Chris Salvatore has spent enough time being somebody’s crush. Now he would like to make you uncomfortable.

For the actor familiar to gay audiences from the Eating Out films, playing Joel in writer-director Brendan Haley’s Scorch Marks meant venturing well beyond the reassuring smile. Here was a character who could make tenderness feel threatening, a man whose softer moments might leave you wondering what, exactly, he wanted in return.

The film places that relationship inside a supernatural nightmare: Beckett (Brandon Shypkowski), faces an apparent apocalypse and the haunting presence of his abusive ex-husband, Joel. It is a considerable change of address for an actor associated with the guy next door.

Speaking from Las Vegas, where he is helping flip a house, Salvatore is warm, candid and quick to credit the people who helped him find his footing. He talks about rehearsals with the enthusiasm of someone remembering why he fell for acting in the first place. Discussing relationships, he considers his own behavior as carefully as anyone else’s. And when the conversation turns to Norma, the elderly neighbor whose friendship became such a beloved part of his public life, the gratitude comes easily.

We spoke about getting under Joel’s skin, what audiences never got to see on The Real Friends of WeHo, the memoir he is writing and the particular thrill of frightening people who thought they had him figured out.

You’ve often played someone everybody loves. Did playing Joel let you use that familiarity to make people a little uncomfortable?

I love hearing that. Yes, I was excited to make people uncomfortable, because I really don’t think people have any idea what they might be getting themselves into watching Joel. It’s something I’ve never done before, and quite honestly, I didn’t even know if I could pull it off.

I was ecstatic when Brendan Haley approached me with Scorch Marks. Then I read the script, and he told me about Joel, and I was like, “Yes, yes, yes.” It was just the most fun. Thankfully, I can say it’s someone very different from how I am in real life.

Being able to put all the acting classes, the acting schools, all that work I spent learning the craft, to work-it was really fun. Being Zack in Eating Out and some of the other roles I’ve done, it’s way easier to recite lines as yourself. There’s still acting involved, but with a role like Joel, you really have to use those tools you’ve learned over the years. You have to open that toolbox.

I’ve known Brendan a while. He knows me as Chris, and he knows me from Eating Out. He championed me so much on that set and in the rehearsals leading up to it. We rehearsed a lot because I really wanted to knock it out of the park. I took it seriously.

It’s such a luxury to get to rehearse. Having that time with Brandon Shypkowski, who plays Beckett, was such a luxury. Having Brendan believe in me full-on made me feel so much more confident as an actor. It was a great experience to have under my belt so I could believe in myself a little bit more.

An ex can know exactly where to put the knife and twist it. How did you decide which moments to play with tenderness and which were attempts at control?

I definitely used some past experiences with ex-boyfriends. I’m not going to name names, but I feel like we can all look back at our dating history and realize there were unhealthy relationships we may have stayed in for whatever reason.

In some of those relationships, there was this sense of control, but it was presented as caring and empathetic. They would manipulate the reality and make you feel like you were in control, that they were seeing you and they were the only one who really understood you. Later, you realize that was them, in a way, grooming you to submit when things got more obvious-that they were right and you were wrong.

I will say I was never perfect in my relationships. There were moments where I was reactive or projecting my insecurities. I definitely used those parts to encompass Joel. I wanted to use those soft moments, those scenes where Joel felt caring, but play them authentically. I knew the other scenes would show a different side of him, and I wanted the audience to interpret what he was going through. I felt that would make it the most real.

Was it tempting to make him more likable? Did you have to stop yourself and say, “I’m not supposed to be nice”?

That was hard, especially because Brandon is such a delight. We became so close during the rehearsal process. We were such good friends, and we were so jokey all the time, especially on set, that it was hard to snap into Joel’s persona and his evilness, if you will.

There were definitely times where I was like, “Okay, Chris, you really have to take a moment and get into this character.” That’s so different from the other work I’ve done, because when I’m playing these nicer guy-next-door characters, I can slip into a scene very quickly. Going from Chris Salvatore’s temperament and switching into this crazy ex-demon, albeit a lot of fun, definitely took more discipline.

Has stepping into those shoes changed the way you look at dating, including relationships in your past?

Of course. Part of it is because I’m 41 now. As you get older, you start to realize what you will and will not accept in terms of respect. You also learn that relationships are hard work.

Younger Chris would have a moment with my boyfriend and be like, “Okay, they did this. Let me call my girlfriend, and let’s go on this 20-minute tangent.” Then you start diagnosing people’s mental health and using “narcissistic personality disorder,” all these mental health disorders, to talk yourself up: “I’m not the one doing anything wrong.”

