Miles Gutierrez-Riley (Off Campus) may spend much of That Friend navigating drug-fueled chaos and unpredictable adventures, but his favorite moment in the film is surprisingly simple.

Speaking with Gayety at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere, the actor revealed that the scene that stands out most to him is an early interaction between his character, Spencer, and Billie Lourd’s Penny.

“Actually, that was my favorite scene to shoot,” Gutierrez-Riley said.

The actor admitted he was already a fan of Lourd before joining the project and was excited to share scenes with her. Once filming began, however, it was the ease of their connection that made the moment memorable.

“I had been a big fan of Billie’s in the past, so I was already very gagged at the opportunity to get to work with her,” he said. “She’s so chill, so funny, so talented.”

According to Gutierrez-Riley, there was nothing particularly flashy about the scene itself. In fact, its simplicity is what made it work.

“I remember being like, ‘Wow, we’re really just saying the lines and looking at each other,'” he recalled. “And I walked away being like, ‘Wow, that felt really good.'”

That natural chemistry apparently wasn’t lost on Lourd either. After attending a screening of the film, she reached out to Gutierrez-Riley with an observation that left him laughing.

“She just texted me after she’d seen a screening a couple months ago and she was like, ‘Why are we giving romantic chemistry in that first scene?'” he shared. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know.'” As someone who has seen the film, I felt the spark.

While That Friend centers on Henry (Josh Brener), his girlfriend Penny (Lourd), and the increasingly chaotic antics of Henry’s best friend Paul (Harvey Guillén), Spencer serves as one of the film’s more unexpected wild cards. Gutierrez-Riley was immediately drawn to the role, telling Gayety he had been searching for a chance to tackle a broad comedy after telling his agent he wanted to do something “really, really funny with a capital F.”

Still, beneath the outrageous comedy, he believes the film’s biggest strength is its heart. Gutierrez-Riley pointed to themes of friendship, chosen family, and self-discovery as reasons audiences may connect with the story.

“There is this sort of ragtag group of misfits that find themselves together,” he explained. “Because the script is written with so much heart and sensitivity, I think you end up leaving with a pretty heartwarming feeling that everything’s going to be okay so long as people around you are treating you with kindness and respect.”

As for Spencer, Gutierrez-Riley sees him as someone still figuring things out.

“Spencer felt like he was finding himself,” he said. “I think he’s at a crossroads in so many aspects of his life.”

Written and directed by Alex Wall and Will Sterling and produced by Ryan Tillotson, That Friend premiered at the Tribeca Festival.