hopscotch credits: low tide, eighth grade
holy cowzzzaaa!! (that's holy cow and wowzza mashed up into one, because that's legit the feeling you get when up and coming shining star, daniel zolghadri, walks on screen). starting off our batch two strong, hopscotching from batch two's premiere film, low tide, to eighth grade, daniel here immediately caught our attention!! although both incredibly different movies, in both cases, the minute he stepped on screen, he evilly embraced his character with complete possession, murdering the role instantly. . . .therefore it only seemed fitting to dub him the name, dead on the spot danny!!
primarily shouting out his acting talents, the only technical thing we need to address prior to eulogizing this dead-list-actor is how we technically knew him previously from another project he did. keeping this backstory brief, a bit back before our extravagant, movie-hopscotching-journey began, we had caught a glimpse of danny's deadly skills in the amazon original mini series, tales of a loop. however, since then, through the hopscotch, whether it was with low tide, or eighth grade, we were even more baffled by the reoccurring, young actor's profuse amount of versatile talent, consistently taking on the complexities of each, individual character as if it were just a part of him. although you may think, danny, being just 21 years old and all, just plays stereotypically to that teenage-demographic that he's cast as, the real killer attribute about danny is just that: his specialty to perform naturally. not just a character in a movie, with the little shrugs, cheeky smiles, mumbling of words, and even quirky ticks or fidgets here and there that he brings to the role, his powerful ability to manipulate realism into a performance takes a description simply mentioned on some script and turns it into a realistic human beyond the screen.
for instance, in batch two's premiere film, low tide, danny's gradually subtle character arch for just a 90 minute movie was really amazing. aside from the 'hypothetically f*ck you' part (which was our personal fav), his portrayal of pent up annoyance from being the 'push-over-friend', while keeping the very real fear and insecurities that comes with naive adrenaline (not acting 'too cool' or traditionally/unrealistically manly), let his role as the sneaky sidekick contribute more weight and value to the story itself. equally so, in eighth grade, his slimy character's awkwardness added to the responsible story telling, showing young viewers that people don't have to be 'sly' or 'stylized' (like they are typically shown in movies) to invade boundaries or have wrong intentions. regardless, in both cases, his acting decisions just added to an overall pizzazz-filled performance, making both movies incredibly enjoyable to watch from a future filmmaker standpoint.
so, maybe you've heard of him, maybe you haven't, but racking up a pretty tight filmography so far from eighth grade in '18, low tide in '19, and tales of the loop in '20, our lil' killer, danny is certainly taking a strong step into the industry, elevating craft for the new generation.
and danny, if you're reading this, keep it up!! we admire your talent and tenacity and would love to see more of your work (maybe we could put you in one of our projects someday)!!
-- love to work with you, xo