The 31-year-old actor, who broke out at the end of the 2010s in 13 Reasons Why, recently wrapped an Off-Broadway run playing the legendary actor in Kowalski—Gregg Ostrin’s entertaining, only somewhat-factual play about Brando’s first meeting with the playwright Tennessee Williams—and it’s clear he’s still coming off the high of his well-received take on the acting titan.

When he hops on a Zoom call with me from his apartment, the boyish Flynn is in a tight white tee straight out of A Streetcar Named Desire. The lingering ghost of Brando perhaps? “It’s always interesting to end something,” he tells me. “I feel full and empty at the same time. And I guess the plight of being an actor is constantly asking what’s next?”

For now, what’s next for Flynn is a quick vacation to Zipolite, Mexico’s famous nude beach, with his husband, the author and playwright Jordan Tannahill. “The gay destination,” Flynn says with a smile. (When I tell him a friend who’s currently at Zipolite has posted nothing but skin on his Instagram Stories, he quips: “Can’t wait!”)

But before Flynn gets to hit the sand in his birthday suit, he’s got the horror-comedy The Parenting (now streaming on Max) to promote. Directed by Craig Johnson, The Parenting is about a young gay couple (Flynn and Atypical star Nik Dodani) who host a weekend getaway with their parents, in a stunning country rental that turns out to be the residence of a 400-year-old evil entity.

The film has an incredibly stacked cast. The pair’s parents are played by legends Brian Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Edie Falco and Dean Norris; their creepy rental’s kooky groundskeeper is the iconic Parker Posey, currently enjoying a much-deserved renaissance in the latest season of The White Lotus.

Watching The Parenting is kind of a baffling experience. Chief of all: how did they convince such a pedigreed cast to do a movie so incredibly silly? But to overthink would be to miss out on the fun at hand. Sometimes, it plays out like a Goosebumps episode punching above its weight (complimentary!), brandishing its starry prestige cast on a movie so extravagantly ludicrous.

GQ talked to the actor about getting projectile-vomited on by Brian Cox, bunking with Parker Posey, and adapting Gary Indiana’s Rent Boy for the screen.

GQ: The Parenting’s a lot of fun. Immediately though, when you realize how many legends are in it, you’re just like, “Wait, what?” What did you learn working with people like that? Correct me if I’m wrong, but generally, you’ve always worked with people your age.

Brandon Flynn: That’s right. I mean, my career was largely 13 Reasons Why and working with young adults.

I truly had no idea of the scope. I was told it was a studio movie, and I was like, “Oh, cool. That’d be great to be the lead of a studio movie.” I wasn’t even thinking of potential casting for anyone else. Then Craig called me and said, “You’re going to do the movie.” At that point, Nik Dodani and I had done chemistry reads together, and he’s like, “Nik’s going to be your partner.” I was like, “Oh, my God, amazing. Who’s my mom?” He’s like, “Lisa Kudrow.” I was like, “What?” Of course, when he told me Edie Falco was in it, I literally cried because I have been such a hardcore fan of hers. Then yeah, of course, Brian Cox and Dean Norris and Parker Posey. I was just like, “Whoa, this is so cool.”

It was like watching a master class. They each had their things that I walked away thinking, “I need to do that. I need to use that.” I mean, I still think about how Dean’s character has these amazing lines. You read it on the page and you’re like, “Okay, he just has one-liners.” Watching him fill up the space with those one-liners was so impressive. Literally, he’d say one word, and the whole cast would just break up into stitches just because his timing and his intentions are just really well thought [out].

I was nervous as all hell. I don’t consider myself a comedic actor by any means. I think I’m goofy in real life and silly and I like laughing, but the form of comedy, I don’t understand, nor do I feel versed in it so it was a really nerve-racking experience.

That’s where Lisa Kudrow was so awesome. She would literally just tell me right after [a scene]. She’d be like, “That was really funny, what you just did,” giving me license to improv and really just see what oddball takes that I can give the scene.

I don’t know if you remember but there’s a song that my character sings. It’s like some song about a dog or something that he wrote. That was improvised.

Oh, it’s your “Smelly Cat.”

It is my “Smelly Cat,” which I had thought the night before. I was just like, “Oh, it’d be fun to fuck with Lisa in that moment.” I did actually sing “Smelly Cat” knowing that it was just going to be a joke.

