Steve Zahn’s time in Australia, back in the mid-’90s, could have almost prepared him for his new role in the sci-fi drama Silo.
The Hollywood heavyweight joins the cast of the hit AppleTV+ series for season two, as Solo – a man left to his own devices in a giant deep underground city in a dystopian future.
While speaking to 9honey Celebrity about the TV show, the actor fondly recalls spending lots of time by himself in the NSW outback as he filmed Race the Sun back in 1995 – a movie which also starred Halle Berry, Jim Belushi and Casey Affleck.
Watch the clip above.
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“Oh, I loved working in Australia,” he says in a London hotel room.
“It was a long time ago. It was a movie called Race the Sun, about solar car racing. I played the bad guy, he was a German solar car racer, it was so dumb,” he laughs.
“Anyway, I had a ball there, I had so much fun.”
The 57-year-old star of other films such as War for the Planet of the Apes, Your Place or Mine and That Thing You Do! says there were a few standout moments in particular.
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“I remember Anzac Day, and I just wandered down at sun up, and then I gambled,” he recalls, talking about the game Two Up.
“Then I was out in the Mundi Mundi Plains, I had a pickup truck that was run on propane – I rented it – and then I would, with my per diem, I would buy firewood and I had a swag and I would just drive out.
“I worked like two days a week [so] I would just drive out of Broken Hill, and you pull over and start a fire and I loved it, I had so much fun.”
The actor’s time of solace in the outback no doubt would have provided inspiration for his newest character, who meets Juliette Nichols, played by actress Rebecca Ferguson.
Ferguson is the star of the series and also one of the Executive Producers on the show.
Despite having most of his scenes opposite his boss, Zahn tells 9honey Celebrity they got along so well it wasn’t even remotely intimidating.
“It was amazing, she’s an absolute delight and just a great actor,” he says of the Mission Impossible actress.
“She and I work very similarly – we have a blast and then we get down to business. In between takes is a complete jokefest and fun.”
While he didn’t know his co-star before working on the show, the pair share a mutual connection, which is how he landed on the series, in a roundabout way.
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“Rick Gomez, who plays Kennedy, is my business partner and dear friend [and] he’s in the show, coincidentally,” Zahn explains.
“We did a short [movie together] … she saw that, and then told [showrunner] Graham [Yost], ‘Hey, I think I think Steve should play this part next year’, and that’s kind of how it evolved.
“I had a conversation with both of them and they pitched this guy, and I was like, ‘sounds like one of the most incredible characters, I’ve not played anything like this'”.
Being a part of the series, based on the popular Hugh Howey books, also meant the actor’s first Comic Con experience.
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“I was really kind of blown away by it,” he tells 9honey Celebrity.
“I was kind of bummed because I wanted to go walk around and experience Comic Con and when you’re with the show, on a panel, you get kind of scurried around in alleyways and tunnels.
“It’s great to be in a show that people like, it’s better than being in one the people don’t like – I’ve been in those too, by the way,” he laughs.
Silo season two premiered November 15 on Apple TV+, with new episodes released weekly.
Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.