Jake Owen on Making His Acting Debut in ‘The Friend’: ‘I’m Learning a Lot’

There’s a piece of advice Jake Owen’s father gave him growing up that’s resonated: if you want to be successful at a certain task, surround yourself with people who are better at it than you. Owen is taking these words to heart as he makes feature film debut in The Friend, an upcoming film starring Casey Affleck and Dakota Johnson based off a 2015 Esquire essay of the same name by Matthew Teague.

Owen was approached by his agency with the opportunity to be a part of the film that follows the two-year journey of Teague (Affleck) and his wife Nicole (Johnson) as she battled an aggressive form of ovarian cancer, and the impact their close friend Dane Faucheux had on both their lives when he moved from New Orleans to help take care of her.

“It’s just a really beautiful story about the realities of our lives and what people go through,” Owen shares with Sounds Like Nashville and other media. The film also stars How I Met Your Mother’s Jason Segel and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie and is set in the Teague’s longtime home of Fairhope, Ala. Owen plays “the friend of a friend” named Aaron and though he’s not an experienced actor, the singer says the opportunity to challenge himself was a welcomed one.

“I’m learning a lot. I like throwing myself into things that I’ve never done before and learning from it,” Owen explains. “You see these people in action and you realize how great they really are at what they do. They’ve been so gracious to me as far as showing me the ropes and teaching me how I can be better at things, which I embrace. It’s been a challenge for sure, but I like those types of challenges.”

Filming for The Friend began in February of 2019, but a release date for the film has yet to be announced. Owen recently experienced another milestone when he and girlfriend Erica Hartlein welcomed their first child together when daughter Paris was born on Monday (April 29).