SpectreVision, the film production company founded by Elijah Wood, specializes in making challenging, provocative horror movies from up-and-coming auteur directors. Movies like Mandy, The Boy, and Cooties offer far more than typical jump scares, slashers, and gore (but there’s still plenty of that to be found in their growing catalogue!), and the studio’s latest film, Daniel Isn’t Real, aims to build on that legacy with its own unique mix of psychological terror and noir thrills, with just a touch of gloriously off-putting body horror.

Directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer (Some Kind of Hate) and based on the novel, In This Way I was Saved, by Brian DeLeeuw, Daniel Isn’t Real follows a young man, Luke (Miles Robbins), whose imaginary friend, Daniel (Patrick Schwarzenegger), has been locked away for the better part of a decade. When the stresses of college and other factors catch up to him, Daniel returns, and a haunting tale of mental deterioration ensues. Daniel represents the toxic masculinity that pervades American culture to this day; Daniel’s influence may yield some immediate, short-term gains, but it all inevitably spirals out of control before culminating in an epic showdown over the fate of Luke’s fractured psyche.

Daniel Isn’t Real has proven popular at festivals like South by Southwest, and now the time has finally come for the film to attain greater exposure to a general audience. While promoting the release of Daniel Isn’t Real, Patrick Schwarzenegger spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the film, and how starring in a low-budget, high-concept genre film is arguably more important than playing a part in a more mainstream film with less ambition. He discusses playing the slimy and charismatic Daniel and dissects the themes of the film, as well as his growing popularity within the Hollywood community.

Daniel Isn’t Real is out now in theaters and On Digital.

Let’s talk about this movie, Daniel Isn’t Real; boy-oh-boy, isn’t he! This is an interesting time to be doing this interview, because it’s about to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public, but all the insiders are already in love with it from the rave reviews it got at SXSW. What is your mindset going into this final phase of promoting the movie?

When anyone describes their movie as fu**** up, I’m in!

It’s kind of the same as it was. I mean, I’m doing the same thing, promoting it and trying to get this story out there, getting people to acknowledge that it’s coming out and to watch it. The reviews have been coming in over the past several months; we’ve been showing this movie to people for the past six months or more! We premiered it at South by Southwest, and it got great reviews, so more festivals wanted to host it and we went around to a bunch of different ones. Then, finally, it sold, so it’s been a process, but it’s been a fun journey. We’re just trying to get the word out there that it’s coming out, that it’s a great film, and it’s exploring some great social and political topics that need to be explored and talked about. It’s a fun and funky, mind-bending, twisted, fu**** up movie that, hopefully, you’ll enjoy!

I always wonder, when doing a horror movie, what it’s like on set, when you’ve got these special effects on these moody, spooky sets. In between takes, when you’re sitting around next to blood and other gross stuff I won’t spoil here, is it hard to leave your character, or is it like, as soon as they say “Cut,” you just transition to the craft services table?

Exactly! This one is. (Laughs)

I love that this movie isn’t just bombarding you with jump scares, not that those aren’t there as well. But was there a feeling on set that you were making something special, something different, something that didn’t fit into any traditional molds?

Ha, right? Well, there was the one day that we had our… Where we get warped into one character, and we had, like, eight hours of prosthetics. So we didn’t breakfast or lunch that day! We had to stay in that outfit pretty much all day. The other times… There isn’t a crazy amount of dead bodies laying around, this movie is a little different. But on set, we had a great time!

It’s profound, and something I hope movies tackle until they don’t need to tackle it anymore. If I may ask, did you audition for this role, or was it presented to you?

I think, when I originally read the script, I could tell it wasn’t just another horror film. They really wanted to explore some other subjects and topics, and had some underlying themes within the story for people to question and bring up. It’s been great that people have done that. That’s definitely one of the reasons why I wanted to do this project. And I think it’s one of the reasons it’s been doing great! It’s using horror and genre in a way to exploit the idea of toxic masculinity and mental health issues that are going on today. A lot of people aren’t seeing it, but to the person who has it, it’s very real, and it’s there.

You’ve been in this acting racket for a while now, but I feel like this is a really big moment for your career. Maybe this is too egotistical, but do you feel this is the movie that is launching you to the next phase of your career?

I auditioned for it! I auditioned for it, like, two or three times. I sent an initial tape, and then I got notes to change things, and so I did a second tape, and then I got more notes, and then I got the director’s read for it. Then I worked with Adam, and then I finally got it!

It’s one of those things where you’re like, “I’m an overnight success, and it only took me ten years!”

You know, I don’t know. It’s funny, someone else was asking me if this was going to finally launch me into the “mainstream success” of a movie star and blah blah, but I don’t know. I guess it depends what you mean by success. For me, I think my last movie, Midnight Sun, was something that put me out there more than this and may get seen by way more people, but I think this one is more important and brought me more joy because it’s more of a character piece, something that a smaller group of people will see, but they will acknowledge more of the character aspect and the subjects we’re bringing up and the acting portion of it. For me, I think each role is meant to be taken to push your career further and push your acting abilities further and everything like that. I don’t know what role will push me to the next level. I don’t even know what the next level is. I guess it’s all perspective-driven.

So, for people who might not know, can you tell us a bit about the movie, and why the Screen Rant reader should check it out?

Yeah, exactly! (Laughs) This movie is very small, independent, and has no marketing push. It started with one festival and went to the next and the next because people wanted it.

Playing such a deep and dangerous role, is there anything you draw on from your life that you go, “Oh, I didn’t know I had that, somewhere deep in my being,” or is that too personal to ask?

My pitch on it is, this movie explores a kid who has schizophrenia and has to deal with his mental health. He develops this traumatizing relationship with his imaginary friend, his alter ego. The movie goes on the journey of what happens with this relationship, with this menacing character and what he’ll do to get his voice heard.

You just sold the movie right there. These kinds of really far out psychedelic horror movies, Elijah Wood is killing it right now as a producer. Was he ever on the set, did you get to interact with him at all?

No, no, not at all. I think everything with acting is personal. I think that’s what lets you draw from life events and personal events to get to a certain point on screen. I think that’s part of it. Another part is for you to go and try to meet and talk and become someone else so you can understand what their personal things are that they’ve had in their life so you can use those to draw on it when you try to become them. Daniel is a character that is really so menacing towards Luke. He’s doing everything to initially draw him in, lure him in. He’s this ultimate friend who embodies the idea of toxic masculinity, if you think about it. He lures him in by showing everything that we look at in society as being a masculine success. He gets him to cheat on the test so he can get good grades. He has him drink alcohol and successfully get with women. He has him get into a fight and show his manliness. All these things are terrible forms of toxic masculinity, but we use them in the movie to lure the character in, to trust him. And then, ultimately, it starts to show and show, but that’s some of that twisted stuff that the character does.

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No, he wasn’t on set, but I got to interact with him before, and then afterwards. And he went to South by Southwest. But I worked with a lot of the other people behind SpectreVision, and they were awesome to work with. What he’s doing with the horror genre, and, really, film as a whole, creating these original stories and bringing these ideas to life and giving these up-and-coming filmmakers a chance, I think it’s really awesome.

Daniel Isn’t Real is out now in theaters and On Digital.