Alex Wolff Went Method for Tribeca Fraternity Thriller ‘The Line’ About Guantanamo-Like Hazing

“The Line” takes a hard, lean look at a crisis plaguing headlines every year: the horrors behind the scenes of hazing at college fraternities.

In the stylish and convincingly acted drama premiering this week out of Tribeca Festival’s Spotlight Narrative lineup, “Hereditary” star and filmmaker himself Alex Wolff plays Tom, a devoted indoctrinee of a fictional fraternity happy to play along with his brotherhood’s disturbing hazing practices and its culture of foundationally toxic masculinity. Greek Row is notorious for its horrifying initiation tactics, and director/co-writer Ethan Berger (who penned the script with Alex Russek) doesn’t shy away from the casual racism, sexism, homophobia, and trauma playing out on universities’ never-too-far outskirts.

IndieWire spoke with Berger about the film and debuts an exclusive clip featuring “Hereditary” breakout Wolff, whom Berger revealed went Method to play this character by embedding himself in fraternity culture in pre-production. Wolff signed onto the project as early as 2018, with Berger finishing casting on the film in 2021 likely unaware of how prominent some of its younger ensemble would become: alongside Wolff, there’s Lewis Pullman, Halle Bailey, Austin Abrams, and Angus Cloud, along with Scoot McNairy, John Malkovich, Bo Mitchell, and Denise Richards.

Berger and his cast spoke to brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) at the University of South Carolina as a touchstone, and many of the extras in the film actually came out of that fraternity. While it’s not one that’s been subject to the same controversies and scandals as others in the United States, no fraternity is without its darker underbelly. And actor Wolff was willing to put himself in the mix.

“Alex Wolff is a Method actor, and he wanted to go to the frat to get a sense of what life was like there,” Berger said. “All these kids there started talking to me and they understood what my intentions were and that I am not a fan of Greek life, and they chose to participate in the movie anyway, which says something.”

When Berger started writing the script in 2012, he held an eight-hour recorded interview with the film’s eventual executive producer and story writer, Zack Purdo, about Purdo’s experiences as a former SAE alum before adding the fictional elements of the screenplay. But verbal and physical abuse are a way of life for the fraternity at the center of “The Line,” which makes it hardly fictional stacked up against headlines.

“Somebody like Zack, who shared their experience with me years ago, has come to realize [Greek life] wasn’t everything he thought it was,” said Berger, noting that some of his research subjects were candid about their PTSD.

“The Line” eventually shot during the pandemic and was hit hard by Omicron — 25 crew members contracted COVID and a cast rehearsal process that shifted to entirely virtual.

While hesitant to go totally into what exactly “Method” looks like for an actor like Wolff — “I don’t think there are any rules” — Berger added that Wolff was “very much in character the entire time.” Similarly, “Euphoria” breakout Austin Abrams also attended a formal at SAE to prep, and actors Pullman and Mitchell also installed themselves briefly in Greek life to understand the culture.

Berger attended Wesleyan as an undergrad and so was privy to some of the devious goings-on happening at fraternity Beta Theta Pi, including a hazing ritual that would cause future triggers for anyone in its vicinity: “Next to me, during their Hell Week, they played ‘Blue’ by Aqua for weeks straight, and that was kind of my introduction, and was hearing that song pounded over and over again at the house next door to me at college. It’s ‘funny’ but it kind of reminded me of Guantanamo.”

There are indeed images in the film that recall the recognizable imagery of torture such as out of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, which makes sense as they come largely from reality. “Austin Abrams sent me this image of these kids at the University of Missouri being led down the staircase wearing the exact blindfolds that they do in the movie,” Berger said.

And speaking of Abrams and Method acting, Abrams actually shaves his head onscreen — not an original requirement of the role but one Abrams was game for. Abrams plays freshman pledge Gettys, who struggles with Tom while refusing to conform, but was originally cast in a different role before filling in for an actor who dropped out at the last minute.

“[Austin is] totally committed. The fact that he was able to do all of that with such little time to prep just speaks to how invested he is,” Berger said. “Austin wanted to go for it.”

As “The Line” unfolds, it becomes clear that everyone in the fraternity — fledging or longstanding — has traumas of their own.

“This movie is kind of about how traumatized people use that trauma and inflict it on others. That’s what hazing is,” Berger said. “This idea of ‘hurt people hurt people.'”

“The Line” premieres at Tribeca on Friday, June 9 and is currently seeking U.S. distribution.