Celebrity
His liberal-leaning tweets regularly go viral.
Taylor Swift hand-selected him for her All Too Well short film.
And hes starring in some of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2022.
What is it about this guy?
But OBrien notes he also rides for the series OGs like Fantasia Barrino and Jennifer Hudson.
I’m obsessed with people, OBrien says of his enthusiasm for reality TV.
How are you not obsessed with people?
When an intern sneezes, he compliments her on how cute it sounds.
After introducing himself to the production coordinator, he marvels that she shares a name with his sister Julia.
Disarmament is the formerTeen Wolfstars superpower.
But at what cost?
Once were seated, a fan approaches him to record a message for a friend back in Colombia.
Naturally, OBrien obliges.
Its very important to me that the entire team on every job just feels [good].
His friends and collaborators agree.
When the pair got home, they would bliss out by watching more reality TV.
He just loves sh*tty TV so much, Deutch says.
Though for the record, the ever-earnest OBrien thinks the idea that reality TV isnt intelligent is insane.
He found a salve in YouTube, sharing14 videos between 2007 and 2009.
It was very scary.
Teen Wolfran for six seasons from 2011 to 2017.
When I ask him about this adoration, his demeanor shifts.
Its so funny, my palms are sweating.
Its overwhelming [and] its wonderful, OBrien says, tearing up.
Its just gnarly to think about little me having this really special thing happen.
For a long time, OBrien rode the wave of this success without pause.
Production shut down, with the plan that filming would resume two months later.
I was really struggling, he says of the months of physical and spiritual healing that followed.
I never stopped working until that accident.
I was just like, I cant ever imagine being on another set.
Now, OBrien is ready to reintroduce himself to his fans, too.
During the pandemic, he made headlines for his performances in a spate of unexpected projects.
I think [Hollywood] has looked at him quantitatively rather than qualitatively, she says.
Hes kind of misunderstood and underestimated, but hes so talented.
Id seen his work and heard nothing but wonderful things about him as a person.
For someone whos that meticulous, shes so trusting.
Everything was planned to be to music.
But then when we played out that scene [with dialogue].
[Taylor] immediately marched over and was just like, This is it.
Im going to play this in the video.
Ive always felt I was a character actor at heart, he says, suddenly not so self-effacing.
So its fun to [do it] for the first time in my career.
Photographer: Jingyu Lin
Stylist:Sarah Schussheim
