Lucas
Gage

He won our hearts in White Lotus, so we hang out with Lukas in sunny Santa Monica to chat with his friends over Facetime and hear about his new projects. 

Photography: Leigh Keily
Stylist: Michael Fusco

Lukas: Before the interview, can we just make a call? Unhinged ladies call me throughout the day. I think you'll like this. This is Hilary Shaw. [Dials]

Hillary: [Hillary picks up phone and starts talking] And what have you been doing? And why am I seeing Charlie Christie in a Netflix documentary about K-pop?

Lukas: Oh, I love Cats Eye. Do you know Cats Eye is the new girl pop group? Baby, you're in an interview right now for JÓN.

Hillary: Oh, yeah? Hi. Hi there, JÓN.

Lukas: This is Hilary Shaw, the most iconic woman in Hollywood.

Hillary: I-fucking-conic, honey. I-fucking-conic. That's right, darling, don't you forget.

Lukas: I love you. I'll call you after.

Hillary: I have things to discuss with you.

Lukas: Is it... did the PR lady call you?

Hillary: Of course - they all do. Yes. Of course. And you, whatever you do is fine, I don't care. But, you know, I want to hear what your thoughts are. I'm having dinner at Sasha's house tonight around 6:30. So, call me there.

Lukas: All right, darling. [Line goes dead]

Leigh: She just put the phone down? Who is that?

Lukas: It's one of my best friends. All I do is have a group chat with older ladies that yell at me.

Leigh: My fabulous older lady friend is Joanna Cassidy. I was like, she's fabulous and we need to be friends. She's in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.

Lukas: Oh my god, amazing. [Resets] Hi!

Leigh: Hi, Lukas!

Lukas: Hi, JÓN! JÓN with a tilde.

Leigh: Yeah. Is that what it's called?

Lukas: Tilde. Is it a tilde when it's like [makes hand gesture] that and not curly?

Leigh: Acute?

Lukas: I think it's an acute.

Leigh: So someone came up to me and was like 'I'm Icelandic. And why is your magazine the Icelandic name [pronounces correctly] Yo-whhhhhhn'?

Lukas: Oh, really?

Leigh: And I was like, it's just 'John'. We just did the shorter spelling and the accent because it looked cool. And they were like, 'Oh no...' All right, well, let's talk about
Smile 2. So all I saw in that terrifying trailer was smiling.

Lukas: [Does the horror smile] This is me.

Leigh:  Did you practice that? Is it just head down, eyebrows down? Yeah? It is scary.

Lukas: It's good, right? How did I practice?

Leigh: Yeah, in front of a mirror?

Lukas: Yeah, I practised in front of a mirror. The most creepy I could do was, like, head tilted down. It just really came naturally to me, I think... being creepy.

Leigh: Are you a villain?

Lukas: No, I'm not a villain. I think the thing about Smile is, it can it possess anybody, good or bad. And it just gives you a creepy smile. So both the bad guys and the good guys can get the smile. It latches on
to anybody.

Leigh: Yeah lovely. Indiscriminate in who
it possesses.

Lukas: Exactly.

Leigh: Okay. So you saw the first one, and you were, like - I could be in this. I could
do a creepy smile. And then you roll in and
did it?

Lukas: Yes. I harassed Parker Finn, the director, on Instagram after I saw it.

Leigh: Did that work?

Lukas: I got the part. Yeah. I just hit him up when I saw the first one, and I was like, 'This is my favourite horror movie of the year.' And then I think, like a year and a half later, he said, 'I'm having auditions. There's a part that you should audition for.' And, yeah, I practised that smile. And the rest is history.

Leigh: Fantastic. So is this something that, if your family goes to watch, they would get freaked out?

Lukas: No, I think my mom is probably the most excited for this than anything I've been in. She loves horror movies. We grew up watching horror movies together. Nightmare on Elm Street... The original Hellraiser... Yeah. That was our shit. Can I cuss on this? Yes? Okay. That was our shit. We love horror movies. Yeah, I'm a scream queen, darling.

Leigh: That's good, because that would be my major concern about being in a horror. Will I be upsetting those around me? Have you ever died on screen?

Lukas: Yes. I've been killed in a zombie film, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse with Chris Landon directing. That was fun... with Patrick Schwarzenegger, our friend. I've died a lot in things. Or I just get the shit beaten out of me in most things. Something always bad happens to me in something. So I think this is just another disturbing thing to add to the resume. You know? There's something very tragic about all the characters people hire me for.

Leigh: Okay, so then if you're going to transition to a non-tragic character, who would that be?

Lukas: You know, I think the Roadhouse character... he starts out tragic, he starts out getting his ass kicked, with a bruised face. And then Jake teaches him how to fight and he stands his ground and he has a little more confidence. Then suddenly you're watching him kick ass, you know? 

