Gil Perez-Abraham – Rocky’s

By starrymag | February 11, 2025

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) Please tell us the premise for the film Rocky’s. 

A) Rocky’s centers on Charlie (Jasai Chase-Owens), who is coming back home after having been absent for quite some time. Back at home his best friends are waiting for him, and we aren’t too happy about how things have gone since high school. Then, Alana (Victoria Andrunik) passes, who was an integral part of our friend group. Then, Charlie finally comes home…and sees that nothing has changed. It just so happens that our “nothing” is something — we are dealing with a lot of coming-of-age issues, heartbreaks, disappointments…Danny, for instance, who I play, has been expelled from school and dropped off the D1 baseball team for drug use after an injury. My girlfriend, Sophia (Ani Mesa), is also considering moving on – she’s growing up. It’s a crazy intersection for a young man. All of the very real people in the film are asking themselves big questions.

It’s a big friendship movie.

 

Q) How was your character Danny originally described to you?

A) Well, the first thing that happened was that Taylor Williams, incredible casting director, gave my team a call and we all talked about the project. I read the script, but I already knew it was a yes from me because I am very familiar with Ben’s [Cohen] work and my wife, Anamari (who also stars in Rocky’s) starred in his last film Superior, which played Sundance 2021. Now the thing is, I don’t think of a person in a script as a character — I think that it’s somebody now who is an extension of me, another part of me, that gets to see the light…So, I do well in situations like this one, where no description is given to me at all instead what Ben and Max [Strand] eventually did was ask me what I thought about it, and by that point I had daydreamed so much about Danny that we were ready to work.

 

Q) What was it about the role or the script that made you want to be a part of the movie?

A) I am super familiar with Ben Cohen’s work and have had him on my radar for quite some time. I also think there is a magic to independent film that one can’t find anywhere else, there’s a certain freedom and trust there…Everybody has to be able to zero in specifically and deliver; it feels as close as I can get to the original genesis of it all for me which is Off Broadway theatre in New York, excellent regional theatre…The amount of freedom that an artist has to express themselves, it is unparalleled.

Now, mix all of those things with the fact that I love learning things for films; Danny required me to train in baseball and take physical training seriously in a way I never have before. I was curious about that challenge as well.

Lastly, it’s where I’m at. I think me and my close people are all asking ourselves all the questions the people in Rocky’s have been asking themselves, and I have yet to read a genuine take on that experience other than Rocky’s – a genuine take on the deep and varied forms that friendships can take especially for boys/men. I am extremely close and codependent with my brother and a couple of my “brothers” — and the boys in Rocky’s are as well…Friendships between men can be difficult, loyal, romantic and the joy of one’s life—I saw an opportunity to examine the meaning of all this, the heartbreak and heart “make” of friendships. Brotherhood.

Danny, specifically, is a romantic, and I found him so close to home in his adoration of both his friends and Sophia. I thought to myself, “This is a dream role.”

There are a talented bunch of actors assembled for this friend group.

 

Q) Were you familiar with any of them before working with them on Rocky’s?

A) Ani Mesa I am a huge fan of (thankfully, we are married.) I met her right before she starred in Superior, Ben’s last film directed by Erin Vassilopolous. Stanley [Simmons] was also in Superior and is amazing in Iron Claw, as you know.  Off-Broadway for NYTW I had worked with Sharlene [Cruz] on Martyna Majok’s production of “Sanctuary City” — I didn’t get to do the production, which was also cast by Taylor Williams. So, getting to reconnect with her wonderful artist on this project was great.

 

Q) Since you all had to play a formerly tight friend group, did you spend much time before filming began to bond a bit?

A) It’s crazy — we didn’t have to. We took to each other immediately and spent basically every waking minute together. Grant Curatola, James Benson, Ben and Max did a great job team building as well — we had a lot of little parties and dinners leading up as well as many team building moments in person…imagine. We were all alone still during the pandemic shooting era in a tiny town upstate New York.

Let’s just say this— we got into many, many hijinks.

 

Q) Benjamin Cohen and Max Strand co-wrote and directed the movie. What was it like working with them?

A) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Kidding!

Ben is calm and challenging. He has a clear palate and idea but let’s you run — it was the best working with him and Max because we never needed to talk much; we were always on the same page. Same as the cast becoming close immediately, we became close with the “creative team” — we had breakfast and dinner with Ben and Max, had clear ideas of what to tackle every day, and from the very beginning — I remember Max specifically leading the way here — it was a hearts open, ears open vulnerable exercise. Every single person was heard, and we waded into these waters that meant a lot to us with a lot of care and love.

 

Q) With such intense subject matter, how did you all shake off a long day of shooting?

A) Certainly we had our beers, but as a group…I think everybody was so grateful to be amongst artists, not wearing masks…we exercised (or exorcised?) what we had to during the day and at night reveled in the quality time together…I don’t think there was even one night the whole cast and crew wasn’t outside of the sleeps in at the BBQ pit together for the whole evening. We talked, we danced, we played board games, we rapped…In short, we made friendships for a lifetime.

 

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes to shoot or ones you found the most challenging?

A) My favorites were the ones with Ani. I love acting with her and appreciate Taylor setting us up for this opportunity. Ben and Max and the team believing in us meant the world. I also yearn to play romance, I love romance—So, all of those scenes felt like the shot I’ve been waiting for a long time. I am a Romeo at heart. Me and Danny share being romantics, I think.

I loved working with Steven Maier as well — we became brothers over the course of the shoot and he was examining himself much in the same way I was I found, in a painful manner, and that really meant something to me…Sometimes our work hurts, I have a deep respect for actors because we confront so much and Steven is no exception. Both Socks and Danny, who Steven and I play, are dealing with big questions — addiction, loss in the family, fear of what’s coming…They stand for a lot of us young men in the country who are trying to figure out how to be the men of tomorrow. How to be “good men” in today’s society. How to be a man at all.

I WISH I would have had more moments with Branden Lindsay; however, Danny could have used a sit down in front of the deli as well.

They were, in a way, all difficult scenes. I think acting in general is very difficult and requires a razor-sharp focus / librarian level attitude for information. Compounded with the physical training I was doing to be able to be a D1 athlete — I was always tired. Thankfully.

 

Q) What do you hope lingers with audiences that watch Rocky’s – either as an emotion or message?

A) I hope that the feeling of nostalgia and hurt is a rally to make the most of now, to fix the things that could be easily fixed and make leaving pettiness behind seem easy — It all goes by so fast, in the end how many more times did we all get to see each other?

 

Q) Are there other upcoming recent projects that you have been busy working on?

A) Carry On produced by Amblin and Netflix just premiered and has been #1 for four weeks — I am in the main cast as Eddie aka Santos – I definitely recommend watching this one. I just got back from Sundance where Atropia I am in Hailey Benton Gates’ debut feature, which stars Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Lola Kirke, Chloe Sevigny and many more…I am also in post-production for Killing Castro, which stars Al Pacino! This was a great opportunity, too. I got to learn a lot of new skills for that one.

A couple of other things, I can’t say. [wink]

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of the wonderful work you do on our screens?

A) THANK YOU! I see the work as something we do FOR people, so THANK YOU. Your support means we can do it more. Filmmaking isn’t and shouldn’t be just a business and the only thing that keeps things real — are the fans and supporters. So, THANK YOU.