Johnathon Schaech Credits Tom Hanks for Instilling Him with an ‘Incredible Work Ethic’ During Their Time on ‘That Thing You Do’
Johnathon Schaech, who moved from Los Angeles to Nashville with his wife Julie Solomon and two children, never thought he’d be acting again. In an interview with PEOPLE, the actor confessed that he “left everything behind” and regretted the decision.
“Every day I’d wake up in horror, like, what have I done? I kept trying not to think that I could control it, to let the universe and God find my way again,” he said. However, fate had great plans, and he landed a role in Prime Video’s brand-new series, Blue Ridge.
The series in which he played Sheriff Justin Wise was inspired by his 2020 hit crime drama film. “When we were making [the movie], it was easy to see that it could turn into a series,” he added. His excitement to explore the character further fueled the fire and the movie was adapted into a series.
After stepping back into acting, Schaech reflected on the lessons he learned from Tom Hanks while working on their film That Thing You Do. Schaech revealed that he was confident in leading a series because Hanks had instilled in him a “sense of hope” and professionalism.
“I’ve always thought that I could carry a series and that I would be a leading man like he was,” the actor said, referring to Hanks. “He was always giving a sense of hope, and hope is really the thing that I kept along all this time.” After imbibing these qualities, the Hush actor learned how to “maintain” his acting no matter the level of work.
In the recent episode of Blue Ridge, Schaech’s That Thing You Do! co-star Ethan Embry made a guest appearance. “It was an honor to have him out there,” he told the outlet. He recalled they had very difficult, “hardcore and edgy” material at hand but managed to crack it because of their work ethic, for which they credited the Forrest Gump actor.
“We both have incredible work ethic, and it was from working with Tom Hanks,” Schaech added. He further recalled the bond and “brotherhood” the two formed while working on That Thing You Do and praised Embry’s acting efficiency on Blue Ridge. “This love for one another, that’s very deep after all these years. He was fantastic. He blew everybody away,” he added.
Blue Ridge is available to stream on Amazon Prime.