Charlie Hewson On ‘My Blind Brother,’ Nick Kroll [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

Charlie Hewson stars in My Blind Brother, Sophie Goodhart’s new romantic comedy-drama that premiered at SXSW earlier this month.

Charlie Hewson On ‘My Blind Brother’

My Blind Brother tells the story of a pair of brothers – one of whom is blind – who are in a love triangle with a woman named Rose (Jenny Slate). The competition between Bill (Nick Kroll) and his blind brother Robbie (Adam Scott) comes to a boiling point during a charity swim competition in their small town. Bringing a bit of comic relief – and recreational drugs – into the mix is Hewson’s character, the town’s blind drug dealer named GT.

“[My Blind Brother] addresses everyone’s shame and addresses how all the myriad ways in which one deals with their shame. My character is a man who does not bother with shame, and it makes him kind of glorious and free,” Hewson told uInterview about GT at SXSW in Austin, Tex. “He’s a great person to bounce ideas off of when it comes down to like, ‘I’m feeling really terrible about this situation…’ He’s like, ‘Why? It’s all good.’”

Hewson doesn’t see his character as some sort of stoner stereotype, but rather as someone whose positivity says something more about him as a person, and perhaps his blindness. From meeting blind people to prepare for the part of GT, Hewson reveals that he found that they had a disproportionately positive outlook on life. It was a real-life takeaway that he felt compelled to incorporate into his character. Hewson also tried to play it as real as possible when it came to a high conversation between his character and Kroll’s.

“You say anything you want when you’re in a basement with your buddy smoking weed. So the question of like “inappropriate,’ is interesting because, yeah, if you’re looking at a movie with those guys in that scenario it’s like, ‘Oh shit that’s some pretty daring…that’s a rude joke,’” Hewson said. “But in the context of trying to really be in that moment, it doesn’t occur to you. The inappropriate nature of it is just people being friends.”

Kroll, Hewson’s most frequent scene partner in The Blind Brother, is someone that the actor clearly admires, calling him a “fountain of comedy.” The Adult Beginners star, according to Hewson, is someone who brings the best out of those around him on set.

“It’s always just endlessly a pleasure to be with people like that,” Hewson told uInterview. “Professionally, it’s bolstering. It’s a wonderful environment to be in because he inspires you to be on top of your game. […] It wasn’t a hysterical environment at all times because we had a lot of work to do, but you could definitely feel that energy kind of percolating. Nick is very serious about comedy and he’s always in it, always thinking, what’s funny now?”

My Blind Brother also stars Zoe Kazan, Talia Tabin and Heidi Lewandowski.