EXCLUSIVE: Bryan Greenberg Gushes Over Wife Jamie Chung, Dishes on 'Ambitious' Indie 'A Year and Change'
How much can a person’s life change in one year?
Bryan Greenberg explores that question in the new indie film, A Year and Change, a romantic drama following a man's journey over the course of 12 months after a near-death experience at a New Year’s party forces him to make some changes in his life: less drinking, more living.
“At the beginning of the movie, he’s pretty broken,” Greenberg told ETonline of his character, who is divorced and has an estranged son. “He’s lost his way and he falls off the roof on a drunken mistake. He looks around him and he realizes he doesn’t like his life and he wants to make a change. It’s a year in this guy’s life trying to better himself, trying to better his community and better his family and better his friends.”
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“It’s pretty ambitious with what it’s trying to cover. This is asking a lot for the audience,” he later added.
The film marks a natural progression in Greenberg’s career, which has seen the 37-year-old actor weave seamlessly in and out of film (Friends With Benefits, Prime) and television (One Tree Hill, How to Make It in America). But, Greenberg admits, indie films are where his true heart lies.
“I gravitate toward independent films. They satisfy me as a viewer and as an actor, so this was right up my alley,” he said of his latest project, which he also produced. “There’s an equalizing factor because no one’s getting paid. Everyone’s kind of in it for the love. Everyone’s rolling up their sleeves and making it happen.”
Greenberg spent three weeks getting deep into character on the East Coast in late 2013 for A Year and Change. The condensed timeframe presented a unique challenge and allowed for pleasant surprises. Greenberg pointed to one particularly “intense” scene between him and co-stars T.R. Knight and Marshall Allman.
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“It’s hard because you have to live within that world to make it work, but it’s also exhilarating because the sparks are flying,” he said.
A Year and Change also marked an opportunity for Greenberg and Jamie Chung, whom he married on Halloween, to work together professionally. (They also star in the upcoming romance Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong.) Though Chung only worked a day on the film, Greenberg spoke highly of his new wife. Watch an exclusive sneak peek of the couple above.
“This was [Jamie] coming in one day and stealing every scene she was in,” Greenberg marveled. “She was so awesome and so funny.”
The Omaha, Nebraska native was still in wedded bliss when he spoke to ETonline less than two weeks after marrying Chung, and Greenberg admitted he’s still getting used to being a married man.
“It’s weird!” Greenberg said with a chuckle. “It’s weird to have a wife, but it’s cool. I’m still coming down from the week.”
A Year and Change is available on DVD and VOD on Tuesday.