Angus Cloud Remembered as 'Soulful' and 'Kind' by “Your Lucky Day ”Director: He Was 'a Movie Star' (Exclusive)

‘Your Lucky Day’ writer-director Daniel Brown remembers Angus Cloud in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE

Angus Cloud was a “soulful” presence and “kind to everybody” on the set of one of his last screen projects.

“As soon as we put the camera on him, it was like the movie just suddenly took off,” says Daniel Brown, writer-director of Your Lucky Day (in theaters Nov. 10 and available digitally Nov. 14). The thriller features the Euphoria star — who died July 31 at age 25 of an accidental drug overdose — as the down-on-his-luck Sterling, who takes extreme measures to secure his future when a winning lottery ticket appears at a local convenience store on Christmas Eve.

The witnesses of what becomes “a deadly hostage situation,” per the film’s official synopsis, “must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.”

The film concludes with a tribute to its star: a message that reads "For Angus."

Related: Angus Cloud's Mother Shares 'Euphoria' Audition Tape That Illuminates His 'Extraordinary Spirit'

When it came time for Brown, 40, to cast the feature-length adaptation of his 2010 short of the same name, it was his wife who suggested Cloud for the role of Sterling. She had seen the late actor’s scene-stealing performance as Fezco on season one of HBO’s Euphoria, and encouraged Brown to binge it. 

Coincidentally, casting director Jessica Sherman had also submitted Cloud on a preliminary list of potential actors for Your Lucky Day. “That was just such a crazy idea, I kind of almost rejected it outright,” Brown remembers. “There's no way he's going to want to do this little movie.”

Related: Angus Cloud's Upcoming Film Features Emotional Dedication to Him: He Was 'So Deeply Sincere,' Says Costar

But Cloud evidently connected with the writing of Sterling, expressing interest right away. Both actor and character “had a lovable toughness to them where you could see they could maybe do a rash decision, but still really have a good human heart,” says Brown. “And that felt like very much what Angus was all about.” 

Over the 16-day shoot in Los Angeles in late 2021, the writer-director recalls how Cloud brought that heart both on and off-camera.

A monologue Sterling delivers about what he’d do with millions of dollars came largely from the actor, Brown says. “The original character is much more of a surface character, he's not a terribly deep person,” he admits. “Angus did this riff where he went off and took [the monologue] to a much deeper place and found more humanity in that… And I think that's just this wonderful moment in the movie.”

On set, Cloud “would be the most chill about everything. We'd be shooting late or we'd be changing our schedule. He's like, ‘Oh, don't worry about it, man. This is what we deal with all the time.’ To have someone really just putting people at ease with the chaos of production was just a wonderful thing.”

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Cloud established the tone when it came to cast and crew bonding, talking to “everybody about everything,” adds Brown. “He was hanging out with the craft services guy a lot and helped him do a YouTube video in the back of the shoot. He just sort of radiated that kindness that people really responded to and you felt really special to be around him.”

During postproduction in the editing room, Brown says Cloud’s natural charisma and talent became even clearer. “The camera just loves him. He's just so compelling, and part of that is he's just so true to himself.” While other actors don “some type of mask,” he says, “you watch him do a scene and he's really listening to people. He's not waiting for his turn to speak.”

What is Cloud’s secret weapon as an actor? “There's all these layers to his eyes,” says Brown. “There's interest, there's sadness, there's a kindness, there's all this stuff going on that's just kind of incredible.”

Related: 'Euphoria' Star Angus Cloud's Mom and Loved Ones Share His Addiction Struggles and Final Days (Exclusive)

Cloud's death was confirmed in a statement shared from his family with PEOPLE in which they remembered him as an "artist, a friend, a brother, and a son."

“The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend,” the statement read. “Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence."

Brown tells PEOPLE that he’ll remember Cloud as “a movie star.”

“It's hard to talk about,” the director admits. “Because I was so excited to see people watch him in this movie.”

He adds, “I had hoped this would do great things for him… I hope people still see him in it, and I feel like this incredible loss of someone who had so much more to do. I would've loved to have seen him in more movies.”

Your Lucky Day, costarring Jessica Garza, Elliot Knight, Mousa Hussein Kraish, Sterling Beaumon and Jason O'Mara, is in theaters Nov. 10 and available digitally Nov. 14.

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