Listing the directors he’d like to work with, actor Bryce Gheisar goes top table. Paul Thomas Anderson, Terrence Malick, Francis Ford Coppola – master auteurs who communicate stories with thrilling, captivating energy. This steadfast ambition stems from Gheisar’s inherent curiosity and confidence, instilled as a child actor growing up on film sets observing the processes of cast and crew. His most recent project, Marc Forster’s White Bird starring alongside Helen Mirren, solidified the actor’s determination to not only further embrace dramatic roles that glisten with emotion, but also his passion to one day make his own film. 

Alex James Taylor: Hey Bryce, where you are currently?
Bryce Gheisar: I’m in Vancouver visiting my girlfriend.

AJT: Nice. How is it there?
BG: Oh, it’s beautiful. The weather is perfect, it feels like LA here. 

AJT: Have you got some big plans? 
BG: I’ve done a lot of the big plans already as I’m leaving. I did kayaking yesterday, which was really nice and Deep Cove, which was really, really beautiful. 

AJT: Nice. You’re from Plano, Texas, what it was like growing up there? 
BG: It’s where my whole family lives, on both sides. I had a very normal childhood – I say that, I was a gymnast, which I guess isn’t super-normal. I did that from three to nine years-old, almost every single day for three hours and on Saturday for like five hours. I was training to take it up a notch and go professional. I was doing meets and competitions and that was my thing up until one of my mom’s friends told me about this acting class in Lewisville, which is like 30 minutes from where I live. Honestly, it was something I’d never thought about, but when I recognised that people who were on the Disney Channel went to that acting school, I was instantly hooked because, at the time, the Disney Channel was the only media I really consumed, like Good Luck Charlie, Jessie and Wizards of Waverly Place. I was really excited to try something outside of gymnastics because I had been doing that for so long. 

AJT: Was gymnastics something you were just naturally good at? 
BG: Well, my mom took me to her ‘mommy and me’ class when I was three years-old [laughs], so I guess I just enjoyed it as a fun, play-type thing, until I got to a certain age where I recognised it could actually be something I did professionally. I’m pretty naturally athletic, my dad was a martial artist and he owned his own kickboxing gym, so I’d always work out with him. 

AJT: Gymnastics must teach you such discipline. 
BG: Absolutely. I also had this thing where I would do the splits in front of people because I [liked the] attention [laughs], so there was a performative quality to it I enjoyed. In gymnastics, you have to learn routines and keep doing that routine until you perfect it, whereas in acting, it’s a little bit looser and you have to find the routine. But hitting your marks, and the body language, that’s definitely been helped by my gymnastics experience.

AJT: Do you still do gymnastics at all? 
BG: Oh, no. When I turned like, nine years-old and started going to acting classes, that completely changed the way I looked at what I wanted to do.

AJT: Was that mindset shift immediate? 
BG: Yeah, pretty much once I got my first commercial – which was not too exciting – it was a Chuck E. Cheese commercial [laughs]. After that, it took up all of my time and then after the first independent film I booked, I decided this is what I want to do.

AJT: You began acting at such a young age, I wonder how that affects you. We take it for granted that child actors begin working at like six or seven, but no one in any other profession starts that young, except maybe sport, actually. It must mature you quicker being in that work environment around adults. 
BG: Oh, definitely. A lot of the projects I worked on when I was just starting out were all with adults. I was on set doing school with a private teacher and the people I would hang out with after work would be adults or their kids. One of the first big projects I booked was A Dog’s Purpose and on that, everybody around me was at least twenty or older. I remember asking KJ Apa [who also starred in the film] if he wanted to go eat afterwards or if he wanted to go swim with me in the pool, but you know, I was nine years- old [laughs]. My mom explained to me, “He’s much older than you.” But he was so sweet, I have videos of us messing around in the pool laughing hysterically. I had to get used to being in that different environment, and then luckily I got on a show where I was with a bunch of other kids, which kind of naturally took me back into a school environment.

“After the first independent film I booked, I decided this is what I want to do.”

AJT: Did you find that being part of Disney in those formative years was a good learning environment? 
BG: It definitely was. I was able to be around kids I could hang out with, but they were also a little bit older and more mature, so I was able to see how they worked in that environment. That experience definitely gave me the professionalism I have today. Also, you grow up seeing how professional the crew members, cast and directors are, and you want to earn their respect. I had to grow up quicker but luckily since I was around other kids my own age we all got to grow up together, so it didn’t seem that weird.

AJT: You have to throw yourself into new groups and environments with each job and open yourself up to be vulnerable with these strangers, it must take a while to get used to that. Do you learn ways of introducing yourself and becoming close quickly? Or perhaps that’s more about how the directors and producers set things up? 
BG: Now I’m definitely more interested in filmmaking and being behind-the-camera as much being in-front of it, so on set I’m excited and interested in becoming friends with directors and producers. But as for people I’m working with on set, in the film I recently worked on, White Bird, we were all in the same hotel and hung out every single night.

