Theo Rossi on Bruton and Disappearing Into His Latest Roles

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For Theo Rossi, Bruton was the kind of project he knew he wanted to pursue almost immediately. After first discovering the script while working on Come With Me, he was drawn to the opportunity to explore Brian’s story over more than a decade of his life and the gradual changes that come with it.

Having the real Brian closely involved with the film gave Rossi a unique way into the role. As the two got to know each other, Rossi began to recognize qualities in Brian that felt surprisingly familiar, particularly his constant energy and need to keep moving.

“When you have that kind of manic energy for life, it could be a detriment, but it could also be a real blessing.”

For Brian, that energy could lead him in completely different directions depending on where he put it. Earlier in his life, it contributed to some of his worst decisions. But over time, it became part of what helped him adapt to his circumstances and continue looking ahead.

“He never made his situation his existence.”

That mindset became particularly important because Rossi and director Vincent Grashaw never saw Bruton as simply a prison movie. Brian’s incarceration provides the setting, but his changing relationship with himself and his daughter became much more important to how they approached the story.

For Rossi, that meant playing someone who doesn’t arrive at accountability all at once. Brian gradually begins to recognize the impact of his choices and the “shrapnel and ramifications” they’ve left behind, eventually reaching a point where continuing as the same person no longer feels possible.

“I’m either going to die this person or I’m going to become something different.”

Rossi could also relate to Brian’s instinct to find a way forward when the obvious path wasn’t available. He entered the entertainment industry without connections, starting as an extra and learning early in his career that sometimes the only opportunity is the one you create yourself.

That experience came full circle with Bruton. Rossi became determined to help get the film made and ultimately joined the project as both an actor and producer.

“No one was going to give me this movie. I could never get in this movie unless I made it.”

Playing Brian brought its own practical challenges. The film covers more than a decade of his life but was shot on a tight independent production schedule, meaning Rossi might jump between completely different stages of the character from one day to the next.

Hair, makeup, and wardrobe helped keep that timeline organized, but much of the transformation came through physicality. Rossi changed how Brian walked, held his shoulders, and carried himself depending on where he was emotionally.

At his lowest point, everything became more closed off. Baggy clothing helped make him appear physically depleted, while Rossi pulled his posture inward to reflect a man beginning to break down.

“That’s him at his most defeated. That’s him before the comeback.”

Brian’s relationship with his daughter gave Rossi another anchor throughout those shifts. Because the two spend much of the film apart, their connection couldn’t depend entirely on the scenes they shared. Rossi instead carried the idea that Brian’s choices were increasingly shaped by the person he wanted his daughter to remember.

That internal motivation helped keep the relationship present, even when she wasn’t.

Rossi also credits Grashaw with creating an environment where he could fully commit to those choices. The director came to the project with a clear visual plan but wasn’t afraid to experiment when a scene called for something different.

During Brian’s breakdown in solitary confinement, Grashaw and cinematographer Cole Graham sprayed water directly onto the camera lens to distort the image, an approach Rossi had never encountered in more than two decades on set.

That trust gave him the freedom to focus entirely on the performance.

“High trust equals high performance.”

Rossi’s other recent projects, including The Saviors, Come With Me, and The Penguin, offer a wider look at the process behind that performance.

Despite making several of them within a relatively short period, Rossi actively searches for ways to keep each character separate. Sometimes that begins with major physical changes, but often it’s something much smaller: a different walk, dialect, wardrobe, posture, or way of interacting with other people.

His character in The Saviors, for example, required a very different approach from Brian. Rossi viewed him as something of a psychologist, carefully reading other people and adjusting himself accordingly while keeping his true intentions just out of reach.

“Every acting performance is a magic trick.”

Whether the transformation is obvious or nearly invisible, Rossi ultimately wants the character, not the actor, to be what audiences remember.

“I don’t ever want anyone to see me in a role. I don’t want them to know who I am.”

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