors are this way.

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Drop is now playing in movie theaters nationwide.