Christian Bulich, Award-winning Actor Talks About His Recent Movie Eight Count.

Award-winning actor Christian Bulich talks about his most recent movie Eight Count, the process of shooting a Harry Potter commercial and gives insight into his early days as an actor.

indieactivity: Let me start by saying it is a pleasure to have you Christian. Please tell us more about your acting journey. At what age did you realize that acting will become such a big part of your life
Christian Bulich (CB): Thank you for having me. I’m very excited to be part of this indieactivity interview. To answer your question, I realized at an early age already that acting is going to become an important part of my life. I’ve always been fascinated by movies, actors, and the stories I’ve seen on screen. It would be some sort of an escape from reality. Not that I was looking for one when I was that young but I definitely enjoyed those moments when you simply forgot everything around you while watching a good movie. I remember attending my first acting classes and working on my very first stage play. I fell in love with character work and the idea of living somebody else’s life on stage. To this day I get very excited about this type of work. It’s almost therapeutic in a way. By studying the characters you’re playing you also start understanding yourself in many different ways. You get to know parts of yourself that you didn’t know existed. And that has always been exciting to me.

Is there a specific acting method or technique that you use to help you achieve this almost therapeutic experience when you work on characters?
Christian Bulich (CB): That’s a very good question. I don’t really have one specific technique that I use. It usually depends on the type of work or the type of character that I’m working on and based on that I see what type of approach works best for me. Most of the time I end up combining several methods. It kind of happens naturally. Without me actually thinking about what specific technique I’m using. At the end of the day, I don’t think the therapeutic part comes with a specific method. It’s just the result of the overall process.

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Growing up were there any specific people in your life that inspired you to pursue acting?
Christian Bulich (CB): I didn’t really have any actors in my family if that’s what you mean. But my parents are big movie lovers and growing up we would always have movie nights at home. I loved it. It was my favorite time of the day. The cool thing is that my parents watched all kinds of movies. From current Hollywood blockbusters and classical films all the way to European indies. I did get a taste of everything and I think that is the main reason why I developed such an appreciation for movies.

You’ve been a theater actor for most of your life. Do you feel that being a classically trained actor is an advantage in the movie industry?
Christian Bulich (CB): I honestly don’t think that’s the case. I do believe that working on your acting skills is crucial. But it doesn’t really matter whether you’re classically trained or not. It’s all about passion and how much effort you’re willing to put into your work.

Tell us more about your most current project Eight Count?
Christian Bulich (CB): Eight Count might be the most personal project I’ve worked on so far. It focuses on Elizabeth and her husband Danny, a boxer on a losing streak. It shows the struggles that relationships have to go through in the fighting business. Boxing has always been a big part of my life as well. So I’ve been wanting to tell a boxing story for a long time. I just didn’t want to retell the typical Rocky stories. When I came up with the idea of telling the story through the wife’s perspective I approached my friend Joe Basile with a first draft. He liked the idea and agreed to collaborate on this project.

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Since your move to LA in 2016, you’ve worked on multiple award-winning movies. Eight Count is currently collecting awards all around the world at film festivals as well. How has your experience and your approach changed from your first film to the most current one?
CB: I think the biggest change is how my confidence on set has improved. I feel more comfortable playing with the camera now. In general, I just feel more natural onset which is important. That has definitely changed since my first project. Besides that, I think I also learned what it means to wear multiple hats during the development process of a movie. Eight Count is the second project that I’ve produced and acted in since ’64 Koufax and I thought the second time around is going to be much easier to handle. I was wrong. I realized that it’s very difficult for me to just focus on acting and not the producing part when I’m on set. My mind tends to completely shift to producing whenever I notice production problems. I definitely need to work on that. Comparing the process of projects where I was just an actor I can definitely tell how much more comfortable and relaxed I feel on set.

Besides movie projects, you’ve also been busy working on several commercials throughout the last couple of years. I remember seeing you in a Harry Potter commercial. Do you enjoy shoots like that as well?
CB: Yes, I worked on a Harry Potter commercial for the mobile game Wizards Unite. And I can tell you right away, it was a phenomenal experience. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan so when my agent called me to tell me that I booked this project it felt a bit surreal. Of course, it’s not a Harry Potter movie but still, anything related to this franchise is just very exciting to me.

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Is the process of shooting a commercial the same as working on a movie? I’m talking about your acting approach specifically?
CB: It really depends on the type of commercial and what role you’re playing. Sometimes it ends up being more or less a modeling job where you just have to hold a product and say a few words and that’s it. But sometimes you get commercials like the Harry Potter one, where you actually get a script and a whole character description which allows me to actually dive into my character work. That’s of course more fun. The shoot for the Wizards Unite project felt like a real movie set. I mean it’s a Harry Potter commercial produced by Warner Brothers so I wasn’t expecting anything else. In addition to that Joe Sill, one of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with, directed this commercial. His way of communicating with actors is something really special. He really takes the time to talk to you to make sure everyone is on the same page. His approach really makes you believe in yourself and the importance of your performance and that you’re not just a puppet on set.

I heard you love video games so shooting a commercial for a mobile game must have been extra exciting?
CB: Yes, it really was the cherry on top. Not only was I able to work on a Harry Potter project but I was also able to meet the game developers in person. They allowed us to play the game before it was even released. I have to admit my inner child geeked out a bit for a moment. After the release, I was happy to see that our commercial reached over 500k views on Youtube and contributed to the mobile game’s success.

This is Last but not least, what advice would you give someone who aspires to become an actor?
CB: Focus on yourself and don’t let anyone talk you out of your dreams. On your way to becoming an actor, many people might call you crazy or not understand why you do what you do. That’s when you have to believe in yourself and your dreams. Know what you want and go get it.

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Thanks for taking your time to sit with us for the interview. It was a pleasure talking to you Christian?
CB: Thank you so much for having me. I hope we can collaborate again in the near future. Keep up your amazing work.

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