Not only was he trying to embody a character beloved by millions of readers around the world, he was also stepping into the shoes of Tom Hanks, a two-time Oscar-winner and arguably the most beloved actor of his generation. So, no pressure then.“It’s almost too crazy to believe so I flew right past doubt and hit something else,” says Zukerman with a laugh over the phone from New York.Zukerman last year shot a pilot for Langdon, in which he plays a younger version of the mystery-solving symbologist, for US network NBC and was ecstatic to learn a couple of weeks ago that a full series was picked up by its streaming affiliate Peacock and is set to start filming in June. While it’s loosely based on Brown’s third novel, The Lost Symbol, the mystery-thriller series will be set before the successful Hanks films, putting Zukerman’s mind at ease about any comparisons with the famously affable acting giant. “I think one of the reasons that the books were so loved is that everyone saw something else in Robert Langdon and I think that gives me freedom rather than closes me down,” he says. “I don’t think I need to be any one thing.“It actually allows for him to be a little rough around the edges because he hasn’t yet found himself so he’s a Robert Langdon who hasn’t yet become the Robert Langdon that people have read or seen in the movies.”LEARNING LESSONSSuch a plum gig is testament to the rising profile of the California-born, Melbourne-raised Zukerman, who first shot to fame in homegrown TV shows such as The Lowdown, Rush and The Code, and also found overseas success in Manhattan, Designated Survivor and a recurring role in the masterful HBO drama Succession.He’s also appearing in the compelling, thought-provoking Foxtel drama A Teacher, playing the husband of Kate Mara’s title character, who grooms and then begins an abusive sexual relationship with one of her teenage students. Confronting though it can be at times, Zukerman says that the 10-part series, based on Hannah Fiddell’s 2013 film of the same name, is everything he looks for in a project.“In everything I do, having it be important or try to express something or it having the ability to demystify something or draw attention to the nuance of something is always interesting to me,” he says.“It’s such a complicated topic and I get a lot of pride from being involved with something that people can walk away from and they don’t have to immediately say that they enjoyed it or not.“Having had a good time suddenly doesn’t become the most important thing and I think it has been very thought-provoking and has taught people a lot about grooming and these issues that are just not spoken about enough.”CONTEMPLATING CONSENTZukerman shares some raw and physical scenes with Mara (“I find her astounding”) and says that filming such situations has changed for better in recent years, with the presence of intimacy coaches becoming standard to ensure actors are comfortable with challenging material. While A Teacher speaks to the hot-button issues of consent and power imbalances in broader society, Zukerman says it’s important that the entertainment industry itself practices what it preaches.“I think we have put people in situations for years without actually trying to ask how comfortable they are in those situations,” he says. “I think we are starting to understand how to do that. I don’t think it’s something we have entirely figured out but we have started to and this show definitely made a strong effort in every scene to do that.”With his US TV career on fire, two-time Logie nominee (he won an AACTA Award for The Code) Zukerman opted to stay in the country of his birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, first in Los Angeles and then in New York, despite their struggles to combat the virus and the rising death toll.“With the quarantine and borders suddenly closing it could have meant suddenly being stranded on the other side of the planet,” he says. “It’s a shame I haven’t been able to see my family in Australia but it never became an option. But certainly, when it’s all over I will be heading back.”HOME TRUTHSHaving shuttled back and forth across the Pacific for the past few years, Zukerman says it’s often not until he gets back to Australia that he realises how much he has missed it. “There is something in the micro-gestures in Australia that I just understand,” he says. “It’s something I grew up with – how people interact, the slight differences in language and gestures, that I just understand and it puts me at ease. It’s not that I actively miss it because I am never aware of it – but when I go back I feel immediately more comfortable.”As to whether audiences can look forward to seeing his character Nate Sofrelli – a shady political strategist and sometime lover of compatriot Sarah Snook’s Shiv Roy – in the third season of Succession, Zukerman is all of a sudden cagey.“I don’t know if I can speak to that,” he says after a very long pause. “Which I think gives plenty away and probably answers the question. And again, what an exciting thing to be a part of.”A Teacher, Fox Showcase, Sunday, 8.30pm and on demand.
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