Name: Daniel Zolghadri
Notable past credits: “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” and “Lurker,” which both premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. He also starred in Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” and led the Safdie brothers-produced “Funny Pages,” which was directed by Owen Kline and premiered at Cannes in 2022.
Sundance project: “Hot Water,” a “two-hander” about a Lebanese mother who drives her American-born teenage son from Indiana to California to live with his father after a violent high school incident.
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”It’s kind of about how big dramatic things can happen in a nondramatic way,” says Zolghadri of the film. “The movie is really good at finding beautiful moments where there’s significant growth or significant connection between [the mother and son]. But it’s presented in a very nondramatic way that feels close to real life.”
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Zolghadri signed on a year before filming, and credits scene partner Lubna Azabal for helping carry the emotional weight of the film as his onscreen mother, navigating her son’s high school expulsion. The pair navigate a mild friction that simmers throughout the road trip. ”There are moments where they connect or learn something new about each other. And then there’s moments where they almost connect, and kind of miss each other,” Zolghadri says of the film’s central dynamic.
Filming took the “Hot Water” cast and crew to locations in Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California.
“ We did a lot of these emotional scenes against the backdrop of this unbelievably beautiful landscape. I think it helps the scene, and it’s part of what gets them both to connect — they’re both admiring this beautiful view or having this experience together,” says Zolghadri. “And so they might as well try and be a little kinder to each other or meet in the middle.”
Zolghadri was back in Park City for a second year in a row. The actor had supporting roles in last year’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” and “Lurkers,” but his experience this year has involved more responsibility — promo, press, Q&As — that comes along with helming a film.
A24 is slated to release Zolghadri’s next film “Ancient History,” which he co-leads with Sophia Lillis, in the next year. After Sundance, he was headed to Toronto to film indie sci-fi horror “The Temple.”
”My favorite thing is working with different directors,” says the actor. “I just feel very lucky to do this, and then jump right into something else.”