Interview: Andrew Polk Reveals How He Relates to ARMAGEDDON TIME

Armageddon Time, a new semi-autobiographical film by James Gray, is now playing in theaters.

The film features a stacked ensemble cast, including Oscar Isaac, Donald Sutherland, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway, Tovah Feldshuh, Jeremy Strong, Jessica Chastain, and more.

Andrew Polk, who has been seen on stage in The Band's Visit and Under My Skin, plays Mr. Turkletaub, a 6th grade teacher at PS. 173 in Queens, NY.

The film is an autobiographical story of James Gray's life and upbringing in a middle class Jewish home in Flushing, Queens in 1980. Mr. Turkletaub was Gray's teacher and an integral part of his adolescent story.

BroadwayWorld sat down with Polk to discuss what audiences can get from the movie, his unexpected connection to Mr. Turkletaub, and what it was like working with James Gray on the acclaimed new film.

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What can audiences expect from this new movie?

I think they can expect just a great movie, almost in the sense that the movies in the great movies in the 70s were great. It's a substantive New York story set in 1980, around the time of Reagan's election, it's a semi-autobiographical story about James Gray's life growing up as a sixth grader in Queens.

It's a really thoughtful, complicated story about what happens to him with his friendship. He befriends an African American kid and they become best friends and you get to see how they just drift apart and the choices that are made to manifest that. Part of it takes place at the old school Donald Trump went to. So that figures in the background of the story, you know what I mean?

You get to see this 12 year old boy who's the central focus of the story has to make lifelong choices at that age about what he's gonna do about racism, what he's gonna do about things that are clearly ethically wrong right in front of him. I play a teacher that he has for sort of the first half of the story in the public school and part of the reason why he has to move schools.

It's funny because this premieres at the Cannes Film Festival and the French are these amazing film lovers. At the end they gave it a seven minute, eight minute standing ovation which is great, wonderful, except it really threw me because when you see the movie, when you finish seeing it, it's not exactly the kind of movie it makes you wanna stand up and cheer. You wanna sit down and think. But the French are so great. They're just such lovers of film. That really threw me.

It deals with a lot of heavy subject matter for so many different people. I feel like when movies tackle these subjects, a lot of people find themselves and are able to relate to the plot. Were you able to relate to this story in any way?

Oh, yeah. Well, in several ways. I played this teacher who, back at that time, public schools in New York ... By the way, he's a real person. I actually looked him up. He's an actual person who existed, who actually taught a few friends of mine. Back in those days, they really cut funding for public schools so badly that these teachers were teaching 42 kids per class sometimes without anyone else, just by themselves. In the case of my character, teaching every subject, including gym. That's just who they had.

So how do I relate to it? Well, my two kids, and I love them dearly, I do, but there's sometimes there's a level of crankiness that for whatever reason, it was probably easy to tap into and could translate somehow into playing this guy, Mr. Turkletaub. But I also did have something similar happen to me growing up, also in Berkeley, California. Not the same, but there was a definite effort, a well-intended effort to integrate, sort of the first one. I think it was the first wave integration that I was a part of. You feel that you felt as a kid. A very friend of mine as young kid who was African American, who grew up in different circumstances as I did, and that, over time, there were these forces that pulled us apart. I related to that. It made me think about what my experience was and what everyone could have maybe done differently.

Drawing upon that, how did you take that experience into this movie with your character?

Well, my character's circumstances aren't really my care. He's a teacher really just doing the best he can in those circumstances is really how I saw Mr. Turkeltaub. I mean, 42 kids, 42 11, 12-year-old kids teaching every subject. I had a feeling he was doing his best and trying to also deal with integration on top of everything else, it was almost too much, you know? There wasn't space in those circumstances to give extra attention to people who might need it. It really was getting through it, teaching to the test. That's what I think this guy did,and people that in those circumstances did. There was a lot of people who got left by the wayside. There was no extra attention for people who needed it. So I really just tried to get under Mr. Turkletaub's skin and see that he was trying his best.

I later found out that Mr. Turkletaub around that time was just about to retire and he shortly after died of a heart attack. I think he was just really stressed out and trying his best. The audiences will draw their own conclusions.

There's such a stacked cast in the film, with Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway, and so many more. What was it like working with them and James Gray on the movie?

Well, I didn't work with any of them cause all my stuff was with those kids, which is funny. But the two lead kids of the movie I spent my entire time with, Jaylin [Webb] and Michael Banks, and they're extraordinary, extraordinary young actors.

Working with James Gray was a dream, absolute dream. I can't say enough about that experience cause he just had this ability to make me feel completely free and trusted and I hope that that's reflected in the work. I just really never felt more at ease and more trusted on a set and, at the same time, he is an absolute master of the technical side of filmmaking. He was able to create shots on the spot, on the day, in front of you. Based on something maybe you or someone else did, he would totally redo a shot. That's not always what directors are able to do. It was kind of wonderful to do and gave of freedom. I can't say about James Gray. I love the guy. Just really a master.

This performance is such a great breakout role for you. What is it like to be accomplishing this right now in your career?

It's really hard to quantify what I'm accomplishing. I'm just really proud to be part of this good film. I have been in a lot of films but this one really, I think it's a kind of a miracle that they do come together and are so good. This is a really great film. That's just what I take away. I'm really proud to be part of this great film and what it means in terms of my career trajectory, I don't know. That's always a hard thing to figure out. I certainly hope it means good things but, for whatever reason, I was able to just tap right into this guy and I think, thankfully, James Gray saw that. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

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Watch the trailer for Armageddon Time here:

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski