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“It’s the first time I’ve seen my face prominently featured on a billboard or a poster, and that is so surreal.”
With Novocaine (March 14), Jack Quaid is stepping into his leading man era. “It’s the first time I’ve seen my face prominently featured on a billboard or a poster, and that is so surreal.” Quaid plays Nathan, an ordinary man who turns his unique condition—a genetic disorder that leaves him unable to feel pain—into a superpower to save his girlfriend from kidnappers. “It’s gross and crazy and nuts, but really, over the course of the movie, he is kind of a new babe in the woods. He’s just discovering the world for the first time in a lot of ways, and he has this longing for something more.” This character, who Quaid calls “the sweetest character I’ve ever played,” comes after a string of performances in films like Companion and Scream, where Quaid played anything but a nice guy. “Once you’re unburdened from the idea of likability, you can really expand and go to some weird places.” But he likes that Nathan is the opposite. “Nate we’re trying to make a likable character. I like that he’s a very heroic character in a lot of ways, because he’s risking everything for this girl.”
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Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
With Novocaine and Companion, not to mention The Boys, you’re having such a moment. So I guess the first natural question is, how does it feel to be the moment?
Okay! Oh, God. Can anyone actually say out loud, I am the moment? [laughs]
We’re in Hollywood. So, yes, people do and can say that.
Yes, so many people do say that on the street, out loud all the time in Hollywood. I think I just feel really, really lucky that I get to work, which is amazing, and work on projects that I really believed in, and I know I would be a fan of whether or not I was involved or not. That’s kind of my barometer. Would I watch this and enjoy it if I wasn’t an actor in it? And that was true with The Boys and Novocaine and Companion, and most things that I do. So I feel really lucky to play in that space. It’s a dream come true. It’s really surreal. I’m walking around town now and there’s billboards of my face everywhere, Novocaine, and that’s so weird and strangely vulnerable, but also very cool. I’m very grateful for all of it.
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How did Novocaine come about?
I was actually doing Companion, and the [Novocaine] script came in and I read it. They were like, if you enjoy it, maybe sit down or over Zoom with the directors, Dan [Berk] and Bobby [Robert Olsen], who are so great. And I met with them, and I don’t know, I just immediately knew that I liked them a lot, and so I knew filming would be a blast. But then looking at the script, I really had a moment—and this is a very long and winding story—but I had a very particular moment when I went to go see John Wick: Chapter 4, where I was like, give Keanu Reeves an Oscar. Give him an Academy Award on the physicality alone. I really respect anyone that can use their body. Stunt sequences are so interesting to me, and I think he’s incredible. He’s doing all these moves. The amount of precision he has with his own body is crazy. And it was really fascinating to me to watch it, because I’d seen the other John Wicks, and that one was like, it looks different. It was such a step up in so many ways. And I’m like, I really want to do something in that space, but I know I’m not Keanu Reeves. Like, I’m not a person that you expect to kick ass in any way. So I thought when I read the script, I’m like, “Oh, this character is perfect for me in terms of an action vehicle, if you want to call it that.” I thought I could bring a lot to the character. The movie is so gnarly. If you love gore, it’s like a gore lover’s action film in a lot of ways. But I like that we’ve contrasted that with Nate, the main character, being very sweet, very everyman, in a way. He’s the sweetest character I’ve ever played, which I’m glad, because if it was just a brooding guy who can’t feel pain, I feel like we’ve seen that before. I love that we were able to contrast it with an inherent kind of puppy-dog nature in the character. I thought that’s an interesting combo, so I knew I wanted to be a part of that.
You know, it was so interesting watching it, I went in blind, knowing nothing, and as I watched it, felt like it would have been based on a comic book or something. Like it’s new but feels familiar. How does it feel to be part of the creation of a potential new superhero?
