Zac Looker Discusses His Role as 'Toby Pilgrim' in Netflix's 'Geek Girl'

[00:00:00] Zach, thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged to talk about your latest

[00:00:13] project Geek Girl premiering in a few days.

[00:00:15] Yes, great to be here.

[00:00:17] Thanks.

[00:00:18] Exciting times my friend.

[00:00:19] First of all, before you went out of the air, you talked about the screening and everything.

[00:00:22] Tell us a little about the screening and how was your night?

[00:00:26] I got there very late.

[00:00:29] So I only actually managed to catch the last, like most of the last episode that we saw,

[00:00:34] but it looked wonderful and it was really great seeing some of the members of the cast

[00:00:40] I hadn't seen in a long time, seeing members of the crew.

[00:00:43] And that was when it kind of properly became like, you know, whenever you're making this

[00:00:49] kind of stuff, you are kind of in a production bubble and there's a part of you that just

[00:00:55] kind of thinks no matter how big of a project it is, no one's ever going to see this.

[00:01:00] This is never going to come out.

[00:01:01] Like this is like something that's just going to be shared between us.

[00:01:03] But that was when it became real that it was actually a thing that we were going to show

[00:01:07] everyone and it's exciting.

[00:01:11] So we're going to jump into the show in a little bit more, but let's get to know a little

[00:01:13] bit more about Zach and everything, you know, like your acting journey.

[00:01:16] What inspired you to get into this?

[00:01:18] What pushed you?

[00:01:19] I don't know if there was any one thing.

[00:01:28] I think I remember just doing school plays when I was younger.

[00:01:34] And from there, it just kind of, I don't know when it kind of cemented itself in my head

[00:01:39] as what I was just always going to do.

[00:01:42] But at some point it did.

[00:01:45] I feel like there should be some kind of dramatic, fun, kind of interesting anecdote where I'm

[00:01:49] just like, yes.

[00:01:50] And then I stood on stage at the Globe and I was like, this is my calling.

[00:01:53] But nothing like that happened.

[00:01:55] I just, I've just been lucky enough to have been able to do it in some form or another

[00:02:02] my whole life.

[00:02:03] And just, yeah, I'm very lucky in that respect.

[00:02:08] Right.

[00:02:09] And here we are today.

[00:02:10] Was the goal always like TV and film when you first started?

[00:02:13] Because I saw you did a little theater also.

[00:02:16] I love to do more theater, especially since when you're doing screen stuff, it always

[00:02:23] feels, there's always a part of you that feels a little bit rushed.

[00:02:28] Like you can never, like you rarely get rehearsals and you always feel like there's another question

[00:02:33] that you could have asked or something else that you could have explored.

[00:02:36] And you go and you do it once and that's it.

[00:02:39] Whereas when you're doing theater, you have weeks of rehearsals and then you're just doing

[00:02:42] it again and again and again and again.

[00:02:44] And so you never really, you never really feel like it's over in the way that you do

[00:02:50] with film.

[00:02:51] It's like, you know, it goes into an editor's hands.

[00:02:52] It's completely out of your control and you just have to step away from it.

[00:02:55] But I think being able to just exist naturally on screen, especially now when so much stuff

[00:03:04] is getting made and there are so many more opportunities, I think I've always loved movies

[00:03:10] and TV just outside of acting generally.

[00:03:13] And so it wasn't always the plan, but really love to do it.

[00:03:22] Does Zach have a dream role someday that you want to conquer?

[00:03:24] Put it on your list of things you've done?

[00:03:27] I'd love to do Richard III.

[00:03:28] It's such a fun part.

[00:03:32] That's awesome.

[00:03:33] So let's jump into Geek Girl now.

[00:03:34] I know like, you know, we're a few days away from Geek Girl.

[00:03:38] We see you as Toby.

[00:03:39] Tell us a little bit about the audition process.

[00:03:41] Did you originally go in for this character?

[00:03:43] Oh yeah.

[00:03:44] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:45] From the beginning I was going for Toby and my audition process was quite short.

[00:03:50] I think I had one self tape and then one audition in the room.

[00:03:55] And that was, I think Liam who plays Nick Park on the show, he had to do like six and

[00:04:00] he was like doing flying around places.

[00:04:04] I don't know.

[00:04:05] But like, yeah, my, and I was always going for Toby as well.

[00:04:09] When I read the character description for him, there was just something that there was something

[00:04:14] about his voice in the sides that I was reading and just something that I can't still quite

[00:04:22] put my finger on.

[00:04:23] It just kind of drew me to him.

[00:04:26] And that was always, that was always the part for me in the show, I guess.

