Pop-Culturalist.com

Mitchell Kummen is an exciting young actor on the rise. At only sixteen, he’s built an impressive résumé. Recently, he blew us away as a young Mick Rory on Legends of Tomorrow. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with this talented young up-and-comer. And, there’s one thing that’s for sure, he’s an actor you’ll want to keep your eye on!

Legends of Tomorrow Questions

PC: How did you get involved with the project?
Mitchell: It’s funny, actually. They held an audition. The day of the audition they called me in for wardrobe fitting. The day after the audition, they called me to set. Auditions usually don’t happen that fast. They were in need of a young Rory. That’s how fast it happened.

PC: Were you a fan of the show before you auditioned?
Mitchell: I had never seen the show before I auditioned, but I was definitely a fan of the other shows, like Arrow and Flash, and all that.

PC: One of the great things about playing the younger version of a character is: You get to really tell that original story. What kind of prep did you do for the role?
Mitchell: What I liked about playing the young Mick Rory was what you just mentioned which is the telling of the original story, but the fact that you can see that Rory took something and made it beautiful. He took something as dangerous as fire and made it into something beautiful. When he grows up, he uses his love for fire in a good way. The way I prepped for the role, I tried to get into fire. I didn’t do it to the point where I would go around and burn down houses and was like, “Oh, that’s cool! So that’s how he felt. Okay! Sorry about your house, by the way!” I would take a lighter and try and be fascinated by fire, which I was. That’s the prep I did for the role.

PC: Did you and Dominic share any notes about playing Heat Wave?
Mitchell: You know, it’s funny actually. Dominic and I hadn’t chatted about mannerisms and stuff like that. It kind of just happened. We kind of had the same mannerisms and played Rory the same … almost naturally. It worked out really, really well.

PC: Were there any fun or funny moments on set?
Mitchell: There were a lot. One of them was: We were talking. I can’t remember what the first thing he said. And, then he was talking and he said, “I kind of like being told I’m wrong, rather than the passive-aggressive Canadian way which is, “We’ll try it your way. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try my way.” He said, “That’s the most Canadian way to say, ‘You’re wrong.'” He said, “I’m so glad that you guys aren’t like that.”

There was another one where during the slap, Caity, when she slapped me, I put my hands on the wrong side and said, “Ow!” She slapped me on my right cheek, and then I put my hand on my left cheek and then I said, “Ow!” The director was like, “That was good, but maybe this time try and bring your hand on the other side.”

Career Questions

PC: What’s your dream role?
Mitchell: My dream role? This is going to sound super weird, but my dream role is a psycho. I want to play a psycho. I think that’d be so much fun.

PC: Oh, wow!

Mitchell: Yeah. That would be so much fun, wouldn’t it? I wouldn’t want to be that in real life, but I would love to play one.

PC: One person you would love to work with, and why.
Mitchell: Jackie Chan. And Johnny Depp, actually. And Johnny Depp because he’s very, very versatile.

PC: Would you want to do like stunts with Jackie Chan?
Mitchell: Absolutely. No question about that one.

PC: What piece of advice would you give a young actor trying to get their start in Hollywood?
Mitchell: Never, ever give up. I know that sounds cliché, but the thing with showbiz is, showbiz has a lot of rejection. It can be easy at times. You can feel like you want to give up and say, “Why am I even bothering?” The key to it is never give up and always give 100%.

PC: Was there a time where you felt that you wanted to give up?
Mitchell: Absolutely. There’s been numerous times where I felt like, “What am I doing? I shouldn’t even be doing this. What am I doing?” I’ve wanted to give up a couple of times, but I persisted and it’s gotten me so many things that I’m grateful for, like friends. One of my best friends, I met on a set. On the set, I felt like giving up. I got this really, really great friend out of the deal. I’m so glad I didn’t give up.

PC: Being an actor, you have to be creative. How do you stay inspired and creative?
Mitchell: I’m weird. I get inspired by the weirdest things. I’ll look at a tree and be like, “Wow! Hey! I know what I could do. I could play my pyromaniac character like this!” I’ll look at a leaf and be like, “Wow! What a leaf! Hey, I could do this with my serial killer role!” It’s just appreciating little things for me. The other day, I walked out of Subway and I looked at the sky. I’m like, “The sky is particularly blue. I know how I’ll do this!”

PC: Would you say you’re inspired by nature in a way?
Mitchell: In a sense, yes.

PC: If you weren’t an actor, what would you be?
Mitchell: Either an astrobiologist, or a quantum physicist.

