Peter Facinelli for French Fries The Human DNA issue

Interview by Alina Ferraro / allyferraro
Guilherme Ferrari / gferrari____

Photography: Ben Cope / ben_cope

Styling: Kaylee Jackson / kayleejacksonstyle

Grooming: Candice Birns / hairbycandicebirns

Likely most recognized for his role as Dr. Carisle Cullen in the Twilight franchise, Peter Facinelli is no stranger to the spotlight. He has undoubtedly maintained a strong foothold in Hollywood over the last two and a half decades, both as a leading man in front of the camera, and as an exciting voice behind the scenes, as a writer, producer, and director.

In our exclusive interview with him, Peter Facinelli pulses with stories on his writing and directing process, the methods of acting he employs in his body of work, the new titles to hit the big screens, and his transition from acting before a camera to directing behind the camera, writing, and producing movies.

Let’s talk about your upcoming movie The Unbreakable Boy: A Father's Fear, a Son's Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love, a project you have been working on for two years with Jon Gunn as the scriptwriter and director.

My brother-in-law was working at a pharmacy in New York City when one of the writers of the book, Scott Michael LaRette, walked into the pharmacy and started talking to him about the book he co-wrote. My brother-in-law said, “you should make it into a movie.” He, who is also in the movie industry, exchanged numbers with the author, then called me and said, “you should read this book.” I did.

An interesting backstory here is that Scott Michael Laurette was an alcoholic before it happened, then he found so much strength to be able to be there for his child while founding his own spiritual path.

All these elements formed a part of why it stood out to me, a story so beautiful it needed to be told. At first, I wanted to help make it into a beautiful movie. Six months later, I took over the producing role. I teamed up with Kingdom Films which had writer Jon Gunn who had had a great pitch for the book, went off and wrote it, signed my deal with Kingdom Films back between March and April, and in November, we started filming it. It was such an inspiring and beautiful story to film, and I am excited to get it to the big screen. Zachary Levi stars in it, and he did a wonderful job. I have been watching some of the scenes, and I cannot wait for this to come out.

Speaking of spiritual paths: this is our Human DNA issue. You co- wrote the book After the Red Rain with novelist Barry Lyga and producer Robert DeFranco, which talks about a dystopian future, a resonance to where we are at today. In our times for survival, do you think we find our support through our spiritual paths?

I hope so. The difference between religion and spirituality, or any higher being you believe in, under that umbrella, is a room for different beliefs, so long as you believe in this higher source and power you connect with, and this can be a higher source or power within or above you. I do believe we as humanity are connected, so it is devastating to watch people destroy their home, which is the Earth, so spiritual awakening may be necessary to tell us we do not own the planet; we are renting it, borrowing it from the future generations. When you borrow something, you have to give it back intact or help it grow better. It is unfortunate, though, that we are giving back this Earth to our future generations, having to pass along problems instead of solutions. I hope that we can come together spiritually and as a human race to fix the issues for our children and the next generations.

In an interview for Twilight, you mentioned that Dr. Carlisle kept his humanity alive even if he was a vampire, and we wanted to know: how much do you see yourself in Dr. Carlise?

I think the compassion he has and being a father with the hope that I can be a leader towards people in my life, and just spreading love to other people and caring for them. I believe compassion goes a lot and a long way.

How about your challenges you faced during the quarantine period especially with directing?

First, we were all on this hamster wheel going nonstop until it suddenly broke then there was nowhere to go. It became a time for me to reflect. Since I could not go out, I have started going within and would meditate more to get healthier. I lost thirty pounds just by exercising and eating well and focusing on my health and mind. I got certified in hypnosis as I have always been interested in the mind, and I thought it would be fun to be certified in that area.

I think in a lot of ways, the pandemic was needed because we were kind of spiraling out of control. I remember saying that the world was ignoring so many issues, and as long as they can get their coffee in their local coffee shops, they will always have these blinders on. All of a sudden, you cannot get your coffee at the coffee shop, so you take the blinders off and start looking around and thinking about people and their humanity and consciousness. I think the Earth needed a rest too from pollution. You see less pollution in so many pictures less traveling has caused, and in some of these pictures, it shows people how much the Earth can heal, if you allow it. The Earth will be here, but we are destroying ourselves, so we are not hurting anybody else, but ourselves, and we need to start realizing it.

