After more than 25 years as an actor, Jason Faunt’s first time acting in a short film couldn’t have been more different than his ubiquitous Power Rangers role.

As Wes Collins (aka the Red Time Force Ranger) in Power Rangers Time Force and several subsequent series, Faunt has been part of the Power Rangers legacy for over 20 years- traveling to conventions and meeting fans all over the world. Now he’s setting a different pace with his heartwarming new short film An Old Friend.

Director and cinematographer Nuk Suwanchote crafts an enchanting drama weaving in fantasy and human connection for a tale about an imaginary friend who finds out that the child who created him is actually a 90 year old man. 

On the verge of an Oscar qualification, Faunt talked about the journey of making An Old Friend and how the short film continues to resonate with him.

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Culture Flux: So I wanted to start out with how you were introduced to this film and also what your first thoughts were when you read the script or were introduced to the idea.

Jason Faunt: Ben Andrews was one of the producers on the film and he said to me, “hey, we’ve got this script that won a screenwriting contest up here in Seattle and it’s amazing, so I want you to read it and we want you to play the lead role of Calvin.” And I was like, “wow.” 

I hadn’t thought much about short films. I hadn’t done any, I don’t think I’ve ever done a short film before, which I’m bummed that I’m doing that now because I realize you meet a lot of up-and-coming young filmmakers and you meet a lot of great people doing it. 

I read the script and the script was great. It was fun, but the end had such a twist. It blew me away. The ending had such a shift that I did not see coming. When it happened, it was like there was a flood of emotion. And I was like, “this is crazy. This is why it won the contest.” So it was that good.

And I’m like, “man, let me know when, sign me up.” This was right around COVID. So it took several years to actually get it done from the day I first read the script. And there were parallels in my life at that time with my father passing away. So there were some things happening that were literally going on with the script. So the whole thing was just meant to be.

I saw at the end that it was partially dedicated to your father, so can you talk about balancing the kind of whimsical nature of having an imaginary friend and also the more serious film aspects as well? Can you talk about how you implemented those things and how you chose to balance those feelings out in the film?

Well, I mean, obviously, I didn’t write it. Dan Martin wrote it. But from an acting standpoint, what was interesting is that the character kind of comes, as you’ve seen, he comes alive and doesn’t know who he is, doesn’t know his name, doesn’t know his purpose.

And he’s told that your purpose is to bring a friend to these kids. So once he embraces it, and gets to his child, who’s a 90-year-old man on his deathbed, he’s got to figure out how to connect with this person. 

What do we do now? We’re kind of trapped in this world. And so there’s a childlike excitement to just trying to figure out how to pass the time. So I think in the beginning, it was just more, just keeping that bit of excitement for who you are, that age of being almost like a childlike presence.

And then of course, the shift happens later. But yeah, I think because he was a blank canvas, I didn’t have to think too much about that, because he didn’t know about that.

And there’s an emphasis too, in the film, on how imagination and our memories can create an emotional connection with us, with others. So how do you think that your creativity and your approach as an artist has affected you and your emotional connections over the years?

I don’t know, I think the older you get, the more projects you do, you kind of realize that the more life lessons you have in real life. Obviously, the older you get, the more you experience loss, whether it be through death or just loss of a friend, because they’re not people that you want to have in your life anymore. But you have more life experiences that you bring to each character. And I think that’s why as you get older as an actor, you just become better, because you have more things to draw from.

So I think that’s what I’ve learned in any of these projects in general, whether it’s anger or love or loss, you just have more to draw from for all those things. 

And this character here, he’s created, he doesn’t know where he is. And that kind of brings me to me having two young kids that are 21 months and five months old, where you’re just trying to find ways to connect with these people that aren’t really connecting back, having fun, making faces. And the same exact things happen in this movie here.

I imagine it was especially nice for you to be a father. When you’re reading that script, you could probably connect to it on a level that maybe some people couldn’t.

Right, and I have four children. So I have a 20-year-old, I have an 18-year-old. And then I have an almost two year old and a five month old. So I’ve been through the gamut of raising kids that are now adults, and I’ve got these little ones again. So yeah, I’m used to being a father for definitely different types.

What was it like working with Tom Skerritt? Because you know, we’ve all seen him over the years and, you know, really infamous roles. And he has such a different character in this film than what we’re used to.

So what was it like working with him?

You know what, it’s funny. We’ve done a lot of podcasts now and everyone asked that question. And the thing that’s a bummer is that the way that we filmed it, I had very limited time with Tom.

We kind of did his scenes, and then he was out. So I didn’t get a chance to really sit down and hang out or have lunch or talk. I’m a sponge with those things.

I like to learn. I like to hear stories. You know, “give me some stories of things that you did back in the 90s.Talk to me about Top Gun.” I didn’t get a chance to do that, unfortunately. So, unfortunately, that question, I wish I had more to expound on, but I didn’t get a chance.

It was cool to be there with him. Obviously, I’m familiar with a lot of his work. But once I got to the set and got in, he was already there, we did the scenes, and we were done.

So there wasn’t a lot of time to connect with him.

This film screened at a lot of different film festivals. So can you talk about what that experience is like? And has that also enhanced what it’s like making a short film, and the effect of that?

Yeah, we knew it was a great script. We saw the movie, and we thought, “this looks really cool.”

But you never know how well it’s received until it gets out there. So they put it out there, and it started to win and win and win. And I laughed, because they would tell me, “hey, you won Best Actor at Staten Island Film Festival a couple weeks ago.”

And “oh, you just won this one here for this award. This happened like three weeks ago.” I’m like, “wait, what? You guys got to tell me!” And they’re like, “Jason, we’ve won over 50 awards internationally. We just keep winning.”

