Talking With Actors Juan Pablo Di Pace and Oscar Morgan on Queer-Themed 'Before We Forget'

Out Argentinian actor Juan Pablo Di Pace wears a handful of hats with his award-winning, queer-themed debut feature "Before We Forget" (originally titled, "Duino"), which spent a year screening at festivals throughout the world and opens this month in theaters in the U.S. Di Pace co-writes, co-directs, co-edits, co-produces, and co-stars in this bittersweet meditation on memory, unrequited love, and re-connection, as well as a reflection on how past feelings can forever haunt a person and how it might all be explored through art. (His co-director, co-writer, and co-editor is Andrés P. Estrada, an acclaimed film editor whose work includes "Argentina, 1985".)

Di Pace plays Matías, a frustrated filmmaker fixated on his autobiographical movie's ending. He begins to relive his past via flashbacks – specifically, when he attended college in Duino, an Italian village on the Adriatic coast, in 1997. During that time, he becomes infatuated with Alexander (a charming Oscar Morgan), a charismatic Swedish student. The two grow close, but Alexander is expelled for pissing off the school's dean. Young Matías (played by newcomer Santiago Madrussan) is then invited to spend Christmas with Alexander's family, and things get much more complicated when Alex's sister, Kathrine (Julia Bender) crushes on Matías, and then Matías's parents arrive.

Later in the non-linear narrative, Older Matías is invited to Kathrine's wedding, where he reconnects with Alexander (now August Wittgenstein), although not in the way audiences might expect.

Does Alexander share Matías's feelings? Many of his looks and actions as a teen seem to lead us to believe he does, although he never acts on it, nor does Matías. It was a more repressive time, and we wonder (as does adult Matías) what might have been.

"Before We Forget" is a lovely work linking past and present through murky memories and unfulfilled fantasies.

Born in Argentina, Di Pace got his start on the stage performing as Danny Zuko in "Grease" in Italy in 1999, as well as other shows in London, including the West End production of "Chicago" in 2002.

He was featured in several Spanish and English TV shows in the early 2000s.

His first prominent film appearance was in 2008, when he played Petros in Phyllida Lloyd's wildly popular cinematic adaptation of "Mamma Mia!" opposite Meryl Streep. He was the gorgeous scene-stealing dancer who later is revealed to be the lover of Harry, played by Colin Firth.

The actor's later TV credits include major parts in the TNT revival of the popular '80s nighttime soap "Dallas" (2014) and the Netflix reboot "Fuller House" (2016-20), as well as being a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" in 2018, coming in at fifth place.

In 2023 the thesp co-starred opposite Nico Tortorella and Emily Hampshire in the gay-themed dramedy "The Mattachine Family," about a same-sex couple debating whether to foster a child after the first attempt goes awry.

The actor is fluent in Spanish, Italian, and English, with just a tinge of an accent.

Newcomer Morgan brings a refreshing exuberance to the enigmatic role of the young Alexander. He's filled with an infectious excitement – a joie de vivre that entrances everyone he's around, especially Matías. The actor keeps the audience guessing about who the character is. Is Alexander curious, repressed, clueless, fearful... or just a teen trying to find his way? In Morgan's hands he's all those things, and more.

Morgan made his TV debut in 2017 in a two-episode appearance of "The Miniaturist." A year later he was cast in the Brit children's sitcom "Millie Inbetween." In 2019 he joined the ensemble of "Warren," a BBC One TV show that ran for a single season. He also appeared in the films "Peaceful" and
"Zero." The actor had a small but memorable role in the final episode of "The Crown," where he hilariously spewed profanity and then angrily mooned Prince William and Prince Harry.

In 2023, Morgan made a splash as the lead in the CW drama series "Gotham Knights," where he played Turner Hayes, Bruce Wayne's adopted son who finds himself framed for killing Batman.

"Before We Forget" marks Morgan's first significant film role.

The film is currently playing in theaters in NYC and opens in L.A. on July 18, 2025, with additional markets added on July 25, 2025. (For more information, visit the film's Instagram page.)

EDGE has a blast Zoom-chatting with both Di Pace and Morgan about the film and their careers.

EDGE: I was struck by the notions of memory and reality versus perceived reality, as well as that first love feeling you can never let go of. JP, could you speak a bit about your exploration these themes?

Juan Pablo Di Pace: I guess it just touches me deeply when we set out to make a movie with Andres, who is my co-director and co-writer and producer and editor, and we had always wanted to make a film together, because we met when we were kids at 12-13, in Buenos Aires. He became a prolific, award-winning editor, including "Argentina 1985," that went to the Oscars. I went the other way and became an actor. We always discussed doing something together, and this became our first feature as directors. In my case, I wanted to make sure that my first film was going to be about themes and people and situations that I knew very well, inside out.

