‘My Friend Dahmer’ Actor Harrison Holzer Dishes On The Haunting Film + Upcoming ‘The After Party’ Project

Actor Harrison Holzer has had quite the serendipitous career thus far with every step in his journey in Hollywood being orchestrated by him following his gut instincts. Those instincts landed him roles in films like “Better Living Through Chemistry” and “Sex Tape” along with a spot on the hit comedy series black-ish. Holzer’s most recent roles challenged his skills as an actor by playing a real person and landing a role of a lifetime, which he deferred attending Harvard to take.

Glambergirlblog had the opportunity to chat with Harrison, who also goes by Harry, about his role in “My Friend Dahmer,” in theaters November 3rd, and the film “The After Party,” that recently wrapped.

Holzer began his acting career rather unconventionally. At 10-years-old he followed whatever hobby his older sister was into. Harry tried ballet and painting, but it was acting that stuck as an interest. “For me the dream has always been to be a storyteller. You know there are many ways to tell a story. You can be an actor, a writer, or producer, whatever, but for me that’s always been the goal,” Holzer said. There was a point in Holzer’s career when he was at the ultimate crossing road. Put off acting to attend Harvard and further nurture his craft or take a role that could redefine his spot in the industry. Although he values education and believes it compliments his chosen profession, he accepted the role of Jeff Levine in the Ian Edelman written/directed film “The After Party” with Russell Simmons as producer.

In “The After Party,” Holzer plays the best friend/manager to an aspiring rapper who is trying to make his dreams a reality. He describes his character as a mix of Entourage‘s Ari Gold and Jonah Hill’s “Superbad” character Seth. “If those two came together and had a baby then that’s Jeff Levine,” Harry said with a laugh.

Harry said this film was one of the best experiences of his life and he really connected to the message of the film. He told GGB, “How I fell upon this role is reminiscent of the message in this story. You know the message in this story is to one, first and foremost stay loyal to your friends always through thick and thin, but two, is to visualize your dreams and chase them endlessly. Even if you don’t reach the goal you’ll be happy that you tried.”

Photo: Aperture Entertainment,

The role in “My Friend Dahmer” was something Harry was happy he tried. Back when he was a production intern at Blumhouse Productions he got a text from his manager to be ready for a Skype call from the directer of “Dahmer” Marc Meyers in 15 minutes. His response? “Hell yeah I’ll be ready in 15.” He was able to take time away from his internship and do the call. The director loved him and Harry didn’t even read the script yet. He left the next day to start shooting in Cleveland later in the week.

“My Friend Dahmer,” based on the graphic novel by Derf Backderf, examines the teenage life of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Holzer landed the role as real life friend of Dahmer, Mike Kukral. “I never actually played a real person. I never had that experience of portraying somebody who actually existed in the past. So actually going into the project it didn’t really affect how I understood the character because that sort of came about more through talking to Marc, our fantastic director, and through you know just spending time with the cast in general,” Holzer revealed, adding, “With Ross, with Alex, with Tommy, we sort of figured out our characters there, but I was definitely reassured when meeting the real Mike because it just turned out to be a literal visualization of the character I already created of Mike.It was the same exact thing.”

Despite the dark nature of the film the mood on set wasn’t somber at all. “We all became a tight-knit pack very quickly,” Harry said. He also revealed the cast would pull pranks in between shooting. When the cameras were rolling however, Ross Lynch’s portrayal of Jeff Dahmer was no joke according to Holzer. “I have to say kudos to Ross who slayed that part. Not only is he a great guy, but he’s an incredible actor who came into that high pressured part of course coming from Disney to a movie like that, that’s a lot of pressure and he just absolutely slayed it with the most conviction I could ever say so kudos to him for that,” Holzer said praising his co-star.

Up next Harrison has a few projects in the works, but he can’t talk about things yet. Rest assured all good things are coming!

“My Friend Dahmer” is in theaters this weekend so be sure to catch Harrison Holzer in that. Watch the trailer below. Keep up with all the upcoming projects Holzer has coming up by following him on social media @HarryHolzer27 on Instagram and Twitter as well as searching Harrison Holzer on Facebook. Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Photo:  Mayhem Entertainment PR