AJT: On your interest in filmmaking, looking at your Instagram I saw your photography – you have a really good eye. What camera do you have? 
BG: I have an Olympus OM I’ve been toying around with and I also recently got a Fujifilm X100V, there was a craze of people who started buying it and I definitely got caught up in the excitement. Then I also have a bunch of point-and-shoots, but it’s not necessarily about the logistics of it all for me yet, I’ve been getting more into that but I just love the framing aspect. One of the coolest experiences I’ve had while being on set is on White Bird where the director and cinematographer spoke to me about the framing of shots, what my thoughts and opinions were for each scene and they let me look through the camera. It was a very inclusive process, and afterwards, I was so obsessed with looking through the lens of a camera, trying to figure out how to frame something. I’ve been posting a little bit more, just little things I’ve captured.

AJT: They’re really nice shots. 
BG: Thank you so much. It’s more when I’m out with my friends, I don’t really take as many photos when I’m alone. I’m also wanting to start directing some of my own short films, so getting an idea of how I want to frame things in my own style is what I’ve been attempting through photography.

AJT: And also learning the physical and technical aspects of using film cameras, it’s interesting. 
BG: Oh man, my mind was blown when I first sent in a roll of film and it actually turned out well and wasn’t too poorly exposed. It was a game-changer for me, I was hooked after that. Whenever you get your negatives back and see the physical thing, to see that the light went through the camera and burned the photo onto the film – it was an eye-opener. After that, I’ve been taking photos every day.

AJT: Watching photographers use darkrooms and their developing processes is something I’m always fascinated by, the chemistry behind it. 
BG: It’s completely insane. I want to have my own darkroom one day. I haven’t done any of my own developing yet but I definitely want to get into that. There’s a craftsmanship to it.

“I’m definitely more interested in filmmaking and being behind-the-camera as much being in-front of it.”

AJT: In terms of framing and making your own films, which filmmakers do you look to as reference points? I saw you posted a still from Cool Hand Luke on your Instagram the other day – great film. 
BG: Yeah I watched that recently. Paul Newman’s definitely one of my icons, he turns the simple into amazing.

AJT: Have you seen the documentary Ethan Hawke made about him? 
BG: That’s what I’m preparing for! I really want to see that documentary but I’m preparing for it by watching more of Paul Newman’s work. I love Ethan Hawke too.

AJT: I like that you do your homework before watching something [both laugh]. 
BG: Oh, dude, I do that all the time. Before I go and hang out with somebody I know has just watched a recent movie, I’ll watch the movie too. As far as directors go, I love Paul Thomas Anderson – one of my favourite movies is Punch-Drunk Love with Adam Sandler. I love Francis Ford Coppola, especially Rumble Fish with Matt Dillon. I also love John Carpenter’s The Thing. But just the other day, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, they were playing The King of Comedy by Martin Scorsese and man, I loved watching that.

AJT: That’s a great film. They used it as a reference for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker. 
BG: I definitely see that, and in terms of acting influences, Joaquin Phoenix! The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson. Also Terrence Malick, I was watching The Tree of Life and the wide lenses he uses, he really knows how to capture life.

AJT: You’ve got some big names in there [both laugh]. 
BG: I want to work with as many of these directors as I possibly can. My goal is to work with directors that I love.

AJT: That’s the way to do it. If you were to make your own film, is there a specific genre you’d love to try, or even as an actor? 
BG: I want to do more drama work. After White Bird, I really loved watching the process and it’s really a cathartic experience filming those emotional scenes… not even emotional scenes, just real life. But I think it’s really good for directors to start by doing horror films because they’re a lot cheaper and you can show your talent through them.

AJT: And you’ve got that very visible emotive reaction you can play with. 
BG: Exactly. I want to make this short film that I’ve been thinking about for a long time that kind of flips the genre on its head. It becomes more psychological and about mental health through the lens of horror.

AJT: Well, speaking of Joaquin Phoenix, have you seen Beau Is Afraid?
BG: I haven’t yet.

AJT: Watch it, it’s like a surreal, anxious nightmare and it does what you say, it flips genre on its head. I watched it the other day, and can’t stop thinking about it. 
BG: It’s Ari Aster?

AJT: Yeah.
BG: Oh, man, I loved Midsommar.

AJT: It was interesting to see a horror film shot in the day, in summer. It wasn’t all shadows and darkness.
BG: Which was surprisingly significantly more scary.

AJT: Exactly.
BG: Because if the lights are on, you have everywhere to look and anything could happen. It’s horrifying.

Interview originally published in HERO 30. This feature was completed prior to the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.