Teen Wolf News 072517
- With all the focus on the nostalgia of the past 5 and a half seasons of 'Teen Wolf' in the media this week, Teen Wolf News decided to turn a spotlight on some of the new characters we can look forward to when 'Teen Wolf' returns to MTV on Sunday, July 30 at 8 PM. This is the first in a series of interviews with a few of the more villainous characters we'll see in the final ten episodes of the show. In coming days TWN will also introduce you to Sibongile Mlambo and Froy Gutierrez.
Meet 'Teen Wolf’s' Andrew Matarazzo
Actor Andrew Matarazzo kind of hopes his new character on Teen Wolf will make you angry. “I hope that people just have fun with it and believe me as that character in that world enough to stand up and yell at the screen.”
The Brazilian-born actor plays a young werewolf hunter named Gabe in the final ten episodes of the MTV series.
It was a character largely written with him in mind and one he embraced wholeheartedly much to the horror of his mother. “The photos I sent her from set made her say “Aiiii no way am I watching that!’”
Road To Beacon Hills
Born in São Paulo and raised in Miami, Matarazzo discovered early that he had a passion and talent for acting.
- “I did my first play at 13 years old in middle school through my drama class, and, from that point on, I auditioned for every show my school put on. It was in 9th grade after watching River Phoenix in 'Stand By Me' that I decided to pursue it more rigorously and branched off into film.”
He first studied in London, then Philadelphia and finally LA. A series of festival circuit short films followed as did a very small role in a very big movie called Entourage. Things began clicking for Matarazzo’s career in 2014 with a series of guest spots on some popular television shows like HBO’s Girls, ABC’s Speechless, and MTV’s Faking It.
Welcome To 'Teen Wolf'
His first trip to Teen Wolf ended in disappointment. “I had initially auditioned for a different role. I hadn't heard anything back for a couple of weeks.” He figured - as is so often the case with auditions in LA - he just didn’t get the part. Unbeknownst to him, his audition had caught the attention of executive producer Jeff Davis. “Randomly,” Matarazzo explains, “I got a text from Jeff saying they wanted me for a few episodes and I flipped out.”
Once he got the job, the actor quickly found himself right in the middle of the action.
- “I was thrown into it pretty quick. My first scene was with (Dylan) Sprayberry, and we had an intense scene, so I didn’t have time to be shy. Honestly, the entire cast and crew were so relaxed; I had no issues with coming in as someone new.”
He’s So Good At Being Bad
Those “few episodes” soon turned into a much bigger role that spanned the rest of the season, “I think it was after my third episode, Jeff told me he wanted to extend Gabe’s story. I felt like I was dreaming.”
Davis says Matarazzo’s performance solidified the character’s extended arc.
- “The plan was always to have at least two students fall under (primary villain) Tamora Monroe’s sway. Our hope was that the dailies would come back and we’d be impressed enough with Andrew’s work to expand his character. He did a fantastic job, more than fulfilling our expectations. When things click on set, when an actor brings a quality to a role that surprises you or sometimes when they just look really good aiming a crossbow, that’s when we’re more than happy to keep bringing them back.”
Gabe is Matarazzo’s first villainous role on screen. So far we've seen him more as a heartthrob or in deadpan comedic parts, but he tells me that getting into Gabe’s somewhat twisted head was fun.
- “Well, I started by not thinking of him as a villain because I didn’t want to judge. A lot of his motivation was his fear, his need to be accepted as part of something bigger than him, and proving himself.”
The tight production schedule and intensity of the work also meant Matarazzo was always discovering new things about his character.
- “The interesting thing with Gabe was that the role was written as we went so I didn’t know where his story was going. Usually, I map out everything in my head, but with Gabe, I was learning more about him as filming went on. I did a lot of my own backstory to fill in the blanks and made sure I always knew why he was doing what he was doing in the script.”
Com Amor do Brasil
Teen Wolf News was the first to report Matarazzo’s addition to the Teen Wolf cast and no group of fans was more thrilled by the news than those in his native Brazil. According to Lana, from the Twitter collective @teenwolfbr, “We are very excited about having Andrew on the Teen Wolf cast!”
Lana says seeing Andrew and fellow Brazilian Henry Zaga from Season 5 in such large roles makes Teen Wolf feel even more like family.
- “We are always happy to see so many talented people working and loving what they do on 'Teen Wolf', but getting to see someone from our country on screen being a part of the story makes us really proud. It also feels like we're in some way being acknowledged by the show itself, which is honestly incredible.”
- “'Teen Wolf' has such a huge fan base here in Brazil, so we sincerely hope all the cast and crew were able to feel some of the love and admiration we have for them and everything they do to make this show come to life.”
Matarazzo says he feels that love from Brazilian fans every day,
- “I think Brazilians are just culturally extremely friendly and passionate. It’s not that they love 'Teen Wolf' any more than anyone else, it’s just they express it with everything they have, and I love that. It’s great having a built-in fan base just from being of the same blood. I love them.”
An Evil Only A Mother Could Love
Again, Matarazzo’s mom Jade was none too thrilled about the images of her son that were coming out of Teen Wolf HQ. The bloody and violent pics of Gabe had her on edge so, being the good mom, she went to check out this seemingly hostile working environment for herself.
- “Jeff gave her a full tour of the stages and showed her the early edit of the trailer I was in. I think once she came to set she got excited.”
Matarazzo admits he’d never seen an entire episode of Teen Wolf before his audition but says he was still very familiar with the show.
- “It was constantly on in my house growing up. I have four younger siblings, two of which are fans of the show, so it had a nostalgic place in my heart already.”
Now, as he waits for the Teen Wolf premiere on July 30, Matarazzo says he just hopes his performance as Gabe makes his family and the fans happy. “I hope it comes out as good as it felt. Regardless, I am so proud to be part of it all.”