Leigh: The only thing missing was someone walking in on you and Jake in a compromised position - that would have made that movie.

Lukas: It got cut. Roadhouse Two.

Leigh:  Okay, so back to Smile.

Lukas: You hated it. [Referring to Roadhouse]

Leigh: I didn't hate it.

Lukas: No. It's okay. A lot of people hated it.

Leigh: I thought it was... The thing is, there were lots of really nice things about it. Like the whole cast was really pretty, you know? Jake. Jake's really pretty, Billy...

Lukas: Billy did JÓN! 

Leigh: Yeah, yeah.

Lukas: I love Billy.

Leigh: So, you know, visually, I love it.

Lukas: Yeah. I actually think that movie is fun, though. 

Leigh: I enjoyed it just because I got to sit there and, like, zone out, enjoy. 

Lukas: I mean, sometimes you just need to watch stuff to escape and check out. It's kind of why people like reality TV. I like reality TV for that reason, I just like to not have to think and just watch. Yeah. Have a good time.

Leigh: Exactly. What's your favourite reality TV right now?

Lukas: It's changed a lot. I've had my Below Deck era, I've had my Housewives era, I've had my Vanderpump Rules era. But I have to be honest right now, its Traitors. No, actually, I take that back. I'm re-watching Rock of Love right now. It's the best reality show ever made.

Leigh: Rock of Love?

Lukas: With Bret Michaels. It was after Flavor of Love with Flavor Flav, which I absolutely loved. There is something about those girls falling in love with Bret and his wig, on a tour bus around America - it's one of the best reality TV shows I've ever seen in my life. Quotable. It changed my vocabulary. Growing up, it came out like when I was in middle school, I think, and then I just re-watched it now. It was what me and my Mom would do - watch horror movies and Rock of Love and Flavor of Love. That's how I became so deranged.

Leigh:  I don't know the person from Rock of Love.

Lukas: Bret. Bret Michaels - the singer
from Poison. 

Leigh: Okay... And same as Flavor... he's dating a bunch of women?

Lukas: He's dating, like, 20 women.

Leigh: Do they wear the clocks around their neck?

Lukas: They don't have clocks. They have, like, tour passes, like backstage passes. The VIP pass is what gets you to stay on for his heart. Well, it's better than The Bachelor.

Leigh: Oh for sure.

Lukas: The Bachelor is so boring. Who gives a shit about The Bachelor?

Leigh: I'm just saying. Not to my particular tastes. Right now, I'm currently watching Cops, which I love.

Lukas: Cops?

Leigh: It's on Pluto TV. Free to stream on Pluto TV.

Lukas: Is this endorsed by Pluto TV?

Leigh: JON magazine... sponsored by
Pluto TV. Okay, well, I would totally take their money.

Lukas: They got money.

Leigh: So you did a premiere for Down Low, the movie you were in and wrote?

Lukas: Yeah. That was in South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Same as Roadhouse. They both premiered at South
by Southwest. 

Leigh: And were people lolling?

Lukas: It was like half the audience was lolling and the other half was horrified and walked out. Yeah. It's just Cameron. That's that character.

Leigh: He's Cameron with...

Lukas: Cameron with a K.

Leigh: Yeah. Funny.

Lukas: Thank you. He's unhinged. And he'll express himself in any way that he seems comfortable with.

Leigh: When you're playing someone like that, how much of Lukas gets pulled into those things? When it's a character that's, like, similar to you?

Lukas: I actually had to push myself out of my comfort zone - as many people would think it would come naturally to me. I look up to that character a lot, though, because he's unapologetically himself and he doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks. So in a lot of ways I'm like, Cameron's problematic. Cameron's a bit of a bully, but God, I wish I had his like, "I don't give a shit" mentality. I think we could all use a little bit more of that.

Leigh: Oh, completely. Yeah. I just wish I could have that confidence.

Leigh: Like for real. Resistance is the number one enemy. But even I would say even for him, even for Cameron, if I was feeling nervous on the day, which I did, who's to say that Cameron's not nervous and insecure and he just uses that as a shield to protect himself? You know, like we all put on an armour or a front. I think confidence and self-esteem are two different things.

Leigh:  All right, so we're gonna move on to the issue theme - every issue has a theme and the one you're in is the SAD issue.

Lukas: Perfect for me. I have sad eyes. Everyone thinks I'm sad all the time. They're not the most bright. I'm not sad. I'm okay right now. But I have, like, an 'underlying sadness' look on my face. So I think that's perfect.

Leigh: Excellent.

Lukas: It's okay to be sad. "Saddest thing that's ever happened to..."

Leigh: No, no, this isn't a therapy session.

Lukas: Okay. Damn.