It’s so much we don’t know what to do. It’s like, are we going to post on Instagram every week, we won three more awards? So they weren’t sure what to do.

And the Oscars became the next obvious step, right? So we didn’t see it coming. We thought we did, but we really didn’t see it coming.

And with all the wins, it’s very exciting to be Oscar qualified. It’s one of those things you can’t imagine, especially me now having done this for 25 years, that I have a chance to be a part of an Oscar qualifying or Oscar-nominated short. So fingers crossed the right people see it. They vote on it and we go to the next step.

Did it change a lot from what you envisioned it would be in your mind when you read the script?

Yes, it was a lot more emotional than I realized it would be. I didn’t I got the relationship, I got where it was. But once we got on set and the way it out and the way this character tried to figure out “what do I do? This sucks. I want to be out there playing with the kids, but I guess I got this guy. Let’s make the best of it.”

And then boom, when they finally connect, it just feels magical. So I think the emotional side of it surprised me the way that it was done. Yeah, so I thought they did a great job with that.

So other than like the challenging parts of the film, what were some of the most memorable aspects of it? Was it maybe a certain scene that you felt you connected to the most? Was it the people on set, what was the most memorable part for you?

Well, you know, to be honest with you, when I went up there, these are a bunch of young filmmakers. I mean, Nuk is in his early 30s. Him and his three brothers, I find out later, were these little film prodigies.

They’ve been filming stuff since they were eight. They film a ton of content all the time. So you go into a short film having not done those thinking, “okay, who am I working with right now? Have they done anything? Have they done any projects? Are they going to know how to direct me?” 

So you kind of come in a little guarded, not knowing these people are going to know what they’re doing. But their crew, because they film so much, they have a whole entire studio up there.

These guys have been filming. I mean, they were as professional as any set I’ve ever been on. So I was so happy to see that.

And as a director, too, when directors know what they’re doing, the way that they can lay out the scenes, they can lay out the blocking, they can direct you, you just know right away from 25 years if someone knows what they’re doing. It’s like if you played a sport, and you never played baseball, you’re like, “hey, pick up a baseball bat and swing it,” you can tell right away if someone knows what they’re doing. So same thing applied.

So very pleasantly surprised and how amazing those guys were up there. And then again, the scene that I connected with the most is definitely the last scene. You know, just because I just gone through this with my father.

So the emotion was so raw, it was so there, because it was just so fresh. I mean, he just passed away, maybe a year before.

So that hospital scene is exactly where I was. So yeah, easy to connect with that, unfortunately.

And also you said that this was the first short film that you’ve ever been a part of. So how has the experience of this film been so different than so many of the other projects that you’ve worked on?

I just think the timeline, you have such a short window to get in and get out. It’s not telling a full story, you’re not playing that character for seven, eight, nine days, you’re just kind of in and you’re out. So I think there’s a lot more planning and pre-production for for bigger projects.

A lot more time to know the other characters, a lot more time to know the director, to really talk about the script here, it was just you just hit the ground running- like we boom, the next day film- boom, boom, done. And so I think the quickness of the whole thing is probably the biggest difference.

Do you feel like that’s ever a hindrance for you or did you feel like you were still able to not have to think things through too much that you just kind of did it on a whim? Maybe you didn’t overthink things?

Maybe, but I don’t tend to overthink much on these. I try to keep it very simple. I try to keep everything very unique to me.

You go in as an actor, you look at the character, you try to attach your emotions to your experiences, and then you keep as much of you as you can in there, because, you know, the most unique thing is me, right? That’s the way you keep it unique to you. So I think because Kelvin was such a blank slate, right, and comes out not knowing his name or who he is, or what’s going on, that kind of allows you to kind of keep that a little bit, a blank canvas.

But yeah, I don’t know, it worked out good. And to be honest, I can’t think of ever doing a short before. I think I did a USC film school project back in like 26 years ago, that was probably pretty quick.

Other than that, I don’t have anything to compare it to. I just know that it was a great experience.

Is there anything that you still carry from USC that you still have in your head when you’re working on different things? Because obviously, this is so different than the normal genre you work in. But do you have something that you’re able to carry no matter what you’re working in? Like just knowledge, or skills that you got from that time that you still use or can implement?

Yeah, I think most of what I utilize is from Power Rangers, because that’s really where I was in the first on-set series regular there every day. I mean, we learned so much on the fly there. And that’s why Power Rangers is beautiful.

They get young actors, so they know, “hey, some of these things you guys aren’t going to know on set.” So you kind of got your training on the fly. So I think most of what I take away now is from Power Rangers, because you got to remember not many shows go for that long, where it’s like, by the time I got on Power Rangers, it was a nine-year show.

And by the time I got back on it again, it was 20 years and then 25 years. So you’re looking at a well-oiled machine. They know they’ve got their crew, they’ve got their thing, and they’re just like boom, boom, boom. So I think most of what I carry is from Power Rangers.

I do remember the USC project, because it was almost like, I just didn’t know what I was doing. But I was like, “this is fascinating.” And it’s kind of fun to kind of go from there to where you are today. And you kind of look back at those memories pretty fondly.

I used to watch the Power Rangers show in the early days. So it’s so crazy how much that has carried on and like the legacy of that.

Crazy, right?

So surreal. 

I wanted to ask as my last question, what did you learn from making An Old Friend? Was there anything either as an actor or personally that you really took away from making this?

I think from a macro level, that working on shorts is pretty exciting. I mean, I think just the collaborative process with pretty much up and coming filmmakers who want to get their project out to the festivals. I really have enjoyed that process.

I’m trying to think back. I can’t think of any other time that I did a real short film that actually was designed to hit the festival circuit. So it’s been exciting to know, hey, we’re at this festival in Spain or this festival in New York, so that’s a new process for me that I’m not going to be afraid to jump back into down the road.