With a triple threat of films marking his biggest year yet, the Australian actor talks Leviticus and the lessons he learned from his character.
How does one act when they’re on the brink of a career breakthrough? For Stacy Clausen, there’s a particular ease that arrives when excitement and anticipation come into play. Luckily for the 21-year-old, this aforementioned victory comes in the form of his lead role in the supernatural horror, Leviticus. Playing a young man named Ryan, similar in age to Clausen himself, the story follows him navigating – albeit not without struggle – queer love within the confines of an isolated, conservative Christian town in Australia.
Starring alongside fellow rising actor Joe Bird, the two war through a tumultuous tango, for romance’s sometimes-horrifying sake. With conversion therapy kickstarting the film’s psychologically-thrilling nature, we see that psychosomatic grappling unravel in near-terrifying ways. And according to its trailer view count, over three million people are preparing themselves for a front row seat into the terror of it all.
Some have a knack for telling a good story, others have strong discernment for knowing when one is great – Clausen sits in a grey area that shimmers silver. Upon receiving the script for the film, he “knew the film was great”, but that intuition stretched further when he threw himself into the heart, mind and soul of his character. His motto, he explains, became: “Instinct over expectation”. Now he gets to reap the praise-stirring rewards.
Acquired by Neon at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film, directed by award-winning director Adrian Chiarella, marks Clausen’s first-ever major role. He was first on screens in actor-comedian Seth Rogan’s Preacher back in 2019, before appearing in a string of shows, including ABC’s Crazy Fun Park and Netflix’s True Spirit. Leviticus, hitting theatres in the coming weeks, won’t be the only film contributing to his breakout this year; with more international projects like Sony Pictures’ shark thriller Shiver and Netflix’s war drama Mosquito Bowl on the horizon for him later this year, Clausen’s engine is revved, and he’s past the biting point.
Man About Town catches up with the rising Melbourne-hailing actor to talk about the impact of his acting teachers growing up, mastering Ryan and the most optimal approach to watching Leviticus.
Photography by Ryan Pfugler
Hi Stacy, congratulations on Leviticus. It’s around a fortnight until the film hits cinemas – can you take us through where your head is at right now?
Thanks so much. It’s pretty wild, a mixture of a lot of different things to be honest. The cast and crew put so much into this movie, and for a while now it only existed with us, but soon it’ll belong to audiences, which is a kind of a strange but super, super exciting transition. The response from the few festivals Leviticus has screened at has been so great, but that’s such a small sample size, so with the full release, I think I’m just hoping people continue to connect with it. I’m looking forward to a wider audience getting the chance to experience it. It’s really a film that tends to spark conversation, and I can’t wait to hear them.
Take us back to the start of the process – what about this project stood out to you at first?
That first ‘wow’ moment was definitely the first time I laid eyes on the script. I was so taken by the characters, the world, the use of genre and the trust it had in the audience. It felt powerful in my hands. It never tried to explain too much or tell me what to think; it just flowed quietly, moving me via the experience of these characters. It approached its themes in a really human way, avoiding easy answers or simple villains, and instead was focused on the people, their relationships and community that shape them – that complexity was something I appreciated and connected with straight away. Beyond that, Causeway Films are so iconic, especially in the Australian industry. They’re so brilliant at what they do, so when I saw their name there as producers, I was instantly pretty keen on it.
When you were introduced to Ryan on the page, was he a character you related to?
I can’t say directly in terms of his circumstances, but there was a lot [that] emotionally I was able to substitute in and use to relate to him. There were so many universal experiences in there; that feeling of trying to understand yourself, desiring someone and wanting to protect yourself while navigating that process. I think that’s something a lot of people can recognise, even if the specifics of their lives are completely different. So I was less focused on what we had in common and more focused on understanding him on his own terms, in his world. That was the challenge and the privilege of playing him.
Can you tell us about your start in acting in Melbourne? Was there a place or person who made you feel like you could pursue this as a career?
If we’re going all the way back, I started doing ‘drama’ classes when I was about five years old. At that point, it was just having fun with improv and acting games. By twelve, we were writing our own plays and performing them in a theatre at the end of the year. The person who ran the classes was a woman named Jennifer. She might’ve been the very first person to tell me I had something. After 6 years of those classes, her words motivated me to move to a screen acting class, which was more scene breakdown and on-camera craft. The woman who ran those classes was named Sue. It was her, in that tiny little studio, where I first felt like I could maybe do this forever. She mentored me for around five years and really made me believe in my ability more than anyone ever had. She ended up offering me the chance to join her agency, which is where I got my first-ever audition under an agent. I suppose, the rest is history.
The Leviticus trailer currently has 3.1 million views. Did you expect it to resonate so strongly with audiences ahead of the film’s release?
I mean, I knew the film was great, but you can never tell how many people it might reach and how much it might resonate with people. This movie was a little Aussie indie shot in my home town, now it’s a Neon feature with an international release. I never could have seen that coming, but I’m so grateful for it. But more than the numbers themselves, what’s been meaningful is seeing people engage with it, and discuss it, and feel curious about it. That’s what I always hoped for this film. People are so passionate already, there are conversations about it already – it’s so exciting to see and hear what this film means to people, before they’ve even seen the full story.
What did playing Ryan teach you about your own life?
There’s a lot there, but I think the biggest thing was about instinct. Ryan taught me to accept each and every one of my feelings. All feelings are valid; accept and act on them with gut instinct. Instinct over expectation. He taught me not to think too long about what people think of me and my behaviour, that if it feels good and right within me, it’s worth following.
You have another horror film releasing this year in the form of Shiver, as well as a war drama, Mosquito Bowl. What can you tell us about those projects? How do you think you’ll remember 2026 career-wise?
I’m definitely keen to see the reactions for both Shiver and Mosquito Bowl. They’re both action-packed films with great casts across the board and so incredibly different to Leviticus and each other, which made them so fun to do. All these projects this year make it one I’ll remember as a year of serious growth. It’s been a year of firsts, a year of learning, and a year of new experiences, and it definitely feels like a massive step forward in my career. 2026 will be one I remember as incredibly special.
Finally, what is the ideal set-up for watching Leviticus?
I reckon the blinder you can go into it, the better. There’s no point in bringing in expectations because, to be honest, they’ll probably be broken. In a good way, but still, the more open the mind, the better. Definitely in a cinema, with the best sound you can find because my goodness, the sound in this movie is awesome – and bring someone! Trust me, you’ll want someone to talk to about it. So, in summary: open mind, cinema and see it with someone. If you’ve got all of that, you can’t go wrong.
