Josh Gad and Alex Winter Discuss Their Blood-Splattered Nightmare ‘Adulthood,’ ‘Frozen 3,’ and ‘The Lost Boys’

Summary

• Alex Winter and Josh Gad bring Adulthood to TIFF with twists and dark comedy.
• Collider’s Steve Weintraub interviews the writer-director and star of the film about its various twists and turns.
• Making indie adult films is brutal now, but passion, clever financing, and festivals like TIFF keep them alive.

Family dysfunction gets a uniquely sharp edge in Adulthood, a comic neo-noir from actor-director Alex Winter. Known to generations for his iconic turn in the Bill & Ted films and to cinephiles for his acclaimed documentaries like Zappa, Winter brings that same irreverent energy to a narrative that’s equal parts twisted and hilarious. Written by Michael M.B. Galvin, the film pairs Kaya Scodelario and Josh Gad as siblings forced into an escalating spiral of bad decisions after stumbling on a dark secret buried in their childhood home.

In the film, Meg (Scodelario) and Noah (Gad) are already stretched thin when their sick mother suffers a stroke, leaving them to sort through the clutter that has accumulated over the family’s decades in the home. What the siblings discover hidden in the basement walls, however, sends their lives into chaos. With their father gone, and their mother incapacitated, Meg and Noah find themselves navigating a resentful nurse, a curious detective, and a sword-wielding cousin as they desperately try to keep the past buried. While the story begins as an attempt at damage control, it descends into a blood-splattered nightmare full of twists.

Winter and his cast brought Adulthood to the Toronto International Film Festival 2025, where they stopped by Collider’s Media Studio at the Cinema Center and spoke with Steve Weintraub about balancing humor and darkness in Adulthood. The pair also revisit their careers from The Lost Boys to Frozen, and what comes next for both stars, including Spaceballs 2 entering production and the future of Frozen 3 for Gad.

‘Adulthood’s Twists Will Keep Audiences Guessing

The film has fun with dark themes.

COLLIDER: I love watching things that have twists and turns that I do not see coming, and this is one of those movies. The audience will be like, “What the fuck?” But no one has seen it yet, so how have you been describing it to people?

ALEX WINTER: It’s a very dark comedy about the impossibility of being an adult in modern life. That’s really how I describe it.

JOSH GAD: That’s 100% accurate. It’s told through the prism of, like, a noir Coen Brothers-esque escapade in which one bad choice leads to doubling down again and again on a series of bad choices from which there’s no return.

WINTER: How quickly things can go wrong to more wrong in today’s world.

One of the things about the film, and I saw a number of films at TIFF this year that sort of deal with it, is about how you can be a good person and you could be put in a predicament where you do want to make the bad choice, because it’s the choice you have to make to protect your family. Can you talk about that aspect?

WINTER: The Coens and also even further back, like Hitchcock and the origins of noir. Noir was always sort of evolved out of this idea of someone who means well, who gets pulled into a dark situation. It’s a lot to do with fate and the complexities and travails of modern life. So the idea of being able to do that work with Josh and this incredible cast and mine the comedy of that — even when it gets pitch-black, it’s still funny — was really important to me because the themes are actually quite dark, but the genre itself allows you to have fun with it.

You guys both know this: it’s really hard to make a movie right now. It feels like it’s harder than it’s ever been. So how the F did you pull this one off?

GAD: It’s still shocking to me that we did. A., it’s harder to make movies now more than ever, but B., it’s almost impossible to make movies like this that are sort of quasi-independent films for grown-ups. But I think the script matched with this director was such a draw for all of us. When I received the script, I immediately called up my team, and I’m like, “This is my next project. I want to do this.” Part of it was that it was just such a batshit crazy story that spoke to me from a character perspective, but really, the other part was I’ve been obsessed with Alex as a documentarian forever. I’ve been obsessed with Alex as an actor forever, and the draw to get to work with him alongside such an extraordinary cast, including Billie Lourd, Kaya Scodelario, and Anthony Carrigan, was just like, “Yes. Sign me up today.” But it’s getting increasingly hard, and it makes festivals like TIFF that much more important now, because otherwise there really is no means by which an audience can discover these movies. It’s becoming increasingly difficult.

