John Reynolds and Marty Schousboe Talk “Never Change!,” Killing Darlings in the Edit, and Grounding Absurdity (INTERVIEW)

In Never Change!, the graduating class of North Meadows High School had their senior year cut short due to a disastrous tornado in 2008. Now in their mid-thirties, they’re being forced to return home and finish high school once and for all. The American High ensemble comedy premiered June 17, 2026, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

We at FandomWire sat down with the film’s writer and star John Reynolds and director Marty Schousboe. We discussed the challenges of adapting a television concept into a feature film, the pain of the editing process, and the importance of grounding absurd comedy in real emotion.

Never Change! John Reynolds and Marty Schousboe Interview

John Reynolds and Carmen Christopher in Never Change!, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 9, 2026.

FandomWire: John, you wrote the script in a way that is very chaotic and hectic. How did you manage to balance it to keep it exciting and zany, but also not go over the line into being too much?

John Reynolds: Something Marty and I talked about in the early development stages was making sure everybody’s emotional arcs were grounded in reality. We wanted to make sure they had a goal that would come to fruition with a satisfying conclusion. If we could keep the heart of those storylines, then all the ancillary humor could get as wild and crazy as we wanted.

I think it’s a throwback movie in the sense that big concept movies of the ’90s, like Jumanji, were like that. A kid gets sucked into a board game, which could be insane, but it’s emotionally grounded and kind of devastating. Also, the people we have in this movie are so skilled and have been doing comedy for such a long time that we could trust them. They know how to walk the line. The humor is absurd, but it’s self-aware. The vibe was just trying to make each other laugh.

FW: Marty, with a film like this, you have so many big comedic beats. When you were in the editing room, how did you decide when to cut things that might be good on their own, but not necessarily in the greater context?

Marty Schousboe: The post process in a lot of ways feels like murder. Writing the script is giving birth, making the movie is living, and then you have to kill all the things that you created. We knew we wanted to shoot more than we could fit into one movie to have opportunities to see what could be funnier. The initial cut of the movie was three hours long.

We had to cut it down to something reasonable, and then it’s a really difficult call between story flow and the funniest stuff. You just have to find the right balance between keeping things moving and having the funny things you want in there. Every scene and every line is its own discussion about what we want to keep and why. It’s really difficult and doesn’t feel good by the end, but then you’re done with the movie and you feel great.

FW: John, you wrote this movie, but you’re also starring in it. What is that process like? Do you ever have a really funny bit that you want to give to your character, or how do you separate writer John from actor John on set?

Reynolds: It wasn’t hard for me to let other people have material because I love the core cast. A lot of them are really good friends of mine, and I just trust them and think they’re funnier than me. In the writing process, there were some things I had initially written for myself in another context that I thought would be really good here. There is a big set piece Gary Richardson has in the movie that was a gag I originally wrote for myself for a Christmas short film. I realized it would be much funnier with Gary, and some people think it’s the best bit in the movie because he’s so incredible in it.

When I’m in a group scene, it’s hard to act and try to have a writer’s brain. But Marty knows me so well, and I’ve collaborated with him for so many years, so I just trust him. I go up to Marty after every single take and ask if I sucked or if I’m the worst part of the movie. He tells me he didn’t see a false note, which isn’t what I asked, but it’s a healthy process.

FW: Marty, when you’re on a set with this much energy and everyone ping-ponging off of each other, how do you work to maintain that lively energy without letting it go too far out there?

Schousboe: It’s a balance of uppers and downers. All the characters are grounded in some sort of real emotion, so it is sort of just asking people to play a feeling. We were also shooting on such a tight schedule that in those big group scenes, I would have to run to everybody between takes to give a little bit of feedback and try to get the energy going again. There’s a little bit of energy behind that just trying to keep things moving so we have an opportunity to shoot as much as possible.

Reynolds: Set-wise, keeping morale up was sort of easy because we were on location in Syracuse and everybody kind of knew each other. People were just chilling and hanging out, and they would come to set even when they weren’t shooting anything that day. That was helpful. If you’re shooting in New York City, people want to get out of there because they have dinner reservations. In Syracuse, nobody has a reservation.

FW: Every movie is a big challenge. What did you both take away from Never Change! that you’ll use in the future, whether writing or directing?

Schousboe: For me, this was the first time I was working with a budget this size. Truthfully, it was learning how to balance that out to try and give the right amount of money to each department to get everything we needed. That was a new logic problem that I haven’t experienced in this way before. I know a lot better how to do that now.

Reynolds: Time and money are so huge. Part of this was originally developed as a television show, so our starting world was so huge. Distilling everything down was its own challenge. Really understanding your limitations and figuring out what the funniest version of that is was a lesson I’ll carry with me for sure.

Never Change! is now streaming on Hulu.