About halfway through Wolfsthe new George Clooney and Brad Pitt movie now streaming on Apple TV+, a previously-thought-dead young man suddenly comes alive. He hops out of the trunk where he’s been unceremoniously stuffed by Clooney and Pitt, and races down the streets of New York City in his underwear. Suddenly, this two-hander comedy has added a third. Naturally, audiences will be wondering: Who the heck plays the kid in Wolfs?
Written and directed by Jon Watts (who has also directed all three Tom Holland Spider-Man movies), Wolfs stars Clooney and Pitt as two professional “fixers,” who are forced to work together even though they prefer to work alone. Why? Because this drugged-up kid accidentally died while hooking up with a lawyer (Amy Ryan) in a fancy hotel, and both the hotel and the lawyer want the incident to go away quietly.
But as it turns out, the kid didn’t die. He simply passed out from a fall, and, apparently, had next-to-no pulse thanks to whatever drug he was on. Halfway through the film, the kid wakes up, and breathes new life into this Clooney-and-Pitt party. The actor who plays the kid? None other than Euphoria star Austin Abrams.
Who is Austin Abrams from the Wolfs cast?
Austin Abrams is a 28-year-old American actor, best known for his recurring roles in two popular TV series: The Walking Dead and Euphoria. On The Walking DeadAbrams played Ron Anderson, a character who first appears in the fifth season who dates Katelyn Nacon’s character, Enid. On EuphoriaAbrams plays Ethan Daley, aka Kat (Barbie Ferreira)’s boyfriend who gets a larger role in Season 2, when he nabs the lead part in Lexi (Maude Apatow)’s play. Network TV fans may also recognize Abrams as Young Marc McKeon on the NBC drama, This Is Us.
Outside of TV, Abrams also had a supporting role in the movie adaptation of the John Green novel, Paper Townswhere he played the protagonist’s BFF, Ben. He also played the best friend in another teen romance, All Summers Endstarring Kaitlyn Dever. He landed a starring role opposite Ben Stiller in the 2017 indie drama Brad’s Statusand played the bad boyfriend in the popular 2022 Netflix movie, Do Revenge.
But Wolfs is a whole new level of success for Abrams, considering he’s co-starring alongside two of the biggest, most established, A-list stars in Hollywood. That’s why it’s so impressive that Abrams totally holds his own in his scenes with Clooney and Pitt.
Abrams’ first sentient scene in the film finds him hopped up on medically-administered adrenaline, running for his life through New York City in the dead of winter. Did I mention he’s wearing nothing but a pair of Tighty Whities? Abrams must have been freezing! Clooney and Pitt chase the kid down, and at one point, Clooney nearly hits him with his car. Abrams jumps out of the way—but not quite high enough to avoid all impact, which director Jon Watts highlights via a slow-mo close-up of Abram’s jiggling junk.
While Abrams’ physical comedy during this chase is impressive, his true talent shines through in a slightly later scene, after Clooney and Pitt have caught the kid and interrogate him in a hotel. They demand to know where the kid got the three bricks of drugs found in his bag. After some light threatening, the kid confesses. And he does it via a two-minute, uninterrupted monologue in which Watts never moves the camera from Abrams’ face.
In this monologue, Abrams is antsy, animated, undignified, and so very lovable. He fully embodies “dumb college kid,” down to the way he flails his hands around as he describes the way a friend from his business class got a call that his mom died. The kid (as he is listed in the movie’s credits, with no name to speak of) offered to help his friend in any way he could… and the friend tasked the kid with delivering a drug drop. Then the kid, feeling like hot stuff with his drugs, got a little carried away in a hotel bar. It could happen to anyone!
Or at least, that’s how you feel listening to Abrams’ ridiculous story, which is, frankly, unbelievable. But Abrams—with his spot-on comedic timing and pitch-perfect whiny voice—somehow makes it sound authentic. How could you not trust a kid whose voice cracks adorably when he laments how cool Clooney and Pitt are? Watts was betting a lot on Abrams performance for this moment, and Abrams absolutely delivered.
Abrams doesn’t exactly steal the movie away from Clooney and Pitt, but he does breathe new life into a concept that was starting to grow stale. With the kid by their side, Clooney and Pitt have a new target to riff on—and Abrams plays his role as a lovable punching bag very well. Our two movie star leads shine all the brighter as a result. It’s called being a generous actor! And now that Abrams has proven himself worthy of being a Clooney-and-Pitt co-lead, we can’t wait to see what he does next.
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