Upamanyu Biswas
In ‘Incoming,‘ Netflix’s teen comedy film, four first-year friends in high school attend their first party, hoping to make an impression and jumpstart their high school life. For the protagonist, Benj, the gathering is also an opportunity to ask out his crush, Bailey. Unfortunately, things do not go to plan, and Benj has to make a grand singing gesture near the film’s end. His performance in front of the packed school gymnasium is one of the key highlights of the film as Mason Thames, who plays Benj, seemingly delivers a vocal performance to try and win the heart of his love interest. Naturally, the actor’s singing credentials are placed into question as many wonder about the scene’s authenticity.
Mason Thames’ Singing Scene Was Fraught With Nerves and Anxiety For the Actor
The final singing scene in ‘Incoming‘ was an actual performance given by Mason Thames, who spent six hours a day in the studio preparing for the scene. As the actor does not sing in real life, he was sent to get vocal lessons by the film studio and other high-ups so that he could nail Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours“ in the penultimate moments. While reading the scene in the script, the actor found it to be a sweet and significant exchange between his character and Bailey, as it is a grand gesture to win her heart after the events of the party. However, it was after the actor was cast in his role that the weight of the scene finally struck him and his part in making it come to life. Thames has severe stage fright, which made singing in front of a crowd a scary and uncomfortable proposition.
In an interview with Clutch Points, the actor said, “I was like, Oh my God. I have to sing Stevie Wonder in front of an entire school, and it’s going to be all over the world.” Thames’ nervousness got so bad that he stopped singing completely. As the scene had to be performed at the very end of the production, the actor always had it on his mind as a dreaded thing to look forward to. In some ways, he reveals, it would have been more suitable to have done it before. “Maybe it would have been easier if I did it first and got it out of the way,“ he said. “Because the entire shoot, I was just terrified.“ However, according to him, the film’s directors and producers were delighted to see him worrying about it incessantly, as it showcased how focused he was on not messing it up.
The Incoming Song is a Difficult Thing to Relive For Mason Thames
Since his performance, Mason Thames has had a sense of aversion to hearing Stevie Wonder’s classic song. “I instantly get PTSD, and my heart drops,” he said, explaining his reaction to the song. While filming the scene, the actor had to perform the tune multiple times, which added to his anxiety even further. Because Isabella Ferreira, who plays Bailey, expressed that she could not act out her part if Thames did not sing the song live in front of her, the actor had to oblige. Therefore, matters were made worse by the million or so takes he had to do before getting it right. He said, “It felt like a million [takes]. I blocked it out of my brain.” There are no hard feelings between him and Ferreira over the moment. He is stressed, however, that his friends and family will never let him live the whole thing down.
Having previously starred in the 2021 film by Scott Derrickson, ‘The Black Phone,‘ the actor compared his scary moment singing in front of the stage to running from Ethan Hawke, who plays The Grabber, in the horror flick. “It was terrifying running from Ethan, but singing in front of that many people was terrifying,“ he explained. Therefore, while the singing scene was a genuinely performed rendition by Mason Thames, doing the actual performance in front of a crowd came at a cost for the actor, who is afraid of the stage. Regardless, his commitment paid off as it helped not just his scene partner in acting out her scene but also raised the stakes of Benj’s final gesture, which is a do-or-die proposal to ask out his crush.
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s Incoming Filmed?