WINTER: I mean, I’ve been an independent filmmaker my whole life, and so I got to a point where I hadn’t made a narrative in a while. My docs are usually independent, even if they end up on HBO or wherever they get distributed, so I have a pretty good team at finding finance and building things. I wanted to make a manageable, small movie that was cash-driven, that was still cinematic. This genre is perfect for that. So we found a script, we developed it over time, got it to where we wanted, and then put a cast together. Josh was really helpful early on. The point is, it takes a village a little bit to get these things done. But I put it together the same way I put anything together, going back to the ‘90s with, like, foreign pre-sales, and just got very clever about it. My feeling is if you really want to make something and you’re willing to put the legwork in, it’s doable, but it has to make sense.

Was it Josh’s work in the 2008 hit The Rocker to getting cast in this?

WINTER: [Laughs] Well, I’ve been a Josh fan from the jump. I’m a theater person, so I love that stuff.

GAD: The Rocker’s been my calling card.

WINTER: It’s still you’re calling card! We all got copies of it on set.

GAD: Do you know what’s funny about The Rocker? It is a cult classic.

The reason why I brought it up is because the first time I interviewed Josh was for The Rocker. He doesn’t remember this. It was in 2008, Collider started in ‘05, and it was near the beginning of getting to do roundtable interviews or press conferences. I remember that, because what people don’t realize about The Rocker…

GAD: It’s an all-star cast.

It’s a fucking crazy cast! It is like a murderer’s row of talent that went on to huge things.

GAD: It’s wild. James Gandolfini, God bless his soul, used to call The Rocker his favorite film, which is such a crazy thing to attach to that movie. But it was. It was Emma Stone, Rainn Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Fred Armisen. It was nuts. It really was. Christina Applegate, Jane Lynch, Jeff Garlin. It’s just crazy. Aziz Ansari. It was nuts.

That’s what I mean. I’m glad I got to bring this up in this up.

GAD: Yes, that’s what led to me being cast in this.

WINTER: We were all disappointed he didn’t come in character, which is really what I was hoping for.

I understand that.

GAD: “Why do I need to learn to play the keys for this movie? It doesn’t really track.”

Alex Winter Reflects on ‘The Lost Boys’ Legacy

“I thought I was going to have a leather jacket and a Triumph.”

You’ve had such an amazing career in front of and behind the camera, but I just want to go backwards because I love The Lost Boys. How often do people want to talk to you about that film? Because when you’re making something, you really don’t know if it’s going to stand the test of time.

WINTER: That is a grand understatement.

So, you’re making The Lost Boys, and during the shoot, were you like, “Oh, this is going to be awesome. This is going to be something that people talk about decades later?”

WINTER: It’s a tricky thing because I started in the business very young. So, I would do shows or whatever, and I did Broadway shows as a kid, and some of them had a lot of gravitas attached to them, and you’re like, “This is going to be a hit,” and then you open in previews, and it’s a complete disaster, and everyone freaks out. [Laughs] You work, and you hopefully get it back to being a hit. So even when I did The Lost Boys, I knew that making things do well took incredible effort. But it’s a weird thing with Lost Boys. I was talking to Josh about this earlier. First, Marianne Dougherty cast me, who was a legend, so there was this whole sweep to the whole process that just felt a bit more special, but it was impossible to tell what the hell the movie was, even when you were acting in it. Like the script I had, I was a motorcycle-riding guy — they only auditioned people who rode — and I thought I was going to be looking like Brando in The Wild One, right? I thought I was going to have a leather jacket and a Triumph. And I get to wardrobe, and I’m getting ass-less leather chaps, and they’re taking me to makeup, and they’re blowing out my hair, and putting big stripes on my face. I’m like, “What did I sign onto? How do I get out of this movie? What am I singing on for?” [Laughs] The first night I got to Santa Cruz, my very first night stepping off into the thing was the night they were shooting Tim Cappello’s oiled-up sax scene on the beach, and I literally walked down to the beach to watch them shoot the scene, and I’m like, “Jesus H. Christ, what is this movie I’m even in?”

GAD: I would venture to say that that is the most quintessential 1980s sequence to this day, outside of Flashdance.

WINTER: To even watch it live was like tripping on acid. I mean, it was like, “What on God’s green earth?” But it was a weird thing because we didn’t know if the film would be good. We didn’t really even quite know what we were in, even though we trusted Joel [Schumacher] and his vision. But you knew you were in something special, and it’s probably the only thing I’ve ever done where I’ve felt that way, where I was like, “I don’t know how this will do, but it feels like we’ve just done something special.” Even when we did the Bill & Ted‘s, we were like, “No one’s ever going to see this shit, ever.” Keanu [Reeves] and I would laugh before a take, like, “Well, enjoy yourself, because no one’s ever going to see this besides the DP behind the camera, so it doesn’t matter what you do.”

GAD: Three films later…

That’s what I mean. I’ve spoken to so many people, and they’re making something, and they’re like, “Oh yeah, this is going straight to video or it’s going to be buried,” and then it becomes something. Let me give you a quick example: Lionsgate bought John Wick, and they were going to put it straight to DVD. I remember I went to a screening very only on…

WINTER: Did you go to Beyond Fest? Because I went to Beyond Fest. I went with Keanu to the Beyond Fest screening, and I was sitting next to him, and the audience went completely apeshit. It was like, “Okay. I think you’re going to be okay.”

So they bought it, and I went to a screening room at Lionsgate, and they showed it to four of us and some executives. I was halfway through the movie, and I remember thinking to myself, “What the fuck? This is incredible.” All I knew about it was Keanu plays a hitman, because there was nothing behind the movie, and I’m like, “This is amazing. This is incredible.” And then it became what it is.

WINTER: When you did Frozen, there are certain things that… You must’ve known.

GAD: I truly thought Frozen was going to be an afterthought. I really did. Because Disney hadn’t yet had that, like, second resurgence. Tangled did well. It did really well, but it was sort of still this kind of nebulous, like, “Will Disney movies ever reach the level of that second golden age of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King?” And I was just like, “Yeah, it’ll come out, people will like it.” It wasn’t until right after that first weekend when I started to hear people playing “Let It Go” in their cars and singing it that I was like, “What is going on here?” But you never really know.

WINTER: You really don’t.

GAD: Book of Mormon I thought was going to close two months in.

WINTER: That had such a labyrinthine ramp-up, too.

Think about Netflix right now and KPop Demon Hunters. It’s the exact same thing, the exact trajectory of Squid Game. They didn’t know what they had, they released it, and it became this fucking huge for the studio.

WINTER: Exactly.

GAD: The studio behind it was like, “Have it. Take it.” [Laughs]

The point is, you never know what audiences are going to get onto.

It’s Not Looking Good for Olaf in ‘Frozen 3’

Josh Gad shares an unfortunate update on the Disney threequel.

You brought up Frozen, and I know that you guys are working on another one right now. What can you tease people? Have you started recording? Have you heard songs?

GAD: We have not started recording. We have not heard songs yet. I was lucky enough to get sort of a preview of what the movie is, and it’s going to be worth the wait. It’s pretty extraordinary what they’re doing. Pretty extraordinary. For me, my whole thing was don’t do a sequel unless there’s a reason to do a sequel. If you have a story worth telling, then call us up and let’s do it. To Jennifer Lee’s credit, she really took that note and gave herself that note and has created something that’s going to be worth the wait.

I could be wrong about this, but aren’t there two Frozen movies?

GAD: That is above my pay grade. I think the plan, what they’ve announced, is that there is a Frozen 3 and 4 in the works. The story that I’ve been kind of previewed is the grandest story we’ve ever done, so I anticipate it’s going to be a little too much for one movie.

