Lazareth follows Lee (Ashley Judd), a mysterious woman who adopts her nieces, Imogen (Katie Douglas) and Maeve (Sarah Pidgeon) following the death of their parents, and raises them in a remote cabin as a deadly pandemic rages on around them.
For over 10 years, the girls are raised to never leave the woods, avoid any and all interaction with outsiders, and ultimately rely on Lee as their only connection to the outside world. Lee has convinced the girls this is the key to survival in what is now an infectious and violent world.
However, when Imogen and Maeve discover an injured man (Asher Angel) in the nearby woods, Lee’s absolute control begins to disintegrate as their faith in her, and everything they’ve ever known, begins to unravel in this nail-biting new thriller.
With Lazareth now playing in theaters and available on Demand, we recently caught up with Angel to discuss his experience making the movie.
During our conversation with Judd, she mentioned being a mentor to the younger cast members, a sentiment her co-star agrees with. "This industry is crazy, so to have someone to mentor the next generation is so important," the Shazam! star tells us. "Luckily, I've had that over the last few projects I've done with Helen Mirren, Ashley Judd, The Rock, and all these other people."
"I thrive off of that. I love getting to sit down with the people I look up to and just learn from them and gain some knowledge and wisdom," Angel continues. "She was incredible and I've watched her work forever. Who doesn't love Ashley Judd? She's a superstar."
Check out the full interview with Angel about Lazareth (and his DCU future) in the player below.
0:51 - Creating Owen's backstory with writer and director Alec Tibaldi
1:59 - What it was like working on an indie project after the Shazam! movies
3:07 - The importance Owen's tattoos had for his performance
4:11 - Working with Sarah Pidgeon and Katie Douglas
5:16 - Learning from Ashley Judd on set
6:23 - The challenge of playing a beaten-up Owen
7:26 - How an indie project allows him to perfect his craft
8:33 - Shazam! Fury of the Gods' struggles, "superhero fatigue," and his DCU future
11:08 - Whether his own pandemic experiences informed this performance
12:40 - The importance of Lazareth's script
13:50 - His future aspirations as an actor
14:41 - Upcoming projects, including 99 Days and his new music single
I think my approach was really informed by the understanding I have of, not just me, but all people have for things like connection, safety, and belonging. That’s in our evolutionary drive. We all have ways of trying to meet those needs. Some of them are graceful, some of them are pretty clumsy, and I was thinking about what I was doing as Aunt Lee that’s meeting those needs and just went for it. She has developed a plan and she is going to stick with the plan!