Written By: Jayme Face
Leonidas Gulaptis can be seen in ITunes #1 romance A Nice Girl Like You alongside Lucy Hale! We caught up with him on everything from the hit film to his passion project and much more!
Photo Credit: Cary Cremidas
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about A Nice Girl Like You and your character?
Leonidas Gulaptis: Yes, A Nice Girl Like You is based on the book called Pornology by Ayn Carillo- Gailey. It was made into a screenplay by Andrea Marcellus. It’s a romantic comedy directed by brothers Chris and Nick Reidell. It’s based on a character Lucy Neal who is played by Lucy Hale. She is labeled “pornaphobic” by her boyfriend so she goes on this wild sex to do list to try to prove him wrong, I suppose and to prove to herself as well. Along the way she meets my character who is her love interest . He’s an architect and she meets him when she’s on the bathroom floor and it’s kind of a really cute meet cute thing and he kind of gets wrapped up in her world.
On Set
Photo Credit: Nick Fry Photo
upfrontNY: Did you read the book before filming to help you prepare?
Leonidas Gulaptis: To be honest, no. I was not familiar with it, but when I got cast I pretty much had four days until we were filming. I wish I had the time to jump straight into the book. I was basically basing it off the script.
upfrontNY: Is that typical to have such a quick turn around?
Leonidas Gulaptis: It depends. it’s not unheard of, it’s quite common. I did a film a few years before and I had a month to prepare. It was a period piece. For something like that this day and age is a long time to get, but yeah it just depends.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about Café Racers?
Leonidas Gulaptis: So, Café Racers is a passion project of mine. I created the concept with my brother. It’s about two best friends, myself and my best friend, who travel the world. We visit the most exotic coffee plantations and communities on the planet and we do it on motorbikes. It’s basically about how coffee brings people together, through all walks of life. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, you could be sitting in some hipster place in Brooklyn and we chase the bean all the way to Kenya or the Amazon and its communities all over the world. No matter what it is we can all sit around and have a cup of coffee and hear each other’s stories.
upfrontNY: Is your brother also in the business?
Leonidas Gulaptis: He is as well. He lives in Spain. He does a bit of commercial work, videography and directing, but this is like his passion. He loves documentaries. He’s got another documentary that he’s pitching as well called 50 Fiestas, going to all the lead and wacky fiestas in Spain. We’re writing another scripted comedy TV show as well. So, we’ve got a few projects that we’re doing.
upfrontNY: Was there one place while filming this that really stuck out to you?
Leonidas Gulaptis: Well, we shot the pilot in Melbourne and Bali. We’re trying to sell the concept right now so we’re in the middle of that, but definitely Bali. Bali was absolutely beautiful. Bali is so close to Australia and a lot of Australians go there. To be honest I’ve never really had a draw to go to Bali, but when I went I absolutely fell in love with it. I could absolutely see myself retiring or living there.
upfrontNY: Has being an actor helped you with taking on the roles behind the scenes?
Leonidas Gulaptis: Yeah, totally. I mean acting is always my number one. No matter what making films is always going to be my first preference. That’s all I want to do. So, this has been like I said a passion project. If I can film a movie and then go travel the world with my best friend riding motorbikes that’s like the dream job. It has helped me to understand story and on the producing side it gets you to see the whole picture. It’s only going to make you a more well-rounded person in the industry.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us anything about Lullaby or Breaking Tradition?
Leonidas Gulaptis: Lullaby was a short we did a few years ago. That’s a really dark short about sexual abuse of underage girls. It’s a very strong story and my character is the abuser so he’s dark and it’s a dark side. That’s been in post for a little bit and hopefully that’s going to get finished soon. I did see a cut of it and it’s really good. Breaking Tradition is like a modern day “Romeo and Juliet” that was also shot a few years ago. I don’t know what the director is trying to do with it, but funny enough talking about preparing for a role; the lead actor somehow something happened with him and he dropped out the day of filming. I come in and was pretty much filming the next day. I had only read the script twice. I was going home and just trying to remember lines. I hate to say it, but it’s like the last thing you want to do because you want to dive into a character. However, I didn’t have the option to do that so that is one of those experiences talking about preparation.
upfrontNY: Do the Australian acting scene and the U.S. acting scene differ?
Leonidas Gulaptis: You know it does. it’s just on a smaller scale. There’s just not as much opportunity there in Australia that there is in America hence why you see a lot of Australian actors come to America. There’s just so much opportunity in L.A. and even New York now; it’s the capital of entertainment. There’s a reason why people always go there. I’ve always been drawn to American films like when I first started that’s all I wanted to do was American films.
upfrontNY: You were a professional cricket player what made you make that transition to actor?
Leonidas Gulaptis: I wasn’t professional. All I wanted to do was play cricket for Australia, that was my dream. That’s a lot of Australian kids’ dreams. I was fortunate enough to tour South Africa. I also toured New Zealand and I was lucky enough to tour with junior ranks. I moved to Sydney and there was a cricket club in Sydney that kind of set me up, found me a house, a job to develop my cricket. This was three days after I finished high school. So, I moved to Sydney and to be honest it was just too much for me, an 18-year-old. I just put so much pressure on myself. I crumbled. I failed. I beat myself up. It was like I went the other way and I worked harder and harder where someone should have pulled me aside and said look you just need a break, just take a second. I ended up resenting cricket and we packed up all my stuff in Sydney with my family. I remember driving home and my dad said “Maybe it’s time we might have to look at doing something else.” I’ll never forget I said “Yeah, I want to do acting.” The look on his face was like I don’t think you’re getting. It’s one extreme to the other.
I’ve always played around with the video camera as a kid. I would always have so much fun with it and usually you get a toy or something as a child and then you get over it, but I never got over playing around with the camera and making people laugh and just making movies. I think it just stuck with me. I’ve always had so much fun with it and maybe it was what I was meant to do. Don’t get me wrong it’s tough road and it still is and you get setback after setback, but you’ve got to just look at it as one step closer to where you want to be.
upfrontNY: As a single parent, how do you balance childcare and work and making time for yourself during these current times?
Leonidas Gulaptis: It is tough because I am a single dad. My family is back in Australia. I’m not as fortunate to be able to call upon them. So, you’ve got to balance it. She’s 16 months old. She’s my absolute world and I wouldn’t change a thing! I just have to try and find time to balance. When she sleeps I sleep. There’s times on days when I don’t have her that I have to write, edit and do the things I have to do otherwise I’m going to become stagnant and not move. I have to be really proactive so the days that I don’t have her I have to put my head down.
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