It’s crazy that you were getting a Comedy 101 course from Lisa Kudrow, who’s a genius.

I mean, she is really a genius. I actually hadn’t seen The Comeback, and then Nik Dodani was just like, “Oh, no, you have to watch it.” So the first two weeks of us filming, I binged the two seasons of The Comeback. I mean, I’d come to Lisa crying. I was like, “Oh, my God. How did you do this? How did you craft that character?” She’s so brilliant and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

There’s a scene in the movie where you lead all the parents in a singalong of The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” Do you remember shooting that?

There’s a lot that happens in that scene, actually—there’s an armoire that falls—so, that set was all rigged so that someone was holding it with a string and then basically, would let it go. The table had something on it that would allow it to shake.

I know we got to a certain amount of takes that Brian was completely over it and I think basically slammed the table so hard that the set… It was just like, yeah, that was going to be the last take, because no one can reset that fast anymore.

Iconically Brian Cox.

I mean, he takes control. So, those were some of the standout moments, but it was really fun. It’s one of those really nice, engineered moments in a script where I think you read it and you’re like, “What is this early-2000s movie moment?” And then once it’s happening, you’re like, “Oh, people will love this.”

Yeah, we miss things like this.

It’s perfectly cheesy and cringe and then immediately turns on its head.

This movie is kind of coming out at the best time because everyone’s obsessed with Parker Posey now because of The White Lotus.

Everyone should be obsessed with Parker Posey. She’s obsession-worthy. I mean, Parker just knows how to take something that when I read the script [initially], I was like, “Oh, that’s a silly little part.” But I mean, [in the end] she isthe movie. Somehow I’m like, “Jesus, you really know how to do the thing.” She’s a star. Wow. I feel very lucky, she’s become a very close friend and we lived together for a while.

For the movie?

No, separately. Yeah. We lived upstate together [one summer], and I helped her around the house. I was traveling back and forth to help my partner take care of his mom in Canada. So, upstate was the perfect middle point, and I was writing this adaptation of the novel Rent Boy by Gary Indiana. I wrote it at Parker Posey’s house. She had a little cottage, and she was like, “You should come and write it.” We cooked meals together. She brought around all our friends, and it was such a lovely summer.

Wow. How did the friendship begin?

I mean, we became pretty bonded on the film. We were all staying in this little [inn] in Massachusetts—and it was this little haunted hotel, sort of. And we were all sort of summer camp-ing it. We were all living together, and Parker and I have a big love of cooking. And so, we both kind of jumped into that sort of role of cooking for the cast. And I cooked a whole Seder dinner for the cast at one point.

We just really bonded and we were running errands together—and Lisa was there too—and we’d take walks. And we’d watch Alone, that reality show about people trying to survive on an island alone. And we just kind of got very close. And [Parker] kept offering up her house to me. And one day I just said, “Hey, I want to come.”

And she loves my dogs as well. In fact, she checks in on my dogs more than she checks in on me. But we just went over, and I kind of just kept staying. And she’s like a friend and a sister, and we feel very kindred, and I’m so grateful. She’s so smart and has had her fill of navigating the industry, and it’s great to sort of have a mentor in that capacity and also just someone fun like her. I think she’s great.

You watching Alone with Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow—gay boy dreams!

I mean, yeah. That first night I was like, “What is my life?” And then it just became the most normal thing on the face of the planet. It was just pretty much every day, we were just like, “Are we watching the next episode tonight?” I’m so into that show. It’s so wild. Maybe one day I’ll go on it.

Very Mike White of you.

I mean, I probably would not last very long, but who knows?

Wait, so tell me about cooking for the cast. I mean, that’s pretty brave of you—cooking for Lisa Kudrow, Edie Falco, Brian Cox…

Yeah, I’ve always been into cooking, and so it’s definitely part of my love language. Yeah, there were different floors and different apartments, and everything was old in the kitchen. I know we had to use two different ovens because one oven worked better than the other, and one oven didn’t even say the temperature. So, we were just guessing with the brisket. But yeah, it was another really enjoyable day with Parker, and running around to the butcher and finding all these really cute spots.

