“We Were Liars” co-creator Julie Plec is blown away by the talent she landed on her new show — especially newcomer Joseph Zada.
The 20-year-old Australian actor — who plays Johnny Sinclair in the new Amazon Prime series — is set to take on James Dean’s famous role of Cal Trask in Netflix’s “East of Eden,” as well as Woody Harrelson’s role of Haymitch Abernathy in the upcoming “Hunger Games” prequel, “Sunrise on The Reaping.”
“When he was on set doing some of these scenes, I would get texts from people being like, ‘Oh my god, you should see what this kid is doing right now,’” Plec tells Page Six. “The crew would stop their work and stand and watch him act and say, ‘Who is this kid? He’s something special.’”
According to Plec, Mamie Gummer, who plays Zada’s mom on the show, was so impressed with the young star’s performance that she helped him land the audition for “East of Eden.”
“[Gummer] called her friend Zoe Kazan, who was casting ‘East of Eden’ at Netflix, and said, ‘You have got to see this kid,’ and he ended up going and getting the part,” Plec says.
“There’s something kind of extraordinary about him and I’m looking forward to seeing his career flourish,” she adds.
“Sunrise on The Reaping” casting announcements have been going viral on social media since last month as they slowly announced the all-star line-up, which includes Ralph Fiennes, Jesse Plemons, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning and more.
“I’m a very, very, very big fan of everything to do with it and the whole cast and everyone involved,” Zada told Deadline recently of taking on the role, adding, “I’m so ridiculously nervous.”
Plec, however, is no stranger to watching young stars rise after working on her hit teen shows, which include “The Vampire Diaries,” “The Originals,” “Kyle XY” and more.
“The best part of my job is that no one has ever told me in anything that I’ve ever done that I needed to pick this famous person off a list,” she explains to us. “That’s a side of casting that I don’t think I would particularly enjoy because I like to be able to hear people read my words so that I can sense whether their rhythms and my rhythms are compatible.”
She continues, “So because I’ve been able to give a lot of people their first big lead role or their first jobs or whatever, you get this sense of pride when you watch them grow up and get more successful or more famous in their own right or even when they don’t, and grow up to be writers or filmmakers or parents.”
“We Were Liars” — which premieres June 18 on Amazon Prime — is based on the 2014 YA thriller by E. Lockhart and follows teen Cadence Sinclair as she tries to remember a traumatic incident that occurred on her wealthy family’s private island.
The post ‘We Were Liars’ co-creator gushes over ‘extraordinary’ Joseph Zada as he gears up for ‘Hunger Games’ prequel appeared first on Page Six.