I think they’ve announced Frozen 3 and 4. In my opinion, when you do that, you can end on a cliffhanger. You know that the next one’s coming, so you can have a massive story and just cut it in two.

GAD: Well, when people see Olaf get assassinated, I think it’s going to raise a lot of questions that are going to have to be answered.

WINTER: Josh insisted that Frozen 4 have an entire Rocker theme.

GAD: Yeah. I want to go back to my roots. My calling card.

‘Spaceballs 2’ Is Finally Taking Flight

And it’s sooner than you might think.

You are getting ready to do Spaceballs 2. What can you tease people about the movie, which I honestly can’t believe is finally happening?

GAD: It’s so funny because every question about Spaceballs 2 is prefaced with that, and I have to be honest with you, I can’t believe it’s actually happening. I pitched it to Mel Brooks three years ago. The fact that we are at the end of pre-production… You’re the first person I’m telling this to: I’m leaving TIFF to fly to Australia to start shooting the movie. We’re shooting in Australia. Beyond that, I can’t say anything without getting legal Amazon representatives to knock on my door.

How much are you guys filming on soundstages, and how much are you filming on location? Are you a little bit concerned? Because nowadays, if you’re on location, people photograph or take video of so much stuff.

GAD: We’re always hypersensitive to that and aware of it. We’re going to do, I would say, an even mix that would probably represent what Mel did on the first film. Because it is a Star Wars-esque film, it requires some Vista shots, which we’re doing, and it requires some spaceship shots, which we’re doing. Along with my co-writers Dan [Hernandez] and Benji [Samit] and my brilliant director, Josh Greenbaum, we’ve immersed ourselves in not only all things Star Wars and all things pop culture, we have gone back to rewatch every Mel Brooks movie probably five times and just study not only Spaceballs, but study what quintessentially makes a Mel movie a Mel movie, from Young Frankenstein to Blazing Saddles to The Producers to Robin Hood Men in Tights. There’s a thing that makes those movies so distinctly unique. They are not Zucker, Zucker, Abrahams films, which are brilliant. They’re not Scary Movies, which are brilliant. They are Mel Brooks movies, and the characters in those movies are equally iconic to the genre that they are spoofing. Dr. Frankenstein and Igor are, I think, as iconic as the monster from the Universal film and Igor. So, we are really taking that to heart, with regard to not only our legacy characters, but the new characters that we’re introducing.

Thank you for that answer.

Alex, you are days away from being on Broadway with Keanu [Reeves].

GAD: Don’t do it, man.

WINTERS: I actually quit this morning.

GAD: It’s a lot of work.

For people who are just hearing about this, what can you tell people about the play and why you guys wanted to do it?

WINTER: Well, we’ve been wanting to find something to do that wasn’t Bill & Ted together for a while. We both come from theater. I spent my whole childhood on stage, and he’s done a lot of theater, so we both love the play and love that era of theater, the sort of absurdist theater of that period — ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s — so it was a great opportunity. Once Jamie Lloyd said yes, which was about three years ago, we actually started concepting and working on it three years ago. So we’ve had quite a bit of time to wrap our heads around this thing, which is a monster to do.

Are you doing eight shows a week?

WINTER: Eight shows a week until mid-January.

GAD: Do you guys have an intermission?

WINTER: We have an intermission. It’s built into the story, so you kind of have to have the intermission, which is a saving grace. But Jamie Lloyd is really brilliant. He’s every bit as deserving of his reputation, and it’s been a joy to work with him and the other cast members that we have. Brandon Durden and Michael Patrick Thornton are incredible, so I feel very grateful. We have a lot to do. Other than being here, I’m working seven days a week right now. So, it’s kind of all hands on deck.

Is this the wrong timing for TIFF?

WINTER: To Josh’s point, I spent many years putting this movie together and getting it up on its feet and making it, and being able to present it here, one of my favorite festivals in the world. I can’t say I’m anything other than very grateful to be at Thompson Hall and that massive screen in a couple of nights. We have amazing sound in this film, and I can’t wait to hear that sound there. So, no, I’m actually super excited.