I sometimes got in the habit of doing that when it wasn’t warranted. I’m not a professional psychologist, so I don’t have the authority to diagnose other people to begin with. When therapy started going all over social media, all these buzzwords and people making reels about them, I felt it could be dangerous to be so quick to take one bad behavior and use these blanket terms to diagnose someone as a whole.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized the nuances. We all make mistakes. We all have insecurities. We all sometimes subconsciously project our feelings onto other people. I’m wiser now, so I can use more discernment and be more mindful of these terms and casting these general traits onto somebody when sometimes it’s my insecurities speaking and I’m assuming.

Sometimes we have these stories we play in our heads, and we believe the stories more than the person right in front of us. I try to be really careful about that nowadays. I’ve gotten better at sifting through: What is truly happening here, and what am I making up in my head to help my ego feel better about myself in this instance?

Do you think Joel has opened up a different direction for you as an actor?

The most awesome part for me is that it helped my confidence. Playing roles like Zack in Eating Out is so fun. It’s fun to be in these comedies. But to play a role where you really have to put the work in and prepare way more than for someone who’s more like yourself-the confidence this role built is such a luxury. I’m so grateful to Brendan for believing in me. I hope people see this, and I hope it brings more attention to me as a serious actor.

Rather than revisit what happened with The Real Friends of WeHo, what do you think viewers missed out on seeing about you?

I was just talking about this last night with a friend. Sometimes I feel misunderstood. People see the name Chris Salvatore, they see my Instagram, the work I’ve done or the photos I’ve taken, and almost by accident I’ve somewhat misrepresented myself.

When that story happened with my elderly neighbor, Norma, a lot of people couldn’t believe the genuine friendship we had. Some people thought I was trying to take advantage of her. To me, that is just normal. It’s how I was raised and how I operate.

I’m a sensitive soul. I was bullied as a kid. I never want anyone to feel hurt by anything I’ve said or done. I care about humanity. Then have that coupled with me in a gay movie, selling coffee-table books and doing OnlyFans, and who I am gets a little muddled.

People see what they want to see. Maybe I need to be better about being more authentically me on social media. Sometimes I feel misunderstood that way. I truly am sensitive, truly an empath. It’s confusing to read some of the comments when people cast judgments, because I’m like, “I’m just me. I just want everyone to be kind, and I want to inspire people to do the same.”

I guess people aren’t used to that being coupled with someone selling nude art, having an OnlyFans or being an actor. I’m trying to figure out ways to show more of myself. I think people on that show would have seen that, and I was so excited to bring it.

At the end of the day, who knows how it would have been edited? I think everything happens for a reason, and obviously I wasn’t meant to be part of that.

A lot was made of what you did for Norma. What did she do for you?

Oh, my goodness, Michael, so much. The day I said hello to her back in 2012, my whole life trajectory-I could feel it. She was a big proponent of being yourself and not giving a fuck about what other people think of you. I’ll say it because she would have said it. She did say it.

It was amazing to hear because her age made that lesson ring true. We worry so much about what other people think our whole lives. How unfortunate it can be if you learn that lesson at the very end of it.

Hearing her be a champion for authenticity was truly life-changing and one of the most important things I learned from her. She made it very obvious that caring what other people think of you, day in and day out, is no way to live. It wastes a lot of time and energy. I’m actually writing a memoir about it, and I can’t wait to share it. She gave me more than I was even able to give to her.

This role seems to have opened a new phase of your career. What has it made you hungry to do?

It’s reinvigorated my passion and motivation for acting. I’ve recut a reel with my Scorch Marks stuff. I’m looking for representation. I want to start auditioning. I want to get serious, because I took such a long break from it.

I was back in Pennsylvania for a couple of years taking care of my family. Getting to come back to L.A. and do this film reignited that passion I knew was always there. Sometimes life takes us the long way, the scenic route, if you will. It uses those paths to instill more lessons, more gratitude for life and more rigor for living in the moment.

That’s one thing I learned playing Joel: It’s beautiful doing work where you feel truly in the moment. Kudos to the other actors, Tiffany Shepis and Brandon Shypkowski, for showing me what that feels like in a scene. It’s like jumping out of an airplane. I crave that feeling.

It’s exciting. I’m super motivated to hit the ground running and use this opportunity to stake my claim as an actor and go for it.

Scorch Marks is streaming exclusively on Dekkoo.

Follow Chris Salvatore on Instagram @chrissalvatore