Joey Pollari Just Wants to Fall Apart Beautifully

In Max Talisman's queer rom-com "Things Like This," Joey Pollari plays Zack Mandel, a kind-hearted young man who works at the Kitlin and Company Talent Agency in Manhattan. His boss, Margie (Cara Buono), seems to take pleasure in mistreating him. One night, covering an acting showcase, he meets and bonds with Zack Anthony (Talisman). Yes, two Zacks!

Pollari's Zack has been in a relationship for the last two years with his clingy boyfriend, Eric (a perfectly creepy Taylor Trensch). When Eric decides to propose at a glorified diner, an incredulous Zack stops him by shouting, "I don't wanna eat your fucking stew!" It's a funny, but sad and telling, moment where Pollari's Zack finally comes to the realization that he's trapped in a relationship he doesn't want to be in, and that he's tired of being "someone who just lets things happen to them."

The breakup opens the door for the two Zacks to begin dating, which starts off rather disastrously. But the duo soon realize they have a shared past, and their bond begins to deepen.

The charismatic Pollari commands the screen and delivers a poignant, yet often funny, turn. His scenes with Jackie Cruz, who plays his bestie, Ava, are particularly hilarious.

Pollari began acting in his early teens. His first big break was when The Walt Disney Company cast him in "Skyrunners" in 2009, when he was 15. He then won the lead role in the MTV sitcom "The Inbetweeners" in 2012. His most significant part was that of Eric Tanner in Season 2 of the acclaimed ABC TV series "American Crime," created by Oscar-winner John Ridley. Pollari played a closeted gay athlete accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student (Connor Jessup). This past season he appeared in the Apple TV+ series "Sugar."

The out thesp also had key roles in the queer-themed films "Love, Simon" (2018) and "The Obituary of Tunde Johnson" (2019).

In 2020, Pollari released his first album, "About Men." His followup, "I'll Be Romance," dropped in 2024. He is self-producing his next record.

EDGE was struck by just how incredibly sweet, open, and honest Pollari was in the following chat about his life and career.

EDGE: You were terrific in this film. Tell about getting the role, and why you wanted to play Zack?

Joey Pollari: Max reached out to me about the project. So, it was a rare opportunity where I was actually presented with the choice of playing this role up front. I read the script and then, even beyond the script, which was very fun, I just wanted to talk to Max. How is this going to be? How do you imagine it? What tone? What are the dimensions of this thing that we can play in? And that's actually what sold me, was that Max was so open about creating a space where we could play and have new ideas and be fresh and work with the material that's on the page and off of it. So, that's why I said yes.

EDGE: Max wore quite a few hats. What was it like having the writer and director also be your scene partner?

Joey Pollari: You would think it would be more tricky, and I think with a different personality it would be, but with Max, miraculously, enviably, there is not a lot of terrain to navigate that's difficult. He was just seamless between all of them. And, again, emphasizing that openness that he had, this was not "My way or the highway."

EDGE: You have some hilarious scenes with Ava, who is played by Jackie Cruz. You guys have such great chemistry together.

Joey Pollari: Oh, it's easy. Jackie would have great chemistry with a cardboard box. Like, astoundingly, enviably, just great in everything. She shows up, and you as an actor just lean in... she's such a star.

EDGE: I want to mention Taylor Trensch, because I just spoke with him a couple of weeks ago for the Broadway show "Floyd Collins." You have a couple of really funny moments with him, too.

Joey Pollari: Taylor Trensch is one of the most talented actors I've worked with, and [I'm] now privileged to be his friend. And in "Floyd Collins" that you saw, he is astounding – astounding economy and choices and depths. Yeah, I would go far distances for Taylor Trensch. Truly. I have great admiration for him. So, yes, we have great scenes together. And once again, just fun to see Taylor be Taylor and invent every single scene...

EDGE: Do you have a scene that you felt challenged you the most?

Joey Pollari: Well, the third or second day was the scene on the rooftop where I really break down and question the whole fate of our relationship. So, that was challenging in that we had no time. I mean, there's no rehearsal process. You're jumping in... But that ended up being a really great gift. And the challenge was, how do you work back from that? You're setting up this huge thing for yourself. You're really committing to the psychological turmoil of the character, and then, from there, how am I gonna walk this back? How far can I really go from that? It's funny to try and set up that contrast so quick. But it ended up working really well, because after that, the hard part is over... I've done what I can.

EDGE: "American Crime" was the first time that you were on most people's radar. It was such an intense performance, I was blown away. Would you consider that your dramatic break?

Joey Pollari: I suppose, on a larger scale, I had done other things that were drama before then, but they hadn't been on that level... So, in that way, yes. And, also, the opportunity. Thank you for saying that. I am so proud of it, not just my role in it, but the whole thing is intense, and sprawls to so many social situations and complexities. And I just thought it was just a gas to do. I really did. Playing that guy, Eric Tanner?

EDGE: Eric Tanner.

Joey Pollari: Eric Tanner. Pulled that one out of my ass. (Laughs) I liked playing him. It was so intense. But it's nice to play someone that roiled up inside. That's great stuff to chew on.

EDGE: John Ridley did some really great work on that show. I wish it had continued.

Joey Pollari: Oh, me too. I mean, the fact that he got three seasons of prime time talking about the issues he was talking about in that manner is pretty astounding on its own merit.

Watch the video teaser for the song "So Close."

EDGE: You're an out actor, and you've played a number of queer roles. Is it important to you to represent?

