(Photo credit: My Precious Pictures)
Aleks Paunovic is downright giddy about some of his new projects.
“Van Helsing” fans know the popular actor from his role as Julius, “Snowpiercer” viewers know him as Breachman Boscovic, and “Supernatural” fans remember him as Gunner Lawless. His other recurring roles include “NarcoLeap,” “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” “Continuum,” “iZombie,” and the list of sci-fi favorites rolls on.
Paunovic chats about the film’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” moment, and how the challenges ended up making it great. “Chained” has been nominated for multiple awards including two award wins from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle including Best BC Feature Film. It also grabbed two more awards in the Best Actor category for Marlon Kazadi and Aleks Paunovic at the New York International Film Awards, along with nominations for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Casting, and Best Supporting Actor (Adrian Holmes) categories at the Leos Awards.
Colleen Bement: Congratulations on your new film “Chained.” I’ve watched the trailer a few times and it is completely compelling.
Aleks Paunovic: I’m so proud of this film especially from inception to where it’s come, and the trials and tribulations that we had to go through. It makes it that much more rewarding.
CB: What can you tell your fans about your character Jim?
AP: What really attracted me to the role was the complexity of where did he come from and how did he get there? All the techniques that he’s trying to use to get this young boy to let him go, and the different ways he goes about it, and the psychological warfare really attracted me to the role. At the end of the day, Jim just wanted to leave and wanted his best way to get out of there. He tried so many ways, and the kid was sharp. That ideal of the psychological thriller was really captivating to me. Especially the position of him being a young boy and me being 6’5,” 250. I just thought that was a really unique way to tell this type of story, and the underlying messages that are there. I thought it was a brilliantly written script by Titus Heckel.
CB: I love it. It looks so good!
CB: So tell me, what made it challenging and what made it great?
AP: I think the challenges made it great, also. I think what we lucked out with was a superb team. My Precious Pictures and Rachelle and her team really kind of got this group together. I think we shot it in December. I was working on another film, so I came a little later which means that I had to do most of my scenes with Marlon consecutively. I think I shot six, seven, or eight days and I was in every scene chained up, and here we go! That was a little bit more than I thought it was going to be, but it ended up being exactly what this character and I needed; to be chained up for those five days straight.
And then there was a blip in the film’s financing, which is a testament to the ethics of the producers, they couldn’t pay the cast and crew. They went to them and said look, we don’t have the money to pay you guys. We’re going to have to shut down. We should be getting the money in like a month, but it’s not fair to you, and everyone–EVERYONE rallied. We talked about how it was an “It’s a Wonderful Life” moment where everyone rallied and just said, we love this project. We love the script and we love the people. We believe in it and we believe in you. We love what we’re doing so let’s just do it until the money comes in. They donated their time and everyone crossed their fingers that the money would come in. They just threw caution to the wind and said this needs to be done. That’s how it got done. The love of filmmaking.
CB: Wow, what a passion. That’s incredible.
AP: It was quite emotional to see everyone, especially with Titus had been working on the script for four years, and Rachelle was right there with him.
CB: Congrats on winning Best Actor at the New York International Film Awards, and congrats on the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award. How cool was that to win the awards after all of this hard work?
AP: Honestly, I’m not a fan of awards personally. There are a lot of times when a movie will come out and then it’s done its thing, and a few months later where you haven’t heard about the movie, and the awards season comes around. Someone is nominated in it and it brings light to the project and everyone gets another spotlight on the project, and everyone who has worked hard on the project gets to see us back up in lights. That’s the most joy it brings to me. If I get nominated for a film, it just means that everyone’s work gets the spotlight. That’s what I love about awards. Everyone gets a bite out of it. It’s not just a personal thing. It’s a great feeling to be nominated and win some of these awards, but it’s the biggest thing that it’s the hard work that everyone gets to see again.
CB: Let’s switch gears and sink our teeth into some vampire goodness with “Van Helsing.” I know your fans are excited that Julius came back for this final season. Was it emotional to film the final episodes?
AP: Oh definitely. And that’s the other thing, ya never know as you finish a season you’re always kind of looking at the cast and crew and production team going I don’t want to say goodbye because we just finished the show. I hope we get picked up so that I get to see you next year. But I don’t know, so you’re kind of looking at each other like, I want to hug the heck out of you but I don’t know. We always had the vibe of never knowing if we were getting picked up for the next season. As time went on we were always so fortunate to come back every season.
To know that SyFy and Netflix and even Chaz and Michael who were a part of Nomad Pictures who made the show for us, it was just such a blessing to have a fifth and final season. They could have canceled us after four but they loved the show so much that they said let’s wrap this up. Let’s really put an exclamation point at the end of this season.
To have the starting of a story of season one of me and be able to wrap up all of the characters by the end of the run of the show, that to me is such a gift from the fans and from SyFy that let us have five phenomenal years. Knowing that it was coming and feeling it happening, it was just a lot of gratefulness. NOt a lot of shows get five years to build a family. It’s definitely given me the experience and love for making film and television and cross my fingers that I can even come close to working on another show with that type of creativity and comradery.
CB: The last season was so unique, too. What an amazing way to wrap it up.
AP: So awesome, I know. There are still a handful of episodes left to air and I can’t wait for the fans to see how this one ends.
CB: Every time I turn around you’re in a new series or film. What upcoming projects are you allowed to share with us?
AP: Well there’s one that I can’t talk about that I’m not allowed to talk about, that should be happening in a few months where I can finally talk about it. I’m so giddy and busted at the seems. And then there’s a film called “Zero Contact” produced and directed by Rick Dugdale. We basically started this idea of doing this film when COVID hit, and everyone was on lockdown, and the whole team, probably about 20 of us on a Zoom, talking about the project. There were seven actors in seven different countries and the storyline bases around that. It’s been really exciting building that, and then the trials and tribulations of shooting a film on a Zoom platform.
We got it done, and I love saying this so excuse me for grinning right now as I’m about to say this, I love the fact that we got two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins in this film. In a Zoom film with us! It’s so great!! I can’t wait for people to see the film and the sequel’s already written and we’re hoping to get that going by the end of the year. That’s been a very, very exciting project to be a part of.
CB: When you even FIND time to chill out, what do you like to do to relax?
AP: I love my brand new couch that I’ve had for about a year, but it’s the best couch ever. And watching fights. I love watching UFC and boxing and hanging out with my boys. I make sure that that’s a thing that I make sure that when a fight’s on, I block that time off. I love spending time with friends and family and getting quality time and being present. There are 24 hours in a day, you can always find time to relax and enjoy life.
The trailer for “Chained” commands the viewer’s attention. Check it out! It debuted on VOD on June 15th, 2021 across Canada.
“Chained” is a psychological crime thriller that centers on rising star Marlon Kazadi (Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Child’s Play) as Taylor; a 13-year-old abused and bullied boy, who discovers and befriends Jim, a criminal chained inside an abandoned warehouse, played by Aleks Paunovic (Snowpiercer, Van Helsing). At first, Taylor, an aspiring gardener, takes care of Jim, but after a violent betrayal, Taylor begins abusing his captive in order to find out where Jim has hidden stolen money. Meanwhile, the enraged “victims” of Jim’s crime are closing in and Taylor has put the lives of Jim, his father, and his beloved Nora at risk too.
Written by Colleen Bement
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