Turtles All the Way Down Star Felix Mallard on Playing a Lonely Billionaire & “Exciting” Ginny & Georgia Season 3 Scripts
Photo by Sela Shiloni/Styling by Monty Jackson/Grooming by Candice Birns
Felix Mallard is a little stressed. No, not about his upcoming movie Turtles All the Way Down, but about the state of his suitcase.
When we talk on the eve of his 26th birthday, the Australian actor and musician is in the middle of last-minute packing for Toronto, where he is heading the next day to begin shooting the third season of Ginny & Georgia, the Netflix YA dramedy that has become a runaway hit for the streamer. He wears a beanie with a (Georgia?) peach emoji on it, and his cheeks are flushed. Still, he's all smiles. “My head's all over the place, so I'm so sorry for being a bit late.”
It's fair that Mallard is a bit flustered — the last few years of his career have been steadily spiraling up to a sort of crescendo, with each project he boards growing in scale. After starting out on the Australian soap opera Neighbours as a teen, Mallard has landed main and recurring roles in Happy Together, All the Bright Places, Locke & Key, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, and, of course, Ginny & Georgia.
It's been a long road to the release of Turtles All the Way Down. Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by YA giant John Green, the movie was first optioned for the screen just months after its publishing date. Then, the film industry began to shift, studios began to be absorbed, a pandemic changed the world forever, and a historic dual-strike rocked Hollywood. Turtles was one of the many projects caught in a seemingly endless loop of developmental pauses.
“I kind of can't believe it. It's been in our minds for so long,” says Mallard, who filmed Turtles in Cincinnati back in 2022. “I've just been buzzing waiting for people to see it.”
The film, directed by Hannah Marks, follows the story of Aza Holmes (played by Isabela Merced) a 16-year-old living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and anxiety. When the billionaire Russell Pickett — the father of Davis, Aza's neighbor and childhood crush — goes missing, a cash reward is posted. Alongside her two close friends Daisy (Cree) and Mychal (Maliq Johnson), Aza sets out to investigate Russell's disappearance, a journey that will unknowingly guide her through questions of grief, friendship, mental illness, and love.
Mallard plays Davis, the lonely teen billionaire working through his own complex emotions and the absence of his father. “It's not necessarily a love story,” Mallard says of his character's reconnection with Aza. “In the end, [it's] Aza's story of self-discovery, that's really what the story is about.”
In between packing for the airport, Felix Mallard talks to Teen Vogue about how he portrayed a billionaire you can empathize with, his growing repertoire of vulnerable, young male characters, what he wants to see the most from Ginny & Georgia season 3, and why actors should rewatch their own movies.
Teen Vogue: Let's rewind all the way to when you made your acting debut in Neighbours, when you were 15 — that is such an important age in which you're trying to figure yourself out. Why do you think acting connected with you on such a transformative level as a teenager?
Felix Mallard: I'm probably still trying to figure it out. 15 is such an important age… you're trying to figure out yourself and your place in the world, and how you fit into it, and maybe also your privileges, the things that you're afforded. All of that is kind of being revealed to you.
I always wanted to perform. I always wanted to do something artistic, but I didn't really know what that was. I was playing in my band, we were playing music all the time. I wanted to draw, design, do anything that was not a 9-to-5. But at the same time, I was riddled with anxiety. I was really, really stressed, and really scared about everything coming towards me. It seemed like life was so vast — and it still feels like that, if I'm honest — but I felt this need to find something that can help me process it all. And I think acting was that… it allows me to wrestle with all those questions while also going to work. The secondary thing is being able to, hopefully, make one person feel validated or seen or understood, [that] is the goal and that is such an important part of why I love doing it.
TV: Fast forward to now, and you're in one of the most highly anticipated book-to-movie adaptations in recent years. How did this script come to you, and did you read the book before you came on board the film?
FM: [There was] a fairly long pre-production process. I think I read the script in 2019, knowing that it was something I might need to audition for in the future. I think I did one audition in 2019, and then a call back in 2020... It was very long process.
TV: Yeah, 2019 and 2020 feel like decades ago.
FM: Exactly. We had a whole strike, a pandemic, everything in between. It gave me enough time to consider how beautifully empathetic and measured the story is, and how deeply personal it is [as] this first-person point of view of what [it can be] like to have OCD. The fact that it's this story about two young women supporting each other — to have that on screen is so important, and to have a role like Davis, where he can support that storyline, is so important. After I auditioned I was like, “I really need to read this book.” I just wanted to see how different the script was, and I think they did a really, really good job of keeping it true to the book.
