“The majority of our fans are from the Philippines so why are we not there?” said KJ Apa, who plays Archie Andrews in the hit TV show “Riverdale.”
“Netflix should fly us over there. We’d love to go,” said Maia Mitchell, who audiences have watched in “The Fosters” and the spin-off series “Good Trouble.”
The two were sitting in a room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, doing press to promote their new teen romantic comedy “The Last Summer.” Later that night, “The Last Summer,” which is now streaming on Netflix, premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
In the film, KJ plays the musically inclined Griffin, who has decisions to make about his future, while Maia plays Phoebe, a driven young filmmaker. “I love how ambitious Phoebe is. I love that she knows what she wants in life and she’s going after it and is quite unapologetic. I can relate to that. I think I was like that when I was her age,” she said.
Sparks fly as their characters reconnect after graduating from high school. The chemistry between KJ and Maia is undeniable and has director and co-writer William Bindley raving. “It was instant,” KJ said. “The core ingredient to a rom-com has to be chemistry, right?”
KJ and Maia, who are originally from New Zealand and Australia, bonded while filming in Cleveland and Chicago—so much so that they’ve started finishing each other’s sentences. In the movie, their characters argue over who serves the best barbecue in Chicago, but IRL they agree on who serves the best burger in LA. “In-N-Out!” they both said. “But it has to be animal style.”
Like his character Griffin, KJ is passionate about music. Just days before the premiere of “The Last Summer,” he performed with his band Legend in their first US gig. “It was so fun. I can’t even put it into words. It was it was surreal. I’m still buzzing from it,” he said.
Full circle
“The Last Summer” features multiple characters and intersecting storylines. “It’s got a similar structure to ‘Love Actually.’” said KJ. The members of the cast describe the film as “relatable,” “sweet” and “heartfelt.”
Tyler Posey—yes, Scott McCall from “Teen Wolf”—is no stranger to rom-coms. When he was a kid, he played Jennifer Lopez’s son in the 2002 movie “Maid in Manhattan.” “It was nice to kind of like come full circle and do another one.”
In “The Last Summer,” he plays Ricky, a baseball player who literally falls into the lap of Erin, played by Halston Sage (“Paper Towns,” “The Orville”). “I had a great time. This character that I played was unlike any character that I’ve ever played, He’s a professional ballplayer and I was super stoked to do that,” said Tyler.
Halston said, “I grew up watching rom-coms and I fell in love with the genre. So to actually be able to be a part of one that reminded me so much of what inspired me to even be an actress was really exciting. And meeting the whole cast turned into this huge amazing thing. Seeing everyone today makes me miss filming a lot.”
Jacob Latimore and Wolfgang Novogratz bonded a lot while filming, too. Jacob, who plays Alec, said, “We were at a hotel that was connected to the Cleveland Cavaliers stadium so we got a chance to watch the finals which was really really dope. Steph Curry was in our hotel.”
Wolfgang, who plays Foster, said, “It was my first time in Cleveland. We were there five weeks altogether… We tried to pack in as much as possible. We went to Cedar Point, which is like the biggest amusement park in the Midwest. We went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We went to Cleveland Indians baseball game, we did a lot of stuff. It was really fun.”
Eventful summer
The film follows the characters as they navigate that eventful summer between high school and college. They face the pain of breakups, the blossoming of new romance, the excitement of fresh experiences, the complexities of family, the intricacies of their identities, the uncertainty of the future.
“Now it feels like kids have to figure out their futures so much earlier… They have to know who they are and what they want to do with their lives by the time they graduate from high school. I just wanted to focus on that period of time—balancing the pressure of figuring out “who am I?” with the fun of enjoying that last party-filled summer that they’ve finally earned,” said William.
“I do feel like there is a lot of pressure on high schoolers to have their futures planned out. My sister just graduated high school last year. I saw her going through the whole process and it’s hard. It’s unfortunate because I think that’s such a young age to be faced with such lifelong decisions,” said Halston.
Jacob added, “I think most teens don’t know what they want to do quite yet and that’s okay. I think that’s something they should embrace and take the time to figure it out.”
KJ was once at these crossroads, too. “My dad really wanted me to play rugby and I decided that I didn’t want to play, I wanted to come to LA and be an actor. My dad is really supportive. He wanted me to do whatever it is that I wanted. I think definitely he misses waking up early on a Saturday morning with a coffee and coming to my rugby games. I miss it, too. But you gotta make sacrifices, you know?”
“It’s hard growing up. It’s hard being a kid no matter what generation,” said Tyler.
They all agree, however, that this generation of young adults face challenges not known to the youth of the past.
“I don’t think there was ever the term quarter-life crisis until a couple of years ago,” said Wolfgang. “I think the main kind of difference between this generation and past is social media. It’s not just maybe celebrities who look like they have the perfect lives. It’s people that you’re friends with. Everybody’s the perfect boyfriend, the perfect husband, the perfect everything on social media… And you kind of feel crappy by yourself.”
Fine balance
For many, having a multitude of online followers may sound like a dream but for these young actors, it can be akin to walking a tightrope.
Halston said, “I think that social media can be amazing. It can also be really challenging because it’s a very fine balance of wanting to connect with people and being able to promote projects that you’re a part of, or a cause that is really close to your heart. But it’s also tricky, because you are an actor, and you want to make sure that you’re keeping enough of yourself out of that world so that it’s not distracting when someone goes to see in a movie like, ‘Oh, I know what she had for dinner last night.’”
“It does get a little tough,” said Jacob. “As an artist, as a musician, you have to put yourself out there a little more… but there’s a certain mystique you want to have, too, because you don’t know what producers are paying attention to on your social media. It’s a tough battle.”
Tyler said, “The first time I got on Instagram was because of ‘Teen Wolf.’ They wanted me to (do it). I still don’t really know how to promote myself… I thought it was cool to have like a visual picture diary of I can look back and be like, ‘Oh sh*t, that was cool.’ So that’s kind of what still what I use it for. I think that there are some really wrong things with with social media and Instagram and the whole liking scale and how you’re waiting for it like a hit,” said Tyler.
Maia said, “I don’t spend much time on it. I log on to my public social media, and I post when I need to, and then I log out of it and go on my smaller one that I have with just my friends. You come to compartmentalize it, yeah.”
KJ added, “I don’t put a lot of effort into my social media. I think I just like to be myself and I post for my friends back in New Zealand. A lot of the time, I want to make them laugh. I just think authenticity is great. All the accounts that I like to follow are people being authentic and being themselves.”
Authenticity is a theme in “The Last Summer,” too. “I think the most important thing to take from this movie is that everyone’s kind of doing their own thing and is on their own journey. And that’s okay. And just to be able to kind of, you know, be strong in yourself and your own journey and your own identity,” said Maia.
We know what they did last summer but what about this coming summer? “I’m working,” said KJ.
Maia said, “I’m trying to work. I’m trying to book a movie. But it would be nice to go on vacation, too.”
There’s plenty to look forward to from the rest of the cast as well. Tyler just finished the pilot for “The Lost Boys” —yes, a TV adaptation of the ’80s vampire movie. He will be playing Michael, a character Jason Patric previously played. Tyler is also working on a punk rock EP. Jacob Latimore is in “The Chi” and is promoting the album he just dropped: Connection 2. Wolfgang Novogratz is filming another Netflix film called “The Half of It.” He is also starring in the movie adaptation of the New York Times best-selling Becca Fitzpatrick book “Hush, Hush.” Halston Sage will be seen in the Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling film “Late Night.” She will also be in a Marvel movie.
