Exclusive: Dascha Polanco & Euphoria's Javon 'Wanna' Walton talk Samaritan & working with Sylvester Stallone
Coming to Prime Video this week is the action thriller Samaritan, starring Sylvester Stallone, Javon “Wanna” Walton, Pilou Asbæk, Dascha Polanco, and Moises Arias. Directed by Julius Avery from a script by Bragi F. Schut, the film launches globally on Prime Video on August 26.
Thirteen-year-old Sam Cleary (Javon “Wanna” Walton) suspects that his mysterious and reclusive neighbor Mr. Smith (Sylvester Stallone) is actually a legend hiding in plain sight. Twenty-five years ago, Granite City’s super-powered vigilante, Samaritan, was reported dead after a fiery warehouse battle with his rival, Nemesis. Most believe Samaritan perished in the fire, but some in the city, like Sam, have hope that he is still alive. With crime on the rise and the city on the brink of chaos, Sam makes it his mission to coax his neighbor out of hiding to save the city from ruin.
Stallone and Braden Aftergood, partners of Balboa Productions, produced the film as the first project for their company.
Polanco is best known for her portrayal as Dayanara Diaz on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black for seven-seasons and starred in Ava DuVernay’s 2019 Netflix limited series When They See Us. She was in Warner Brothers’ adaption of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights. Her additional credits include the FX anthology series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and films including Joy, The Perfect Match, The Cobbler and Gimme Shelter.
Walton is best known for his role as Ashtray on HBO’s teen series Euphoria. He was also featured in Utopia, Amazon’s adaptation of the British television series, written by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn. Walton was also Under Armour’s youngest athlete and a five-time Georgia state champion and 4-time USA Boxing South East regional champion boxer.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales caught up with Polanco and Walton as they spoke about the film and working with Stallone.