[00:04:34] What drew you to this character?

[00:04:36] How did you connect with the character?

[00:04:38] I think he has a kind of awkward irreverence to him and there's something about him that's

[00:04:51] peaceful and calm, which I really like.

[00:04:55] And sometimes it's a struggle to find and he's okay with himself in a way that's interesting

[00:04:59] to explore.

[00:05:00] Sometimes when you're like, still like sometimes when you're acting, you're just like, oh God,

[00:05:05] I just want this character that's in pain.

[00:05:07] And he's kind of, you know, on the edge of being morally bankrupt and got so much complex

[00:05:12] stuff going on.

[00:05:13] And that's kind of fun to look at.

[00:05:15] But when someone's kind of at peace with themselves in the way that Toby is at such a young age,

[00:05:21] it kind of, it opens up, it opens something different.

[00:05:27] I'm not quite sure how to put it.

[00:05:30] And so that was part of what drew me to him.

[00:05:32] And I think I found his voice kind of very easy to slip into and connect with as well.

[00:05:40] How many times did you read the description of Toby and you're like, you know, like try

[00:05:44] to narrow it down?

[00:05:45] Like, okay, you want to play him a certain way or did you have like, did you bounce ideas

[00:05:48] off the director also?

[00:05:50] Like how to bring this character to life?

[00:05:54] I was initially when I read the description and another thing was I had a couple of touchstone

[00:06:00] scenes from the book by Holy Smail, which I would go back to, which really provided the

[00:06:08] essence of what I was going for to me.

[00:06:11] But mostly I had quite a bit of freedom with my interpretation of the character for the

[00:06:19] show, which was really great.

[00:06:21] And I found a lot of the rhythm in the performance and how Toby interacts with the people around

[00:06:30] him probably most with Shel and Emily who play Nat and Harriet on the show.

[00:06:39] But also with the Olives, like finding his dynamic with them and finding kind of how

[00:06:45] he fits into his own kind of little world was one thing.

[00:06:49] And also figuring out what he connects to just within himself was really important and

[00:06:58] that kind of comes out in the final performance that he gives in the show.

[00:07:03] But I am, am I forgetting what the question was?

[00:07:08] I think I might have.

[00:07:10] Can you tell me again?

[00:07:11] I've just kind of meandered out of it.

[00:07:12] So like, did you bounce any ideas also like out the director or anything like how you wanted

[00:07:14] to bring this character to life?

[00:07:17] Right.

[00:07:18] Mostly, as I say, mostly I was kind of, I was, I really appreciate how much I was trusted

[00:07:24] with the choices that I was able to make.

[00:07:26] There was one time it was coming to the end of the shoot and the director kind of wanders

[00:07:33] over to me and he just hands me a femur from like a fake skeleton, like a classroom skeleton.

[00:07:42] And he just says to me, like, I don't know what it was.

[00:07:45] Like I just found this somewhere and I wondered if maybe you could just create some chaos

[00:07:50] somewhere in the background of the show.

[00:07:51] And that was kind of prompts that I was often given just kind of like, do something.

[00:07:56] And then I would do something that was kind of like, you know what, I'll do it.

[00:07:59] And then maybe they'll get me to dive back a little bit.

[00:08:01] But then nobody ever did, which was really fun to play.

[00:08:05] And so I just kind of got successfully bigger and bigger.

[00:08:08] Just like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:08:10] Brilliant.

[00:08:11] Amazing.

[00:08:12] Yes.

[00:08:13] You mentioned the books.

[00:08:15] How accurate is the character now that you're portraying on screen to the books or did anything

[00:08:20] change about him?

[00:08:21] Any idea?

[00:08:23] I think the version that I've found is, first of all, he's not so much Harriet Stalker

[00:08:33] in the show.

[00:08:34] He's her kind of next door neighbor and friend who's just constantly trying to look out for

[00:08:41] her and keep an eye on her.

[00:08:42] But also I think there's a lot of room in the book to kind of, there's a lot of room

[00:08:52] to play.

[00:08:53] And I think a lot of, another place where I really found the character was in my costume

[00:08:59] fitting with our excellent costume designer, Lucia, and finding that he has a ritual in

[00:09:06] how he dresses, which really connected me to the character, which is kind of something

[00:09:09] new, which we brought.

[00:09:11] How everything that he, he's thinking about every single part of how he's dressing, except

[00:09:17] for what he looks like.

[00:09:18] If that makes sense.

[00:09:19] He's kind of making sure his pocket watch is properly adjusted and he's kind of making

[00:09:25] sure his sleeves are sitting correctly, but also he might just kind of really slap jazz

[00:09:29] to his tie and just kind of have it go all over the place.

