Photo: Instagram
How does someone stay off social media for so long?
By Leah Scher — Written on May 19, 2019
We don't mean "doesn't check or update his accounts that frequently." We mean he literally didn't have an Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook account before The Society. Either that, or he was just really good at staying under the radar. This cute and multi-talented 20-year-old Skidmore College grad who writes, directs, acts and sports a high pony tail (let me make this clear, it is not not a mun) only made one in response to some positive peer pressure from the internet (read: fans as well as Netflix) in light of his breakthrough role and growing popularity. So what do we know about him and this new show? And who is Jack Mulhern? And wait, he is 20 and already done with college?! Hmmm...maybe we understand the lack of social media accounts now.
1. Jack Mulhern plays Grizz in Netflix's recent release 'The Society'
The latest must binge Netflix series just premiered on May 10, 2019. According to IMDb, this is Mulhern’s first successful professional acting gig. He was set to play Tyler Locker in the Hulu pilot Locke and Key in 2017, but show ended up not being picked up. Although Netflix has plans to produce the show, his role has since been recast. Which is honestly fine, because Mulhern/Grizz was so well-received that…
2. Pressure from fans convinced Mulhern to finally get an Instagram
The star was either off the grid or hiding under a pseudonym beforehand, but after much peer-pressure (even from the Instagram accounts for Netflix and The Society), he finally gave the public what it wanted.
That was his first post of a grand total of two, and he already has 83.5 followers as of 9:00 AM Friday morning. So…who is this guy exactly?
3. He's a 2017 graduate of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York
And honestly, that’s pretty much all we know about him, except for where he went for college, what he studied there (theater), and a few of his other interests besides acting. And that he is 20 and just finished college, I mean...come on...how?
He’s developed himself as a writer and director according to an interview he did at Skidmore. He discussed his experience producing his own original work — a multimedia project called Adore. In the interview, he said: “I had all these moving parts in my head, and so before we even got in the room, the actors were in the dark. I would film a scene and that would raise questions about how another narrative set piece comes into play. I would write to connect the two. So then, when I would rehearse a staged scene, the actors had no idea where it was going to fit contextually, because the media wasn’t complete. So when we finally got in the room, the actors were brought in on it all at once. Still, it’s felt very fluid.”
4. 'The Society' is like a modern-day Lord of the Flies.
Adopting a very Nietzsche-esque mindset, Producer Christopher Keyser had the thought one day that was something along the lines of: “Wow, how did society get here? And is this the best we could’ve done?” Then he roped in director and fellow producer Marc Webb (director of 500 Days of Summer) to help him channel his existential crisis onto the screen. The result is The Society, an entertaining and thought-provoking piece of art. The plot is reminiscent of teen sci-fi serials and that one episode of Jimmy Neutron where the alien species called Yolkians kidnap all the parents in the town, leaving fake notes on everyone’s refrigerators to tell the kids that they’ve gone to to Florida for an “extended vacation” while simultaneously Carl, Jimmy, and Sheen wish on a shooting star for no more parents so they could be free and have fun forever. Do you remember that? Is it just me? OK, then...
5. Back to 'The Society...'
Similarly, the wealthy town of West Ham in The Society ships the local high schoolers off to the nearby mountains of New England to wait out an investigation and, upon their return, they find that the town is empty. In a slight twist from Jimmy Neutron’s world, not only are the adults gone for good, but the town itself is somehow physically cut off from civilization. From here, the sci-fi undertones drop and the LOTF overtones kick into gear as the students attempt to build a new civilization.
“My real desire,” Keyser explained over the phone to Time magazine: “is to do something that feels like a kind of roller-coastery entertainment but then suddenly makes you ask questions that you didn’t think you were going to ask.” He continued: "Viewers will find themselves agonizing over teenage love triangles, then weighing opposing views on socialism, criminal justice or gun ownership." Frequent shocking twists allow The Society to, as Keyser puts it, “talk about big things in a way that is fun.”
Leah Scher is an ENFP finishing her degree at Brandeis University. She's an alumna of the Kenyon Review Young Writer's Workshop the Iowa Young Writers' Studio. She's passionate about Judaism, poetry, film, satire, astrology, spirituality, and sexual health. She draws inspiration for her writing from writer/director Wes Anderson, and for her lifestyle from her grandmother. Lastly, she's always actively seeking two things: a job having anything at all to do with publishing, and a chance to meet Jesse Eisenberg.