Mason Gooding makes people feel seen

Having appeared on the big screen in Booksmart back in 2019, Mason Gooding — born and bred in LA — has appeared in a slew of feature lengths. The most recent was this year’s Valentine’s horror, Heart Eyes. 

While each film reveals more of Gooding’s talent, the actor is part of a new Hollywood generation keen to redefine the focus of his craft. “A lot of times it feels as though the conversation around ‘talent’ begins and ends with the final product, instead of considering the pieces that go into that in any meaningful way,” the 28-year-old says. 

It’s not just about acknowledging the minutiae of what makes someone good at their job, though. For Gooding, it’s about using his skills for the better. “If there was any place my ‘talent’ had in Hollywood, it would hopefully be to make people feel seen,” he affirms. 

It is this sentiment that forms the throughline of Mason’s perspective as we discuss reshaping Hollywood, pushing back against ‘perfection’ and staying grounded in an ever-evolving cultural landscape.

How do you see your place in this new wave of talent reshaping Hollywood?

I think I’d first like to define what ‘talent’ means to me. A lot of times, it feels as though the conversation around talent begins and ends with the final product, what you see on screen, instead of considering the pieces that go into showcasing that in any meaningful way. Talent, as I understand it, is being able to perform to the best of my ability while still managing to consider not only the people that consume my art, but also the people that work so hard to elevate my performance before, during and after I’ve arrived on set. 

This ‘new wave’ of talent, as you’d call it, seems to be more cognisant of the machinations around their success and, hopefully, try to appreciate every piece that makes my performance possible in the first place. I love what I do, I love the people willing to take time out of their day to experience or support my work, and if there was any place my talent had in Hollywood, it would hopefully be to make people feel seen or appreciated or, at the very least, considered.

How do you navigate the pressure to maintain both physical and personal perfection in this industry?

Well, speaking honestly, I think I’ve long since abandoned any hope at achieving perfection in any aspect of my life. So when it comes to navigating any latent pressure to achieve that notion of being professionally perfect, I think I default to my general understanding that I never will be. I’ve never been told I have that nebulous ‘star quality’ that I feel most successful actors cite being impressed upon them from an early age — I was an overweight kid with about seven sizeable scars on my face and a plethora of different social anxieties I’ve since worked really hard to make peace with. But I don’t know if I’d say anything about me is perfect by any means. 

I could try to be, but I think the hardest part in that would be reminding myself that life isn’t about that — it’s about trying to be better for the next person who’s decided to follow your example. I have an idea of what a leading man would look like in my body, so I exercise my body to achieve that. And I know what I think a good man does because I’ve seen so many great ones that I ultimately have no choice but to try and follow their lead. I’m not perfect, no, but I’ll certainly try to be better than I am today. That feels good enough to me.

What’s a role or performance that made you say, that’s the kind of work I want to do?

The answer to this question — it’s worth mentioning, all these questions are great — took me a moment. I sifted through all the meaningful works of art I’ve consumed recently and not so recently, and when I arrived at my most influential performance it hit me like a meteor sent from the deepest vacuum of space striking directly onto my head — Joaquin Phoenix in Her. It would be hard to properly articulate how enlightening that movie was for me, whether it be the timing at which it found me or the feeling I get whenever I think about it. 

I think it might be Phoenix’s genuine vulnerability by the movie’s end that has stuck with me — how Phoenix was able to showcase a man discovering love and the lingering discovery of what that might look like is something I’d like to encapsulate in my career, at least just once. The director, Spike Jonze, managed to convey such an honest range of longing for intimacy that I can’t help but feel like films like Her, and characters like Theodore, are precisely why people consider film to be such a transformative medium.

How do you balance ambition with staying grounded, especially as your profile rises?

The most interesting aspect of being an artist today is that ‘fame’ isn’t necessarily as much of a private club as it used to be. While there are certainly still pitfalls and prejudices that come with entertainment, particularly for artists of colour, I feel the movie star moniker has taken on a bit of a different meaning these days. I keep a level head because my career didn’t blossom in the tabloid era of the nineties. Everything feels like a headline these days, so it’s hard to feel like the universe revolves around you when the rest of the world is at your fingertips the way that it is today. 

Sure, I have goals and ambitions, but by trying my best to be present in my own life — particularly for those around me who need me to be ‘friend’, ‘boyfriend’, eventually ‘father’ — most of my goals exist as personal milestones I know I want to achieve. I want kids, I want to own a flower shop in Brooklyn, and I know for a fact I want to make art until the day I die. I’m trying to paint with broad strokes and let the finer details reveal themselves with time. I like to think that staves off any notions of self-aggrandisement. For example, Heart Eyes, my most recent project, could very well be the greatest professional experience of my entire life. I’d be just fine with that, I’m very proud of that movie and the experience we had in making it, not just because of what I did, but what we did together.

If you could reshape one thing about Hollywood’s expectations of young talents, what would it be?

If I could reshape one thing about Hollywood’s expectations of young talents, it would probably be this notion of ‘perfection’ as detailed in one of the previous questions. I’m not sure how other artists would answer that question — I can only be sure of how I feel about it. But I would love to impress upon any artist the idea that perfection, as a goal, is fine. However, I wouldn’t want to strive for that same perfection in art since, to me, the most beauty lies in the intricacies of a mistake. The little human moments we try so desperately to hide from the rest of the world are exactly what makes us so fascinating to capture on screen and in art. 

When I think of doing something perfectly, I think of an actor or performer pouring their heart and soul into an audition. I see artists beat themselves up over decisions made for reasons entirely out of their own control and, to them, all I can say is that you still did your best. The fact that a director or a studio decided, ultimately, that someone else might fit that role better is not your job to beat yourself up over. I feel if the odds are likely going against you, in the event you do ‘fail’, you might as well do it in a way that you can be proud of. Forget trying to be perfect. Forget trying to be exactly what they want you to be. If you’re going to fail, do it your way. You just might end up succeeding in your own perfectly imperfect sort of way.