What would you change about your life if you only had six months to live?

That’s the question at the heart of Lousy Carter, a new indie dramedy starring David Krumholtz. For the titular sad-sack professor, the answer is a resounding “not much.”

“I love the idea of the six-months-to-live trope, and here, it gives the character who finds out he's got six months to live a new lease on life,” Krumholtz tells EW. “But in a way, he doesn't change a damn thing. All he thinks about is, ‘Maybe I might try to get laid before I die.’ And it doesn't seem to bother him. It kind of seems to relieve him.”

Courtesy MagnoliaPictures

Indeed, Lousy’s pessimistic, self-centered worldview barely changes upon his diagnosis: As you can see in the film’s first trailer, which EW can exclusively debut above, his lifestyle remains almost entirely intact from before his terminal illness. He still has a strained relationship with his best friend and fellow literature professor (Martin Starr), he’s still having an affair with said friend’s wife (Jocelyn DeBoer), and he still barely knows how to talk to his sister (Trieste Kelly Dunn), his ex (Olivia Thirlby), his former friend (Macon Blair), and his therapist (Stephen Root).

Krumholtz acknowledges that there are some similarities between himself and Lousy. “He's described at one point as ‘a reasonable facsimile of himself,’ as if to say that no one really knows who the real Lousy is,” the actor says. “And I related to that because I don't know who the real me is. It keeps changing, and I keep trying to get a grasp of it, and it escapes me. And I bet if you'd ask a lot of my closest friends and family how generous I am with myself, they would say I’m not generous at all. That's not to say I'm selfish and that I'm not a good friend, but I'm guarded and I keep people at arms distance perhaps because I'm afraid of being hurt.”

Courtesy MagnoliaPictures

However, Krumholtz also sees the central character as an autobiographical reflection of the film’s writer and director, Bob Byington. “Lousy is not a complex character, and Bob's not a complex man by any stretch of the imagination,” he says. “And Bob and I have a lot in common. I'm the pleasant Bob. Bob is just a chronically unpleasant human being. And I think that's what he understood would work for the film: a likable version of him.”

Tapping into the similarities between Krumholtz and Byington proved to be a successful formula. “I found that what we had in common was that we're both sort of chronically embarrassed by ourselves,” Krumholtz notes. “I live in a state of perpetual embarrassment. I can't help it. And I think it's good for me and I think it would be good for a lot more people because I've learned a lot from being embarrassed.”

Courtesy Magnolia Pictures

The Oppenheimer actor continues, “Lousy is clearly a recovering alcoholic, although that's not something that is explored a lot in the film. I myself kind of think alcoholically, and that is that I am God with a deep inferiority complex, and that's how life goes for me. And Bob shares that. I think it's safe to say Bob has that quality.”

Krumholtz sees Lousy Carter as some of his best work to date. “I love making small indies like this, and though it’s not my first as a lead, I do think it's the most palpable one,” he says. “From script to film, it really translates beautifully and I'm really proud of it. And, ultimately, I love it because it's not some highbrow intellectual thing. It's sardonic and witty and simple. And I think that's Bob's thing: just telling simple stories in a simple way that are impactful comedically.”

Lousy Carter hits theaters on March 29 and will be available on demand everywhere. Watch the full trailer for the film above.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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