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Chris Briney is swapping the familiar sands of the Fisher beach house in The Summer I Turned Pretty for the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip in the upcoming season of Hacks. His enthusiasm for the new role is palpable.
**Warning: Spoilers ahead for Hacks Season 5, Episode 3, available now on HBO Max**
Having portrayed Conrad Fisher for three seasons on the Prime Video hit, Briney is venturing into uncharted territory alongside Deborah Vance, played by Jean Smart. In this Emmy-winning comedy, he takes on the character of Nico Hayes, a tattooed international pop sensation who bears a resemblance to Harry Styles. Nico’s immediate fascination with Deborah mirrors Briney’s own attraction to the show, despite the requirement for him to sing.
“It’s Hacks—how could you possibly turn that down?” Briney remarked to DECIDER, expressing his willingness to overcome his well-known reluctance to sing for the opportunity to appear in one of the most acclaimed comedies in recent history. Notably, Briney also appeared in the 2024 Mean Girls movie-musical, despite initially skipping auditions that demanded singing performances. For Hacks, he embraced the challenge.
Briney admitted to DECIDER that the singing scenes were filmed last, minimizing the risk of recasting. “I thought, ‘Once we get to that point, I’ll deal with it then,'” he explained, even confessing to the casting director that he could sing, with a playful nod to the adage, “Fake it till you make it.”
As for finding his inner Harry Styles and getting in character to make out with Jean Smart — a kiss he tells DECIDER will go down “in the history books” for him — the actor spilled all the details on stepping into this world and getting to play in the sandbox with the cast and crew behind his favorite show.
To read all about his transformation, his hopes for getting to do more comedy in the future, and yes, getting to share some passionate on-screen kisses with Smart, check out DECIDER’s full interview with The Summer I Turned Pretty alum below.
DECIDER: Let’s start with this, we know that Nico is a huge fan of Deborah, you seem to be a fan of Hacks, how did this happen for you?
CHRIS BRINEY: I mean, hard not to be a fan of Hacks in this day and age. I think I came to the party a little bit late, all my friends were like, ‘Oh, this show is so good,’ and maybe second or third season I turned it on and I was like, ‘All right, I gotta watch. It was like Succession. I didn’t start at Season 1, but at the time I turned it on, I was like, ‘This is my new identity.’ I’m a big fan of the show and the job came about super quickly. I had a Zoom audition and I was like, super rushed. I got home, I hopped on a Zoom, and they were like, “Do you sing?” And I was like, “Yes.” Fake it till you make it. We read a few scenes and times ended up working out, and then I was in Vegas with them for a few weeks with them. Super weird, super cool.
You’ve said in the past that you’re not a singer, pretty famously, actually. What made you say yes to this?
It’s Hacks, how do you say no to that? If you have an opportunity to do an episode of one of the greatest comedies of the past however many decades, you do it, you figure it out. Thankfully, that’s the last thing to shoot, so it would be hard to recast me. I was like, “By the time we get there, I’ll figure it out when I have to.”
What did you think of [the song] Summer Squash?
Yeah, it’s great. I mean, it’s a good nod to other pop songs we may know. I think it tracks with like sort of who he is and it was fun to record. I haven’t heard the version with my vocals keyed in. It was cool, I’ve never recorded a song and they take it seriously.
Have you gotten to see the episode yet?
Not yet, not yet. I don’t always love watching myself anyway, so. And I think I’ll have to because it’s, I don’t know, it’s sort of a dream show to be on, but so far I’m just I’m taking people’s word for it.
Well, you are great and the inspirations to a certain pop star are certainly there. How much agency and guidance did the team give you on that and bringing him from page to screen?
I played a lot of it off the page, and I think in comedy, a lot of it lives in the room. I did my share of work, I usually do like journaling and stuff and I had the question from day one, I was like: Who is this guy? Is it Mick Jagger or Harry Styles? And I think my answer is more that he’s sort of like a blend of a bunch of these guys. He has sort of like an old rock and roll kind of swagger, but he’s got that young but lived-life feel that a lot of these younger pop stars have now have had to deal with. Just with the early rise and all that stuff that comes with being young and famous.
Considering that you might know a thing or two about that, especially the crazy paparazzi bit, how did you relate to this character?
I mean, I think that that’s pretty accessible in a lot of ways. Like, I value my privacy and I respect that. He values his privacy. And I think a big key to at least his character in this episode is, is that he wants to be able to live his life without interruption. And he’s found a way to do that, and he’s found mechanisms and put them, you know, like when he rents out the restaurant like this, like we’re going to have privacy and I have the money to, like, give us this privacy and the way that that’s sort of shattered by outside forces, I think. I think it’s really hard because he’s like, “No, I’ve worked to live this private life and I’ve worked to enjoy my privacy.”
I have to say, I absolutely love it when someone who’s part of a huge project that is like a cultural phenomenon breaks out of that and does something — and don’t take this the wrong way — a little bit weird. Something unexpected, something fun. And I feel like you did that here.
That makes me happy to hear, I love the weird shit.
Okay, good. Does this open the door for you to explore more comedy? You’re really funny.
I would love to. Yes, give me the job and I’ll go crazy. No, I was thinking about it — I think about it a lot, actually, — I grew up loving comedy, and I think a lot of the movies my dad raised me on were old comedies, and it’s just a joy to work in that space. And the set they have for Hacks, it’s just creative and collaborative and fun and they’re there for the weird, you know?
Yeah, and it’s so fun to watch, especially that first scene where Nico notices Deborah. There was instant magnetism. What was it that clicked for him?
I think it’s sort of that he just sees her being her and sees her being unapologetic. I think those are things that Nico admires, and it’s exactly why wires get crossed by the end of the episode, because he probably places some sort of expectations on her. But I think he just sees her being cool as fuck and he’s like, “You’re just you. And like, you’re owning your space.” And obviously, he’s keyed into at least some of the lure of Deborah Vance. It seems easy for me, too, because her whole career is based on her being her. And I see Nico as a character who’s just trying to be himself, and he admires that.
When you first got the audition, how much of it was described for you? Did you know you would be making out with Jean Smart from the jump?
No, I didn’t I didn’t know that until I read the script, at least that explicitly. All I had were like the two dinner scenes if I’m remembering correctly, but they didn’t go as far as like the kisses. I read the script and I was like, “This is a great episode of TV. It’s really funny.”
And how was it getting to work with Jean in that way?
She’s a fucking legend, dude. She’s so sweet and she took so much time to just chat and be a warm person, you know? I guess I expected to come into a show on its fifth season and, you know, sit in my chair and go when they call me, and that’s fine. I have no problem with that. But she made the time to just sort of like sit and chat. And it helped a lot to just feel like I was a part of it, instead of just visiting for a few days.
I talked with Jen, Paul, and Lucia and we’re worried some of your fans might just be tuning in for your episode. Please take this opportunity to make the case for watching the show.
No, start season one, episode one. It’s one of the most important shows out there and one of the funniest shows of all time. I mean, if there’s a list of comedy TV shows, you could argue it’s probably fucking top five. It’s so good and the performances speak for themselves and it’s just so fresh and it’s so funny, there’s nothing better. So do not just tune into one episode. That’s ridiculous. That’s ridiculous. You’ll miss out on five seasons of laughs.
Chris, I’ll wrap with this really quickly. I don’t think it’s any competition: Is Jean Smart your number one kiss of all time?
[Laughs] Jean is a fucking legend, dude. She’s one of the sweetest. That’s one for the history books.
The first three episodes of Hacks Season 5 are now streaming on HBO Max. New episodes premiere Thursdays at 6 p.m. PST.
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