I love that you said that. Absolutely. Oh, that’s huge that you said that. Because it seems with the movies that I’ve been seeing in theaters lately, I like that it seems like, at least part of us is getting back to—not that I don’t love franchise stuff, or stuff based off of IP—but I like that we’re trying to at least create new things. And that was really big. I think I stumbled upon this the other day. I was doing an interview in a comic book store, and they were like, “Would you ever want there to be a Novocaine comic book?” And I was like, “Oh, that’s the dream, actually.” Hopefully Novocaine spawns a series, that’d be unbelievable. But thank you. I think so much of that is due to Dan and Bobby and just them believing in this wild concept. And I love that you went in blind too. I hope that that resonates with people. I really love that. It’s just kind of unlike anything else, because I feel like usually when you see people who can’t feel pain in movies—my character has kind of a genetic disorder—but usually when it’s like the guy that can’t feel pain, it’s like the villain’s henchman, and he’s this tough, muscular dude. And I’m glad that we’ve kind of flipped it on its head a bit.
Watching it, I was reminded of Tom Hanks in Splash, how that was really our introduction to him. Do you feel like Novocaine is your introduction as a leading person in films?
It’s definitely the first time I’ve ever been number one on the call sheet, and that was odd for me. You kind of go through imposter syndrome a little bit. You also understand what that really means. I’ve been number two a lot, but just coming in every day and being like the lead of the thing, it does come with a certain responsibility that was a little daunting at first, and then I kind of found my way through it.
In terms of your question, I don’t really know how I can answer that. Like, it is definitely the first time I’ve been the lead of a movie. It’s the first time I’ve seen my face prominently featured on a billboard or a poster, and that is so surreal. It’s one of those things where I feel like I can’t really quite answer that question now. Assuming people see it, maybe I can look back and say that was my introduction to that. But I don’t really know, in the moment, I’m kind of just like, “I really love the movie, and I hope people watch it.” That’s kind of where I’m at now.
But thank you for saying that Tom Hanks and Splash thing, that literally means the world. A lot of this movie, I usually use music to help me find a character, this was maybe the first movie where I used other movies to help me find the character. I think sometimes when you say that people are like, “Oh, you’re copying performances.” That’s not the case. This movie was pitched to me as an action movie out of the ’80s, early ’90s, where it’s an action movie, sure, and we’re impressed by the stunts and the explosions and everything, but it’s about the characters and our attachment to them. Like, Die Hard without John McClane is just people in the building shooting at each other, but we love John and we want to see him succeed. So hopefully, this movie has a similar thing, where it’s a more character-based thing, and hopefully people like Nathan in that way, to where they would want to go on this journey with them. So to get into that headspace, I obviously watched Die Hard, Lethal Weapon—one and two. There’s this amazing movie called Hard Boiled, a John Woo movie and it’s just so funny and weird, but the action’s incredible. But then I would watch stuff like some old older Steve Martin movies like Roxanne or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Ben Stiller. These characters that [have] a deep sense of longing to them, and I think that that is a big thing of Nate, because he has this condition that, for his own safety, he can’t feel pain, so he can still get hurt. Though, he can still die, [and] it does keep you at an arm’s distance from the world. So when we meet him, his house is almost babyproofed. He lives in a bubble. He goes home, goes to work and comes back and maybe plays some video games. He’s a very inside person. And there was something to this movie of, it’s gross and crazy and nuts, but really, over the course of the movie, he is kind of a new babe in the woods kind of a thing, he’s just discovering the world for the first time, in a lot of ways. And he has this longing for something more. So I was trying to incorporate a bit of that as well. Who knows how well I did. But there’s a lot of influences there, which is cool, and Tom Hanks definitely fits that kind of mold. So I appreciate that.
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What thing in life would you love to not have to worry about pain?
I would try to suppress certain types of emotional pain. I think that would be my thing. Like I am a very anxious person, and I have a pretty intense fear of flying. I don’t know if you’ve seen the news, but it’s only been heightened lately. I would love to not have to worry about that as much as I do. You also have a fear of flying?
Yes! But I got a piece of advice once from Nikki Glaser that has actually helped me a lot. She told me once, ‘You’re not special enough to die in a plane crash.” Somehow that helps me.
That’s great. It works. I follow a lot of these do-away-with-your-flight anxiety Instagram accounts. And a lot of them have the same thing, which is just like, there is a sort of narcissism a little bit, selfishness. Like of course, I’m special, I’m Buddy Holly. It’s catastrophic thinking. It is anxious thinking. But I think that that really does help. We’re just like, you’re not special, calm down. No one’s paying attention to you. It’s the same advice I would give myself at a party where I’m anxious to be there. I’d be like, everyone’s paying attention to themselves. No one’s paying attention to me. It does really help, definitely.
