It’s been 14 months since Reel People last sat down with Aleks Paunovic, but given how much has transpired in the Vancouver actor’s career since then, it might as well have been a decade.
Any way you look at it, Paunovic’s career is on fire. In the past year, he logged primo guest arcs on two red-hot CW properties: The 100 and iZombie.
He appeared alongside Paul “Big Show” Wight (and a slew of local talent, including Michael Eklund, Adrian Holmes, Matthew MacCaull, and Kyra Zagorsky) in WWE’s action-packed Vendetta (directed by Vancouver’s gore-loving twin filmmakers, The Soska Sisters), and stole scenes in Crackle’s offering to the zombie oeuvre, Dead Rising: Watchtower.
He made friends with a guy named Tony – that’s Sir Anthony Hopkins to the rest of us – on the soon-to-be-released film Go With Me, and he produced and starred in Numb, a feature-length drama that will have its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival before screening for Whistler Film Festival audiences in December.
Paunovic can currently be seen as one of the super-scary Time Marines on Showcase’s Continuum, as well as in a small but revealing role in Eadweard (screening as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival’s BC Spotlight series; check out the film to discover why the “revealing” is funny).
So, yeah: Paunovic’s career is currently the definition of “on fiyah” – but he still managed to find time last month (after wrapping for the day on the Gastown set of School of Fish) to sit down with Reel People and reflect on everything he’s been working on (including a co-starring turn as the big baddie in the upcoming Kindergarten Cop 2, starring Dolph Lundgren):
REEL PEOPLE: You might just be the busiest man in the Vancouver acting scene right now.
ALEKS PAUNOVIC: I don’t know about that; a lot of guys are working their tails off, but I’ve been extremely fortunate with the opportunities that I’ve had, and not just with a lot of the Hollywood stuff coming in, but with the independent scene, too. I think Vancouver is such a strong community for independent visions, and I just got really fortunate to be involved in some of them. To get on a project that challenges me, that’s the biggest thing: the challenge. And working with great people.
RP: Talk to me about some of the highlights from the last year.
PAUNOVIC: I had some great success with The CW, doing five episodes of The 100, and nine episodes of iZombie. It’s a beautiful machine over there. They know exactly how to run their productions, and they hire amazing talent, and the people behind the scenes have been great. And then having the chance to do Badge of Honor, which was a gritty movie by Timothy Marlowe. Lochlyn Munro was the lead of that, so we got to work together, and I loved doing that with him. He’s one of the most gracious actors around. And then having a small part in Eadweard with Michael Eklund. That was a great part. I showed a lot [laughs]…
RP: No spoilers, but yes: you do show a lot in Eadweard.
PAUNOVIC: I really showed a lot. And I jumped in the car when I got asked, because those two guys [director Kyle Rideout and producer Josh Epstein, who also co-wrote the film] are such visionaries, and their short films were just so beautifully shot, so I was happy to just be a part of it.
RP: I would assume then, at this point in your career, you’d be hearing from people who want your career. They might want to know how you got to this point. What do you tell them? What role does mentorship play in your life and career?
PAUNOVIC: I love helping anyone that comes to me, and anything I can offer them to help make it a little bit easier – but at the end of the day, you’ve got to go through it yourself. No matter what anybody tells you, you’ve just got to go through it yourself, but knowing that there’s a light on the other side, that’s the biggest thing. If you love it that much, then you’re going to get through the hard times knowing it will turn. And just keeping a positive attitude. That was my biggest thing. I had great people around me when I was struggling, and keeping the persistent consistency was the biggest key, and having great people around me. One of my best friends, Tahmoh Penikett, he literally was the driving force to my career, because I had somebody was an avid fight fan, and he found great success, and seeing how he handled it, and just talking about it with someone you can reveal a lot of that stuff to, I was and am fortunate to have him as a best friend.
RP: Is there anything that you haven’t done yet that you’re eager to try now?
PAUNOVIC: It’s weird. I think it’s going to have to spring upon me. I was a part of a project called Numb for four years. It was one of the best and hardest experiences, but the best outweighed the hard. I was an associate producer on that, because I was involved in it for four years of development, and it was great: I got quite a say in casting. I came in to read with the other actors. Jason [Goode, director ] and I worked together on numerous projects, including [the 2012 Pacific Theatre production] Danny and the Deep Blue Sea – he directed that – and this was his first feature, and I was proud of him in that he got this and he did an amazing job. And [producers] Dylan Jenkinson and Robyn Wiener put so much work into Numb that they absolutely deserve a mention.
RP: Judging from the social media images, Numb looked like a physically exhausting shoot in the snow. Without giving too much away, what can you tell me about Numb?
PAUNOVIC: It’s a really revealing character piece. The best parts about Numb are the characters and the situation that they’re in. That’s what really drew me to the piece. Jamie Bamber did a fantastic job championing the film, being the lead, and I’d worked with him before on Battlestar [Galactica], so that was great, too. I think the thing about Numb is, what do you do in a situation where your back is up against the wall? And it just happened to be in that cold environment. It’s an interesting thing of, how does the human psyche react in certain situations? Where’s the moral judgment? Where’s your moral compass? You have to have some kind of moral compass before you go in anywhere, so it was a really interesting journey. There are four lead characters. It’s a very small cast: me, Stefanie [von Pfetten], Marie [Avgeropoulos, from The 100], and Jamie.
RP: You literally just stepped off of the set of School of Fish. What can you tell me about your work on this particular project?
PAUNOVIC: School of Fish was so interesting because what really drew me to this project was the cast. What an amazing cast. And then the character: what I loved about him was that there was no filter, but there was also a sad character hiding behind his antics, and he’s just a guy that’s so scared to grow up. He’s in his forties, and he’s hanging out with these kids, so the no filter aspect of it was super fun, but also keeping the sadness that he can’t move on, and he’s too scared to move on in being a man.
I’m seeing some amazing things being done right now with the indie scene, and I think it’s going to keep on moving because this is a creative town. People aren’t just talking about it, they’re doing it, and that’s inspiring.
RP: Outside of the indie scene, you’re also working on Kindergarten Cop 2. What’s the experience been like for you?
PAUNOVIC: I’m super excited. I was such a fan of the first Kindergarten Cop, and now I get to play one of the leads of Kindergarten Cop 2. I play this Russian guy named Zogu, and Dolph Lundgren is playing the Arnold Schwarzenegger character, and the best part of it is that it’s just super fun. There are so many kids! It’s fun: I get to use an Eastern European accent, I get to play, and I get to be in a movie franchise that I love, so that was a huge thing.
RP: Are you happy right now?
PAUNOVIC: I don’t want to say I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, but I’m up there. I have a wonderful life, I live in a wonderful city, and I’m doing what I love to do. That’s a dream right there.
RP: Do people ever encourage you to move to LA?
PAUNOVIC: They do, and I travel back and forth quite a bit, and I love going back and forth. I don’t want to leave Vancouver. As of right now, it’s working, and I love it.
