Dylan O’Brien is that guy that you wanted to be friends with in high school. He’s handsome enough to be part of the popular crowd, but he squirms when you talk about love and sweats when you talk about female body parts (especially Jennifer Aniston’s.)The 20-year-old former YouTube star made his name as Stiles on the hit MTV series Teen Wolf, and currently stars alongside Britt Robertson and Craig Roberts in the new Jon Kasdan-directed teen comedy, The First Time. Here he is on his first high school love, heartbreak, and his taste in women.
Describe your character Dave in The First Time in three words.
Wow, just three words? That makes it so much harder. He’s sweet, vulnerable and a guy. [Laughs] I love how I led off with sweet, but really, he’s such a dude. Just one of those sweet, sappy dudes.Dave’s pretty complex.
Yeah, I would need an essay to describe him. Like, three pages.The First Time is about a budding romance between two high school students and their first weekend together. Do you remember your first love?
I was in high school, I think. It’s the first time that you start thinking of one of your girl friends as more than just a friend and you just think about her all the time and are obsessed with her and think she’s really pretty and just want to hang out with her always. And then you start trying to process those feelings. That’s literally what the film is all about: trying to understand all those emotions you first have when you have no idea where they’re coming from.Did you use your first experience as inspiration for the film?
Definitely—that’s how I interpreted the script the first time I read it. It features everything I saw and went through. It got so real.
There are tons of awkward moments throughout the film. Did you experience any awkwardness with your first crush? Did you do anything weird to impress her?
Yeah! One time I stood outside of a girl’s house with a rose in my mouth, like between my teeth. It was obviously a joke and was supposed to look stupid, and it really did. I definitely looked stupid. She just rolled her eyes and laughed.This film also features the quintessential dream girl. Who was the popular girl in high school?
It was that same girl that I had my first crush on. She was a friend who I was really into, but she never thought of me that way.You had top-shelf taste in women back then, huh?
Yeah, I guess you can say that she was pretty sought after.Has she contacted you since high school?
Yeah, totally. We’re still friends.Do you date?
I date, yeah. I’m currently dating one person, consistently. I would say that the peak of my dating streak was junior year in high school, where I took relationships on a four-month level. I always have some kind of thing…You always have a girl somewhere?
Yeah, I always have some kind of chick in the closet. [Laughs] No, no. What I meant was that I am always in some kind of relationship. I’m one of those guys. Whenever I like a girl, I somehow fall into a relationship with her.Do you fall in love easily?
I crush easily.Have you broken a girl’s heart?
I have no idea! Maybe, but I don’t know because in retrospect they could look back and think, “Okay, it wasn’t that big of a deal.” At a certain point, you realize that those things weren’t as important as you thought they were at the time. It was a silly high school breakup. You shouldn’t take relationships that seriously. Okay, this is getting deep.Have you had your heart broken?
I don’t know. I’m sure at the time I would have screamed, “My heart is breaking!” But you move on, you grow and you realize that you were only 16.You used to be a YouTube star. Did you ever explore online dating?
Oh, God no! [Laughs] No way. I’ve peeked around, but never on dating sites.Have you heard of that webcam chat site, Chatroulette?
Yeah, it’s so weird. It gives me anxiety.People always think that they’re going to see someone famous.
You never see anybody huge, just huge dicks.What’s your favorite body part?
Legs.Which celebrity has the best legs?
Oh man, Jennifer Aniston has always had nice legs.The woman doesn’t age.
She still looks the same as when she was on Friends. She’s aged very gracefully. Magnificently gracefully.Is fitness important to you?
It was at a time. I think I’ve gotten lazy. No, I know I’ve gotten lazy. I think it’s because I have a super fast metabolism anyway, so I won’t get fat if I don’t work out. I used to work out. I get away with just being extraordinarily skinny. Like, I have to work hard not to be skinny. I have to try to put on fat by eating, like, three ice creams a day.I’m jealous. What’s next for you?
Right now, I’m about to go play a small role in a Fox comedy called The Internship. It’s directed by Shawn Levy and stars Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Rose Byrne. I’m excited to go work on that set—it’s going to be such a good learning experience. And then hopefully I’ll be on Season 3 of Teen Wolf.Teen Wolf fangirls are insane.
They’re so sweet.Have you been trampled on yet?
[Laughs] Not yet! There are some places where it’s that way and things go a little crazy, but it’s usually not like that. Teen Wolf fans are just really sweet, unassuming and kind of shy. I find that really endearing.