At 23, Alex Wolff has been in more films than we can count. The actor, whose career began at the age of six, is as diverse as they come and can portray roles on about anything and everything, including horror movies, rom coms, thrillers and drama. Wolff’s love for the big screen is largely attributed to the fact that he was born in the business. His mother, Polly Draper, rose to fame following her portrayal of Ellyn Warren on Thirtysomething, which debuted on ABC in 1987, and aired until 1991. Wolff’s dad, Michael Wolff, is a musician and actor, who became a familiar face following his job as a bandleader on The Arsenio Hall Show.
Wolff inherited some of his father’s musical genius. As a musician, he made solid contributions to The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie, a 2005 musical film that also marked the beginning of his acting career. In a 2019 interview with MTV, Alex, alongside his brother Nat Wolff, revealed that Nat had originally written ‘Rosalina’ off of the movie about 9/11 firefighters, but the lyrics had to change when they made the film. Wolff plays multiple instruments including the piano, drums, and guitar.
Following his first appearance as himself on the televised version of The Naked Brothers Band, which aired on Nickelodeon from 2007 to 2009, Wolff has since made other appearances on television. In 2009, he appeared as Brian Willis on an episode of Monk. The following year, Wolff portrayed the role of Max Weston in seven episodes of In Treatment. Other television shows Wolff has appeared in include Divorce and Red Oaks. When it comes to film, Alex Wolff is a master of his craft, who grows with every role he is assigned. After appearing on the 2005 film created, written, and directed by his mother, Polly Draper, Wolff would bag roles on films such as The Sitter, Patriots Day, My House of Tomorrow, Jumanji; Welcome to the Jungle, and Stella’s Last Weekend. This year, Wolff has appeared in two films, Old, an M. Night Shyamalan movie, and Pig.
The Release Of ‘Pig’
In September of 2019, the announcement was made that Alex Wolff would co-star alongside Cage in Pig. The movie tells the story of Rob (Nicholas Cage), an aloof truffle forager, who resides in a cabin in the forests. Rob hunts truffles with the aid of his prized pig. His customer, Amir ( Alex Wolff), in turn, sells them to high-end restaurants. Things however take a different turn when Rob’s pig goes missing after an attack, and Amir joins him on a search. The film is Michael Sarnoski’s first attempt at directing, and was released on the 16th of July.
For Alex Wolff to land the role of Amir, he did not break a sweat. Accustomed to always going above and beyond to get roles, he was lucky that Michael Sarnoski was a fan of his work.” It was one of those crazy random things that I’m sure I’ll never get again, and it did not go unnoticed.” Wolff said. Asked whether he was aware of the concept beforehand, Alex Wolff told ComingSoon’s Tyler Treese, “ I didn’t know really anything about it until I read the script…Now I think I could enter a truffle-knowledge competition because I went just completely headfirst into the underground world of truffles. I think I’ve read basically every book about truffles…probably not every single one…The main jumping-off point was this book called The Truffle Underground that was incredible.”
Pig was subject to acclaim by critics, and Cage’s performance was highly praised. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film, which grossed $2.1 million at the box office, received a total of 147 reviews. It ranked at 97% on the Tomatometer and had an audience score of 87%. One positive review read: “ Cage is magnificent. This is a restrained, intuitively measured portrait of a lost man rediscovering forgotten facets of himself as he goes on this surreal trek through a world he left in the rearview mirror ages ago.” On the negative end of things, a critic said: “ [Photographed] in the way of so many modern indies, with a sickly color palette and dim lighting that prosaically emphasizes the natural environs over people’s faces.”
On Working With Nicholas Cage
For Wolff, working with Cage was somewhat a dream come true, a serendipitous moment that he holds in high regard. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wolff revealed that, prior to working with Cage, he’d been borderline obsessed with the Face/Off actor.” He’s been my North Star as an actor.” Wolff said. ” I would always find a new performance of his to base each one of my performances on and kind of try to emulate him.” He added. Wolff called Cage ‘sensitive’, ‘open’, ‘warm’, and ‘brilliant.’ On how he got past Cage’s star power, Wolff mentioned that ‘it’s important to remember that he’s an artist and an actor first, and an icon second.” Such profound wisdom will get him a long way and only confirms that, to Wolff, artistry reigns supreme, and no one comes above the craft, not even the people we admire the most.
While making the movie, to get the story of their characters Amir and Rob right, Wolff revealed that he and Cage would go out for sushi, a practice that aided in the characters’ on-screen chemistry. “Nick and I found each other at a time where I feel like we both needed each other personally, and I was going through kind of a hard time and I think he was too, so we kind of came together at the beginning of this movie at just the perfect moment.” Wolff told Build Series that cage has become, “one of my best friends in the world.” He and Cage are now on a facetime basis because of the good time they had making the movie. True to Wolff’s words, the pair’s meeting at the right time has birthed what is perhaps a lifelong friendship; that of a boy and his idol, and, as he told The Hollywood Reporter, “ If I fail for the next 10 years and I can’t do anything that’s good, I at least have this magical, incredible movie.”
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