Maxwell Jenkins considers Anupam Kher his guardian angel. “Whenever I face any kind of struggle, he always calls me,” says the 19-year-old actor over a video call from Chicago. “I worked with him when I was nine years old A family manAlso starring Gerard Butler, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina and Gretchen Mol.”
Learned Bhangra for one and a half year, (When?)Maxwell was invited to watch Hindi films. “They showed us some great Bollywood films. I know I sound quite mainstream when I say this, but DDLJ (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge) was amazing. I have seen it twice. I was shocked to see Anupam in the film. He was in every Bollywood film I saw!”
love at first sight
Nicolas Cage, Maxwell Jenkins and Jaeden Martell in a scene from ‘Arcadian’ | Photo credit: Patrick Redmond
Maxwell played Thomas rusticA post-apocalypse thriller. “I remember falling in love with the character of Thomas immediately because it was different from any character I’d played before. I was thrilled by the opportunity to play a character who wasn’t squeaky clean, who wasn’t the hero all the time. What I love most about hearing is when people tell me they hate Thomas,” he laughs.
A call with director Benjamin Brewer sealed the deal. “We talked for about an hour and a half and maybe only 10 minutes of that conversation was about the movie. The rest of our conversation was about comic books, school, and growing up. I was starting the process of applying to colleges, which is crazy to think about now because I’m going into my second year of university. So yeah, I read the script, fell in love with the character, talked to Ben, and the next thing I knew, I was in Ireland.”
Twin Stories
Maxwell says Thomas is the one of the twins who moves beyond his body, unlike his brother Joseph (played by Jaeden Martell). “He’s like any kid today, experiencing growing pains and trying to stretch his arms in a world that won’t let him. The stakes are different; when Thomas makes mistakes, people die and loved ones get hurt.”
Maxwell says today’s creations don’t necessarily take mistakes into account. “Everyone’s life is so public because of social media. Mistakes are costly and come out in the open and affect more than one person. Thomas can be a bit of a hothead. He thinks he’s invincible, until he isn’t. Ultimately, he’s a teenager who loves his brother, and is struggling to find freedom in a world that isn’t responsible.”
Cage theory
Nicolas Cage plays the boys’ father. “Nic was incredible. He’s a great actor, a great human being and extremely generous. On set, he’s supportive and wants to listen to your thoughts and ideas. If he says something you disagree with, or imagine it another way, he wants to hear it. We did rewrites and considered so many different options, that it felt like we filmed three different movies in 20 days. He’s a history buff and in between shots, he doesn’t disappear into his trailer. He would stay on set and talk to us; that made the filming process fun.”
Cage’s first day on set was about a week into filming. “He came in from shooting another project. I think it was a dream scenario. We didn’t get a chance to meet each other face-to-face before filming, except for a quick hello. That’s the first time you see our dynamic in the movie. I’m coming in late and the script says ‘Thomas you’re late’ and I was expecting something like that. I came running in and Nick came in front of me and yelled ‘Thomas, you’re late!'”
Setting the Tone
Maxwell who was running at full speed suddenly stopped. “There were skid marks on the grass where I stopped! Nick is such an actor, he gives every moment 110%. It’s one of my favourite moments because it set the tone for how we would approach the role and it was a valuable lesson for me both in acting and beyond.”
brothers in Arms
Maxwell Jenkins in a scene from ‘Arcadian’ | Photo credit: Patrick Redmond
rustic Maxwell says it focuses on the bond between the brothers. “Jaden and I understood that we needed to be pretty close to make it believable. It wasn’t too hard because Jaden and I got close pretty quickly. We went golfing together. We were in the middle of the woods of Ireland, so we would walk around and act out the scene together. Jaden, Ben, Sadie (Soverall who plays Thomas’s girlfriend, Charlotte) and I, spent about a week rehearsing nonstop and working on the scene to establish the dynamic of these characters.”
For a science fiction-horror film, you don’t want to fall into the trap of being action-packed and forgetting about the character work, Maxwell says. “We wanted to make sure the action was driven by establishing these connections to the character work beforehand. So you get a film that has horror, gore and action that’s driven by the character choices and dynamics.”
pushing the boundaries
Having grown up in a traveling circus with his family, Maxwell describes himself as a physical person. “Often I get into characters through physicality. Roles that have that element are always fun to play, as long as they are character-driven and have a unique and multi-layered background. I like to explore different things. I grew up playing Will Robinson (lost in Space), who is clean-cut, not too physically gifted, but mentally intelligent, who leads with his heart and mind.” Maxwell says stepping into a contrasting role like that of Thomas was a chance to push the boundary.
in process
Maxwell played the young Jack Reacher in the first season of the hugely popular ‘The Secret Service’. Reacher“As far as I know, I’m not in the new season. Maybe I’m a little bit taller, a little bit older,” he laughs. In the pipeline The Bondsman for Amazon Blumhouse. “It stars Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles as my parents and Beth Grant as my grandmother. Like any Blumhouse project, it has some fun adventures. It was shot in Georgia and I got to see a great part of the country I had never seen before. Last year I did a movie called This too shall passThey are two exciting, completely different projects.”
Maxwell says his dream role is to play a Jedi. “I grew up a complete nerd. Before I got into acting, I would go to these conventions to get my cape and shield signed and take pictures with my childhood heroes.”
Arcadian is currently streaming on Lionsgate Play
