We Are Who We Are: Interview mit Jack Dylan Grazer

„Wow, there’s like a big… sorry… A huge bird ever just landed like on a treelit right outside my window.“

Ein kleiner Ausreißer im Interview mit Jack Dylan Grazer lässt mich doch tatsächlich einen Moment zweifeln, ob wir so etwas wie Riesenfalken in Deutschland überhaupt haben, nachdem er beschreibt, wie groß der Vogel eigentlich ist, der gerade vor seinem Fenster gelandet ist. Im Rahmen des deutschen Serienstarts von „We Are Who We Are“ auf Starzplay am 7. März hatten wir die Möglichkeit, mit Hauptdarsteller Grazer, der darin die Rolle des Fraser verkörpert, ein Interview zu führen. Bei eisigen Temperaturen in Deutschland wähle ich mich an einem Freitagabend, bei uns natürlich schon dunkel, in den Zoom-Call ein, in dem mich ein junger Mann in lässiger Kleidung und zauseligem Haar freundlich begrüßt, während die Sonne in den wie sein Jugendzimmer wirkenden Raum strahlt. Obwohl ich etwas nervös bin, ob meine Internetverbindung und die Technik mitspielen – denn immerhin habe ich nur einen überschaubaren zehn Minuten Slot für das Interview, das wäre ungefähr ein Routerneustart – dauert es nicht lang, bis wir in die Fragen abtauchen und Jack sich als ultra sympathischer, kreativer Mensch herausstellt, dessen Lieblingsserie natürlich nur eine sein kann.

Kira Wulfers: Hi from Hamburg in Germany!

Jack Dylan Grazer: Oh wow! Hi!

Kira: Hi! My name is Kira Wulfers. I’m from serieslyAWESOME.tv and it’s a weblog about TV series.

Jack: Okay. Awesome. Seriesly AWESOME.

Kira: Right! So, how are you today?

Jack: I’m great, I’m great! How are you?

Kira: Yeah, me too, thank you! The weekend ahead.

Jack: Yes, it’s exciting.

Kira: So, let’s start right away: For people who haven’t watched „We Are Who We Are“ so far what would you tell them what they have to expect from the series?

Jack: Nothing. I would say nothing about the show and then just let them watch it, let them endure it.

Kira: Okay, so no expectations?

Jack: No. I would tell them Luca Guadagnino directed it.

Kira: So, to come to your character: There is such a depth of the character Fraser that makes it – at least for me – quite easy to connect with him and one intuitively identifies with this role so how did you develop the role for yourself?

Jack: Hmm… How did I develop… I didn’t really do… it kind of just happened. I hate that answer, but it did. It kind of just… going to Italy and leaving my home, my comfortability in Los Angeles, with my friends and my family and my life. Going to Italy I had no other choice but to accept this feeling of displacement and let Fraser just fall into my hands. And I did that. And I spent a long time alone either reading my script as Fraser reading a script or walking around the streets and getting a coffee as if I was Fraser. Just really thinking as him. And it didn’t really happen on purpose, but it just happened that I started slowly morphing into him.

Kira: And was it something like watching movies by Luca Guadagnino like „Call Me By Your Name“ or something that kind of inspired you for this role?

Jack: Yeah. I’d seen „Call Me By Your Name“ before… Wow, there’s like a big… sorry… A huge bird ever just landed like on a treelit right outside my window. A hawk. Oh my Gosh… Okay… Sorry!

Kira: Oh my God… Okay, I don’t think we have something like this here.

Jack: Yeah, probably. Ehhm. Anyway. What was I saying? The question was… Sorry, sorry, sorry. What was the question?

Kira: „Call Me By Your Name“.

