Pop-Culturalist.com

Connor Weil is an accomplished and seasoned storyteller with over a decade’s worth of experience and more than thirty credits to his name. His impressive career spans various genres and mediums, and it’s his versatility that has made him stand out, landing coveted roles in projects such as Scream: The TV Series, Apple TV+’s Acapulco, and Days of Our Lives.

Recently, he made a guest appearance on Netflix’s action-packed new show, Obliterated. The action-comedy series narrates the story of an elite special forces team that thwarts a deadly threat to Las Vegas. After their celebratory party, filled with booze, drugs, and sex, the team discovers that the bomb they deactivated was a fake. The now-intoxicated team has to fight through their impairments, overcome personal issues, find the real bomb, and save the world.

Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of speaking with Connor again to discuss Obliterated. Plus, Connor shares his advice on embracing your typecast, his Tape to TV series, and how his craft allows him to explore all walks of life, creating greater understanding among audiences.

PC: Something that you’ve done so brilliantly throughout your career, especially with the rise of social media, is that you’ve used your platform to show off the different characters that you can play and your range, which is so important in an industry where everybody likes to typecast, which also aligns with the work that you and your wife have been doing with your production company. When did you realize that this was another tool in your actor’s toolbox? Have you seen the impact on the types of roles that are now coming across your desk?
Connor: That’s a great question. First of all, thank you. As an actor, you’re always taught to embrace your typecast. All of my non-artist friends are like, “Don’t get typecast. Be careful.” You know what, though? That’s how you get in. It’s how you start. I teach anybody who wants to listen to me, embrace your typecast, play their game for a second, because then you’re in. Then you can go do what you want.

With social media, you can always show your real side and show the other characters you can play. I have used social media for that. I will say that I always play, excuse my language, the d*uchebag jock. [laughs] That’s my typecast. I play it well. It’s fun to play the opposite of myself, but I have used social media to be like, “So you all know, I can play a cowboy. I can play a business man who’s actually nice. I can do a Hallmark movie.” I try to do so many different things and I totally have seen a change in the auditions hitting my desk. I’ve seen more variety. Social media has helped me a lot with that.

PC: Mentorship has been such a cornerstone in your career. You’ve always been so open about sharing the lessons that you’ve learned in this industry. What’s the biggest piece of advice you would give an aspiring young actor today? Have you and your wife started having conversations about what it would be like if your two kids wanted to follow in your footsteps?
Connor: That’s another great question. I’m going to start with the second part and tie it into the first. I need my children to be old enough to look me in the face and say, “Daddy, I want to do this,” because this industry is very difficult. It really is. If you don’t want to do it fully, then please don’t. It’s too much on your soul to take that much rejection or be around that much fakeness. I’ll admit it, when you’re at a Hollywood event, you put on a face. You try to do the dance and walk, right? So with my kids, if they want to do this, there’s a path. I would love to help them, but I want it to be their idea.

With that being said, if you’re past that point, and you say, “I understand that it’s tough. I still would like to try it.” Then my biggest piece of advice is treat it like a business. There’s room for artistic things in there somewhere; you will find the artistry. But at the beginning, what do you need? Market yourself. Make sure people know who you are. Make sure you know what your typecast is, so that people don’t have to find that for you. Find some nice interviewers who can totally make you feel good about yourself. [laughs] If you treat it like work, it becomes manageable. Because if you get rejected from your dream enough times, it crushes you. That’s the biggest thing for me. I’m like, “Oh, I just went to work. I auditioned, I didn’t get it. I’m going to move onto the next one.” It keeps me fresh. I’m able to enjoy the artistry when I’m like, “Well, my job was really fun today. I had a character that I really liked. Probably won’t book it, I’m too young, I’m too old, whatever it may be. Bye.” That’s my biggest piece of advice is; keep it in the business part of your brain, let the artistry flow through that, and then it helps with everything else, at least in the beginning.

PC: It’s been a strange couple of months with the writers and actors’ strike. Speaking of that artistry, how have you been able to remain creatively fulfilled?
Connor: There was a huge camaraderie that came together. We, actors, weren’t allowed to promote our own stuff. But if we heard about it, we all went and saw it. My heart breaks because there were so many great films and TV shows that dropped throughout the strike that none of the actors could even hit a red carpet for.

I’m not sure why this one popped into my head, but Blue Beetle was an all-Latino cast. It was a really cool movie, we all went and saw it. It was like, “Don’t worry, we’ve all got your back. We know that you’re not allowed to promote it.” It was going to be such a fun opportunity to promote this amazing cast and crew, but we couldn’t. Creatively, we were able to stay fulfilled by fulfilling each other. That’s what we had to do to stay with it.

PC: Beautiful answer. With For Your Consideration season, Blue Beetle is getting a second life and well-deserved. Typically at the beginning of the new year is when pilot season starts. What are the types of roles that are most appealing to you at this stage in your career? How different is it from when you were starting out and before you had a family?
Connor: I would love to play a dad ASAP. I’m in the middle of it so I can play it very easily. But it’s interesting because the biggest thing for me has been how old I look. I’m turning 30 this year, and I’ve always looked young. I have a lot of people tell me that I look twenty-five or twenty-two, even when I shave.

It’s always been younger roles, which is great. It’s a great problem to have. It’s very, very bookable in that way. But it’s just a patience game when you want to play those meatier roles. They usually go into the thirties; you just got to wait for it.

