Sure, it might seem redundant to watch a movie entitled Hot Summer Nights when we’re still failing attempting to cope with the fact this summer is way too hot for any human being. However, Hot Summer Nights follows the story of an awkward teenager who spends the summer in Cape Cod and comes out of his proverbial shell thanks to a townie bad body, Hunter Strawberry (portrayed by Alex Roe). Don’t worry, it won’t bring back too many nostalgic-filled teenage memories, unless you dabbled in a drug-selling dynasty when you were fresh out of high school. (If so, you’ll still want to revisit regretful memories because this is the perfect inter-seasonal film.)
You might be familiar with Alex Roe from his portrayal of Evan Walker in The 5th Wave, or country singer Liam in Forever My Girl, or maybe you’re used to seeing Roe as Ben Pownall on Siren, which is a Freeform series about murderous mermaids (name a more iconic duo, we dare you). Aside from Roe’s experience in the entertainment industry, we had the chance to talk to the actor about his role in Hot Summer Nights, working with Maia Mitchell and coping with grief in a healthy manner.
Her Campus: At the beginning of Hot Summer Nights your character [Hunter Strawberry] is introduced as sort of Cape Cod’s outsider version of Regina George—however, Hunter develops a sort of a friendship with Daniel in an unconventional way. Are there any ways that you’ve made a friend in an unusual setting or unconventional manner?
Alex Roe: I think that as actors, we’re always thrown into these unusual settings and we kind of like become family in the few months that we shoot this movie for. We all stayed in the house together in Atlanta, where we are shooting. So we are kind of eating dinner together, going out together, and we are running lines together. It’s a strange setup to be in, but for this movie specifically, it made the chemistry on screen really pop.
HC: Definitely. And I think viewers can really see that because you spent so much time together and it really resonates in the film.
AR: Yeah, it’s a strange thing because you are acting—you’re playing different characters—but getting to know each other just loosens you up when you’re on set together.
HC: Absolutely. And throughout the movie, Hunter has a great deal of character development, especially after he meets Amy. Have you found that you’ve learned anything about yourself from your time portraying Hunter?
AR: I think some of the lessons that I’ve hoped to have learned early on. I’ve got a twin sister that I’m very protective over, and I have to learn how to not be so protective of her, so I can definitely relate to that aspect of Hunter. I’m not quite as angry as Hunter, but I think Hunter is really affected by Amy’s presence. She’s actually able to kind of calm him down. She sees something in him that no one else sees, he sees something in her that no one else sees, and I think I’ve definitely had relationships like that in my life.
HC: Speaking of Amy, what was it like playing love interests with Maia Mitchell?
AR: Well, for starters, she’s incredibly beautiful so that made it really easy. But she’s also really cool. Because we all stayed in this house together, we are able to build a rapport with each other. It was really easy and really comfortable, and we were able to talk about why Amy and Hunter worked together and why Amy turns his life around in some way or starts to turn his life around. I think, in doing that, you kind of develop a real bond with each other.
HC: Those kind of open-ended conversations probably helped drive a lot of the reactions on set.
AR: Definitely. We were both very much in character and very loose and free when we were on set, and I think that shows in this movie.
HC: Definitely, it does. The film sort of parallels both Hunter’s and Daniel’s respective grieving processes—however, they both develop their own unhealthy coping mechanisms. Do you have any advice for young people who might currently be navigating their own grief?
AR: Everyone deals with grief in their own way. The way Hunter deals with it, I think, is by putting lots and lots of walls up. I think he protects himself in that way. Some of the people that have the biggest fronts, or that you think are so super confident, are the people who are often pushing down the most insecurities sometimes. I think that trying to run away from it is probably not the best thing. I think temporarily it’s a good thing, but running into pain and knowing that it doesn’t last forever can be a good way to deal with [grief].
HC: Definitely. It’s more like a band-aid, the tough guy persona.
AR: Exactly.
HC: In your acting career, you’ve mastered several different accents, from Liam’s Southern accent in Forever My Girl to now Hunter’s Eastern Massachusetts accent. Is there a particular accent that you personally find most difficult to portray?
AR: I think, for the English accent, we don’t say our Rs, contrary to a standard American accent. So Boston and Eastern Massachusetts is a little easier just because they don’t say their Rs either. But I love doing accents, I think it’s really interesting to delve into. I think you have to have a little bit of a need to live for it definitely, but people seem to keep buying it so I’m happy.
HC: I honestly couldn’t tell that you were English just from watching that movie. I would have guessed that you were from Boston.
AR: Amazing. That’s a really big compliment. I think that English people cheat a little bit because we have so much American TV, so we hear your accents on a regular basis. It’s like I’m an undercover American.
HC: You also delve into a lot of pre-production research in your work. For Hot Summer Nights particularly, you spent two weeks in Cape Cod learning the townie life. Do you have any advice for young actors who might just be breaking into the industry and they might not know where or how to start their research for a specific role?
AR: That’s interesting. I think part of the reason I went to Cape Cod was to understand the world of the movie—to understand the dynamics of these people. Like the people who live there all year round have to take all of the bad weather that Cape Cod has, and the second summer rolls by that’s when they make their money. They’re going to work and they don’t really get to enjoy it. Then the summer birds come in and take advantage of everything, and they’ve been kind of battling through it or whatever. So, I think the first place to start is to try to understand the world that the movie exists in. From there, I met someone who was a weed dealer in the ’90s—and I met someone whose accent was what I thought would be Hunter’s. So I think, start in the world and see where that takes you.
HC: Just kind of immersing yourself into that perspective to understand it. Now, a bystander tells Hunter’s story from sort of an outsider-looking-in point of view—if a bystander were to tell the story of your life, what do you think they would say (or what do you hope they would say) about you?
AR: I hope that they would say that I have morals that I stand by and that I am good to the people that I’m close to. That I am ambitious, that I take life by the balls in some way—and that I’m adventurous and take risks. I think that’s what I’d like for them to say. [But] what they’d really say is, ‘Watches Netflix too much and is a really good dog dad.’
Hot Summer Nights is now playing in select theaters across the country.