Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with East of Middle West and Locke & Key’s Carson MacCormac

Carson MacCormac is an emerging storyteller who is equally talented in front of—and behind—the camera. His growing lists of credits include projects like Shazam!, Giant Little Ones, Riot Girls, Big Top Academy, and Locke & Key.

Earlier this year, he blew audiences away with his award-winning performance in East of Middle West.

The must-see indie film follows a teenage runaway and a widowed father on a journey of redemption.

Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of speaking with Carson about his multifaceted career, East of Middle West, and more!

PC: How did you discover your passion for acting and storytelling?
Carson: For me, acting came before storytelling, at least subconsciously. I’d be on vacation reading books on the beach instead of paying attention to what was going on around me. I always loved films. But I really fell in love with acting first.

When I was in middle school, my fourth-grade singing teacher told me that I should do the school musical. I joined and became obsessed with working creatively with other people. I couldn’t really identify why at the time, but I think it was because of how incredible that feeling is when you can work collaboratively with someone else on something.

Later on, I realized that I also had a huge passion for telling interesting stories because there’s nothing more fun for me than when I get to join a cast or crew that’s filled with people that all love what they’re working on. The energy is incredible and it always makes me do better work.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Carson: Personally, the biggest influence was my fourth-grade music teacher because she was the one who guilted me into doing it in the first place. [laughs] She taught me for years.

Professionally, there are a couple of films every year that reinvigorate my love for the craft. The ones that I can think of off the top of my head are Parasite and Joker. That whole year for movies was insane, but Parasite, in particular, blew me away. Watching Minari and films like that makes me fall in love with the craft all over again. That’s one of the ways that I keep myself motivated—and is one of the things that inspired me in the first place.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Carson: The first moment where I realized that I was a part of this industry, where it started to feel a little more real instead of fantastical, was when I booked Shazam! That was a real shock. I was not prepared for that, even going into the audition. I was like, “There’s no way I’m going to get this. Let’s just have some fun with it.” Being on set really gave me a how-to of what you can do on the production of a film between the stunt work, wirework, action scenes, and fight scenes. It gave me a rundown of what you can do on a movie set. That was the most transformative experience in terms of my understanding of what it means to be a part of a big-budget film.

PC: In addition to acting, you’ve also done some writing and producing. How’s your work behind the scenes made you a stronger actor and vice versa?
Carson: Writing is a newer passion for me, but it’s one that I’ve approached with the same vigor as I have with acting. I find it so fascinating how you can break down a script and how much you can learn as an actor when you understand the purpose of each scene and why writers make the choices that they make. I’m finding that’s been one of the greatest learning tools for me as an actor—which I was shocked to find out—but it’s helped so much because I find it takes away a lot of the mystery behind the whole mystique of acting. It really breaks it down in solid terms and makes it much easier for me to identify where I’m lacking.

PC: Tell us about East of Middle West and your character in the film.
Carson: East of Middle West is a project founded on love. We filmed in Iowa back before COVID happened. It was in the summer of 2019. It’s a film about a kid named Chris (whom I play). He makes a horrible, horrible mistake at the beginning of the film. It’s about finding one’s own freedom and one’s own voice, what it means to truly be free, escaping one’s past, and whether people can truly change. It has a lot of deeper meaning to it. I think that, coupled with the incredible performance by the entire cast, makes it fly by quickly when you’re watching it. At least it did for me when I was reading the script for the first time. It really leaves you with a lot of thought-provoking questions.

PC: You’ve worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative?
Carson: It’s the constant go, go, go mentality. It’s nonstop. At first, I was intimidated by it. When I saw that we had a twenty-one-day shoot, I was like, “Man, this is going to be fast.” I had never been on a feature film that’s filmed this quickly before. But once we got into it, it was its own form of freedom where we were throwing things around so quickly. It was very spontaneous. You walk into your scene, not knowing what’s going to happen. That was fun for me because that defines a lot of what’s at the root of creating films. It’s the freedom to find spontaneity within the themes of the script. It was a real crash course on spontaneity and improvisation for me, and I love it.

PC: You’ve shared in previous interviews that bringing this character to life was daunting at first. What was your creative process developing this character?
Carson: Oh man. It was a lot of writing at first. I wanted to understand the themes as well. This was right around the time when I started to get really invested in writing. I coupled that with my acting a bit more than I usually do.

Once I fully explored the general idea of the script, I took a page out of Matthew McConaughey’s book. He talked about this before in interviews, where he likes to say lines in totally different settings in different emotional states that he’s in. Sometimes he’ll read the same scene when he’s had a great night out with friends or when he’s had a bad day, so he can compile different things for the scene. I did that with Chris. I’m sure not to the extent that he does because he’s Matthew freaking McConaughey. But I did that a little bit to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything when we were going into the scenes. Because once we showed up on set, we didn’t have time to think it through quite as much. Getting my mind around how I wanted Chris to sound and behave physically was founded on that idea.

PC: With all the work that you put in, is there a scene that you’re really excited for fans to see?
Carson: Oh man, there are a lot of great ones in this film. We’re all very proud of it. There are three or four that I can remember with perfect clarity. I can remember how it was on the day of filming. But there are two in particular that I’d say are up there.

One of them is a scene between my character and Bill, who’s played by Scotty McCord. He’s incredible in all my scenes with him. Without giving any spoilers, we were chitchatting about what he used to do for a living and how I wanted to follow in his footsteps. We had two takes to do of that scene: his coverage and my coverage. Both of us were terrified going into it, but it ended up so great. It went fantastic. But that one in particular defined how the experience was for me. I always look back on it fondly.

The other scene is right at the tail end of the film. I don’t want to spoil how it ends, but it takes place in a trailer in the middle of a trailer park with a red truck. Scotty is in it again. It’s intense and fantastic. It was such a transformative day for me as an actor.

PC: You’re also joining the cast of Locke & Key. What should audiences know about your character?
Carson: That’s exciting. My character is very interesting. I can’t say specifically who he is, but I’ve got a really cool hairdo, so that’s fun. It’s a real blast. They took Season 1 and made it bigger and better. The stakes are higher. The villains are incredible. It’s going to be a wild ride.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Carson: I don’t know if it’s a guilty pleasure, but I love watching The Vampire Diaries. I watch that thing from start to finish. It’s fantastic.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Carson: I will rewatch Top Gun a bajillion times. I can never watch that movie enough. I went out with my best friend as Maverick and Goose for Halloween once. We are obsessed with that film.

PC: Favorite book?
Carson: Great question. I don’t know what to tell you right now. It’s probably a book called The Lies of Locke Lamora. It’s the first book in an ongoing trilogy. If there was ever a character I would want to play, it would be Locke Lamora in that book. His dialogue is so witty, so sharp. He’s incredible.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Carson: Hamilton.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Carson: Right now, I’m listening to a band called Jared & The Mill. I’m really enjoying it. They’re fantastic. I’m a diehard Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole fan. I love hip hop.

PC: Dream role?
Carson: I’d love to do something historical like The Crown. What they get to do on a day-to-day basis looks like so much fun. I would love to do a period piece.

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Carson: I’ve never thought of that. If I could pick a person to play me in the story of my life, I would love someone like Chris Pine. I love him. He’s a huge inspiration of mine.

To keep up with Carson, follow him on Instagram. Learn more about East of Middle West here.