Acting Up – Episode #21: ‘Hunters’ Actor Logan Lerman
Welcome to ACTING UP, the place where we celebrate standout performances in TV, streaming and film. Other than spotlighting exceptional work from recent projects, this feature also shines a light on how certain actors got to where they are today. Have a peek and then check out these noteworthy performances to help hone your craft.
For lucky 21: Logan Lerman plays a troubled kid drawn in by a vigilante Jew crew hunting Nazis, who are hiding out in New York City in 1977 in the Amazon original series, Hunters. (Series debut: Feb. 21, 2020)
The Performer:
Logan Lerman
The Series:
Hunters on Amazon Prime Video
The Performance:
Rarely is there ever a clearer distinction between the good guys and the bad than in the thrilling/chilling Nazi-killing Amazon series, Hunters. Jonah Heidelbaum (played by Lerman) is one of those good guys — a 19-year-old small-time pot dealer in search of serious answers after witnessing his Jewish grandma (a.k.a. Safta) get killed in cold blood in their living room.
And answers he will get.
That happens when Jonah discovers an underground group of “Hunters,” lead by Meyer Offerman (played by the normally TV-averse Al Pacino), a soft-spoken Jewish philanthropist, Holocaust survivor and Bruce Wayne type who was also a dear friend of Jonah’s grandmother. The group is comprised of specialized individuals who’ve become savvy Nazi-hunters seeking revenge on these sadistic souls — who happen to be living amongst us as our neighbors in the U.S., while conspiring to form a “Fourth Reich.”
Through Jonah’s eyes and Meyer’s retellings, we become witness firsthand to what fuels the Hunters’ fire: twisted games Nazis play while murdering Jews at the concentration camps (shown via flashback) — and revelations about who they’ve become since then, which trigger Jonah’s ire in various ways. All providing justification for a vigilante squad focused on exacting vengeance for the six million Jews systematically killed during World War II.
Thanks to Lerman’s nuanced performance as Jonah, we first witness a scared kid anxious for revenge with notions of becoming a “real-life Jewperhero” as fellow ‘hunter’ Lonny Flash (played by Josh Radnor) calls him. Incidentally, Flash is an out-of-work actor moonlighting as a Nazi-killer — apparently, there were other options beyond simply waiting tables in 1977.
As the Hunters’ operation reveals itself to Jonah in the early episodes, Lerman does an incredible job at juggling the grief Jonah feels for his fallen Safta as he builds a tolerance (and stomach) for the revenge plots they’re hatching — and people they’re targeting. As it turns out, Jonah also exhibits a gift for codebreaking early in the series, which lends to him being an asset to this Jew crew, where every Hunter is given something to do.
As the rookie on this team, Lerman is rather adept at portraying Jonah’s caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation as a newbie revenge-seeker dead set on replacing Safta in this crew — as she was once a “Chabad-ass” before him. But nothing better sums up Jonah’s plight than this sentiment, spewed by his good friend Bootyhole McGuigan (a.k.a. “Booty”) after a night of partying. He tells Jonah in a drunk confession, “I don’t know why you keep acting like Robin when you’ve always been Batman.” Touché, Booty. Touché.
The Career:
If you’re watching Lerman play Jonah Heidelbaum and think — this kid really knows how to act — it’s because he’s essentially been doing it his whole life.
Lerman grew up in Beverly Hills, and as the IMDB bio goes, started begging his parents to take him to commercial auditions at age 4. After booking two commercials, he then started appearing in movies by age 8, where he earned the rare distinction of playing both the son of pre-ostracized Mel Gibson’s character in The Patriot (2000) and the younger version of Gibson in the rom-com What Women Want (2000).
After taking several film and TV roles, the lifelong Lakers fan soon won a few Young Artist acting awards for his work in A Painted House (2003) before making a quick stop to play a teenager with aspirations to become a U.S. president in the short-lived WB series Jack & Bobby (2004). Lerman then shuttled back to film again for the Western remake, 3:10 to Yuma (2007), starring alongside Hollywood heavyweights Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, yet holding his own as an angst-ridden teen with outlaw envy.
Speaking of being an angst-ridden teen, Lerman would go on to notably steal hearts as Charlie in the much-praised indie flick The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), the coming-of-age drama where he played an introverted high school freshman who befriends two seniors at school.
This role followed up a franchise stint you might be familiar with if you have a small child (or two), where Lerman played the titular character Percy Jackson in the fantasy tale Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) based on the best-selling young adult book series — before starring in the sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013).
By taking a huge step in the maturity column for Amazon’s “Hunters,” it’s clear that Lerman has finally graduated from young adult to very adult.
It’s a look that suits him.
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Related articles:
Acting Up – Episode #43: Sam Claflin
Acting Up – Episode #40: Michéal Richardson
ACTING UP – Episode #20: Charlotte Nicdao
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Gregg Rosenzweig has been a writer, creative director and managing editor for various entertainment clients, ad agencies and digital media companies over the past 20 years. He is also a partner in the talent management/production company, The Rosenzweig Group.
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Gregg Rosenzweig has been a writer, creative director and managing editor for various entertainment clients, ad agencies and digital media companies over the past 20 years. He is also a partner in the talent management/production company, The Rosenzweig Group.
