25PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW ECCLES
MOVIEMAKER.COM WINTER 2019FLASH FORWARD
One constant of the audi-
tioning process, he adds, is that
you need to believe that the
words on the page are enough.
“When I audition, I read the
sides and try not to come with
any ideas or approaches from
the beginning. I just read the
material as a person who loves
filmmaking. I try to look at the
script as if I were a little kid
and imagine the world within
it. Then I start to break down
what I want to do.”
The proof of Lendeborg Jr.’s
approach lies in his perfor-
mances. In 2016, he emerged
with impressive maturity
in his feature debut:
Steven Caple Jr.’s The Land,
an indie drama about four
Cleveland teens whose dreams
of professional skateboarding
are jeopardized when they be-
come entwined in a local drug
ring. Since the film’s Sundance
premiere, he’s defied typecasting with an impressive mix of block-
busters and independents: opposite Noah Wyle in Shot (2017); as
Peter Parker’s schoolmate in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017);
and alongside Rosa Salazar, Jennifer Connelly, Christoph Waltz,
and Mahershala Ali in Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel.
“It takes a different type of acting,” he says of his work on bigger
films. “It takes real patience, and it’s a lot more technical. You learn
to ask questions of the director. I’ve been lucky enough to work with
fantastic people in those movies, and to bounce between those two
worlds. It was kind of by design, because the people I look up to
were respectable in a lot of different kinds of things. I’m still learn-
ing how to do it on either scale. For bigger movies, you just have to
be in love with the movie magic aspect of it. You have to believe in
the truth of the picture, not just the truth of the moment.”
Lendeborg Jr. is currently filming John Leguizamo’s
Critical Thinking, the based-on-real-life story of the
Miami Jackson High School chess team’s climb to win the U.S.
National Championship. “Not only am I working with someone
who I respect, I’m working on a story that proves that intellectual
property and intellectual games belong to people of color,” he says
of the project. “They’ve been ours all along. We are smart, even if
the media doesn’t want to show us that way.”
Does Lendeborg Jr.—like Leguizamo—plan to try his hand on
the other side of the camera? “Oh hell yeah!,” he says, his pure and
infectious enthusiasm cracking excitedly. “I can’t wait. I want to
shoot a short, hopefully sometime in 2020. I love movies, every
aspect of them. I feel that you have to direct, if you want to get bet-
ter. Directing only improves your acting, and vice versa.” For this
young, total-package moviemaker, the best is yet to come. MMAlita: Battle Angel opens in theaters February 14, 2019, courtesy
of 20th Century Fox.2019
SEPT. 26 TO OCT.5
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“
YOU’VE GOT TO TRY
FOR THE MOON IN
ANYTHING YOU
WANT TO DO, BUT IF
SOMEONE SHELTERS
AND NURTURES IT,
MAYBE THAT’S THE
MOST IMPORTANT
THING.
”