You’ve had quite a few great appearances in horror movies. I’ve always felt like horror movies offer actors to really show a range that sometimes other genres don’t always allow. Do you feel like appearing in Companion and Scream has made you a better actor?
One thousand percent. I remember with Scream, I think that I submitted a couple of tapes because I think they wanted to cast me, but they were like—spoilers, I’m the killer in that movie—but they were like, can he be nasty? Because all we’ve really seen of me, I mean, in The Hunger Games, I kill Rue, which is arguably the worst thing I’ve done in all of fiction, but there was something where I think there was a little bit of doubt. And I think I auditioned with Timothy Olyphant’s monologue from Scream 2 and I was really happy to do that, because it allowed me to show a bit of range, and it gives you permission to be the bad guy, which is so fun, you know? And it’s a lot more fun sometimes than playing the good guy. It’s more of an acting challenge. And I think what I really appreciate about it is it scares me to play people who are so different than me, and I think that anything scares me will be a challenge. Like, this is going to be a test in some ways. But I enjoy that. I like that fear going in because I think that usually means that you’re in the right place. When you’re nervous to do something or take something on.
Not to say I’m like, God forbid, I’m not like Josh in Companion, because that guy sucks so bad. I did have to find an empathy to him while playing him. And I think I landed on he’s just a guy that never heard “I love you” in his life. I think that’s what really got me there, but now that I’m not playing him, “Screw that guy.” I really don’t like him. He’s terrible. But you can work with the shadow self. You can work with things and ideas that are a little unsafe, and I think that that’s a little therapeutic, because you’re taking a chance. Not everything’s sanitized or has to be. Once you’re unburdened from the idea of likability, you can really expand and go to some weird places. Not that I don’t love Nate. Nate we’re trying to make a likable character, and I love that about him. I like that he’s a very heroic character in a lot of ways, because he’s risking everything for this girl. But I like that when you don’t have to worry, when you already know that you don’t have to worry about people liking your character, when the intention is for them to hate. I was literally just at Swingers diner here in L.A. and the one of the waitresses was like, “I saw Companion. I f****** hated you.” And I was like, “This is good.” And I remember I went to the premiere of that, and people were raucously cheering for my death. Sorry, I don’t want to spoil it, but we say it in the trailer, that he dies. But I never thought I would get joy out of that, but it’s really cool to just kind of be able to have the freedom to not be straight and narrow, just to have something that’s a little weird and dangerous. It’s very fun to play with.
You recently posted a photo of yourself from the set of The Boys. You were bloodied and smiling. In many ways The Boys has followed the rise in your career these past few years. So what impact do you think The Boys has had on your career?
Everything. Literally everything. I owe that show and Eric Kripke [creator] specifically such a debt of gratitude. I really do. I mean, everything changed after season one of The Boys came out. like, I’m such a nerd, and I love genre, and I love superheroes. I remember thinking to myself, “Man, I’d really love to be in a Marvel movie someday,” or, “I’d really love to be in a DC movie,” or something and play around in a superhero universe. And I love both of those universes so much. But I never, in my wildest dreams thought that I would be on the ground floor of a project that is now spawning a few spinoffs, and its own universe in and of itself. I just love that that’s where I got to play around in. And I feel really, really grateful. Huey also, just as a character, I feel is is very similar to me in in a lot of ways. To grow alongside him has been very, very rewarding, and to just track my own growth. Huey is like me but a little bit further back in his emotional development, like I always felt like, season one, to me, he was kind of like a baby. Season two, he’s like a toddler, just starting to walk for the first time. Season three, he’s like a teenager, and he’s a little angsty. In season four, he’s finally becoming a young man and understanding what that responsibility is. And then I feel like this season, I can’t give anything away about the show, obviously, but I feel like Huey has a confidence about him that I’ve never really seen from him before. Hopefully audiences can see that, but he’s really grown, and to grow alongside him, not in the same way, but in similar ways, has been super, super rewarding. I also love that I just posted that bloody photo, and we’re trying to keep spoilers from leaking. Everything’s very tight-lipped. But I remember I showed it to people being like, “Is it cool if I post this?” And they’re like, “Well, it could be a spoiler…well, you’re always covered in blood, so it doesn’t really matter.” I love how that’s not a spoiler. It’s so great.
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