Daniel Diemer plays leading man Paul Munsky in the endearing teen romance, The Half Of It, which currently scores an overwhelmingly positive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Alice Wu-directed film tells the story of Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), a shy, straight-A, friendless Chinese-American high school senior who makes extra cash by writing papers for her fellow classmates. When she reluctantly agrees to help football jock Paul Munsky (Diemer) pen love letters for his crush, Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire), the girl Ellie secretly crushes on, the unlikely trio embark on an unconventional love triangle.
Daniel, a handsome but soulful 23-year-old 6-foot-four Canadian actor, opened up to Just Jared about his favorite scenes from THOI, his favorite Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande songs to jam out to, and how he’s been spending his time during quarantine. Check it:
JJ: How did you get into acting? Have you taken any acting classes or coaching?
DD: I got into acting through a friend of mine in high school. She asked me and another friend if I wanted to skip English class to model for her art class. The art teacher introduced me to her son, a director, did a project for him and fell in love with it. I did one year of acting school and another year of part time acting classes after that.
JJ: How did you hear about THOI? Anything memorable happen at the audition, chemistry read, first table read?
DD: I got sent the audition from my managers in LA, and taped for the project from Vancouver a few times before coming down for the chemistry read. The most memorable part of that read was how quickly Leah and I became friends and connected. She’s amazing.
Click inside for more of Daniel Diemer’s interview…
JJ: Tell us about your character. How is Munsky similar and different to you?
DD: Munsky and I both really value working hard to be the best version of ourselves. Unlike Munsky, I’ve never scored a touchdown and I love to write. Still probably would have loved Ellie’s help with the letters though.
JJ: Ellie gets bullied quite a lot. Have you ever been on the receiving end of it before or witnessed it in person firsthand?
DD: In high school I definitely got bullied and I’ve seen a lot of it as well. Not going into details, it took a long time for me to learn how to stand up for myself as much as I did for friends of mine.
JJ: What was the most difficult scene to film?
DD: The scene with Paul and Ellie after the game near the vending machine. Just because of how sensitive and emotionally charged the whole scene was. Really grateful for Alice’s guidance throughout that one.
JJ: What was your favorite scene to watch in the film?
DD: I love the train scene! Seeing Paul and Ellie’s friendship grow from barely knowing each other to this really deep platonic love and culminating in such a cute way was amazing.
JJ: Do you believe that everyone has just one perfect soulmate out there? Are your own romantic and friendships just as nuanced as the movie?
DD: I think we have the chance at so many different soul-mates in so many different ways, both romantic and platonic. I would definitely say all my relationships have that type of nuance. I’m not great at surface level relationships so usually all my close friends and loved ones are really deep relationships.
JJ: You do a lot of chasing after bicycles and trains in this film. How out of breath were you?
DD: Haha, so much running. I trained for a month leading up to the film so survived it okay, but certain days I was definitely struggling when we hit hour 6 or 7 of straight running scenes.
JJ: Your on-screen family is in the sausage business. Who in real life makes the best sausages and what kind are they?
DD: Definitely connected to Paul with a love for cooking so I’d hope I could make you a delicious taco sausage at some point! Not sure I could claim anything close to “best” but they’re more than edible :)
JJ: What’s something people don’t know about Leah Lewis?
DD: I’m sure her fans are aware but even though it wasn’t her voice in the movie, she’s an incredible singer and I would follow her on IG just for the hope of listening to her sing in a post or story.
JJ: How is your quarantine going? How are you spending your free time?
DD: Just really thankful for everyone who’s currently working to allow us to stay at home while we flatten the curve of the virus. So far, I finished writing a book of poetry I’ve been writing for a couple years and been keeping healthy working out, cooking and watching Netflix.
JJ: What are your favorite Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande songs to jam out to?
DD: The whole Fearless album is great and just really nostalgic for me, and Ari’s “Break Free” since I’m also a big Zedd fan! (Daniel admitted his guilty pleasure is dancing in his kitchen to Tay and Ari.)
JJ: Who’s your celebrity crush?
DD: When I was in high school I crushed hard on Selena Gomez and Emma Watson as Hermione.
JJ: If you could only have one last meal, what would you be eating and who’s making it?
DD: I’d probably be eating my dad’s special Thai recipe with egg noodles, fresh veggies, beef and his secret sauce with Dutch pannekoek (pancakes) for desert. Drooling already just thinking about it.
The Half of It is currently streaming on Netflix. Check out the video below of Daniel with costars Leah Lewis, Alexxis Lemire and Wolfgang Novogratz taking the best friends challenge!