PC: Oh, wow! You’re an advocate for anti-bullying and mental health. Can you talk a little bit more about it?
Mitchell: Yes, actually. Mental health is a big issue. A lot of people think that the problem is talking about it. I see people going on talk shows and interviews all the time saying, “If you have mental health, you need to talk about it.” It kind of feels to me like they’re almost saying, “It’s your fault. You have to talk about.” I’m saying, “No. That’s not the problem.” People are talking about it. People are saying, “Look, I have depression. I’ve had suicidal thoughts.” People are going, “That’s not something you talk about.”

The problem is not “we need to talk about it.” The problem is “we need to listen” and be there for those people. Not only the mentally ill, but the physically ill. People in wheelchairs, or people who are sick, they reach out for help and we don’t give it to them. We just walk by ignoring them because we don’t want to deal with their problems because it’s not our problems. If someone reaches out for help, I think it’s your responsibility as a human being to help that person.

Bullying, in general, is a big problem. Everyone says, “Oh, I’m totally against bullying.” At the end of the day, we all do bullying in some way, shape or form. I think, the thing is realizing that we all do it, and stopping ourselves when the opportunity presents itself. We’ll say, “I’m against bullying” and then we’ll go on the internet and say to someone, “You’re stupid. That’s not …” Subconsciously, that doesn’t register with us, but that’s bullying. Right? If we’re aware, we can go, “You’re stupid …” I don’t want to write that. “Okay. I value your opinion, but here’s what I think …” I just think if we get that, the world would be such a better place.

PC: Would you say that this is like an ongoing problem that you’ve been passionate about, which caused you to become an advocate? Was there something that inspired you to start taking initiative towards doing this?
Mitchell: No. I had a really, really good friend of mine. She had gotten married in the Bahamas. Two months after her wedding, she took her own life.

PC: Oh, wow.

Mitchell: It’s a very, very sad story. She was the one who inspired me to start talking about it. I met so many great people like Ria Jade, who’s a big advocate for it. Carol Todd, who lost her daughter due to cyber-bullying, actually. That stuff, it really hits home for me, because of my friend who took her own life. I just see how devastated her husband is. I think, “This doesn’t help anybody.” Taking your own life—it leaves everything around you affected. It devastates everybody around you. If I can do my part to try and prevent that from happening, as much as I can, then I can die happy.

PC: It’s really great that you’re doing this.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: What’s a guilty pleasure movie and television show that you watch?
Mitchell: Brooklyn 99. Actually, I was watching Season Two. I was like, “Dang it! I really want Season Three to come out.” When it did come out I binge watched the entire Season Three. I was like, “Dang! That was a good season.” Then, I was like, “Wow! I’m stupid! Now, I have to wait an entire year for the next season to come out.” I shouldn’t have watched it all in a day.

PC: What about a guilty movie?
Mitchell: Star Wars.

PC: Did you watch the new one?

Mitchell: I did, and I loved it. A lot of people hated it because it was like the originals, but I absolutely loved it. I thought it was absolutely lovely. I think the next one’s going to be even better. I don’t know if nine is going to be as good as seven, but I think eight will be better. It will have more of Luke, I think.

PC: An artist or band that people would be surprised to find on your playlist.
Mitchell: The thing with me is—I love music in general. I don’t have a specified genre. If I had to pick a band, I’d have to go with Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

PC: I’ve never heard of him.

Mitchell: Well, he’s an old, old artist. He was popular back in the mid-50s.

PC: Okay. Favorite play or musical?
Mitchell: Macbeth probably. It’s probably Macbeth. I love Shakespeare.

PC: Favorite book?
Mitchell: Favorite book. That’s a difficult one. I would have to probably say … There’s a series, and I forget what it’s called, but it’s like a dragon series. I read it and I really loved it. It’s a tie between that or the Bone series. I remember reading the Bone series when I was younger and I really loved it.

PC: D.C. or Marvel?
Mitchell: D.C. I love them both, but I think D.C.’s storylines are a lot more … I feel like Marvel is more trying to be relative to families, whereas the D.C. is trying to just keep it real as much as they possibly can. They have a little bit darker story lines. I do love both.

Favorite superhero?
Mitchell: Batman. I think he’s the most realistic. Right? He’s a regular human being, has no superpowers, but he’s got a bunch of gadgets, and he’s super smart. Then, you’ve got somebody who’s basically a god who’s allergic to a green rock that’s right beside him.

Photo Credit: Robert Gilbert