Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Radnor in ‘Liberal Arts.’ Radnor writes, directs and stars in the film. (Courtesy of BDCF Pictures)

It was during a promotional speaking engagement at his alma mater, Kenyon College that Josh Radnor suddenly started to feel old.

“I had a sense that I was so much older than the people that were listening to me speak,” Radnor said over the phone in New York City. “Suddenly, I was twice the age of the students. It made [me] start to think about nostalgia and change.”

Radnor used this experience to craft his latest film Liberal Arts, a story about a thirty-something academic counselor who revisits his former college to bid adieu to a retiring professor.

While there, Radnor’s character gets hooked on the idea of college once more and regrets ever leaving the hallowed halls of academia.

“When boiled down, Liberal Arts is about guy dealing with the ghosts after being kicked out of Eden,” Radnor said.

Along with his 2010 feature Happythankyoumoreplease, Liberal Arts is Radnor’s second attempt to write, direct and star in a film. Radnor claims to have grown as a filmmaker between the two features.

“I’m learning a lot on how to move the camera and tell a story much more visually,” Radnor said. “I’m learning how much dialogue depends on close up and reaction shots.”

Between being a bona fide triple threat in the world of movies, Radnor also plays Ted Mosby on the long-running television sitcom How I Met You Mother.

With co-stars like Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel, the actor is used to seeing others balance the two worlds together.

“One thing about television, especially multi-camera comedies, is that it get easier as the show goes on,” Radnor said. “By the time you are in the six, seventh season everything is humming. That’s when I find myself with some time to be creative. I feel more at ease when I’m being used in the creative sense instead of just working day in and day out.”

While balance may not be a problem for Radnor, the actor claims that he could continue creative films if someone “forced him to choose.”

“The writing and directing feels like more unexplored territory to me,” Radnor said. “It’s the difference between conducting an orchestra and playing in it.”

Playing alongside Radnor in Liberal Arts is Elizabeth Olsen. Olsen plays Zibby, a quirky collegiate that finds herself in a long distance relationship with Radnor’s character.

The two exchange music and poems with each other as they both indulge in the world of academia.

Radnor was able to book Olsen for the role as Ziggy before her breakout role in Martha Marcy May Marlene.

“Elizabeth was kind of going under the radar for a while during filming,” Radnor said. “And then my phone started blowing up with people wanting recommendations of her.”

Even though Radnor tailored the movie’s lead role exclusively for himself the writer, director and actor says the it was Olsen, and not him, who walked away with the movie.

“She [Olsen] comes with so much more than what was asked of her,” Radnor said. “She in uniquely suited for the role. Just having a movie star wouldn’t be right for the role. When you see her in the movie, she totally owns it.”

Liberal Arts opens in theaters this Friday. Read the review in Friday’s The Daily Campus.