Isaac Anthony

by Omar Salas Zamora

June 12th, 2024

Isaac Anthony is an actor living in Los Angeles.

Omar Salas Zamora: How do you pitch yourself?

Isaac Anthony: I guess I pitch myself as a leading man. Someone with a presence or something magnetic about them.

Does that make you very specifically aware of the roles you maybe shouldn't be trying to do?

I get auditions for some out-there roles, lots of vampires. It really depends on the script, good writing that can showcase your talent well. I just did "Motherfucker with the Hat” on stage.

Did doing theatre stem from the strikes or was it something you were already interested in?

I was all about wanting to be in movies but once I came out here and read my first play, I realized plays were the best form of training for an actor. There’s so much more depth in theater. A scene can change every night, and you discover more each time. It makes everything else feel simpler.

Was that with your studio?

Yes, it's called M.A.D. Acting Studio. The play was great—we just got together at my studio, cast it ourselves, rehearsed, and put it out for about five weeks.

Talking about leading men. Have you seen Final Cut with Brad Pitt?

Cutting Class? Oh my God, dude. I’m telling you, I’ve seen all the Brad Pitt stuff. I was probably 14 years old and living in Ohio, and I watched Fight Club for the first time, and said “wow, this guy is awesome.” Then I saw Cutting Class on YouTube and I was shocked at how different he was back then and seeing that evolution. This boy from Springfield, Missouri. It’s inspirational.

What comparison do you invite most? Paul Newman?

I guess so. I love, love Paul Newman. I think he's a really great actor but I read his book and he never really considered himself a great actor. Kazan said that too, but no, he was great.

Context: From a 1953 letter written by Kazan to Budd Schulberg: “If we don’t get Brando, I’m for Paul Newman. This boy will definitely be a film star. I have absolutely no doubt. He’s just as good looking as Brando, and his masculinity, which is strong, is also more actual. He’s not as good an actor as Brando yet, and probably will never be. But he’s a darn good actor with plenty of power, plenty of insides, plenty of sex.”

Omar Salas Zamora: He was an underappreciated director, too. I'm a huge, huge fan of, The Effect of Gamma Rays. And he was a weird director, too, always tackling difficult tones which was interesting given how much of a mainstream personality he was in front of the camera.

Isaac Anthony: Have you seen One Eyed Jacks?

No, I haven’t.

It’s the only movie Brando directed. I love that movie. He did so much weird stuff, too. It feels like he was the first reluctant movie star.

Yeah. You can tell with all of the other things that he wanted to do in life and all the other interests he had, he could never do because he was a movie star. Yeah. So it kind of felt like, “well, if I'm going to be a movie star, I'll be a movie star and fuck it.”

“I'll just be a king.”

You’re one of the leads in my movie, The Prodigy. Say it’s opening weekend, what’s your elevator pitch for that movie?

It is a look in on what a sociopath. Pure delusional desire. Everybody loves true crime. But from my character’s point of view, it’s a tragedy and uh…

It’s really hard not to give it away.

I know, man.

We can move on. Is there a movie that will help people understand you?

I mean, the movie that got made me want to be an actor was The Shining.

Oh, really?

It wasn't that I wanted to be in The Shining. It was how it affected me. At a young age, I watched by myself and was just totally lost in and I think that's what kind of sparked my love for films. We always had a huge DVD collection growing up but that one lit the fire. And Scorsese, too.

Which Scorsese’s?

I just saw The Big Shave, which is crazy. Especially to me when you're19 years old. It's so intense.

It’s so intense for no reason at all.

I think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is absolutely amazing. That movie is on the top of my list because it's very nostalgic to me. I would see photos from the set when I still lived in Ohio and I’m, like, “oh man, it's Brad and Leo and Tarantino and all my favorites in this one movie.” And then I moved here as it was coming out and I remember going to Hollywood Boulevard and just being a spectator of the premiere and it just reminds me of that time. I've seen it at the New Beverly a few times, too.

Do you go to The New Beverly often?

Yeah, I saw On The Waterfront and The Wild Ones recently. That was awesome. It was actually the first time I've ever did a double feature there.

What would be your dream double feature?

I would, I would really love to watch Seven on the big screen.   Seven and a good Brendan Fraser movie. George of the Jungle?

Do you watch TV?

I’m a huge fan of the Tales From The Crypt series. I love that. I think there’s something about the late 80s, early 90s that has a very specific feel. Great guest stars. I love 21 Jump Street and seeing Johnny Depp. I don't see I don't really watch a whole lot of series now. I love Stranger Things and a few things here and there but do sitcoms even exist anymore?

The Connors, I guess?

When I first moved here, I did extra work on this show called The Goldbergs. I did my research before I came out here, and I knew that that was a way that you could get your SAG eligibility. So, I had set it up where I moved out here May 17th of 2019. And then by that Friday, I was doing extra work. And, you know, I’m on the Paramount Studios lot, in wardrobe, walking around and looking at the plaques and the history and I did that for about a year. At the same time, I was pretty much learning more about acting and the craft. As soon as I got my three vouchers, or whatever you needed, I was out of there. They don’t treat you like a human, you’re cattle to them.

You got here in May of 2019? When COVID happened, was there a temptation to go back home?

No, because well.  I remember because I lived in my car for a little while for two and a half months or something like that and then I eventually got a room in North Hollywood. And my roommate at the time, he happened to be flying back home. And this was in March, February, right before it was all about to happen. And he says, I'm just going to come back next week. And then he ended up leaving and the whole thing happened, they shut down the flights and I was stuck in this apartment with myself, my DVD collection and a cat for months and months. My acting classes were on zoom. I was given that whole time to do nothing but train to be better. I don't think I've ever had, never had a plan B, but I also never wanted to go back. I come from a place where even getting out is making it.

That’s great. I feel like I knew so many actors that had such potential and their chase was cut short by COVID.

I just hit my five year mark, and, I've definitely been through a lot here.. There were times when I was on food stamps, I was I was donating plasma to pay for my acting classes, doing whatever I could. Going back was never an option. That's not home to me. It doesn't feel like it. And even when I go back for Christmas, for the holidays and I see my family, it's great. But by the fourth or fifth day, I feel like I'm going stir crazy because you're out here and you're you're trying to do so much. There's this huge city, and then you go back to Ohio and it all just slows down and you can feel that. It’s kind of an endurance, figuring out where you really belong.

I mean, most people don't know what they want to do so fulfillment comes easier. The gift and the curse that artists have is that they know exactly what their path is.

I promised myself that I would come out here before my 22nd birthday. And I just loaded up my car, the car I still have today. And I drove a four day journey out here, I never taken a drive on myself or even been out west period. I drove all the way from Ohio and I remember going to Colorado and I remember seeing the clouds. And then I was getting closer and realized there were mountains. I remember the Grand Canyon, and I couldn't even look at it. It didn’t look real. I'd never seen anything like that in my life. And then I came to LA and the first place I went was Griffith Observatory on a Friday night. Then at sundown, I went down to Hollywood Boulevard and kept walking, and you just take in everything about it. The smell, the people, the whole thing. It was very, is very intense. I think people can get really jaded. That's the one thing my manager always told me that she admired about me is that I had a very I had that in a sense, or that spunk they call it. Following the work and just trusting that it's going to guide you to where you're supposed to be. Yeah, I don't know. When I go back to Brad Pitt and I see his career and how he started and where he ended up. I think that was always like in my head when I first came out here, was like, I wanted to be one day to inspire some boy from Ohio like he inspired me.

Photography by Omar Salas Zamora

Interview by Omar Salas Zamora