Exclusive Interview: Zach Scheerer Talks ‘The Re-Education of Molly Singer,’ How He Approached His Character, and More

Zach Scheerer emerges as one of the industry’s most exciting up-and-coming storytellers, making his presence known with a breakout performance in The Re-Education of Molly Singer. Sharing the screen with a talented ensemble including Britt Robertson, Ty Simpkins, Cierra Ramirez, Jaime Pressly, Holland Roden, and Nico Santos, Zach captivates audiences as Stu, stealing scenes with his portrayal. Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of chatting with Zach about The Re-Education of Molly Singer, his continued collaboration with director Andy Palmer, the film’s humor, and more.

PC: The Re-Education of Molly Singer is out now on Netflix. You worked with Andy [Palmer] who directed this in the past. How did he pitch this script to you? What was it about this character that resonated with you?
Zach: I’ve worked on a couple of projects with Andy in the past and also with one of the producers, Warner Davis. We’ve all collaborated on a few projects together, so when the script landed in my lap, they were like, “Zach, take a read. This is our next project.” At the time, it was called The Re-Education of David Singer, so it was more of a male-driven comedy. They got together and made some changes, and it became more female-driven, which I think was the best route. When I read it, I saw the character Stu. I was kind of that character in my college days a bit, just a tad. [laughs] So I was like, “That’s my character. I want that guy right there.” I lobbied for it, and it ended up working out. Andy believed in me and gave me the role.

PC: You’re such a standout in this. In addition to acting, you’ve also written and produced. How have your experiences behind the camera impacted the way you approach your work on-screen and vice versa?
Zach: I actually didn’t get behind the camera until after I was on screen. During the pandemic, I decided to go back to college. I got a second Master’s degree in Production Screenwriting because of the pandemic; everything stopped. There was nothing going on. I’m a firm believer that you have to keep moving. You have to stay sharp. Flowing water never goes stale. You have to keep on moving. I saw it as an opportunity.

I’ve always dabbled in writing, but I never really had any formal training in it, and I knew that was a hindrance, so I went back and got a second Master’s degree. That’s when I started writing a lot more. Now I’ve got several projects that I’ve written and a few that we’re trying to get moving. I’ve got a few of them that I’m working with Andy on too, actually. Writing is a lot of fun. I’m enjoying it. It’s one of those things where you just have to sit down and put in the work. But it’s more and more fun once you have a foundation. You can go back and chip away at the rough edges. Writing isn’t as fun when you first start. It’s fun to come up with the ideas, and then you have to put it to paper. But it’s like anything else; you’ve got to take action.

PC: One of your jobs as an actor is to find truth in your character and what you can relate to. Stu plays such an integral role in pushing this narrative forward and creating that conflict. As an actor, how do you approach a character who is the “d-bag” in the film without judgment?
Zach: He’s the Johnny Lawrence of the story. That’s how I looked at it. I have to look at myself in that situation. I’m the big man on campus, and here comes this new kid on campus. He shows up, and he’s interested in my woman. He’s crashing my frat parties. He’s trying to take some of my clout, and I’m not having it. Stu’s a pretty insecure guy, but comes off as the most secure guy in the world. The loudest people in the room are often the most insecure. I had to put myself in that position.

I really saw him as the Johnny Lawrence in the story. If you look at Karate Kid, you can see it from a completely different perspective and look at it from Johnny’s point of view. Here comes Daniel LaRusso, coming in and raining on his parade. What do you expect? That’s the same for Stu. I tried to play it as straightforward as I could. I didn’t want to be crazy, wild, and loud. The character is already kind of loud. I really wanted to play it straightforward.

PC: How did the trust that you’ve built with Andy allow you to push your creative decisions and take agency over Stu’s arc?
Zach: By nature, I’ve trained myself to attack anything that I’m worried about and just go. To me, that builds more confidence. But as far as the character itself, I had plenty of confidence and understanding on how to play Stu. I’ve seen these types of characters in many different roles, not to mention, seeing these people in real life. And I was a little bit like this in college. But what’s cool with Andy is when I sat down with him, I had all these ideas. We sat down, and we went over some things together. He gave me a clean slate right off the bat.

He was like, “What have you been working with? What do you got?” I started going over ideas, and he was like, “You got nothing to worry about. I don’t have anything to say. You got this.” There were a few minor tweaks here and there, but for the most part, we agreed on 99.9%. We were on the same page.

That made it so much easier going into it, knowing that I was on the same page as him. That’s the great thing about Andy and I. When we work together, a lot of the times we line up perfectly. So at that point when we’re filming, it gave me a lot of free range to play.

He really gives you the opportunity to get into your character. That’s really important. If you trust the person to play that particular character, then you have to trust in the decisions that they’re going to make and maybe make minor tweaks. It gives you another layer of confidence.

PC: Comedy is a genre that really encourages improvisation. Your character has a lot of incredible one-liners and moments. How much of that was improvised versus scripted? Is there a moment that made the final cut that you’re excited for audiences to see?
Zach: There was a lot that made the final cut that was improvised, especially the back and forth between me and Nico. Andy gave us free range. We would shoot and make sure that we had it, so that it was there as intended. Then Andy would be like, “Have some fun with it.” There was a lot of improv there.

That booze decathlon was improvised. We sat around, played games, and had fun. We originally had three days to shoot that, and we had to shoot it in one day. In a lot of ways, that was a blessing in disguise because we all had fun with it, and it was like let’s try this and let’s try that. That’s when the magic comes to fruition. It’s when things are on the fly and baptism by fire. That’s when the real magic comes out. Where if we had three days, we may have overthought stuff like that.

To keep up with Zach, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch The Re-Education of Molly Singer on Netflix today.

Photo Credit: Matt Stasi