When I visited my parents around 2020, I discovered this VHS tape in their basement. And when I saw this tape, it was just the most heartbreaking thing, because it was from 25 years earlier, when I fell in love, for the first time, with a boy at this International school that I attended, the United World College. So, upon watching this tape, I thought, "I want to do something with this..." Then, of course, we fictionalized a lot of things around it, but... it was almost like watching that tape brought me back to the enormity of feelings at that age. Adults, they don't feel as intensely. [Laughs] Then it became a movie about how that juxtaposition of past and present really feels.

EDGE: I think we're always moving forward as adults, which is maybe why, when we stop to look back, it's immense,

Juan Pablo Di Pace: Yeah, because you're not ready at that age, perhaps, to deal with whatever it is. We, as adults, get jaded. Like, "Oh ok, I'm falling in love again. All right, let's see how this goes." But when you're 16, 17, you just don't know what's happening. And it's not just about hormones, it's about longing. It's about, "Is this real? Is this going to last forever? Is this going to define who I am?" There're so many things that go through your heart, not just through your mind.

EDGE: Oscar, how was the casting process? And did you do chem readings?

Oscar Morgan: Yeah, we did some chem readings. It started off with self-tapes, as most things do. Then I did a Zoom call with JP and with our casting director, Amanda. We read the scenes a couple times, but mostly it was just chit chat... And then we got into chemistry reads. I did quite a lot, actually, because JP had given me the role and then he was like, "Okay, now I need you to read with like, 400 Argentinian boys." [Laughs] And then we met Santi, and it was amazing. The chemistry was palpable through the screen, from time zones across the planet.

EDGE: Let's talk about the enigmatic Alexander. We get a sense that his feelings from Mati are a lot deeper than he's able to articulate or even explore, beyond the obvious. Did you approach him with a definite idea of where he lies deep down, or did you keep him ambiguous even to yourself?

Oscar Morgan: It's a good question. I think my idea about Alexander was that he never had an opportunity to really blossom and be that the version that we see of him in the film... We meet his family at Christmas when there's a houseguest, and they're putting on a show for a moment. So, they're funny people, but there is a darkness in that family. And pre-"Duino," I don't think he was ever really encouraged to let the weird inside him out.

Simply put, Alex definitely loves Matias. There's no question about that. It's just putting that love into any kind of box is not something that he did. I think Alexander loves the attention he gets from Matias. He's probably aware that there's an adoration coming from Matias, and I think he's okay with that. And he doesn't think too deeply about that side of things, because he's just like, "Well, we have a beautiful friendship and that's all that matters, really." I think there is a real understanding from both of them – especially from Alexander – that the most important thing is this understood love between them. The ambiguity – I don't think he's consciously keeping things vague. He's a teenager. He's figuring himself out just as much as Matias is.

EDGE: JP, you have gotten to know the real Alexander. Have you been able to crack the enigma?

Juan Pablo Di Pace: I quite loved the enigma, to be honest with you. If you're asking if the real person and I are still in each other's lives and friends, one thousand percent! He was at four of the festivals. He's watched the movie many times. He loves the movie. I guess I'm also nostalgic about the enigma... The way I see it is this: You have Marilyn Monroe, right? And no one knows how she died, no one knows who she really was. And yet, we long for her. We long for this kind of creature. She's an enigma.

And I made the movie with the exact same feeling about Alexander. I love his enigma, and I don't particularly need to solve it. I love how the audience tries to, as well... everyone has their own opinion on what and who Alexander is, and I think that's a beautiful thing.

EDGE: You touch on elements of class in this film. Could you speak a bit about that?

Juan Pablo Di Pace: Yeah, that touches a particular side of my own experience, because I lived in five different countries. And I've been super poor. And I've been better off... I think the economic differences between the characters – but also the cultural differences – how you can be from completely different worlds and backgrounds, and still love each other and still get along, and still understand each other – that, to me, is very important to talk about, because I feel like that's the world and celebrating those differences is where we should be heading, instead of trying to globalize and make everyone the same.

I went to the United World College, which is where the movie is based – a real place, there's 18 of them in the world. You go to a place with 200 kids from 100 different countries... In terms of the Scandinavian family and the Argentinian family, I find it very interesting that these two mothers who don't speak the same language one thousand percent, completely understand each other without saying a word. That is the power of non-verbal language, which is something that I love in cinema. I would go as far as to say that most of the dialogue in this film is less important than what is not said, and what my beautiful, talented actors were able to give me, which is acting beyond text.

