Noah Lomax is a very young adult, having burst onto the scene with Playing for Keeps last year as well as a recurring role on the creepy zombie series The Walking Dead. Now with Safe Haven, Lomax plays the conflicted son to Josh Duhamel’s character. The smart young man here shares many experiences he’s had on-set, as well as anecdotes with may of his co-stars. As adult as he may seem, we’re pretty sure Noah is still not allowed to actually watch The Walking Dead. At least we hope so!
Young Adult: Hello Noah! What made you want to be an actor?
Noah Lomax: Well, basically my parents asked if I wanted to try it. My sister had been taking acting classes and going on auditions. I would sometimes go with her to set. I thought it looked like fun, so when my parents asked me – I said yes!
YA: What has been your favorite part of the job?
NL: It’s actually all of the behind the camera work. I really like seeing how they make a movie and shoot different scenes. For example, I had to do a scene in the rain for Playing for Keeps and I couldn’t figure out how they would shoot the scene. I thought they would shoot it when it was actually raining. But then I got to see the rain towers, and see how they created rain!
YA: What has the experience been like working with such talented actors as Josh Duhamel, Jessica Biel, Gerard Butler, and Dennis Quaid? What are some things you learned from them?
NL: Wow! Good question. I really did learn a lot, and it was so much fun working with them.
Josh Duhamel is a cool guy; we were more like friends. He plays my dad in Safe Haven, but I didn’t see him as my dad. We hung out a lot on and off the set. We went to the beach and practiced football drills and boogie boarded. We also did a sword fight with our arms. It’s really funny. You can look it up on Youtube under Josh “soft-shell” Duhamel vs Noah “Bad-Ass” Lomax. Josh also helped me during some hard scenes. I had to cry a couple of times and he always told me that I did a great job. He would clap and get everyone else to clap after a crying scene and that made me feel better.
Jessica Biel was great. She never treated me like a kid. Between scenes, we would be waiting in the car and sing all kinds of songs. Our favorites were old rock and roll. I love Guns n Roses, and she would act like Axl and I acted like Slash. She helped me with scenes too. She would especially help me with understanding our director on Playing for Keeps, Gabrielle Muccino. He is a nice dude but he has a strong Italian accent, which sometimes made it hard to understand. One time he yelled “Focus, Noah! Focus Noah!” and I though he yelled “Bubbles, Noah! Bubbles, Noah!” Jess and I started laughing and she asked him again. She always asked me if I understood what he was asking. Most of the time I did, but it was great having her when I didn’t.
Gerard Butler is a nice guy. He always had funny stories. We trained a lot with Oliver Wyss, our soccer coach. Gerry and I practiced a lot. He was really good and he would encourage me and say nice things to me when I did a cool trick. We got to spend a lot of time together so we became buddies. We goofed off a lot. He would talk with me about the scene and we would talk about it like we were the same age.
YA: Safe Haven is set to come out soon. Lets talk about your character Josh–who is he, and where does he fit into the story?
NL: My character Josh is son to Alex, played by Josh Duhamel. Josh is my character (hahha, not Josh Duhamel!)–I know that can be confusing because it was confusing on set. Anyway, Alex is trying to be a single dad raising his kids, and then he meets a lady and falls in love when he least expects it. My character is actually struggling with how to deal with his feelings about his mom being gone. He misses his mom and feels like everyone is moving on and forgetting her. He doesn’t want anything to change. Since he doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings, he tends to be mad and angry at his dad. He feels like it’s his dad’s fault that everyone is forgetting and that he isn’t doing anything to keep his mom from being forgotten.
YA: That sounds intense. On a lighter note though, what are some fun things that happened on the Safe Haven set? ?
NL: ?1. Mimi Kirkland and I got to play on this old great tree swing just about everyday. ?
2. I thought one time that I found a snake nest under the porch of the general store. It was a night scene and I only had a flash light. I was so excited, thinking that I found a really cool nest, but later on found out it was a smashed squash. I was tricked! Hahaha.?
3. I got to be on the barge and light the fireworks for the Fourth of July scene. It was really cool. I’ve been to lots of fireworks shows but I have never been on the barge where they shoot them from! ?
4. We played a trick on Josh. He had bought a crab net/cage to catch crabs and he kept checking it between scenes. He couldn’t catch them. Then, this guy that was the marine specialist put a frozen crab in the cage to make it look like Josh caught it. Josh went to go check and he thought he caught the crab. He was jumping around and was so excited. It was really funny. They finally told him he never caught one. We also did our own video showing Josh how easy it was for a bunch of kids to catch a crab. We never told him that it was fake too. Catching crabs is not easy. Hahaha!
YA: How do you manage school and work all at once?
NL: It’s not too hard. I have a set teacher and she makes sure that I get my schoolwork finished. We have to do three hours of school work when we are on-set. The three hours don’t have to be all together, but they need to be in 20 minute blocks. The hardest part is being in character or on-set and then switching back to schoolwork. The constant switching back and forth is hard.
YA: What other hobbies do you have outside of acting? NL: I play tackle football, flag football, basketball and hoping to learn how to play lacrosse. I also play outside with my friends. I just started taking a hip-hop class.
YA: Which actor or actress do you want to work with in the future?
NL:There are so many different people that I would love to work with in the future. You may think this is funny or weird but I really like Betty White. She is so funny and I would love to work with her! I also would like to work Chris Hemsworth or Johnny Depp.
YA: What can you tell others who want to pursue the same career and become an actor?
NL: I would tell them if it’s what they want to do, then do it! You are only young once so why not try? My mom always tells me to try something new, you never know you might just end up liking it. I will say that it’s hard work and takes commitment. In acting, there is no second place, you never hear about the people who almost got the job or the runner up, so make sure that you are doing more than just acting.
YA: Last question! What’s your favorite YA book or what book are you currently reading?
NL: I love all the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. My favorite is “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel”