‘Snack Shack’ Rising Star Conor Sherry on ‘Reliving’ His Life in Coming-of-Age Film (Exclusive)

Conor Sherry opens up about his coming-of-age film ‘Snack Shack,’ becoming ‘real Nebraska kids’ with Gabriel LaBelle, and reliving pivotal moments from his teens.

Conor Sherry is taking center stage in the upcoming film Snack Shack, written and directed by Adam Rehmeier. The 23-year-old and Gabriel LaBelle star as two best friends who decided to run the swimming pool snack shack in Nebraska City in 1991. Throughout their summer, A.J. and Moose experience everything from wild shenanigans to romance.

The movie was filmed on location in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Conor, who is originally from the Bay Area, totally embraced the small-town vibes. For the young actor, Snack Shack will always be a pivotal moment in his life he can look back on with nothing but happy memories. “I’m scared for my next project because everyone on this set was like, ‘This is the greatest experience ever,”” Conor told Hollywood Life.

Snack Shack, which hits theaters on March 15, is being released at a moment of great change for Conor. The actor is wrapping up his time at UCLA and looking forward to embarking on the next chapter of his career. “I’m really excited for what’s to come and just take off with all this,” he said. Read our full Q&A below.

How did you get this role? What intrigued you about this project? 
Conor Sherry: I got this off of a self-tape. Funny enough, I was actually very sick when I taped for this. I had COVID, and I taped in a hotel room because I was isolating. It was like 2 a.m. and the scene I had to do was this amazing scene where I’m basically having an allergy attack. I just remember being insane in the self-tape, but then I went to the callbacks. There were so many people that taped and most of the people that were in the callback with me were somewhat established as actors, so it was just crazy that a 2 a.m. COVID-ridden self-tape with no lights or anything was what Adam saw and pulled me in. I read the script before the callback, and after I read the script, I just was like, oh, sh*t, I need to cancel all my plans for the next 2 or 3 days and focus because this is insane.

The dynamic between you and Gabriel’s characters is at the very heart of the movie. Did you know each other before filming, or did this film bring you together to make some movie magic? 
Conor Sherry: No. I didn’t know anyone going into this project. Adam wrote this about him and his best friend when they grew up together. In the callback, a lot of it was just very chemistry-based, so they were just mixing and matching all of us, but we were there for like 4 hours. We actually got to know each other quite a bit in the callback, which is funny because I got to know other people that didn’t end up getting it. We all got to hang out there for a while and really see what the chemistry was. Then the coolest thing before shooting is they actually flew me and Gabe out two weeks early, so we were out there with no crew and no production. It was just us in the real town that Adam grew up in running around the real streets. We worked at the real Snack Shack like we were real Nebraska kids, which is crazy. Honestly, probably the most pivotal part of my prep was just being able to actually live in a town that hasn’t aged a day since it was built.

I’m assuming you and Gabe are very close now after sharing this experience. 
Conor Sherry: One hundred percent. I think it was cool to meet through this movie. We’re in almost every scene together, so we kind of got this bond over what Adam wrote on paper. He wrote this perfect, beautiful story, and then there’s been a cool arc back in LA getting to become friends outside of our characters.

You mentioned Adam making this film as very much a love letter to his hometown and his childhood. Did you feel a little bit of pressure helping to bring to life some of these things on screen that mean so much to him? 
Conor Sherry: I think one of the things that Adam did a really good job of was he made it very clear that we weren’t doing depictions of these people. It was an amalgamation of multiple people that would make up one character and vice versa. He always said he wrote his script, he did his job, and then once he cast us, he always gave us the free will to make it our own. Find AJ within yourself. It was really, really helpful to kind of just take the pressure off of that. I did feel pressure, but I think that came from how much Adam cared about this project and helping us and the town. His parents still live there. His dad really is the judge. Everyone knew Judge Rehmeier just walking around. I felt pressure for the sake of the town and the ‘90s, honestly, even though I wasn’t born.

The year 1991 doesn’t seem that long ago, but it’s wild to see how different life was then compared to now. There was no social media or anything. 
Conor Sherry: I remember getting grilled by some of the crew because I was talking about how this was a period piece. They were like, it’s time for you to get out of here, but it really felt like it was, for me at least.

I grew up on so many of these coming-of-age films. I think you can learn a lot about yourself watching them. You connect to certain characters when you watch them, and I’m sure that was the case for you when filming Snack Shack. What did you learn about yourself through filming this movie and stepping into this role?
Conor Sherry: It was interesting because so many of the experiences that AJ has throughout this film… I can’t wait for people to see the full thing because there’s so much there. There are so many ups and downs. Everyone has had a fight with their best friend and remembers their first one or their first love or their first heartbreak or the first time they really got into it with their parents. There are so many firsts, and I saw so much of myself in AJ just immediately. I really think that so many kids and people, whether you’re born in the ’90s or not, everyone will relate to AJ. If they don’t relate to AJ, they can just look to the right and relate to Moose. I just felt like I was reliving my life. It just felt like the best summer ever when I watched the movie. It was like a documentary or a time capsule. The themes are just consistent. Yeah, your first love might have been on Snapchat now, but it’s the same butterflies that you feel when someone brushes against you in the ’90s.

You’re currently in school right now at UCLA. Did you major in acting?
Conor Sherry: No, I didn’t. I actually got a sociology degree. I really enjoyed that because it was able to allow me to always put my career first and then be able to do school as something that I just enjoy and something that I’ve always wanted to do. And it’s a nod to my mother who loves a college degree. I did sociology because I was able to kind of go in and out. When I’m working I can take time off. I just love being around real college kids. Most of my friends are from UCLA, which is really nice and refreshing in LA.

It’s so insane because when I enrolled in these final courses I was like, I’m going to finish this degree. I’m taking so many classes right now because it’s the final push. It already took me 5 years because I was working so much, and I was out of the country. Even though the movie was going to be coming out, I hadn’t even gotten a release date when I enrolled in these classes.