‘Adulthood’s Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario Celebrate the ‘High-Wire Act’ of the Neo-Noir Dark Comedy (Exclusive)

Alex Winter’s Adulthood is bringing a whole new meaning to having skeletons in your family’s closet.

Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario star as siblings Noah and Meg in the darkly funny neo-noir from director Winter, which made its premiere at TIFF on Thursday ahead of its theatrical premiere on Sept. 19.

When Meg and Noah uncover a long-buried corpse in the walls of their childhood basement following the death of their mother, what starts as a cover-up attempt spirals out of control as Billie Lourd and Anthony Carrigan’s characters add to the chaos.

Ahead of the film’s premiere, the cast opened up to PopCulture.com about walking the “high-wire act” that is Adulthood‘s darkly funny tone and embracing the weirdness where they could.

Comparing Adulthood‘s vibe to that of a Coen brothers film, Gad said the film was able to “effortlessly” mix “existential dread” with dark comedy.

“As an actor, I’m drawn to things that are a challenge, and I think there’s nothing more challenging than the high-wire act that this movie tonally presents,” the Frozen star explained. “In some scenes, you get to be ridiculously funny — it almost feels like a farce. And in other scenes, you’re dealing with pretty consequential stuff that I think is very hard to tap into unless you’re completely honest and present. So getting to play those flavors was a dream come true, especially opposite Kaya.”

Scodelario agreed, saying that when she first read the script, she thought, “I’ve missed this world of just throwing myself into something that’s a little bit unknown.”

For Lourd, who joked that she was “obsessed” with Winter “in a non-creepy way,” being approached by the director to play Adulthood’s antagonist was also a breath of fresh air.

“When I read the script, I was initially like, ‘Wow, OK, like you see the darkness in me. I’m maybe offended.’ But then I realized, no, this is a beautiful thing to see darkness in me,” she told PopCulture. “Because it was the most fun character I’ve ever gotten to play. I love being the villain. I’ve never really gotten to be the villain in this capacity.”

Carrigan is no stranger to genre-bending comedies, but the Barry actor was nevertheless excited to embrace his braces-wearing, sword-wielding character Bodie while reuniting with his Bill & Ted Face the Music co-star Winter.

“We just had such a fun time on that movie, and we had just a lot of chemistry,” he told PopCulture. “I think the seed was planted there that we knew we wanted to work with each other in some capacity, and when Alex sent me the script and told me about the character, I was like, this couldn’t be more perfect. It’s right up my alley. I love dark comedy. I love how twisted it is.”

Carrigan added of working with Winter, “He’s also not afraid to just get weird. And he leans into the weirdness, which is really refreshing. Because I think that’s something that a lot of people would kind of, I don’t know, shy away from or want to be cool. And Alex is like, ‘No, let’s just get weird.’”

Adulthood opens in select theaters on September 19 and is available to stream on digital on September 23.