TV: Thinking back to all the roles you've taken on thus far, what was it about Davis as a character that surprised you and made you want to step into his shoes?
FM: I always want to do something different, and that's a little harder when you're trying to break into the industry. People see you in a certain light and try and put you in certain boxes. The challenge is then to make every [character] a little different.
When Davis came [across] my desk, what intrigued me was how lovely he is and how lonely he is, at the same time. He's an incredibly lonely person. He's lost his parents. He has no true friends. He doesn't know if anyone has come into his life genuinely, or if it's for his money, or for his status, or for things he can do for them. At the same time, he is a billionaire and he's got everything you could ever want. That challenge for me was what was really exciting, to be able to bring likability, to breathe empathy into this person. Billionaires aren't the kind of people that we should be celebrating right now. And that's fair enough, I think that's how it should be. But to be able to take a character and go, “Okay, well, how can we show how lonely he is?,” was the challenge that I wanted to pull [off].
The biggest thing for me was the duality of his and Aza's love story. They are two sides of the same coin. Aza just wants to be seen for more than her OCD, she wants to be seen for the beautiful, insightful, kind, creative person that she is. And similarly, Davis wants to be seen as a person and wants to love and be loved without pretense. The fact that they can't be with each other is such beautiful drama, and it was such so much fun to be able to perform those scenes with Isabela.
TV: This was your first time having Isabela Merced as a scene partner, right? How did you two build chemistry between one another?
FM: I think Isabela's such a star, and I mean that in all the best ways. She comes to set and she brings a vitality, a positivity, and a kindness that... I mean, it always starts from the top. So to have someone like Isabela come to set and create such a beautiful environment, it was such a joy to act alongside her.
We did the chemistry read over Zoom, because it was COVID when we were casting — and that kind of seems to be the norm now, doing a lot of chemistry reads over Zoom. So you never quite know. You can have chemistry over Zoom, but then when you get in person and you're on set, and it's 2 a.m., that's a different environment. I was so stoked, and I considered myself so lucky to act with [Isabela], because she sets the tone for everyone. It was such an easy, beautiful, smooth shoot, due in no small part to her.
TV: Were you able to meet and work with John Green on set? I read that he was pretty involved as a consultant, too.
FM: Yeah, I couldn't quite believe that. It was incredible. John has been involved in this project with Hannah for a really long time. I can't necessarily speak for him, but I think he was relishing the opportunity to have a little bit more creative control and to have a say in how this story is told… because it's one of the more personal stories for him. It's not one-to-one, but it was a way for him to conceptualize and write about OCD, something that he's affected by. I was glad that we got to work with him… for me to be able to go up to him and say, "Hey, here's what I'm thinking about Davis, because you gave me all these clues." And to hear his responses back was just mind-blowing. I felt really lucky.
He kept being super, super, super excited. He'd come to set and be like, "Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening. This is amazing." And I'd be like, "This has happened… a few times before for you, dude." [Laughs]
TV: Besides the extended timeline of production, what was the most challenging aspect of bringing this story to life?
FM: I think the long timeline was also a blessing to have that much prep [time] to sit with the character. It felt less like a challenge, and more like a responsibility of wanting to do the book justice. So many people resonate with this book [and] feel seen and loved and understood by Aza's experience, or at least the way that John breathes life into it. To get that right was the challenge — to make sure that we're telling a story that validates people's experience with OCD, that doesn't glamorize it, that doesn't disrespect it. We wanted to create an honest perspective… also, these characters are so fun and vibrant and nuanced. I wanted to do it justice. And I think everyone [else] on set did, too.
TV: Speaking of fun, do you have a favorite memory from filming?
FM: Being able to have those ensemble scenes with all the young cast together, especially in Davis's house. They found an insane house for him. In Cincinnati, there's this beautiful, beautiful mansion, modern and loads of foliage. To have those scenes where it's teenagers running amok in this [house]... Like, I'm never going to see a house that nice again. The scenes are really light, and to see how Cree and Isabela and Maliq [Johnson] bounce off each other — because, by the nature of my character, Davis is quite lonely and isolated. So when I got to go and see everyone, how they played, ad-libbed, and had such a strong connection, [it] was just fun to be a part of. They were definitely the most fun days on set.