Jack: Yes, I’d seen „Call Me By Your Name“ before. I saw it in 2017 when it came out. And I was obsessed with it. And I watched it in the theatre and I was like „Oh my God, I wanna work with Luca Guadagnino so bad“ and my mom and I stood in the street and she was like: „You will. One day you will“. And I auditioned for „We Are Who We Are“ and I was like „Hah, I want to get the audition“ and I was like „Oh my God, I totally tanked the audition, I totally blew it“. Little did I know that I would get a call by Luca when I was in Chicago and he said: „If you want the part you have it“. And I was like: „Yes, I want it! Of course I want it!“ He said „My quest for Fraser has been completed“ – something like that. And ehm, it all happened from there.

Kira: Okay. And is there anything that you kept from the role Fraser for you as Jack?

Jack: Kept from the role… Oh. I mean it was tough to walk away I guess from the character. I tried to get rid of as much of the character as I could when it was over, but it was kind of hart because I had really become him so thoroughly inside myself and now it is a weird thing for my psychology to train myself to be myself again and look in the mirror with the brown hair and see myself because I was really truly convinced that I was different for those six and a half months that I was playing Fraser and I wasn’t really playing. And… Anyway… ehm. I guess maybe yeah, the way I think is much different now than I did before I played Fraser.

Kira: If you should name one thing that you learned from working with Luca Guadagnino, what would it be?

Jack: If I should name one thing? Yeah, ehm… yeah, that’s tough. (Greift sich mit beiden Händen in die Haare) I learned a lot from him. (lange Pause) I guess just my, my scope on observing people. That’s my answer.

Kira: Okay, great. And is there anything that he might have learned from you?

Jack: (Lange Pause) No. (Wir beide lachen) Maybe that he actually loves me. I don’t know. He in fact said that he loved me and he said „I never loved anybody like you“.

Kira: So that’s great to hear, right? And is there a specific role or kind of role that you would play in the future that you really want to… like a goal to achieve to play this specific role?

Jack: I wanna play Batman. I wanna play Indiana Jones. Ehm, no, I really wanna just extend my caliber completely and always always always access my further potential and play characters that break me and, and all these things I just, I want to continue telling stories for the rest of my life as an actor and as a director, too – behind the cameras as well.

Kira: Okay, so if you would or should write a series right now – what genre would it be?

Jack: Probably drama.

Kira: And what would it be about?

Jack: Ehm, well, I actually, I’m writing stuff that I… I don’t know, I don’t know if I should tell you yet…?

Kira: Yes, please!

Jack: I can’t tell you yet, I can’t because I don’t know, maybe it will get made and I don’t wanna…

Kira: Probably it will!

Jack: Maybe.

Kira: Okay, so, I have to wait… And… what is your favorite TV show?

Jack: Ehm… It’s probably „Breaking Bad“.

Kira: Oh greeeeat! It’s mine, too. Thank you for that answer!

Jack: That’s right!

Kira: Nice! Wow, okay. Yeah, ehm, (ich bin noch etwas überwältigt) do you have kind of an insider tip about series that you say one – except from „Breaking Bad“ – should see definitely – and except from „We Are Who We Are“ of course – like an insider series tip?

Jack: Like, like… what do you mean, like „You should go see this show“ or something?

Kira: Yeah, right, you should see this show maybe that’s not kind of a mainstream show that everyone knows about because it’s on Netflix or something. Maybe something that you’ve seen.

Jack: Oh, „Maniac“ was cool a while ago – I loved it. It was Jonah Hill and Emma Stone that did, that was a cool thing. And also an old, old show called „Tenspeed And Brown Shoe“ with Jeff Goldblum. That was a cool show.

Kira: Okay. Great. Thank you very much for this interview. Thank you very much for your time.

Jack: Thank you so much!

Kira: Bye bye.

Jack: Byeee.

Und so gehe ich also mit einem weiteren Geheimtipp auf meiner Liste aus dem Interview. Das Review zur ersten Episode „We Are Who We Are“ findet ihr übrigens hier. Schaut doch mal rein!

Bilder: Yannis Drakoulidis

Und wer das Interview lieber einmal in der auf Deutsch übersetzten Version lesen möchte, der schaut auf der zweiten Seite vorbei: