The last time you saw Nat Wolff was probably on your phone; streaming one of his movies on Netflix or scrolling through his and brother Alex Wolff’s Instagram account.
But the Hollywood heartthrob has just starred in Mainstream, a movie all about the madness of social media, and he revealed to us how important the film’s message really is.
WATCH: Mainstream – Official Trailer
Speaking to Girlfriend, the 26-year-old admits even he has a hard time putting down his phone even though he doesn’t even have personal Instagram account.
“I have to fight my phone every day. It’s like a drug!” he says over Zoom. (And yes, for those wondering, he’s just as cute all pixelated on a laptop screen as he is in the movies.)
“I used to have Instagram on my phone a bunch of years ago and I would wake up in the morning and then check it. It’s so toxic and I think they make it so it’s extra addictive.”
We have to agree; it’s almost impossible to put our phones down these days.
In fact, Nat even uses timers to limit the amount of time he spends on his phone, joking that he feels like “a waste of a human being” after five hours of mindless scrolling. We’ve all been there.
That’s why he was so keen to work on Mainstream with director Gia Coppola and co-stars Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke.
“There’s an important message in the movie about communication and not losing yourself to technology, which is just so easy for us to do,” he explains.
“I think that it’s an important thing nowadays, because we all are so addicted to our phones and social media. And there are great things that come from that, but there’s also this sickness and I think this movie shines a light on that.”
The movie follows Frankie (Maya Hawke) and Jake (Nat) as they turn Link (Andrew Garfield) into a social media sensation… then everything falls apart.
We won’t spoil the movie, but things get seriously crazy in director Gia Coppola’s unique style.
Nat previously worked with Gia, who is “like an older sister” to him, on the 2013 film Palo Alto where he played a “real a—hole”.
After the flick, Gia promised she’d cast him as a nice guy one day and finally pulled through when she gave him the role of Jake in Mainstream.
He’s Frankie’s best friend and secretly in love with her, an experience pretty much everyone can relate to; even a movie star like Nat.
“I think one of the things that made Jake so lovable was that it’s such a relatable relationship,” Nat says of his character, who is a total sweetheart in the film.
“You have the best friend that you’re kind of pining for and that you both have this deep connection, but it’s just not the right time… I do feel like there was a deep love between them and Jake was just a little further along in the process of realizing ‘we should be together’. But she’s not there yet.”
He adds that he thinks Jake is a total “catch”, before joking with us that he’s (Nat) a real catch too. Nat, we’re blushing!
It helped that he and Maya have been friends for years, a relationship that translated perfectly to their roles in Mainstream.
In fact, Nat is super close with Andrew too and said the whole cast and crew were like a big family during filming.
“It was a family environment. You know, the whole set was like a really close-knit family… we could fight like brothers and sisters and then be best friends,” he laughs.
Recalling one of his favourite moments with his co-stars, Nat grins and tells us: “Andrew had a convertible car and we were driving down Hollywood Boulevard on the way to a rehearsal.
“It was just me, Andrew and Maya in the car and we were listening to Ice Cube and just screaming at the top of our lungs. And I was like, this doesn’t happen in every movie, where you get to just be with people like that… they’re both really magical and talented.”
And yeah, we totally want to be a part of this celeb friend group ASAP.
MAINSTREAM is available for digital download from November 17. Check it out on Amazon Prime Video.
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