You know Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother but soon you’re going to know him as a triple threat—actor, writer and director. The movie for which he did all three, Happythankyoumoreplease (HTYMP), premiered at Sundance Film Festival, received a standing ovation and took home the Audience Award for dramatic film. “It was gratifying to win that particular award,” says Radnor.
Radnor stars as Sam Wexler, a charming, selfdestructive mess of a talented writer. “I think Sam is me seven years ago,” he says. “But the trick as a writer is to tap into different parts of yourself and allow those parts to exist as different people. I feel like every character in the movie—including Ira the douchebag—is part of me.”
The movie centers on a group of young friends struggling to figure out themselves, their lives and their loves. It’s a painfully realistic depiction of what it is to be young, fragile and desperate to find out who you are—or perhaps more important, who you want to be. “My mission statement as a writer is if I wouldn’t say it, I wouldn’t write it,” says Radnor.
With offers currently on the table, HTYMP should soon be coming to a theater near you. “The biggest surprise for me was how much I loved directing—every part of the process,” he says. “I felt something about movie making really agreed with me. Hopefully I’ll get to do it again.” Once you see the film, you’ll hope so too.
