© Provided by ScreenRant
Sylvester Stallone has embodied many iconic heroes before like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. With Prime Video’s newly released movie Samaritan, Stallone takes on a full-blown superhero role. Javon “Wanna” Walton and Dascha Polanco co-star in the film as a local boy and his mother who come to see a hero hiding behind the unassuming identity of a man in the neighborhood. Though Samaritan was subject to a COVID-19 shutdown, the movie’s debut shows it as a very unexpected twist on superhero films.
In Samaritan, after a Chicago kid named Sam Cleary (Walton) is saved from a gang of bullies by garbage man Joe Smith, he suspects there might be more to him with the apparent superhuman strength he demonstrates. Sam quickly comes to theorize Joe is secretly the mysteriously vanished superhero known as Samaritan. Despite Joe’s denials, he soon finds himself in a superhero role of protecting Sam and his mother Tiffany (Polanco), and battling Chicago crime boss Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk) when he takes up the hammer of Samaritan’s old arch-enemy Nemesis.
RELATED: Samaritan Cast & Character Guide
We speak to Javon “Wanna” Walton and Dascha Polanco on the making of Samaritan, their favorite experiences during the film, and working alongside Sylvester Stallone.
Screen Rant: What can you share about becoming involved with Samaritan and working alongside Sylvester Stallone?
Javon “Wanna” Walton: How Samaritan started for me was I was coming home from filming Utopia, and I did an audition and I ended up flying out to L.A. I met Sly at his house, which was super cool, and he wanted to see if he thought I was good for this role, and thankfully he did. So, that’s how it started.
Working with Sly in general was just a lot of fun. If you ever talked boxing with him on set, it was truly something special, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. I would love to work with him again in the future.
Dascha Polanco: I think it’s a great thing when you look up to an actor as iconic as Sly, and you get to work with him and he’s such a great, present, generous individual on set. You can’t prepare for that. With Sly and the movie and how it was written, I must say that I’m ready for the second part! So, definitely a great time and a great person to work with.
What would you say were the most standout moments for each of you in the making of Samaritan?
Javon “Wanna” Walton: I had a lot of great moments and memories, I was there every single day. I think my favorite memory that I had on set was my and Dascha’s little apartment. I absolutely loved that, that was a lot of fun. It was in kind of a bad area, but it was a lot of fun. I loved every single moment of that.
Dascha Polanco: I think the moments where we both had to perform our stunts. I remember we had to go up the stairs and run towards the elevator.
Javon “Wanna” Walton: Oh yeah!
Dascha Polanco: And there was a lot going on in the world. We thought we were going to go into a film, finish it, and there we go—but we had a time span where we didn’t see each other, and to go back and film, that was a little challenging.
But we got through it, and that’s what Samaritan is about; the real adversity of being a superhero and what is being a superhero and what is a different perspective on this kind of story is told. And that’s something you get to view here; you get to make your decision on who is a true hero.
Samaritan Synopsis
Thirteen-year-old Sam Cleary suspects that his mysterious and reclusive neighbor, Mr. Smith, is actually a legend hiding in plain sight. Twenty-five years ago, Granite City’s superpowered vigilante, Samaritan, was reported dead after a fiery warehouse battle with his rival, Nemesis. Most believe he perished in the fire, but some, like Sam, have hope that he’s still alive. With crime now on the rise, Sam makes it his mission to coax Samaritan out of hiding to save the city from ruin.
Check out our other interview with Samaritan star Pilou Asbæk.
Samaritan is now available to stream on Prime Video.