EXCLUSIVE: Nico Santos Talks Facial Expressions & His New Movie, ‘Happiness for Beginners’

Netflix has dropped their new romantic comedy, Happiness for Beginners today July 27. Based on novel by Katherine Center, BeautifulBallad had the amazing opportunity to chat with one of the stars of the film, Nico Santos.

During our chat, we talked how he became attached to the movie, how he resets, his character, working with Ellie Kepmer, and so much more. Check out what he had to say below.

How did you become attached to the film?
“I was approached by the director and it was this project that she wanted to talk to me about and she told me what the whole story was. Then she started telling me about Vicky Wight, our wonderful writer director who wrote the script and adapted it from Catherine Center’s awesome novel. She told me about this character, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that sounds very interesting.'”

How does Hugh differs from the book version”

“In the novel, Hugh was a marathon runner, I believe. I was like, ‘Well, I’m not obviously a marathon runner,’ especially because when we filmed this more than a year ago and I was still in the midst of my pandemic body. I was like, ‘No one’s going to believe I’m a marathon runner, honey.’ So we were able to really tweak the character a little bit and adapt it in certain ways.”

You get to work with Ellie Kemper in this movie, what was that like?

“Obviously I found out that Ellie Kemper was involved and I was like, ‘Yes, I don’t care what it is, I will gladly do this film.’ I’ve always wanted to work with her. Such a huge fan of her.”

What about working with the movie’s director, Vicky Wight:?”

Vicky was such a great collaborator and she really was open to all the comedic beats that I had ideas for, and she was just like, ‘Yeah, just do it. And if we can’t use it, we can’t use it. But feel free to play’, which is my favorite way of working whenever I’m on a set. Just having that little bit of freedom to just, ‘I know, let’s do the scripted take, and this is why you all hire me, is for the comedic relief. So I just have an idea, can we play with it and just see if it works? If not, you could totally throw it away, but I just want to see’, and it’s always wonderful working with people who are open to that.”

You character has some of the best facial expressions in this movie. Did you rehearse those expressions prior to shooting?

“No. People always make comments about my facial expressions. I don’t know when that imprinted on my performance style. Even as a kid, some of my relatives would say, ‘What’s that face? What?’ and I would say, ‘Nothing. I didn’t say anything.’ I guess I’ve always had that in me. So sometimes I just can’t help it. I guess, now that I think about it, I am that type of person who has no poker face whatsoever. If I meet somebody and they’re doing something weird or I think they’re weird, I’m just like, ‘I’m going to let them know without saying a word.’ I think it’s just my natural instinct and it seems to work so people really like it.”

Filming on this movie was done predominantly outdoors, what was that like?

“Oh my gosh. It was amazing. Dealing with the elements is very tough. I got this really bad chest cold at some point because we were just out in the middle of the elements this entire time.”

Did filming outside impact your ability to hand with the cast?

“I think what was really wonderful is that, you couldn’t have the trailers near where we were filming because it’s nature. So in between shots, they had this very nice sort of pop-up tent set up where we just propped our chairs around. So the cast would just be around each other 13, 14 hours a day. It really gave us a chance to just really get to know each other, and if people wanted to be just chill and not talk, they could, but there was something about just being around each other for that long throughout the entire day that we really bonded as cast. We’re still all very close to this day. We’re still in the text chain. It just made for a very different filming experience because usually, when you’re working film, people are just like, ‘I’ll be in my trailer, call me when we’re ready.’ But we were just all up on each other the entire time, which was great. It felt like summer camp.”

Would you consider yourself an outdoor person now?

“I love nature. I do. I love nature. Take me to a mountain, a beach, a desert. I love it. What I don’t like is roughing it. It is 2023, the year of our Lord. There is no need to be pooping in the woods and wiping your butt. My fiancé loves to joke that I love to enjoy nature within the confines of a Ritz-Carlton, which is truly the way I love to enjoy nature. But yeah, I love being surrounded by beautiful scenery, but just there’s no need for discomfort. You can enjoy nature without punishing yourself.”

This movie is all about resetting, how do you reset:

“The previous interview I just did the interviewer said something really insightful that I was like, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ He said, the only way to find yourself is to sort of get lost, which sort of pertains to this movie. I really do. So sometimes I love going for a long walk in my neighborhood and just getting lost. Zoning out is something I love to do. Watching Netflix and Chill, just escapism and watching something that you can watch for just four hours straight and you can just be like, ‘I just need to zone out for a second.’ Or playing video games or baking. I baked a lot. That’s very zen for me. I can just focus on the measuring and the mixing and the steps and all that.”

What do you hope viewers will take away from the movie?

“People should see the movie just because it is a darn great film. Listen, I love the cast. I think the cast is wonderful. I think speaking from my character’s perspective, Hugh is somebody who, as he says in the film, took a wrong turn somewhere and he’s trying to find his way back. I think people will just see a lot of themselves in all these different characters that are in the movie because it’s such a great ensemble too. But in Ellie’s character and in my character, we’ve all experienced being lost and confused these past few years, it’s been hard for everybody. So I think if you’ve just had that feeling of, ‘I don’t know what to do next, I don’t know what my next move is,’ I think this is a great film to just watch and see how somebody navigates that journey. And maybe you can find your own answers by watching somebody’s journey like that.”

Happiness for Beginners is now out on Netflix.

Photo credit: Barbara Nitke/Netflix

*Interview was completed in June 2023, prior to the SAG Strike. It has been edited for length and clarity*