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Blake Cooper Griffin stars in Love Is All You Need, written and directed by Kim Rocco Shields, in which he plays a bullying frat boy.

Blake Cooper On ‘Love Is All You Need’

In Love Is All You Need, homosexuality is the norm, leaving heterosexual couples as the bullied minority. As fraternity president and quarterback of the college’s football team, Griffin’s character Bill Bradley is a leader among the bullies. For Cooper, getting involved in the project was an indisputable career highpoint.

“You could just tell by the writing that this was going to be an important project. And I went and auditioned for it and they brought me back and I actually wrote the director after the call back. I wrote a letter to her and to one of the writers and said I’ll do anything to play the part of Bill Bradley,” Griffin told uInterview in an exclusive interview. “When I got the part, I was really stoked and it was another one of those sort of like pinching myself moments because it was something that I really wanted that came true.”

Part of the reason Griffin was so enthusiastic about Love Is All You Need is the way the film approaches the pervasive “culture of meanness” that’s witnessed on a daily basis.

“You can turn on the TV and you can see kind of the culture of meanness around differences that people have,” Griffin explained. “You can see what’s happening to kids across the country who are being bullied and I think that you know, I’m so proud to be apart of something that’s telling the truth about that and is not sort of shying away from it. Too be a part of a movie that actually could have an impact on someone’s life, or could change somebody’s mind or challenge somebody, that’s kind of exactly what I wanted to do when I set out to be an actor.”

In addition to Love Is All You Need, Griffin was recently hard at work filming Ride with Helen Hunt, who also directed the picture. Griffin, who calls Hunt an idol of his, was eager to be a part of the movie that charts her character’s relationship with her surfer son, played by Brenton Thwaites. Speaking of Hunt, Griffin commented on the Twister actress’s prowess behind the camera.

“One thing that struck me in working with her on this film was that she is so committed to story, and she has this laser focus as a director as she does as an actress. And, she sort of is able to put you at ease,” said Griffin. “That was the thing that I sort of noticed is that any nerves that you have just disappear because when you’re working with anyone who is so good at her job you sort of want to rise to the occasion. […] It was kind of a dream come true for me.”

Love Is All You Need will be released later this year. In the meantime, Griffin can be seen in the movie Life of a King, which also stars Cuba Gooding Jr.,  on Netflix.