Parker and Lisa actually really showed me what it could look like when you go shoot on location. They’ve really cracked that code. I can be a little bit, “I’m going to stick to my hotel room and binge reality TV on my iPad.” but they were like, “No, leave no stone unturned. Really explore. When are you ever going to be in Concord, Massachusetts again?”

There’s a scene in the movie where Brian Cox projectile-vomits on you. What do you remember about shooting that scene? I feel like the moment this movie hits streaming, that’s going to be a meme.

I mean, me covered in bodily fluids…

You know what memes you’re getting.

Great. [Laughs]

I remember my parents were actually visiting for this one—which I was really happy that they were, because it’s one of those movie magic moments. You watch these things, and you never really think how that gets made. And even as an actor, I’m just like, “Wait, so how are we going to do this?”

But essentially, there was this mechanism that was built [where the vomit] was basically shot out, almost like a hose, and it had different gauges of how fast or how heavy the sort of vomit load was. I just stood there. It was really short. It was maybe a 30-minute session. I was just acting with a hose.

And then we had all these different interpretations that we did really quick pickups of, just what I would say after I was covered or how I was reacting. But it was so fun. I remember it being the last scene of the day as well. So, it’s one of those things where everyone’s just into it. Everyone’s like, “This is fun. This is why we make movies. This is such a silly scene.”

Before we go, I need to ask about the adaptation of Gary Indiana’s classic gay novel Rent Boy that you’re working on. I know you got to know each other through a friend of your husband’s a few years before he passed away.

We just became pals. I would go over to his apartment. He really didn’t want to be involved with Rent Boy, the adaptation. We agreed. We signed a contract. It was great. We talked about a couple of things, but he was like, “I don’t have any interest to write this.” That was always my responsibility. He was just like, “I’ll talk to you about the places that are mentioned,” because they’re all so specific to the ’90s in New York that half of them don’t exist anymore.

I think the last time I saw him, I went over and he was watching this old version of the Three Sisters and I walked in. He sat at his computer watching the Three Sisters bawling, and he gestures to me to sit down. I sat there for 15 minutes while he just bawled to the end of the Three Sisters.

I think it was a week or so prior [him passing]. I had seen him and he had emailed me a couple nights before [he passed] because it was my wedding. He was meant to come, and he emailed me pictures of his outfit that he was going to wear on his bed and told me he was too sick. Then yeah, I called him. A couple of days had passed by and then I finally called him and no answer. Then two days later, I found out he passed away.

I’m so sorry for your loss, Brandon.

It’s okay. Thank you. I really appreciate [that] I think he doesn’t have to be in any pain, and also, he would fucking hate what’s happening right now with the way of the world. So, I think in some ways, it was like Gary’s perfect timing really.

Kind of surreal though, your story of reading a book and falling in love with it and meeting the author and becoming friends. That’s crazy. As an artist and as a gay person, that’s…

It was one of the coolest things that has happened. I would definitely call it a gift, and hopefully, Rent Boy can get made and it can just be another gift for Gary as well. The script is almost done. It’s getting there.

And you want to direct it too?

Yeah.

And then speaking of your wedding, I wanted to ask you about the Ludovic de Saint Sernin ensembles you and your husband wore. Tell me about how those came together. They’re from Ludovic’s Robert Mapplethorpe collection, right?

Yes, they are. We did our wedding at St. Mark’s Church on the Bowery—Patti Smith had her first performance there. Mapplethorpe would have hung out there. This was a sort of respite for artists in the East Village, where we lived. And we immediately were like, “Oh, we should [do it].” I mean, I’ve known Ludovic now for years through fashion and through Paris, and I was just like, “We should just see if they’d want to do our looks, and we should obviously pull from Mapplethorpe.” Ludovic was up for it and really loved it and was at the wedding, and it just made sense. And then we wanted to sort of deconstruct, what does a groom look like at a gay wedding?

Because sometimes you’ll see really cheesy looks at gay weddings…

Well, we did witness via social media some wedding [looks] that we were just… “I would hate that if that was us in matching suits.” It just wasn’t our vibe. So, we were just like, let’s not. I didn’t want it to be cheesy or cringey, and I wanted it to obviously be tasteful. Tasteful and different. I think it’s kind of everything that Ludovic stands for, in a way.