You studied acting in New York City. How did it help you fuel your acting and creativity?

I was shy when I was younger. I never acted in a play in high school even though I had always had this drive to be an actor. I did not know how to do it, I was afraid of being in front of an audience, and I never took any acting or theater classes. But in college, I took an acting class and really enjoyed it. It freed me so much that I could play these characters. In a way, nobody is looking at me, but at the characters I was playing. Then, I met a guy who became my mentor and helped me transfer to New York University where I was acting three or four times per week and all-day long, practicing speech and body work.

I studied more of the Meisner acting method. It focuses more on the other person, so they are telling me how to respond because I am looking at them, and whatever their reactions are, they are changing my reactions too. This says a lot about watching a person. Method acting is more about the imagination and using this to imagine what these circumstances feel like. I studied both as I like the interpersonal exchange, being in the moment and focusing on the other person, but I also like imagining what it would be like to be a king, a lawyer, a vampire, or a teacher. In Meisner, the character is an external player, but inevitably, you should pretend to be the character. I always got in trouble because I like to pretend that I am the character; that is the premise! They do not call it work--, they call it play! I like the idea of playing, imagining what it might be like to be this person, but I also mix that with moments of working with the other actors.

Now, you are growing as a director. How different is it to work behind the camera, and do you enjoy it?

I enjoy it differently! To me, if someone asks, “what do you do for a living?”, I would say I am a storyteller. I tell stories. This is what I do when I write, produce, and direct. I find stories to tell and I produce them. When I am acting, I am using my body and voice to give life to the character as part of the storytelling. When I am directing, I get to tell the whole story. The director’s medium is the beauty of directing a film or a TV show: the frame of the film, the pause in the performance between the two actors, the flaws in acting, popping or muting the colors of the film, the costumes and backdrops on the set, and the original score to layer into the scenes. These are all the intricacies of telling stories by the director, and it may be a lot more challenging, but I love the beauty of being able to use my soul to create these features while taking part of the story too.

In the movie The Vanished, which I wrote and directed, I gave myself a smaller part as I did not want to take on too much. Originally, I thought I could play the lead and I could have somebody direct it, then I thought, after directing Breaking and Exiting, which was my debut directorial film, I thought that this might be a nice film to direct as my second movie since I wrote and knew the story too. I was worried that if I had taken on the role of the lead, it would have been too challenging to jump in front of the camera to act then jump out to direct.

The days I had to work as an actor were hard as I had a few days to learn the lines, but I also had to oversee the blocking of the cameras and answer the questions of the costume, art and props set, to name a few. My mind is going into my character for a scene, then watching myself too as I direct myself and the actors since I have been acting with them. Then, I also have to think about the framing and whether or not it is right. Ten or more events are happening at the same time.

I would like to grow one day, to lead and direct, but also to serve the stories by not doing everything. In The Unbreakable Boy, I did not feel the need to direct or write it; I found a writer and director who had a great pitch on it, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to carry it out as his pitch was better than what I would have come up with. Whatever serves the story is what I want, away from the ego which tries to service yourself. It should be what is best for the film and not for yourself.

Can we also talk about The Ravine? It is coming out and we would love to know more about it.

It is based on a book. It is a sad story, but with a moral. First, I was hesitant to take the part as the premise of the movie is that my character is a good person and he has a beautiful family, then one day, he snaps and harms them. What is left is the devastation he left behind. It is a story about forgiveness and my character’s relationship with his best friend-- played by Eric Dane. How does somebody who has done such an atrocious act live with this fact done by his best friend? How do you move on with that? How could he have done that? It is an interesting exploration of their friendship and what the tragedy left behind for both of them.

I have also explored this concept a bit in The Vanished, where it was more about this tragedy that happened to this couple and how they ended up dealing with it. Did they team up to deal with it? Did it make their relationship closer or drew them apart? The daughter who went missing and the relationship between the parents and how one goes through the five stages of grief were what I wanted to explore there. What does such a tragedy do to a marriage?