Casting Nick Nolte as ‘Socrates’: The idea of Nolte playing the mentor figure, Socrates, in Peaceful Warrior thrilled author Millman. “I said, ‘Oh, Nolte, I bet he could do it. He’s a good actor.’ At the time I was thinking there’s a number of actors who would bring different resources to the role. There were some very good actors – I won’t mention their names – but I just didn’t get the sense that they could do it. They’d probably do a decent job, but it didn’t fit. But when I heard Nolte I went, ‘That could be interesting.’ It’s challenging material. It’s teaching, it is didactic material and a lot of it, but it doesn’t sound that way out of his mouth because he’s got that gravely voice and a way of delivering the lines."
Working Closely with Nick Nolte on Peaceful Warrior: “Nick has an incredible talent in grounding things that other’s might be not be able to ground, just because he’s lived such a life that anything that comes out of his mouth is true,” explained Mechlowitz. “He just has that power to where you listen. He could be reading off comic books and you’d listen. He’s such a great man. I mean, I could go into adjectives but in simplest form he is just such a great man in all respects. He’s one of the best actors our generation has ever known. He’s extremely giving, generous, the sweetest guy you’ll ever met. He can look at you and it just feels like you’ve known him for years.”
“And everyone knows that Nick has had his own personal challenges,” added Millman. “That’s public knowledge. I think that helped him bring a depth and a vulnerability to the character, too.”
The Career Path Less Traveled: Mechlowitz isn’t satisfied with taking the standard ‘fluffy romantic comedy high school movies’ path to achieve success in films. Instead he’s made his mark in three distinctly different films: the critically acclaimed film Mean Creek, the raunchy yet smart comedy Eurotrip, and now this interesting indie drama. Asked why he’s chosen to take a different path than most actors his age, Mechlowitz responded, “I think the better question would be why would I not not do that. I think there’s so much more substance out there. So much more material that’s meaningful and challenging and brave. So I’d rather go for that.”
Up Next – Gone: Mechlowitz’ next project is a thriller from first time feature film director Ringan Ledwidge. “It’s called Gone. It started as Lonely Planet and then Middle of Nowhere and then Gone, and I’m sure it will change a few more times (laughing). No, I think it’s staying as Gone. It’s coming out later this year. I play sort of a drifter traveling through Australia. I meet up with this couple, I have some sinister motivations and chaos ensues.”
Mechlowitz said that despite how interesting ‘sinister motivations’ might sound, that wasn’t what hooked him on the script. “No, you know what got me on the script was the director had a sharp vision of how he wanted to handle it. Whenever that’s the case, you tend to trust it a little bit more and go for it.”
