Teen Wolf Exclusive: Dylan O'Brien on Reinventing an Icon
For his first starring role, Dylan O'Brien was faced with a challenge: reinvent a classic character from an iconic film.
The 20-year old actor stars on MTV's Teen Wolf as Stan Stilinsky, the lovable student made famous in the 1985 movie by Jerry Levine.
O'Brien told me this week he had never seen the Michael J. Fox comedy, but the cast had a viewing party after shooting the pilot and it changed the way he looked at the role.
"I didn't just wanna regurgitate Stiles," the actor said. "I wanted him to have my own feel, especially because he was written so differently and so uniquely for the show. So much of this is reinventing Stiles for this generation.
"But [watching the movie] influenced the way I played Stiles in the sense that he had this unconventional cool factor; he was the weird cool kid. That's the entire essence of the character."
With all of the dark and angry characters on this show, O'Brien acknowledges it's fun to lighten up the series with Stiles' lines and antics.
"It's like paying homage to the original film. It's an important element, the comedy, to ground a genre such as this."
And just what can we expect as the season continues? O'Brien says new, dangerous characters are on the way and, for Stiles:
"Things keeps getting worse. At one point later in the season, he might get the opportunity to get some powers, as things turn pretty serious toward the end."
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.
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August 9th, 2011 3:40 PM
Stiles is my favourite character on teen wolf!!! And he's so hot too!
July 19th, 2011 6:24 PM
Dylan is amazing.....I love him...he is seriously amazing!!' wanna meet him sooooo bad! That would be the best day of my entire life!!!
July 19th, 2011 2:06 AM
I love dylan he is so hot I love his reaction towards the movie I wish I could meet him you are such a great (actor)
July 14th, 2011 6:04 AM
i love thr way you act and your expression towards the movie.
June 24th, 2011 7:56 PM
Dylan O'Brien is, no doubt, the best part of this show. What an incredible talent! Where has this kid been?? He has managed to take on the impossible challenge of reinventing Stiles...one of the most iconic characters of all time. Not only has he succeeded in making Stiles his own, but he's also kept the very essence of our beloved original played by Jerry Levine. Dylan O'Brien's comedic chops & timing are so rare to see in such a young actor these days. Plus he's gorgeous. I think they intentionally dork him up for the show. I would love to see him do more scenes with Derek (Tyler Hoechlin) another fine actor. They're great together and I hear are good friends in real life. I look forward to seeing a lot more of Dylan O'Brien. I think this is the start of an incredible career for this kid.
June 24th, 2011 2:23 PM
This is awesome! Love Dylan! He nails every single line! He makes this show! I would love to see them throw a rift between Scott and Stiles friendship though. It would be interesting to see something like that happen as long as Tyler Posey (Scott) can act that out right
June 24th, 2011 12:12 PM
love the interview. 'Stiles' has been trending for the past 2 Mondays...so I'd say this kid is doing a great job at reinventing this iconic figure for a new generation and maybe even the old generation too! not an easy task. Just a couple of corrections though..Dylan O'Brien is 19 yrs old. and the original Stiles' full name was Rupert Stalinsky.