GAD: I haven’t seen the film yet. I’m going to see it with an audience for the first time.

WINTER: Yeah, he doesn’t know that he’s actually not in it anymore.

GAD: I’ve been hearing murmurs that I’ve been cut out of it, so I’m very excited to just watch The Rocker on my iPhone.

WINTER: Kaya [Scodolario] watches The Rocker in a few scenes.

GAD: It’s an homage.

Josh Gad Has Heard Great Things About ‘Wonder Man’

Winter also reveals if there’s a possibility for more Bill & Ted.

We talked about it earlier. You’ve done so many good docs. Are you working on some now?

WINTER: Honestly, I am working on this movie and my play. It’s so important to me to launch this movie properly and to get it out. We’re going to be U.S. and Canada, and then we’re going to be in Europe a little later in the year. All of that takes work when it’s an independent film, and I like that and embrace all that. So, sort of platforming Adulthood and working on the play is literally all I’m doing at the moment.

[Josh], I think you’re at some sort of Marvel show. I think it’s called Wonder Man.

GAD: Am I allowed to comment on this? Marvel is another one I don’t want to cross. What can I say? I’m very excited about it, Wonder Man. I think it sounds like a great project. I love the sound of it. It looks cool.

WINTER: Very diplomatic.

I heard it turned out really well.

GAD: I have heard it’s phenomenal from numerous people, actually — not that I’m a part of it or not a part of it. But people very high up tell me that it’s a really, really, really brilliant series.

Every time I read the trades or look at social media, you work seven days a week, 24/7. You’re involved in so many things. What is it like for you? Because you have really won a lottery.

GAD: I have won the lottery. It’s the greatest gift on Earth. I get paid to play, and I don’t take it for granted. Like Alex right now, I am singularly focused on premiering this and getting Spaceballs up on its feet. That is truly my focus, and also working to prep the Chris Farley movie. But I’m always grateful that I get to do what I do, and I’m beyond grateful that I get to work with idols. Alex is literally one of the defining features of my childhood. Lost Boys was the first horror movie that I ever saw. Fuck my brothers for frightening me at such a young age. And it also introduced me to The Doors, one of my favorite bands. But I’m always pinching myself. I’m just grateful that I get to do this, that I get to work with exemplary people in their fields, and get to play with childhood toys, like Spaceballs.

Or like Bill & Ted toys.

GAD: Or like Bill & Ted toys. I’m begging him to put me in the fourth one. Just as, like, Napoleon or something.

WINTER: That’s a good idea.

Is there a possibility?

WINTER: There’s always a possibility.

GAD: Face the Music is a masterpiece. For those who have not yet watched it, it’s on Amazon. It is so good.

WINTER: Thanks. We worked our asses off on that movie, oh my God.

Is it Amazon that’s making Spaceballs?

GAD: Amazon owns MGM. MGM made the first Spaceballs. So we’re doing it with Amazon.

And it’s going theatrical.

GAD: It’s going theatrical. This script demands it. So, it is going theatrical, coming out in 2027.

WINTER: It’s exciting.

GAD: It was wild to see the response to just the dumb announcement that we did it. I’m so excited that people are so excited.

It’s one of those that I never thought there was going to be another one.

GAD: Neither did Rick [Moranis], neither did Mel, neither did Bill [Pullman]. Nobody did.

Adulthood releases in theaters on September 19. Check with Collider for more from TIFF 2025!

Special thanks to the partners Roxstar Entertainment and its Campari Cinema Center and Campari, who featured their signature festival red-carpet drinks, including the Campari Negroni and Campari Spritz. Also host venue, Discreta Toronto, and Oscar-winning visual effects (VFX) company, Rodeo FX as well as Lavazza Coffee, Vellamo mineral water, Santa Carolina’s Reserva Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, La Vieille Ferme Rosé and La Vieille Ferme Reserve Brut Sparkling, Peroni beer, and food catering by Miss Ivy Toronto @Cinemactr.