Looking for a sweet teenage binge this summer? Paramount+ offers the perfect remedy with its new film honor society.
After the titular Honor (Angourie Rice, Easttown Mare), she’s a girl on a mission as her senior year draws to a close. Eager to go to Harvard, she assumes that she will be Mr. Calvin’s (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) guidance counselor’s first choice for a recommendation, but soon learns that is not the case.
Eager to do whatever it takes to earn the coveted reward, Honor comes up with a plan to eliminate her top three student competitors, one of whom is an outcast, Michael (stranger things‘ Gaten Matarazzo). The only problem? She begins to fall for the competition. Below, Matarazzo explains his character and what to expect.
(Credit: Michael Courtney/Nickelodeon/Paramount+)
honor society can be considered a teen romantic comedy, but it’s a bit different from its predecessors. How do you think the film deflects expectations when it comes to the genre?
Matarazzo Gate: I think in a funny way, it’s just honest about how teenagers think and act with each other, which is really interesting and really rare. Of course, there are a lot of absurdities. It’s a teen comedy, it’s a teen romantic comedy. So it’s going to break the laws of social physics in some ways. But for the most part, I felt like I was playing real people, acting with real people, which is really fun.
What will most surprise fans of your character Michael?
When it comes to a lot of characters who are portrayed as nerdy, back of the class, don’t really speak, are afraid of girls, they’re usually portrayed as they’ll do anything to be with the girl talking to them and drop everything around them. And I think the interesting thing about Michael is that he doesn’t like them either. There’s this notion that the minute they’re allowed to be in these groups or anybody in these pockets or crowds that’s nice to them that they’re all of a sudden going to be with open arms and excited to be around these people.
(Credit: Michael Courtney/Nickelodeon/Paramount+)
Why the hell would they like you when they’ve been treated like crap by you for so long? And I think that’s real and honest. I’ve always hated those movies where those characters kept changing all of a sudden [sides]. And it was really interesting to play a character where he was upfront and open about the fact that he doesn’t like you either.
Given the film’s rom-com theme, is that a genre you’d like to explore further, or is there another genre on your acting wishlist?
I don’t really focus on genres. If I like a character and I like the script, then I’ll go for it. I would love to expand when it comes to genres. I would like to play new characters. I like a challenge. I like something that’s going to be different from what I’ve done before. So hopefully whatever happens next will be quite different from Michael and Dustin.
You have a chance to show your musical talents in this movie. You even play the piano, was it scripted or something you pitched?
I am not playing. It was scripted from the start. Singing and piano. I’ve been what I like to think as a singer all my life. But playing the piano isn’t something… It’s something I’ve tried five different times and never followed through. So I know chord progressions. I know the scales. I can read music if you give me 10 minutes per note. And that’s about it. And so I spent hours working on this little piece of Alicia Keys.
I never would have known. I honestly thought you could play the piano.
I got there and I couldn’t even play, so I mimed all the time. But it worked, we got it.
honor societyFilm premiere, Friday July 29, Paramount+
On Friday, July 29, Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp visited Ola High School in Henry County to kick off back-to-school season. During the meet and greet, Governor Kemp shared his best wishes for a productive school year and made an announcement that benefited Georgia teachers,… Click to read more.
