Widely known for his character acting in various roles over the last few years, Zach Avery is taking his career to the next level with multiple movies set for release later this year. Starring opposite Kate Beckinsdale and Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje in FARMING, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, he will also be seen in THE WHITE CROW, the story of legendary ballet dancer Rudolph Nuryev, directed by Ralph Fiennes, which was recently previewed at the Telluride Film Festival and picked up by Sony for distribution in 2019.
A Midwesterner at heart, Zach spent his teens playing football and dabbling in high school theatre, ultimately playing for Indiana University until an injury ended his NFL dreams. While the arts continued to be a hidden passion, upon graduating he entered the Doctoral program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. While there, he was also attending underground comedy shows and joined local theaters groups, which ultimately led to the decision to shift gears and take a leave of absence from his schooling to pursue acting full time. To fund his goal of moving to LA, he began selling Quickbooks software door to door in the Chicago suburbs and finally made the move west on New Years Eve 2011.
Acting classes helped him get acclimated to LA and meet upcoming directors that lead to work on shorts and indie films. He’s also found his relationships outside of agents and managers have been the most effective way to get roles, finally landing CURVATURE in 2017 via his friendship with Producer Andrew Levitas. Over the last year he has worked with Levitas and Ralph Fiennes on THE WHITE CROW, Adewale Akinnouye Agbaje directing FARMING and finally a starring role in LAST MOMENT OF CLARITY.
His greatest role to date has been that of husband and father to his toddler son. An outdoorsman at heart, Zach spends his downtime hiking, skiing, practicing his scuba diving and enjoying nature with his growing family.
We had the opportunity to speak with Zach about his upcoming projects. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Zach! Thank you for granting the interview. Congrats on your role as Martin Fellows in the “Farming.” What should the audience expect to see?
Thank you guys so much for the interview! It’s a pleasure. Audiences should expect a raw, emotional dramatic true story that follows the early life of our director (Adewale) when he was sent to London from Africa as a young boy and ended up joining an extremely racist skinhead gang as a result of physical, emotional and psychological abuse by his peers.
Tell us about Martin. Who is he? What is his personality like?
Martin is a British parole office tasked with dealing with Damson Idris’s character, Enitan. His ideologies are harshly racist which was unfortunately very common at this time in London. He genuinely believes that the world would be a better place if there were a “class system” for race and that anyone with a skin tone other than white was far below his “class”. As you can imagine, the difficulty of not judging his character to play him in a genuine fashion was not the easiest task.
What role does Martin play in the movie?
As stated above, Martin is a parole officer who is put on Enitan’s case once he begins to break the law and get arrested. As Enitan gets deeper into the underground life of the skinhead gang, Martin is along for the ride as Enitan’s crimes and behavior get worse throughout the film.
Was it a challenge to play Martin? Did you have to pull from experience?
Since the film is a true story based on the director’s life, there was so much put into bringing authenticity to the role especially when the subject matter was extremely dark at times. Martin’s ideologies are harshly racist and honestly cruel throughout but I had to stay within his headspace rather than judge him, which wouldn’t have worked for the role or film. This by far was my biggest challenge due to the fact that his principles are so far removed from mine that there was not much to personally pull from.
Unfortunately, we are living in a day and age where some of these racist ideologies can be seen in our society so there was present-day research that I did and drew from at times throughout the shoot.
How did you get the role?
I had worked with a couple of the producers before on a film that I had recently wrapped and they sent me the script to check out the role and see if I thought I could bring a unique perspective to the part. After reading and learning that this was actually Adewale’s story… I had to at least meet him. So I had a meeting with Adewale and we immediately hit it off on both a personal and creative front and both decided it would be a good fit.
The subject matter of the movie is intense. How does the movie production bring something new to the story?
I think what makes this particular film unique is that very rarely you see a young boy… who is thrust into a brutally racist world …. Dealing with obscene abuse… Hit rock bottom and then revamp his life completely and come out the other side a well-rounded, emotionally available, brilliant individual. Who not only is able to openly talk about his past in order to help others but also celebrates that it was simply part of his journey. The story is shedding light on the harsh realities that people all around us have gone through… its 100% true and I think that in itself is how it differentiates from other intense dramatic films.
What is going to surprise people about Martin?
How he unabashedly speaks his mind… even when the things coming out of his mouth make your jaw drop.
Without giving anything away, what’s your favorite line of dialogue and why?
Well, I had a British accent in this film so most of the lines sounded pretty cool to me. But the actual things being said were pretty crude so we will leave it at that.
When looking back on the production, what resonated with you the most and why?
Again, I would say the simple fact that Adewale actually lived this story. It is so excruciatingly dark that it’s tough to imagine but to meet him and know him today as such an incredible human after being through all of that as a young boy will always stay with me.
In your opinion, what scene in the movie is going to blow people away and why?
There are a couple brawl scenes that are going to leave people shocked.
You’re also playing Michael Jones in another intense film called “The White Crow.” Tell us more.
The White Crow follows the story of an amazing ballet dancer named Rudolph Nureyev’s youth and his defection to the West in the early 1960’s. Michael is an American reporter/journalist who follows Rudolph to document his journey and the hardships along the way.
Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West in 1961. Asylum is such a hot topic in the United States. Do you believe this film will raise awareness on the topic?
Definitely. The film touches on so many points that we are dealing with today regarding asylum in terms of values, loyalty, acceptance, and standing by these ideologies in the face of harsh critics. I think we would all benefit from opening our minds and hearts a bit more to others around us and try to learn from each other rather attempt to “divide and conquer”.
Did you take a particular approach to play Michael?
My approach for Michael was to treat the preparation for the role as though I actually was a reporter/journalist following this event. I read everything I could get my hands on, talk to anyone that I possibly could who had knowledge on Rudolph’s story and really become the character through research so that once I got to the shoot…. I could be completely present because I was fully prepared.
In your opinion, what is the message of this movie?
Just as Rudolph said himself, “I want to stay and be free”. The message of the movie is to “dance” yourself to freedom… whatever that may mean to you.
Without giving anything away, what should the audience look out for?
A truly incredible story that will shock, excite, entertain and educate just as Rudolph did with his ballet when he was dancing.
What do you enjoy most about your character and role in “The White Crow?”
The research. I love being able to do a deep dive into story and character to learn as much as humanly possible about this person and then embody him.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about the film?
I had an absolute blast on both of these films and can’t wait for you guys to see them. I posted behind the scene pictures while we were shooting so you can get a little sneak peek on my Instagram @zachavery.
What additional projects should we expect to see soon?
I have a couple of films that will be premiering at the beginning of 2019 titled “Last Moment of Clarity” and “Shookum Hills”. Then I have 2 feature films that start filming top of 2019 in Virginia and Toronto that I am extremely excited about and then possibly a big action film that will shoot in Spain late spring so fingers crossed. A lot of exciting things ahead!
About Author
