by Dov Kornits
“Before these movies I was on the road surfing with my family since I was about 4, home schooling and chasing waves around the world,” young actor Rasmus King tells us. “I’d been filming surf clips and doing photo shoots, interviews and stuff for my surf sponsors. I’ve done 3 amazing projects now and getting experience along the way, but no formal training. When I was little, I would watch a movie and become that character for weeks, so without knowing, I guess, I’ve always loved the art of acting.”
How’d you get into acting?
“It happened just by fluke really. Bosch and Rockit director Tyler Atkins knew my brother Kyuss [King] from a photo shoot many years earlier. He was going to cast Kyuss for the role, but he was too old for the part, but then realised Kyuss had a younger brother, so he organised to meet with me and thought I was going to be perfect for the role straight away. He just asked if I want to play Rockit and I said yeah! It was pretty radical as I’d never acted before. He took a huge risk in me playing a lead role.”
How’d you score the role in Macario de Souza’s 6 Festivals?
“I’m not really sure how Mac knew of my brother and I, but he asked us to audition together for the brothers, Kane and Maxie. Mac flew us down to Sydney for a meeting and to talk about his movie idea! It sounded rad! That then lead into me and Kyuss doing a short for 6 Festivals and Mac offered us the parts in the feature film. We were so stoked. It was really cool to get a role playing along with my actual brother. He nailed the role of Kane and his first time acting. I recon I was about 13 or something when this project first started but because of the bushfires, Covid and the closing of all the festivals it took so long to get the movie up and finished.”
Surfers and skateboarders quite often lean into other creative pursuits. Is the surf community encouraging of your move into acting, or do they pay you out?
“I feel like I have definitely been supported. My brother and I have always been into lots of different creative stuff like making music, art and skating. Also, my whole acting journey started when Covid started really, so I was home for once and not travelling around the world chasing waves. All my surf sponsors have been super supportive of the acting and it’s something I can do around surfing which is a perfect fit.”
6 Festivals is about the magic of music fests. Are you a music festival goer yourself? Can you tell us about your most memorable experience at a music festival?
“I’ve been to a few festivals as I’ve grown up in Byron. I was always too young though, so I had to jump a few fences with my mates [laughs]… Doing 6 Festivals was so epic, getting to go to so many festivals with an all access pass!
“I’ve been to lots of concerts with my family but mostly metal, stoner rock concerts… One of my favourites when I was a grommy was Black Sabbath. I love that kind of music. I’ve grown up on the heavier ‘90s indie /stoner rock/Metal so they’re the kind of festivals I look out for!”
How did you work on the bond between your 6 Festivals co-stars Rory [Potter] and Yasmin [Honeychurch]?
“We all became really good friends on set. Mac had organised for us to do a two week rehearsal workshop together just before shooting our first block at the festivals. Unfortunately, that first festival was cancelled due to the bushfires, but we had already done the rehearsals and that was the start of becoming close friends! From start to finish, it took Mac over a year to finish shooting, so over that time we all got really close.”
There’s an element of grief in 6 Festivals – is this something you could personally relate to?
“Yeah, it’s a really powerful story, I had some challenging scenes which I loved playing! Super heavy and by dropping into the Maxie character it really made me feel for him!
“Yeah, for sure I could relate, not that I’ve experienced losing a close friend or not having family support, but I can relate with Maxie and feel his pain as his mates are literally his family and it’s kind of similar to how my dad grew up.
“I guess I’ve grown up very differently to Maxie as I have a very close family bond and have had a very supported upbringing. But I can imagine the trauma and pain Maxie feels and what drives him to do the things he does because he often feels lost and alone.”
Was it crazy making 6 Festivals during COVID?
“Yeah, it was crazy. I felt really bad for Mac and the producers as it was such a challenging film to shoot and in such a volatile environment. The film needed live festivals, so we were on / off / on / off all the time! I think the project must have been blessed though because somehow Mac pulled it off against all odds. So many times, we thought it was over! Mac is a fighter though and he never stopped!”
Can you tell us anything about What If The Future Never Happened, and your role in it?
“This was crazy! A year prior, I had just signed to WME and they asked me if there were any roles I’d like to play one day… I had journaled about playing Daniel Johns from Silverchair and even voiced to my agent that playing DJ would be a dream come true. A year later I got a request to audition for the role of Daniel Johns – are you fucking kidding me?!
“I play a young Daniel Johns in 1994, the pre Frogstomp era. Getting that part was a dream come true literally and I am still tripping about how it all played out. Daniel is such a champ. He made me feel at home and supported me on this project. I can’t wait for the world to see his film and story.”
What’s next?
“Right now [today], I am off to California for 10 days. I am heading over to the Vans US Open at Huntington beach where I will be commentating about some of the events with my brother.
“As soon as I get back from Cali I hit the road doing PR for 6 Festivals and Bosch and Rockit for a few weeks.
“I also have a few auditions happening at the moment! I have some more stuff happening with the Daniel Johns project which is going to be rad! Daniel hooked me up with a PRS guitar and since then I haven’t stopped playing and recently started singing and songwriting with my brother. We’re Jamming daily! I am excited to do more music and eventually get some live gigs happening! Definitely a few surf trips around home before heading to Hawaii with Vans for the winter season.…”
6 Festivals and Bosch and Rockit are screening at CinefestOZ. 6 Festivals is in cinemas on August 11 and Bosch & Rockit is in cinemas August 18.
