Photo Source: Larry Busacca
"I've been heavily swagged," Wysocki says as he shows off a new Armitron watch. "It's weird. It's the first time that you can kind of afford something, because you've worked. You've done a film and you're like, 'Oh, I can buy stuff now. I can do something luxurious.' And then everybody's like, 'Here, take this stuff that you would spend your money on and get it for free.' It's like, 'Okay. Too bad that never happened when I didn't have any money.' "
Such are the trials of a break-out actor at Sundance. Wysocki stars as the title character in "Terri," a film by writer Patrick DeWitt and director Azazel Jacobs about a teenage oddball who finds some unlikely friends: a twitchy misanthrope, a disgraced queen bee, and a well-meaning high school principal. The principal is played by one John C. Reilly.
Wysocki, a young improv and standup comic whose only other on-screen experience has been as a cast member on the short-lived ABC Family series "Huge," says he was intimidated by the prospect of sharing scenes with Reilly, but that feeling faded once the work began. "It's John C. Reilly," he says. "He's a great actor and a great comedian. He taught me a lot without having to sit me down and give me lessons. He was just really good at receiving what I was giving him, and giving back. He would push me, and then I could push him."
Wysocki began performing after watching a show by the improv company Comedy Sportz at his high school in Los Angeles. He later performed at Comedy Sportz's theater and eventually dropped out of UCLA, where he was working toward an English degree, to pursue comedy and acting full time. He's had good luck thus far. His first professional audition landed him his part on "Huge," and his second led to him being cast in "Terri." So it shouldn't surprise that he's pressing ahead with a performing career.
"Literally, I get to dick around," Wysocki says. "That's what acting is—making things up and creating new things. It's not hard. Why write essays about Montaigne when I can make jokes and really try to portray reality in an effective way?"