We’ve all seen it. That surprising jolt of kinetic energy. We’re familiar with the central figures in a story, and we’re here to watch them. But in a matter of scenes, they’re eclipsed by the onscreen power of their castmate. The scenes are literally stolen, and a somewhat less visible character’s performance is etched into the collective memory of a film or franchise.

Brandon Sklenar is something of a metaphorical thief—his performance as Burt Reynolds in The Offer, short-lived as it was, remains one of the most memorable interpretations of the series, and he’s done it again with the upcoming Sony Pictures’ film It Ends With Us. The film stars Gossip Girl alum Blake Lively and Jane the Virgin’s Justin Baldoni, also the film’s director.

It Ends With Us only minorly deviates from the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name; characters are aged-up by five or ten years but it ultimately follows the same storyline. The 2016 novel has sold over a million copies, and the hashtag #ItEndsWithUs has been used over a hundred thousand times on TikTok.

If you missed the phenomenon, here’s a quick rundown of the bestseller: After her father’s funeral, Lily Bloom (Lively) opens a flower shop in Boston. Also her middle name is Blossom, but that’s not important right now. She falls for Ryle (Baldoni), a charming and lustful neurosurgeon. As their relationship progresses, Ryle’s abusive tendencies emerge. Simultaneously, Lily reconnects with her first love, Atlas (Sklenar), now a successful chef. The story explores Lily’s struggle of choosing between these two men and her journey to end the cycle of abuse that she’s experienced throughout her life.

While the film chiefly focuses on the relationship between Lively and Baldoni’s characters, it finds its grounding and heart in Sklenar’s performance as Atlas, who represents the moral backbone of the story and gives consistency within the film’s unraveling plot.

Sklenar’s preparation and execution for Atlas was different from his past work, and could very well represent the next chapter in the actor’s career. Fresh off his breakout leading role as Spencer Dutton in the Yellowstone prequel 1923—the ideal result of having scene stolen long enough—Sklenar had no interest in jumping back in front of the camera. He spent five months in Africa, and reconnected with his partner, all the while turning down auditions left and right. After being asked to read for Atlas sever- al times, Sklenar agreed to take a meeting.

Sklenar recalls, “When I spoke to Justin [Baldoni], I asked him, ‘Why are you making this movie?’ and he was very intentional and had a lot of heart and soul into the reason as to why he was doing it. I became aware of the impact the book had on so many women. You know, I have someone in my life who’s pretty much gone through exactly what Lily’s gone through, and it just really hit a personal chord with me. Then I was like, ‘Okay. I’m gonna do this.’”

I first met Brandon on an indie project five or six years ago. We’d smoke cigarettes huddled over the ash can during long and inevitably slow night shoots, chatting about anything to pass the time. As I watched It Ends With Us for the first time, it seemed to me like Sklenar wasn’t acting at all. What I saw onscreen was the same Brandon I remembered, that calm and collected dude who seemed as comfortable barefoot as he was wearing shoes. Maybe even more so, always wanting to know how everyone else was doing, what they were working on.

Reconnecting with Brandon over Zoom about the film, he walks me through that process. “This is honestly the first character where I was like, ‘I’m so close to who this guy is, it would be a disservice to try and do anything but just show up and be present and just be myself,”’ he says. He pauses to take a drag from his cigarette. “Literally just be myself. And that’s what I did. It was the least amount of concern I’ve ever put on character, quote unquote. And also terrifying in some sense, because you’re like, ‘Okay, well, if people don’t like this, they just don’t like me.’ I can’t blame it on the accent I did. You know what I mean? It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s just me that they don’t vibe with,”’ he says, laughing. “But it’s ultimately, I think as an actor, what you want to get to. I learned a lot. It changed the way I approach acting.”

Sklenar is no stranger to portraying characters about which audiences are sure to have preconceptions. Consider the aforementioned Burt Reynolds and Spencer Dutton. Despite this experience, Sklenar still grappled with expectations in this film. “You can’t not feel the pressure,” he confesses. “It’s a very rare situation. There are very few books in existence that have this cultural impact, let alone being made into a movie, let alone you’re playing one of the most beloved characters in the series. People all over the world have a fantasy of what this guy looks like, what he sounds like, you know? And I was like, ‘Alright, I’m not going to pay any attention to this because it’s just gonna drive me crazy.’”

Sklenar has been making the rounds in Hollywood since moving to the city from New Jersey after high school. Even before moving west, Sklenar was leaning into characters, possibly as a result of moving around schools so much as a kid. He’d try on mannerisms and accents for weeks at a time. This constant shape-shifting became second nature to him, a skill that serves him well in his acting career. “My folks—each of them moved like once a year. They were always like 30-45 minutes apart, but just always kind of bouncing around. You know, my mom would move somewhere. And then my dad would move relatively close to be near her. So it was a lot of going back and forth and whatnot,” he recalls. “The certain group of friends in this town, certain group of friends in this other town, and the vibe’s different so you have to be like a different person when you’re in this town. So you’re just kind of shape-shifting and morphing all the time to fit in.”

But Sklenar didn’t feel that he needed to shape-shift for this role. There are subtleties that he applied to the character, like softening out his typically chiseled physique because “I wanted him to feel safe, you know, and human, and relatable.”

As Sklenar continues to grow as an actor, he’s liable to commit a lot more “theft.” Not just due to his physical presence or onscreen charisma, but in his deep understanding of the roles he plays and the humanity he brings to them. In It Ends With Us, his portrayal of Atlas is not just a character but a careful consideration of what impact the performance might have on its audience. That audience will witness the essence of an actor who has learned to trust in the power of simply being himself, or as he puts it, “Just show up and get out of the fucking way.” 

Photographed by Yu Tsai

Styled by Madeleine Kennedy

Flaunt Film and Feature by Isaac Dektor

Grooming: Jamie Taylor at A-Frame Agency

Producer: Trever Swearnigen

DP: Jonathan Ho