Massimo Dobrovic is an actor of both television and film, whose latest series is called Age of the Living Dead. We had the chance to talk with him about the show and his career. Here’s what he had to say.
Hello Massimo. Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. Let’s start with you. Tell me a little about yourself and how you got into movies and television.
Massimo Dobrovic: Hi David, thank you so much for this opportunity and for showing interest in me as an artist. I come from a theatre background and after extensive academic theater training; I have transitioned into film and TV. I have worked in many different genres of movies and TV shows. At first I started working in action and horror movies, and then I had a chance to also explore comedies, syfy, drama and thrillers. There are so many more genres that I cannot wait to explore. I really have to tremendously thank my friend, director Keoni Waxman, who was the first Hollywood director that gave me my first chance to prove myself as an actor in Hollywood, and producers Phil Goldfine, Binh Dang, Benjamin Sacks who believed in my capabilities, acting chops and artistic strengths and Mr. Steven Seagal with whom I had the honor to work on three different movies. As a foreigner in Hollywood and as an International actor, you are constantly looking for the next job or for your big break but you don’t know if you will ever breakthrough without a pool of directors, actors, producers that strongly believe in you, it would be hard to make it on your own, I would say almost impossible.
You’ve worked in a number of genres, including action and horror. Do you have a favorite and why?
MB: It would be hard for me to pick one genre out of many I have worked in. I love working with all kinds of different genres because with each genre you explore a different side of yourself as an artist and human being. I honestly feel that in order to be a good actor you have to be first and foremost a great human being, with important moral and social values. A human that is always willing to learn, to discover, to explore infinite number of possibilities and opportunities. For all these reasons it would be hard for me to extract one single genre out of all these. I love working in various genres. I could certainly say that mostly I would love to work in brand new genres that I haven’t had a chance to work in yet, like: sitcoms, soap-operas, 3 camera sitcoms with a live audience, westerns, etc…
You apparently are quite the linguist, able to fluently speak five languages. Has this been beneficial in earning parts and do you get to experiment with accents and dialogue in your movies?
MB: I grew up bilingual since my childhood. At home I speak with my dad in Croatian and with my mom in Italian, even during the same conversation or during the same meal. In my family it is common to have endless conversations in two different languages during a family lunch or dinner. English and Spanish were also must learn languages for me as well, since childhood; considering the fact that I have also completed all my college and academic education in English. Living in SoCal for 15 years has allowed me to become even more proficient in Spanish and improve my Spanish. I would love to go to Latin American and work on many different Soap-Operas for a period of time. In all honesty I think that when you want to pursue acting professionally, it is imperative that you are proficient and skilled in numerous languages, because you are opening yourself up to endless character casting opportunities. If you can speak Russian and at the same time Spanish, for sure you will be able to attend more auditions and get seen quicker and repeatedly by important casting offices.
You have a lot coming out soon, but I want to talk first about a series called Age of the Living Dead. Could you tell our readers what it’s about?
MB: Age of the Living Dead is an extraordinary television series about incredible supernatural creatures fighting the other species. I play Marcus; he is the emperor of all vampires. He is the descendant from the original bloodline of all vampires. The story involves humans providing vampires on the opposite coast with a compulsory, weekly blood donation. Eventually the humans manage to re-arm and plan a nuclear strike on the vampires as a final strategy to end the war. It was my third project with Estella Warren after our movie Nocturna where we also both played vampires and television series Feel the Dead, where we fell in love during a zombie epidemic. We love working together; there is an amazing chemistry, friendship and feeling on and off screen. It was a pleasure to work with the entire cast and crew, I’m extremely thankful to our amazing creator Simon Phillips, director Paul Tanter, and producer Phil Goldfine.
You play Marcus in the series. Tell me about the character and how much freedom do you have in making it your own?
