BTL Radio Show – 08/10/2026 with writer/director/actor REED ARNOLD discussing DO US PART

 

 

 

Sorry we didn’t have a BEHIND THE LENS show for you last week due to unforeseen circumstances, but I’m back this week with a fun interview with a very affable, engaging, funny, and talented director, writer, and actor REED ARNOLD as we talk about his feature directorial debut DO US PART.

A fun, fun rom com, filled with a lot of heart, terrific performances, and some great physical comedy, DO US PART is the perfect relaxing summer entertainment.  And for those of you in New York City, the film just opened in theatres on Friday the 7th.  For those of you in LA, it opens this Friday the 14th.  And for everyone in between, it will also be available On Demand on the 14th, as well.

There are romantic comedies that aim for a chuckle, and then there are the rare ones that leave you, as I told Reed, laughing yourself silly.  DO US PART comfortably lands in the latter category. Yes, it carries shades of My Best Friend’s Wedding in its DNA, but Reed gleefully cranks everything “to the nth degree with comedy,” layering in rapid-fire dialogue, intricate physical set pieces, and a surprisingly heartfelt third act that refuses to let go of the laughs even as it leans into genuine emotion.

On what should be the happiest day of his life, Ryan’s wedding is thrown into chaos when Rose, his best friend from college—and the woman who has secretly loved him for years—arrives uninvited, determined to finally tell him how she feels. As old emotions resurface, Ryan’s best man, Mark, finds himself scrambling to keep a web of long-buried secrets from detonating before the couple can say “I do.”

Starring Travis Laughlin as our groom Ryan, Reed Arnold as Ryan’s best man and long time best friend Mark, and Kelly Russo as Rose, the third prong in this collegial friendship, the dynamic between the three is seamless, palpable, and beyond believable.  But beyond that, their individual and collective acting talents with comedic timing – both in dialogue and physical comedy – is superb.  As I told Reed, Kelly has shades of Lucille Ball in her performance as Rose.

As writer and director, Reed delivers a clean, sharply defined concept. While the film’s freewheeling banter and screwball energy feel spontaneous, he built them on a premise he hadn’t quite seen before, even in the well-trodden realm of wedding-set rom-coms.  And this began as a very successful stage play in North Hollywood, California before Reed ultimately decided to turn it into a film.

And with turning it into a film, came the considerations of expanding the story and making everything cinematic.  Luckily he turned to Nic Vannatta as his cinematographer.  Nic delivers a film that looks far more expensive than it actually was, something Reed credits to Nic’s mastery of “lighting,” “framing,” and “lenses,” and the way he deployed those tools to carve out distinct visual worlds of a bright but slightly stark wedding day balanced against soft, nostalgic college flashbacks.  The visual grammar is clean, sharp, visually interesting, and beautiful, with camera placement and framing to mirror the emotional journey of the characters, and is quite often very metaphoric.

As you’ll hear in this interview, Reed delves into his processes taking this story to the stage and then to the screen both in expanding the story and then working with Nic Vannatta to develop the visual tonal bandwidth and visual grammar, working with his cast – notable is that Reed, Travis and Kelly all met in acting class many years ago, the high energy score and the work by Josh and Stephen Tackett with the music and with the sound design, the editing, and of course, Reed wearing all those hats and answering the big questions – would director Reed ever work with actor Reed again and vice versa…..

So, take a listen and enjoy the fun and insight from writer/director/actor REED ARNOLD into DO US PART.

DO US PART is currently in select theatres in New York, with an LA select theatre opening on August 14th as well as being available On Demand.

 

And don’t forget to check out www.behindthelensonline.net for more interviews and reviews!  A good one for all you cash-strapped, lo budget/no budget/microbudget indie filmmakers to take a gander at is my interview with Ryan Johnson, Founder and Head Fabricator of NEW RULE FX. If you need it breakable, bloodied, dirtied, stunt safe and hero worthy props and fabrications, NEW RULE FX is the place for you. Check out the interview and then check in with Ryan Johnson and NEW RULE FX!

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