Joey Pollari: Only incidentally. I'm not at the place in my career where I've had an option to do everything. Of course, if someone offers me a role, I always have the opportunity to turn it down, but I've always wanted to work. And it's been by chance that I have been in a lot of gay projects. So, it's important to me to be a part of something that has a message or that people feel seen in, but it's always incidental. I don't think of myself as a strictly gay actor, or an out actor. I came out because I didn't know how I would navigate the rest of my life not even related to my career. I wasn't sure how I could actually separate those two things and be closeted publicly and be out to my friends. I couldn't square it away. So, it was less about, "Yes, this is for other people" than I didn't think I could psychologically withstand that tension.

Being a part of projects that are gay is wonderful, but what I think is maybe more of a representation for someone like Eric Tanner is not that he's gay, it's that, "Wow, the shame involved in this person is the thing that you're representing," and how damaging that is. Or, in this movie, "Wow, how afraid we are to fall in love and let fate guide our lives." That's the sort of representation that's human, that's beyond all this.

I'm really grateful that now that I am out, or that I've worked more, that I get to stand behind those things and not be so tied to the identity portion or the representation portion, although that has its importance.

EDGE: Taylor and I were speaking about this, and how the press never asks straight people about straight representation. Yet, when you have an out actor, and you're being interviewed for a gay outlet, you almost feel it's necessary to ask.

Joey Pollari: Taylor and I talked about this, actually, quite a bit. I think it's because it's of interest, right? Like, you're speaking for EDGE, and a queer, LGBTQ+ audience will be reading it, so it's interesting to hear that perspective. It's funny, though, because for me, as an actor, you're never going through it through your identity as much as your personality. Like, when I was playing this character [Zack], I just kept thinking, "When have I been that terrified to fall in love?" There's a component of his family life that is tied to his coming out and being gay. But, yeah, it's interesting to think about why we talk about that.

EDGE: Zach has a line where he says that he's someone who just always lets things happen to him. Boy, is that line relatable to many people.

Joey Pollari: Yes... some people do just let things happen. We don't know why. And in the monologue up on the rooftop, he says something like, "How do I trust this? I was letting all this stuff happen to me previously, so how do I know that this is for real if the last few years of my life was a lie?" And I think when someone like this makes a shift towards love, or towards a positive action, there's a part of them that wants to question, "Is this really true?" And it takes quite a bit of bravery, and we see that in this movie, how much bravery it takes to just stick with it.

Watch Joey Pollari perform "Perfume."

EDGE: And speaking of bravery, that's a perfect pivot to your music. Listening to your album "I'll Be Romance," "So Close" is my favorite song!

Joey Pollari: I love that song, too. Thank you so much for listening to it.

EDGE: It's so good. And what I love is that you don't fit into any one genre of music. It's evocative and ethereal, but the sound is really diverse. Where do you draw your inspiration?

Joey Pollari: Thank you for saying that. The album came about from the fact that I am such a big admirer of Bill Callahan, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell. And while there were queer artists in the folk space, I guess I just didn't exactly see that kind of lyricism reflected in that... And I thought, "Ooh, that'd be kind of interesting to do" – a gay or queer version of that. And I was reading John Ashbery at the time, one of the [gayest] poets I know, and I was trying to fuse those two things. Lyrics have a mind of their own. You're mostly obeying them in some respect. But that was the inspiration. I wanted to carve out my own little space there. And what's great about having people you admire is that you never really hit the mark. You fail. And that's wonderful, because you end up somewhere else. So, I like failing at that. I like going, "I'm going to try and write this," whatever record that I have in my mind, and then it fails, and I go, "Oh, that's wonderful that it failed." You land on your own two feet.

EDGE: There's a particular lyric that spoke to me. "Over and over, I'm reliving my life/An adaptation of a portrait I′ve seen."

Joey Pollari: Wow, wonderful. That hits me, too. I had been in a relationship with someone, and that song came to me; and not like in a dream, but I really woke up with those first words:

"Your name was the lover′s/In the book I read/And I am thinking of you again."

I had a relationship and if you end something quickly, you always feel, like, "What could have been?" And that's a kind of intimacy that lasts forever, that "What could have been?" So, forever so close. I felt that was very relevant to my life at the time.

EDGE: You started out in theater, so, two-pronged question: Do you have any plans on returning to the stage? We'd love to see you in New York. And, when did you know that acting was your calling, if you will – what you wanted to do?

Joey Pollari: I would love to make it out to New York. That opportunity, when it does present itself, I will jump as high and as far as possible to make it happen. I was just in New York for this [premiere] and saw Taylor in "Floyd Collins," and was reminded of that – my [beginnings], going on stage and doing a whole bunch of shows, eight shows a week.

I always knew, and I always had a calling for this. It's always been art, but it has not just been acting. I grew up singing and performing and dancing, so it was about performance more than anything. And I was obsessed with movies. Once I could read, I was obsessed with reading. My brother taught me to read. I devoured classics. I watched classic movies. I always wanted to be surrounded by great art, or perform it, or try and reach that. "Calling" is a funny word, isn't it? It's like you work your way into it, and you know that it's been there all along as well.

EDGE: "Pollari." Just how Italian are you?

Joey Pollari: I'm sorry to disappoint. Non sono Italiano (I am not Italian). I am Finnish. Pollari seems Italian. It's Finnish, and was with one "l," Polari. But I was in Italy recently, and I love it. Love Italy!

EDGE: See, so you're an honorary paisano. How's that?

Joey Pollari: Thank you!

EDGE: What's up next for Joey, in terms of your acting and/or music, that you can discuss?

Joey Pollari: I can't talk about some acting things, but I'll be very excited when I can share about that.

But musically, I'm recording another record next week. Demos are all set. I'm going to fully produce this one this time, with a live band. And I'm psyched. You were talking about switching up voices. This is a jukebox record.

This interview has been edited for clarity, length and content.

"Things Like This" is currently in theaters.

Visit Joey Pollari's Instagram at this click.