MB: Marcus is the king emperor, almost like the father of all the vampires. He goes back to the beginning of the vampire ancestry and is one of the few that came from the direct, vampire bloodline. Nonetheless, he is young and charming; however, he declares war on the human species. The creative freedom that creators of the show Simon Phillips and Paul Tanter have given to all of us was extraordinary. As an artist, you cannot ask for more than when you come on a set and the creators have full confidence in you that you will build a character that will be a stand-out role, while taking the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions and that you will be able to portray and offer an infinite number of options for directors and editors to choose from. When you are given creative freedom on a set, it’s the best artistic collaboration that could happen between an actor and his crew. But, I can’t tell you any more than that, so you’ll just have to watch and find out.
You also are in a soon-to-be-released film called Nation’s Fire. How about a little summary of what to expect?
MB: The indie feature Nation’s Fire, from writer-director Thomas Churchill, described as Easy Rider meets The Professional, the story is about a marine who has to help a woman seeking revenge for the death of her son. I loved working with my friend and director (Churchill), because he cured every single detail about each character in the movie. Tom is a great director and I am counting the minutes to go back on set and work with him again. We have many projects in pre-production that we are working on together; like Sepulcrum and Marilyn Zombie Hunter, which we are praying to start shooting in the upcoming months.
What’s the name of your character and can you tease us a little about what role he plays in the story?
MB: My character is Mr. De Gaines, Gil Bellows’ right hand that executes all orders to manipulate his boss’ interests and put an end to this story, resulting on a superficial level in his favor. I had the honor to work with Bruce Dern, who has two Oscar nominations over his long career for Coming Home (1978) and Nebraska (2014) and Bellows who won Emmy and Peabody awards for the HBO film Temple Grandin. Acting with them was a dream come true and having the opportunity to learn from their careers and how they approach a character was absolutely empowering. My role is a serial killer, a cold-blooded man that can execute any order that is given to him without a blink of an eye and always keeps going, almost like a robot, where nothing can stop him. His end goal is to make his boss more powerful everyday and end a suspicion on their hidden agenda and underground activities.
What else might fans be looking forward to seeing you in?
MB: A couple of other projects that we are all patiently waiting to be released are: the mini-series “Feel the Dead” and SyFy movie “Secrets of Karma or Behind the Curtain of the Night”. We shot the television series on Mount Etna, in Sicily with Italian director John Real. it was hugely emotional for me to be able to go back home and work in Italy after 5 years. It was also my very first project in Sicily, ever. I play an Italian soldier who is trying to save the population from the zombie virus.
Behind The Curtain of the Night or Secret of Karma is a life after death movie and it is based on a best-selling novel in the Czech Republic. Working alongside with the brilliant cast (Marcia Cross, Brendan Fraser and Dawn Olivieri) has been a dream come true, we were so blessed that we got to shoot in the best historical locations throughout the entire Czech Republic from Prague to Karlovy Vary and many other important locations. My character is a character that lives in the past, present and future times and it is a recurring character that our lead role keeps bumping into every time. He is at a crossroads and doesn’t know which path he should get on and where his life journey will take him after death.
What are a couple of your favorite movies, and tell us why they are so influential for you.
MB: During the history of cinema it would be hard to point out just a couple of favorite movies because I am that kind of artist that is like a sponge. Everything that I see, observe, analyze, work with or create has a huge impact on me as an artist. It shapes me as an artist tremendously and it plays an enormous role in who am I in developing myself and constantly reinventing my art. I could say that there were movies that influenced me during my academic training which all play a substantial role in giving me the chops to start acting professionally but I wouldn’t be able to say that I only refer to them when I need to create a role or take a character through different nuances, tones and journeys within a specific storyline. Movies that had a distinctive impact during my formative years were: Blow, Scarface, Fargo, Chicago, Mrs. Doubtfire, Edward Scissorhands, Schindler’s List, Pretty Woman, Psycho, Some Like it Hot, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Philadelphia, The Matrix, Titanic, and The Silence of the Lambs.
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