EDGE: Oscar, do you have any stage background?

Oscar Morgan: I wanna know why you're asking.

[Everyone laughs]

EDGE: Watching your approach to the role, it felt like you were stage-trained.

Oscar Morgan: A bit much? A bit too big, was it?

EDGE: No, it's a compliment. I think the best actors are British.

Oscar Morgan: Oh, my. I accept! Yeah, I do. I grew up doing musicals and stage stuff. I spent five years with the National Youth Music Theater in London, which is amazing. And it taught me everything I know up to a point. I left there when I was 17, and then I started working. So, I credit a lot to NYMT. I did lots of musicals, and that's something that JP and I bond over as well, is our love of musicals.

EDGE: JP, when did the acting bug first bite? When did you know?

Juan Pablo Di Pace: It was probably watching my sister act, because I was the shyest person in the room, always... then I saw my sister in a play, in one of those experimental plays in Buenos Aires. She was 12. I was probably seven. And I just thought, Oh, my God, she has balls. I love that someone can have that much courage to be in front of an audience.

Fast-forward to this college where I was literally thrown onto a stage. I think that bug just took over. It was at the United World College that I discovered that I wanted to do this as a living.

EDGE: Oscar, you had a memorable profanity-laced scene in "The Crown," which is one of my favorite shows. I have to ask you about it.

Oscar Morgan: I didn't think anyone had seen that.

EDGE: It's the final episode, so...

Oscar Morgan: Right, that's true. But it's so far in the distance, I thought it was safe.

[Laughter all around]

EDGE: What was filming that like?

Oscar Morgan: It was really fun filming that. It was just one day on set. The scene is Prince William and Prince Harry as teenagers on a break from university with their dangerous friend, Guy Pelly, and they're shooting at some beer cans that I'm out in the field lining up for them to shoot at. Then they start shooting at me. And I start yelling at them and cursing them out. And then I get my sweet patootie out and run away. And they shoot at that. [Laughs] It was really fun. I was lucky. Stephen Daldry was directing me. On the page, my character is not even existent. It's like, a friend in the distance lines up cans... And then it ended up being a whole day of Stephen Daldry being, like, "Okay, just, just keep shouting, as rude as you want, just anything." So, I was improvising and shouting all these swear words. And I was like, "Is there anything I shouldn't say? Should I steer away from any particularly rude words?" He's like, "Nope. I mean, try not to say the C-word, but if you do, it's okay."

EDGE: And you did!

Oscar Morgan: Did I?

EDGE: Three times!

Oscar Morgan: Oh, he kept it in, so we're both to blame for that. It was a lot of fun. I was very out of my depth, completely improvising all that stuff. And I did get some warning about the the moonie pull as well, so, [it was] a completely harmless, safe filming experience.

EDGE: Who are your filmic inspirations?

Juan Pablo Di Pace: Only because we lost him recently, David Lynch... Going back to the enigma and what we were talking about earlier, I love it when audiences don't get the whole thing fed to them. He was a master at that.

EDGE: Oscar?

Oscar Morgan: David Lynch, too. I speak as an actor, not yet a filmmaker, but some actors I look up [to] – I think I've always wanted to, in whatever way I can be, to be Meryl Streep, ever since I saw "Death Becomes Her." Of course, there's the whole roster of actors that I've always admired, such as Leo DiCaprio. River Phoenix, big time – huge fan of his.

EDGE: What's coming up next?

Oscar Morgan: I don't know if I can say yet, this thing... ?

EDGE: Can you hint at it?

Oscar Morgan: Okay. There's something. In a franchise show. A sort of mythological world. There you go. [Laughs]

EDGE: Good enough. JP?

Juan Pablo Di Pace: I got the filmmaking bug, so I'm writing scripts number two and number three, at the moment... I'm wanting to tell more, because it really has been so satisfying, so empowering, to be able to be on this side of the camera.

EDGE: What has the Festival Circuit experience been like?

Juan Pablo Di Pace: It has been a little mind blowing to see it with audiences. This was an idea in my brain and then, all of a sudden, it's in a big movie theater with people... I've loved being in different countries and seeing it – that communal movie experience, which I think we should pay more attention to because it's so easy now to watch things in your house... I urge people to watch it in the cinema, because it was made for the cinema.

EDGE: Oscar, you have the last word.

Oscar Morgan: I followed JP around to a few festivals in the States and around Europe, and it's fun seeing where people laugh, or don't laugh, or respond to certain scenes where they don't in other countries. You can tell where those cultural humor differences are. It's quite fun.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.