One question sprang to Ryder Allen’s mind when he discovered he would be appearing in “Palmer” with Justin Timberlake as a child actor. Justin Timberlake’s name was unfamiliar to me at first. Allen chuckles as he reminisces. I now consider him a close friend.” “So, have a look at me.”
Allen doesn’t fit the stereotype of a “smart above his years” 8-year-old, despite the fact that he’s playing beside one of the world’s most famous performers. On his Nintendo Switch, he likes to play “Bakugan,” as well as a game he and his sister devised in which “we have a pillow and then you need to fetch the pillow. It’s a lot more difficult.”
Justin Timberlake plays a former collegiate football star who comes home after serving 12 years in jail in “Palmer,” which premieres on Apple TV Plus on Friday night. Sam’s grandma (June Squibb) lets Shelley (Juno Temple) retain her trailer on her land and regularly babysits Sam (Allen), Shelley’s kid who enjoys dressing up as a fairy and playing with toys. As a result of Sam’s defiance of gender standards, Palmer is thrust into the role of babysitter in their tiny village.
Cheryl Guerriero’s script and Fisher Stevens’ direction make “Palmer” one of the season’s best shocks — an unexpected narrative of friendship and family highlighted by Timberlake and Allen’s performances. The fact that this is Allen’s first feature picture just adds to the actor’s stunning debut performance and their infectious connection. There’s little question that moviegoers will be talking about Allen even if they don’t know who Timberlake is at the beginning of the film.
His elder sister, Gemma Brooke Allen, is also an actress, and Allen, who looks cute with his beard, told his mother he wanted to follow in her footsteps when he was five. It was on “Law and Order: True Crime” that he made his television debut as a teenage Erik Menendez. “Oh my my, yeah,” he responds when asked if he enjoys working on a film set.
His brother’s actor tells him to “simply hit any button” as they’re in the front seat of an automobile. His explanation is this: “I pressed the device down on my foot, which technically isn’t a button. After that, the automobile began to move. “And I nearly drove off the set,” I recall thinking.
#Palmer star Ryder Allen on sharing the screen with Justin Timberlake: “I was like, ‘Who’s Justin Timberlake?’ Now he’s like my best friend. So look at me now” https://t.co/WPZZdlO8WN
— Variety (@Variety) January 30, 2021
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He didn’t read the screenplay when he initially heard about “Palmer,” instead focusing on his persona. Allen explains, “I knew Sam liked dolls and had a bad mother.”
“However, I had no prior knowledge of the film.” His mother, on the other hand, was familiar with Timberlake, even though he wasn’t. Allen bursts out a deep, continuous scream when asked what she exclaimed when she found out Timberlake was in the movie. After that, she had him listen to “every single one” of Timberlake’s songs, according to her.
Allen recalls, “We could sit there and listen to him all day.” “And she’d insist it was all in good fun.”
For him, the most memorable part of meeting Timberlake was playing pool in the waiting room with other actors while waiting for their turn to read. “It was just so simple and pleasant to read with Justin when the time came.”
While shopping with his folks at the Topanga Mall, he learned he had landed the job. According to Allen, he received a phone call while shopping at a Gucci store telling him he had secured the gig. When I started dancing in the Gucci shop, that was it. They were all applauding and such for me. It was crazy.”
“Palmer” was shot in late 2019 in Louisiana, primarily in Hammond, which is about 45 minutes from New Orleans. Both he and Timberlake arrived a couple weeks early to get settled in and rehearse. When not on set, Allen loved taking in the local sites – including a crocodile tour where he got to hold a baby crocodile.
Another first for Allen? A scene in which he and Palmer go for a root beer float – it was the first time Allen himself had ever tried one, and now he’s a fan. “It was one of our first days of shooting and I was having so much fun with Justin,” Allen recalls. “I felt like I really connected in that scene with Palmer and with Justin at the same time, too. “
He also adored working with Stevens, noting that if he ever did a line that the director didn’t buy, he would simply say, “No baloney.”
Most of all, Allen enjoyed playing Sam because he’s “an amazing person.” Says Allen, “He knows that by giving somebody a hug, that can be the highlight of their day. Just the act of love can be so powerful. One of the best things about Sam is that if you push him to the ground with all your might, he will get up, and he will do nothing to hurt you back.”
Asked about what’s next, Allen says he is currently looking at other scripts and hopes his future jobs will also have “good messages.” He then adds, “You know what I really want? What would be the best thing ever?”
Ask him to tell you and Allen quickly responds: “A sequel! Every time I see Cheryl I’m like, ‘Write it down!’”
omg look at taehyung 🥺 pic.twitter.com/pAzrQe7noD
— .·͙☽ (@taeteland) December 27, 2021
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