Chatting With Jonny Weston From "Project Almanac"

Project Almanac – Today is Better The Second Time Around

Imagine finding blueprints to a time traveling machine in your basement – what would you do? David Raskin (Jonny Weston), his sister Christina (Virginia Gardner) and his two best friends Quin (Sam Lerner) and Adam (Allen Evangelista) did what any teenager in high school would do – build it to go back to the past to fix mistakes.

Jessie Pierce (Sofia Black-D’Elia) finds out about the groups “Project Almanac” and wants in. The group travels back in time to become rich, popular and pass their exams but they very quickly learn about the butterfly effect – a small change in one state could result in large differences in another state.

Can this group of friends time travel and live to tell the tale? Or will changing the past destroy the future?

The Breakdown:

Intense: This movie is filmed in first-person so it feels like you’re there with group – building the machine, dropping to the floor after time traveling, getting hot and sweaty at Lollapalooza and so much more. The first-person camera puts you right in the middle of the drama!

Love: David’s love for his mother, girlfriend (spoiler alert) and friends push him to keep time traveling to fix the past, which in effect should also fix the future. Will he be able to find a sweet spot that will allow him and his friends to live happily after “Project Almanac”?

Comedy: To say the least, David, Quin and Adam are not smooth with the ladies so those awkward interactions between Jessie and David does allow for a little giggle.

The cast of Project Almanac at the premiere

Faze caught up with Jonny Weston, aka David Raskin, during his first trip to our beautiful country, oh Canada! The great North West gave him a warm welcome with snow and hail but Jonny was enjoying the cooler temperature (even though we was sniffling a bit). We sat down to chat about Jonny’s high school years, advice for aspiring actors and the possibility of moving to Bora Bora forever.

When you were in high school were you anything like David?

Jonny Weston: I was a little bit. I played soccer but I was really thin and I was kind of obsessed with math. I was really uncomfortable with girls, especially the cute girls I liked. I was kind of jumpy. The thing with David is that he’s not a nerd; he has so many difference responses that he could say to somebody that he can’t pick the right one. He’s ultimately a perfectionist and when he realizes that he said the wrong thing, he can’t forgive himself.

What were your thoughts once you saw the movie in its entirety?

JW: I hate watching myself; I’m very uncomfortable with it. But I watched this movie and I thought it was so fun, it has a nice progression so I was okay with it. It’s cool when I’m watching my hands fading away and the cool graphics like that.

Do you like the first-person camera aspect?

JW: Yeah, a lot! The found footage, when they throw the camera down during scenes, it’s really personal. I feel like the viewer could be in the car with us or wherever we are.

When did you get into acting and when did you know you wanted to make acting your career?

JW: When I was 18, and in college, I quit chemistry class and the only thing available to take was theatre. I begrudgingly took it, anything to get out of chemistry because chemistry in college is brutal. But I loved theatre! At the end of the semester I loved to New York from South Carolina. It was totally difficult, I thought about quitting a million times, but nothing compared to how much I liked it though.

What advice would you give to an aspiring actor?

JW: If it’s fun for you and you really, really enjoy it then you’ll probably be successful. But if you want to do it for any other reason then you’ll be very frustrated. There are constant disappointments and if those constant disappointments mean anything to you then you’ll never make it. A disappointment, if you love your job, is a learning experience. If you want to be famous, rich or want attention and if you don’t get it then you’ll shut down. If you love it, it’s an emotional choice you make.

And then some…

Dream vacation destination: Bora Bora in Tahiti. I’ve been there before; when I left the hotel I met a family and they were really cool. In sign language, because they speak Tahitian, they told me that if I want to move there I could become a part of their family. It was just an awesome experience; they taught me how to spearfish. I know exactly where it is, I marked it on the island, so I want to go back.

Favourite ice cream flavour: Peanut butter – is that an ice cream flavour? I love everything peanut butter…maybe they have peanut butter frozen yogurt?

Grossest thing you’ve ever eaten: Sea urchin, it tastes like nothing but the texture is horrible.

Favourite song at the moment: Latch by Disclosure

Biggest pet peeve: People who are impatient

If you could be in any movie, it would be: Anything that allows me to play a young Frank Sinatra.