CRUEL SUMMER’S ALLIUS BARNES ON FULFILLMENT ON AND OFF THE JOB

BY CLARA SEELY-KATZ

ALLIUS BARNES is cool. Or at least, that is the word I used to describe him during our conversation one Tuesday morning. Of course, he modestly brushed aside my compliment, but I stand by it. From his effortless fashion sense that parallels his character Vince from Cruel Summer (currently streaming on Freeform and Hulu) to his generally relaxed manner, Barnes is the quintessential young bright star, bound only for good things.

As Cruel Summer grows in popularity, so is young Barnes (twenty-two), but this is not by any means his first role on a popular television series - you might recognize him from his various parts in shows like Sam and Cat or Mellissa and Joey, even Pen15.

Before asking Barnes the more common questions regarding his life and the show he is starring in right now (Cruel Summer), I wanted to ask him some simple questions about himself to learn a little more about Allius person, not just the actor.

Favorite Color?

Green.

Favorite Movie?

Kill Bill.

The mountains or the sea?

The mountains.

And if you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Rice and peas.

Since I share three out of four of his answers with him, I was immediately intrigued and simultaneously worried that he might be a mind reader (spoiler: he isn't, we just both have great tastes).

He laughed through my barrage of miscellaneous questions and the more in-depth portion of our interview began:

Now that that is out of the way, can you tell me where you are from? And also, how you started acting?

I'm from Los Angeles, and I was born and raised here. I started acting by doing musical theater at a performing arts conservatory named “AGC” when I was around 7 years old. I then went to what is now unofficially known as "Grand Arts High School," but when I went, it was called "LA High School Number Nine." From there, it just spiraled. I started auditioning for television and film at the age of 11.

And what have been the most rewarding and challenging parts of being a young actor?

The most challenging is staying fulfilled in life when you're not on set. For me, finding fulfillment outside of the work is the most challenging. The most rewarding would be how you grow more spiritually and more mature a lot quicker in life. I feel being an actor has made me a lot wiser for sure. As an actor, you have all these different experiences while playing a part, even if you're not experiencing those things in your own life. I like to think that our experiences are what shape us, real or acted.

If you weren’t acting, what do you think you would be doing?

It would have definitely been something to do with design. I am interested in designing houses, architecture, something like that. I really do love it. But being an architect is something you have to go to school for, and me and school just don’t really connect. So, if not designing houses in terms of building them, probably something along the lines of interior design.

Back to acting, how was your experience filming Cruel Summer during the pandemic? Was it especially hard with all of the rules/restrictions on set?

At first, it was challenging, but over time it started to become the new normal. I don't know if anyone ever got used to it one-hundred percent, but it got to the point where I would forget to take my mask off while shooting. It wasn't the most important thing, but it took a lot of getting used to. It seems like just when you're starting to get used to it, it changes, though, and now restrictions are loosening.

Yeah, that is true! It totally feels odd not to wear a mask to certain places now.

For sure.

What was your favorite part about filming Cruel Summer?

The collaboration. This show is the most collaborative project that I've ever experienced working on, as far as working with the directors and executives. Everyone was pretty looped in with each other. Usually, as an actor, we're the last to know something or the last to have our input on something taken seriously. But in this project, with this budget, everything was so cool and collaborative.

They allowed you to give input on your characters?

Yes, exactly. For example, Froy Gutierrez’s character Jamie Henson speaks Spanish in the show [Cruel Summer]. That wasn't in the script before he mentioned something about it, and it was in the draft the next day, which is something that is generally rare.

I wanted to know if you felt like you shared any similarities to your character, Vince from Cruel Summer? And if so, what are they?

He's just pretty wholesome. His personality type is definitely a mediator, he just wants everyone to be okay, and I think we share that. I think we do share personality types, actually. We are really similar in the sense that at the end of the day, both of us are all about moving forward and not getting stuck in the past. I think it’s important to just go with it.

Yes, you strike me as someone who is very chill; I see that in your style as well. On your Instagram, you have posted yourself in a few different fits, and you seem to be very stylish. Can you tell me about your style and also about Vince's fashion evolution within the show?

Our styles are similar in that people always tell me what you're wearing looks cool, and it doesn't look like you try. It looks like you started to get dressed, and your outfit just fell together perfectly. I think, with Vince, it's the same. His clothes don't necessarily match in any sort of way. It doesn't seem like he's trying too hard. It just falls on his body naturally in the best way.

So, in real life, I feel like my style is very much a combination of my high school days and my childhood because everything I wear is pretty oversized in this chapter of my life.  It also gets pretty 90s sometimes, but it goes back and forth. Also, being Jamaican, I try to tie a couple of things into my outfits from Jamaican styles. Summertime, especially I am able to wear more pieces like that. But really, I just don't have any specific style in mind.

So you are just effortlessly cool?

Your words not mine, but thank you!

Aside from 90s fashion, 90s music is significant within Cruel Summer as well. Are you into any 90s singers/bands, or did you learn more about 90s music from filming this show?

There were so many different genres of music used as the show came together; we found there was a lot of music to explore. For example, in the pilot, when Jeanette wakes up in '94, and she's supposed to be "super cool," they playing a Brandy song ["I Wanna Be Down” by Brandy]. I really vibe with stuff like that because I play Vince, and he truly has swag, and he's definitely into Nirvana and the Cranberries and artists like that, which I am too. The music in the first few episodes of the show is fantastic, but there was a lot more music to explore, and as the season unfolds, you'll start to see a lot more hip hop. We had a playlist of all different genres of the 90s combined, and hopefully, that vibe will come across on screen. The show is all over the place in terms of music, which I do like a lot.

In the future, do you have any specific roles you are looking to take?

I love movies, and I never pictured myself as a television actor. I always took the opportunities I was given, and it just so happened to all be television, and everything worked out. But, to answer your question about roles and to tie that into what I just said, I'm not one who searches for a specific type of role. There's no role that I would want to play specifically over another at this point. As parts come across my desk, I pick it up, and either it's compelling, or it's not, and that is how I decide. I feel fortunate and grateful to be on a show like this, where it's something that I know I can look forward to and is such an exciting story. Cruel Summer is really not your "every day" show.

That is for sure! I honestly have loved your performance in the show so far.

Thank you!

Now I just have one final question. If you were a book, actual or made up, what book would you be and why?

I would be Life Beyond Measure by Sidney Poitier. It is a book that has had an impact on how I approach daily life. The book talks a lot about the foundation. And I think as an actor, it's an essential read, especially with, like we mentioned earlier, the issue of fulfillment and finding it outside of your work, outside of acting. It is about how you can conquer that fulfillment outside of work. If you can, being an actor will be a beautiful experience as it should be, not a dreadful one where always you're worried about jobs and trying to make it work when you don't have to make everything about that. The book reminds me, even if you aren't acting all of the time, you are just where you started, which is just happy.

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CRUEL SUMMER airs on Freeform and Hulu, Tuesdays 10PM ET / 7PM PT