Jack Quaid is cool with the "nepo baby" thing, but won’t compete for mom's "queen of rom-coms" title

All that said, he is inclined to avoid romantic comedies on account of his mom being “the undisputed queen of rom-coms,” which is a shame because his movie Plus One with Maya Erskine is delightful. But if he does a rom-com, “It’s got to be something that feels different enough from what she’s done,” he says. “I’m not looking to take her place or anything.”

For her part, Ryan is clearly proud to see her son follow in her footsteps. (She cast him in her directorial debut Ithaca.) Last year, she said that the “nepo stuff is so dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts and how sensitive he is to the idea of his privilege.” Quaid’s observation is that she was just being a mom, worrying that the label “undermines” his talent. “I don’t think it undermines my talent. I know that I work hard, and I know I’ve heard ‘no’ way more than I’ve heard ‘yes,’” he says. “But I also know that this industry is insanely hard to break into, and I had an easier time doing that than most. Both things can be true.”