Basically for me, becoming a dad, moving around the country a bit, it’s all about gaining the experience. It’s like, what experiences can I take in to then play this character later? That’s been the great thing about us all being on tape is that we don’t have to huddle in L.A. anymore. Actors, writers, everyone can go experience and move away. I have so many writer friends who have since moved out of L.A. and their writing has exploded because they’ve been able to experience different parts of the country and world. L.A. was becoming so clustered. So for all of us to go out and have those experiences, it’s been really great.

Back to your question, I want to play a cowboy. I’ve been gunning for this for a couple of years. Taylor Sheridan, let’s go. [laughs] Cowboy is on my list and a dad as well. Those are the two that I’m looking for.

PC: That Yellowstone franchise is continuously expanding.
Connor: Cowboys are cool again. Here’s what it is, what I love about acting is understanding people’s walks of life. This country is so divided and we don’t get to see each other for who we are and what we do. For artists who are in the cities trying to get this done, it makes no sense to people out in the country who are growing our food and processing our dairy, and doing all of those things. When we get to see what the other side is doing, all of a sudden, we’re like, “Oh, you’re not that different from me. Oh, my goodness. I totally respect what you do.” It’s really interesting. It’s what I’m looking forward to.

PC: You have a running joke that you play characters that have a knack for either dying or getting hurt onscreen and Obliterated is no different. When you saw this audition come in were you immediately like, “I’m a shoo-in for this part? What was it about this particular role and character that made you want to be a part of it?
Connor: [laughs] Totally, the joke still stands. I was like, “Oh, he dies. I’m going to book this. That’s no problem.” Guess what? It happened. [laughs] That character, that bro-y guy, I do that so naturally because my late teenage years, I grew up surfing in Malibu. I had that, “Yeah, bro. Relax,” vibe. I have that down. It’s so much fun to play.

It was a great role. I just led into it naturally. Some roles you do that. You read it, and you’re like, “I got this.” Whether they cast me or not, I know I killed that. Other roles you have to work for.

PC: I imagine as an actor, it’s about getting those repetitions, taking classes, doing auditions, and that process of learning and growing. I’m really enjoying your Tape to TV series that you’re doing on Instagram where you’re taking audiences on that entire ride. How does that mindset change from the audition to when you’re on set?
Connor: That’s a great question. One of my first acting coaches, Amy Lyndon, taught me all that marketing stuff. She taught me to embrace my typecast. The second thing she said was, “Your audition will be completely different from set.” So you can’t ever hold onto anything too tightly. You can’t say, “Well, in the audition, I did it this way.” Well, sure, but now we’re on set. We’ve had writing changes and now we’re going to get after it. So on Tape to TV, I started this with a couple of my bookings this past year, I just wanted other actors to see how humble it can be and there’s nothing fancy.

It looks like I’m in this fancy studio, but I’m in my basement with a backdrop and a Ring light. That’s what I use to tape. My wife shoots me and we have fun. For that audition, I’m drunk. We just spent hours having fun. I really like to show how it all comes together because we’re all trying to do the same thing. We’re all trying to get that acting role that’s going to blow our career wide open, right? That’s every actor’s dream. These roles do that. These’s one-liners here, guest stars there, it keeps building. I appreciate you bringing that up because I want everyone to see how cool it can be, but also the process.

PC: You’re going to be starring in an upcoming Tyler Perry project. Is there anything that you can tease about that?
Connor: It was a great project. Miss Kelly Rowland, originally from Destiny’s Child, is in the movie. She’s fantastic. I hadn’t been following her career up until then and I had to do a double take. I was like, “Kelly Rowland is in this?” I looked her up and I was like, “Oh shoot.” [laughs] Sure enough, I show up to set and she’s fabulous. She’s such a star, especially after this movie, it’s going to build up her career.

It was such a great experience. Tyler Perry Studios is a machine. It’s a great place to work. It’s a professional setting. You show up ready to go. We don’t have a release date yet. It got pushed back because of the strike, but hopefully, mid next year, it’ll be ready to go.

It was a great part that was more adult. It’s coming from drunk bro in Vegas to playing Kelly’s assistant in the movie. I’m in an office now. I’m in a suit. That’s how I want people to see me as I age up.

PC: Tyler wrote and directed the project. How different is the filming experience when the person who created this universe and these characters is also at the helm directing? What did you learn from that collaboration?
Connor: How to shoot quickly. [laughs] He is a machine. It’s common knowledge that Tyler Perry runs a tight ship. That’s why he’s the king of content. He could have his own network tomorrow and continue to be as successful as he is.

When he writes and directs it, he gets to call the shots, which really cuts down on time. He gets it done his way. Everybody is ready to go. It’s flawless. We just rolled. Everybody’s time was respected. There was no rigmarole about, “No, I’m staying in my trailer.” It was like, “No, let’s rock and let’s go.” Being surrounded by professionals who are so ready to do that is incredible. It was a good, successful environment to make good content.

PC: When you’re on his set, you often get one or two takes. Is that more or less challenging for you as an actor?
Connor: That’s a great question. For me, I like it. That hasn’t always been true. I think Meryl Streep said that she only needs one or two takes because after that the magic kind of dies. That’s not always been true for me. Take four or five is when I usually find my rhythm and feel comfortable enough to try new things.

But as you go and gain experience, you start to go, “No, I need one take to get my lines out and my second take, all of a sudden we’re alive.” After that, I start to get tired. Then the magic is gone. It’s interesting. With one or two takes, it’s good pressure. It’s like, “We have two takes, so get loose. Let’s rock.” You nail it and you’re like, “That felt good. Cut. Check the gate. Let’s go.” It’s exciting.

To keep up with Connor, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Obliterated on Netflix today.

Photo Credit: Brad Everett Young