[00:09:31] Because that's not really what he's, that's not what he's thinking about when he's dressing

[00:09:36] himself.

[00:09:37] It's about the ritual.

[00:09:38] It's about how he feels rather than how he looks.

[00:09:40] And that was interesting to explore as a new element.

[00:09:47] You mentioned Harriet.

[00:09:48] How did you and Emily develop the onscreen chemistry between these two characters for

[00:09:53] your scenes?

[00:09:54] I mean, chemistry is a weird thing.

[00:10:02] You hear actors talking about it and sometimes there's an opinion that there just has to

[00:10:05] be something that's sort of there, that's kind of, that's indefinable and that you can't

[00:10:10] rehearse.

[00:10:11] But then also at the same time, it's just kind of, it's part of the gig that you'd like

[00:10:17] to think that you could have that kind of chemistry with everyone.

[00:10:19] But I get along really well with Emily, despite the fact that they're just an awful, awful

[00:10:25] person.

[00:10:26] We get on very well.

[00:10:27] The thing is when nobody laughs at that, that really just makes it sound like she's, they're

[00:10:33] just kind of awful.

[00:10:34] They're not, they're lovely.

[00:10:35] But like, yeah, anyway.

[00:10:39] And you always end up spending so much time with people when you're doing stuff like this,

[00:10:42] because so much of your day is just kind of waiting around and trying to kind of stay

[00:10:47] in the moment enough such that when you actually get in front of camera, it feels right.

[00:10:53] And Emily as a scene partner is incredibly easy to listen to, I found.

[00:10:57] And that's so much of it, at least for me.

[00:11:00] And so Emily was wonderful to work with.

[00:11:04] Amazing.

[00:11:05] The books have a huge following now that those, you know, the following is going to tune in

[00:11:10] to view this series.

[00:11:12] What are you hoping to get out of this series?

[00:11:15] I hope, I think one of the things that I hope people get out of the series is one of the

[00:11:22] things that kind of Toby represents in Harriet's world, which is a sense of kind of self acceptance.

[00:11:32] And in this kind of journey towards exploring new things about yourself and becoming okay

[00:11:39] with yourself, it kind of serves as a bit of an example, but also as a kind of narrative

[00:11:45] reflection of Harriet.

[00:11:47] And so I hope people feel, I hope somebody watches it and feels less alone in being confused

[00:11:57] and unsure of themselves or just geeky.

[00:12:01] What do you hope for the remember about Toby?

[00:12:03] The viewers?

[00:12:07] I'm hoping waistcoats really just bloom fashion wise because I think every single costume

[00:12:14] I wear has a waistcoat of some sort in it.

[00:12:17] But I also hope that, I don't know, that's something that I don't really, that especially

[00:12:25] as Toby, I don't really, I never really thought about too much.

[00:12:29] I think Toby's never really thinking about what other people are thinking of him when

[00:12:35] he's just kind of existing in his own world.

[00:12:38] And so I suppose I didn't really think about what people would take from Toby too much.

[00:12:45] And I think I hope the same, that people kind of see a bit of themselves in him.

[00:12:49] Amazing.

[00:12:50] How many episodes are we expecting for season one?

[00:12:53] 10 episodes.

[00:12:54] 10 episodes.

[00:12:55] Do you think it's going to be like one of those things where like a lot of people just

[00:12:59] get to tune in and try to watch it right after the other?

[00:13:01] You think you're gonna spread out?

[00:13:02] What's your thoughts on that?

[00:13:03] I think it's a very bingeable show.

[00:13:05] I mean, especially because the episodes are quite short and a lot of it has like this really

[00:13:14] great fast pace to it.

[00:13:16] And in a lot of ways, I'm kind of lucky I was late to the screening because I know that

[00:13:19] I would have sat down for the first episode and then I would just been like, okay, when's

[00:13:22] the next one?

[00:13:23] They stopped at showing three and I was like, ah, I see the rest.

[00:13:26] But yeah, it's very bingeable show.

[00:13:28] So I think people will just watch it all at once.

[00:13:30] Amazing.

[00:13:31] Zach, what's next for you now?

[00:13:32] Any other projects you're allowed to tell us about or tease about coming up for you?

[00:13:36] I don't think anything I can talk about at the moment.

[00:13:41] Zach, I want to thank you for giving me a few minutes today.

[00:13:43] This was great.

[00:13:44] Hopefully we see you season two, we get you back on and continue the story of Toby.

[00:13:49] Thank you.

[00:13:50] Thank you.