It's those moments of levity, of love, of kindness or forgiveness, all the beautiful, positive moments of the film that make it shine. Without them, it would be a super dark movie. It's a sad movie, but it's uplifting in a strange way because of these moments that are told through it. It's a coming-of-age story about self-discovery and love, and figuring out who you are in the face of the things that you have to deal with. Those moments really, really shine for me, especially when I watch it back. I find myself laughing more than I feel sad, which is awesome.
TV: Are you the type of actor who hates rewatching his own movies?
FM: How do I answer this without sounding like a hater? I think everyone hates watching themselves, right?
TV: That's fair. Like, hearing your voice on a recording?
FM: Right. I think that's a universally understood thing, that if you see yourself captured in media, you're going to hate it. That being said, as an actor, there's nothing more valuable than being able to watch yourself. I had a beautiful acting teacher early on whose whole ethos was, “If you see yourself do something you don't like, you're never going to do it again.” I'm never going to throw shade on someone's process, I just think it's super valuable for me, in my process, to watch things back. At the same time acknowledging, “Yeah, it sucks. I hate watching myself.”
TV: There's a lot of overlap thematically with the work you do on Ginny & Georgia and Turtles All the Way Down. They are both great examples of working with sensitive storylines in YA media and not shying away from addressing mental health. Was there anything that you learned from the set of Ginny & Georgia that you brought with you to this set?
FM: With any job you learn so much and you take away the things that really resonate with you. What I really appreciate about [Ginny & Georgia], and what I love about being a part of it, is that we never shy away from having those hard conversations about anything: whether it's mental health, whether it's Ginny being mixed race, whether it's being [mixed race in] a town that is predominantly white.
Marcus is such a strong support for Ginny, until his own stuff gets in the way of that. [In] Turtles All the Way Down as well, being that support for someone who's going through something is what I wanted to take through… Marcus is such a train wreck. I love him, and [he is] figuring himself out, which I think is prevalent in a lot of YA stuff.
But what I love about Ginny & Georgia and Turtles All the Way Down is that they don't look at growing up with condescension. To understand who you are within the world is daunting, which is why we have so much media about it. Adults like watching YA because they like seeing their own experiences reflected [back]. It's an important genre, and what both of those projects do really well is examine that without going, "Oh, it's just kid stuff."
The biggest thing I identified about those two projects, and something I want to continue on with, is Ginny & Georgia is written by women, run by women, it's a story about two women. Similarly, Turtles All the Way Down is this story of female friendship directed by a woman. It's providing a space for women in the industry, which is sorely needed. I recognize my privilege in that I'm a straight white dude. To have a role that supports rather than detracting from those storylines, for more media to be made, [that is] something I'm really passionate about.
TV: I asked Antonia [Gentry] this back in 2023, but if you could write season 3 of Ginny & Georgia, what arc would you write for Marcus?
FM: [Laughs] I have no idea. I love what Sarah [Lampert] has in store for Marcus, and I love that it always surprises me. It's always something different. I'm not a writer, right now. I don't know what I would do that's anything more interesting than what we've got going on.
Obviously, people want to see Marcus and Ginny and where they go. They both have a lot of stuff to figure out. It's why they love each other, but it's also why they can't be with each other right now. If I could write this season, I'd like to see more of that. I want to see Georgia snap. But that's just me. I think it'd be great, though. I want to see her go wild and just say, "F*ck it. Let's see how crazy we can get." But honestly, I've only read the first couple scripts of season 3, and I'm already super excited about where we're going.
TV: Folks might not know this, but you're also a musician. Is there someone you've worked with in the past that you've learned the most from as a storyteller, whether it be on a photo set or a film set or a stage?
FM: Wow. I don't think I can name just one. Every set I step on is such a learning experience. Cooper Smith is the lead singer of my band that I grew up playing music with; From him, I learned to be vulnerable. I learned to understand that it's okay to tell your story, and to tell it as loudly and as boldly as you want.
Going from job to job, there's so many people who have informed my understanding of what it is to perform. Damon Wayans Jr., Amber Stevens West [on Happy Together]… on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, Jane Levy… on Ginny & Georgia, there's just so many people. I think Brianne Howey and Jennifer Robertson are such consummate, professional performers.
Every job is a learning experience, and I don't necessarily want to lose that [interest]. I don't ever want to think that I've figured it out, because there's too much. There's too much to watch, there's too much to perform, there's too much for you to ever think, "No, I've got this nailed." Because I don't, and I don't think I ever will. I always want to be learning.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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