HIM is among the newest movies to hit the 2025 film schedule, and it is wild, to say the least. Helmed by Justin Tipping, the movie tells the story of a promising soccer participant who’s introduced with the chance to coach together with his idol following a serious profession setback. Nevertheless, sinister occasions regularly transpire and main secrets and techniques are revealed. Main the movie is up-and-coming actor Tyriq Withers, who stars reverse Marlon Wayans. Withers might not be a family identify (but), however Tipping had a eager cause for casting him as the principle character.
Whereas talking with SFX Journal on CinemaBlend, Tipping had a lot reward for his younger star, regardless of his relative obscurity within the leisure business. Whereas Hollywood is extra apt to faucet A-listers for giant film releases, Tipping believes selecting somebody newer to stardom was the suitable name as a result of it mirrored the journey of the protagonist, Cam, and his promising profession as knowledgeable athlete:
Tyriq was a super-intense soccer participant, who did one 12 months of highschool soccer in his senior 12 months. Off that 12 months, I feel he obtained provided a scholarship after which finally performed for Florida State soccer, which is among the finest soccer applications. So there was one thing grounding that he might convey to the character, like this might be the following nice but in addition convey humility to it.
Getting a scholarship supply to play at Florida State after only a 12 months of enjoying highschool soccer is spectacular, and it represents the kind of “freak athleticism” sports activities pundits would discuss relating to promising younger skills. It appears being an precise collegiate athlete gave Tyriq Withers perspective on the right way to play Cam. (Nevertheless, I doubt Withers ever needed to take care of something fairly like what occurs in HIM‘s bonkers ending.)
Withers can be pretty new to the world of movie and TV, together with his profession actually solely getting began with some credit from 2021. He nonetheless has a full profession forward of him and will presumably parlay his roles in HIM and I Know What You Did Final Summer time to land much more massive films within the coming years. Till then, he is nonetheless getting the lay of the land and apparently nonetheless getting used to being round well-known individuals as Justin Tipping continued:
He hadn’t been round celebrities, and this was the primary time he’s getting into that world of politics, egos and limelight. It made sense he was going to expertise that whereas making the film, so that you’re gonna see and really feel some very sincere reactions and performances.
Simply sharing the display screen with a legend like Marlon Wayans, who’s engaged on Scary Film 6 in the mean time, needed to be an absolute journey for an actor. Here is hoping Tyriq Withers was in a position to absorb data from Wayans on set in addition to his upbeat perspective relating to critiques from critics.
CinemaBlend’s evaluate of HIM was middling, and different critics weren’t too variety. Nevertheless, Marlon Wayans lately shared a wonderful tackle his newest movie. Wayans candidly famous that lots of his films have been trashed by pundits and later went on to realize followings. With that, lots of these options at the moment are considered as classics. With that, the comedian and actor inspired followers to see his scary sports activities movie for themselves.
With so few films mixing sports activities and horror below the identical umbrella, it is laborious to know the place the mainstream will land on HIM a 12 months from now, or possibly even a decade. Working example, I feel individuals look again way more fondly at Wesley Snipes and Robert De Niro’s The Fan than they did on the time, because the film ended up being a flop on the field workplace.
In any case, it is cool to listen to the logic behind Tyriq Withers being forged because the lead of HIM and that he was in a position to relate to the story by means of athletics. I would like to see Withers put his prowess to make use of in different sports activities films, as I am unable to assist however really feel there’s a relative lack of these sorts of flicks in Hollywood in comparison with after I was rising up.
HIM is enjoying in theaters now. Test it out, and likewise take a look at CinemaBlend’s listing of one of the best sports activities films, for anybody hungry simply to see cinema mashed up with athletics.