Finding Adam: A Conversation with Oakes Fegley, Star of ‘Adam the First’
A t just 19 years old, rising star Oakes Fegley (known for his roles in the “Pete’s Dragon” remake and Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans”) navigates a life-altering journey in “Adam the First,” a gripping new film also starring David Duchovny that opened on February 14.
Shattered. Orphaned. Lost.
Fourteen-year-old Adam’s world crumbles when his foster parents are viciously murdered, leaving him clutching a tattered letter — his only clue to a shocking truth about his past. With names and addresses scrawled across the faded parchment, Adam embarks on a desperate cross-country journey, driven by a flicker of hope to uncover the identity his shattered life has denied him.
Each encounter with the letter’s enigmatic recipients unfolds like a puzzle piece, revealing fragments of his past while stirring a storm of conflicting emotions: grief, confusion, and a yearning for belonging. Will Adam find the answers he seeks in the faces of strangers, or will the truth remain buried deeper, forcing him to confront the shadows of his own troubled past? I sat down with former child actor and the film’s star Oakes Fegley to delve into the mysteries and emotional journey of “‘Adam the First.”
Cindy: You do a fabulous job in the film. What initially drew you to the role of Adam and what resonated with you about his journey?
Oakes: I was a sophomore in high school, so a couple of years ago when I filmed it. But I immediately connected to the character in a lot of ways but also just the story itself, this journey through a young man experiencing life through these other people and through their eyes in a way. It’s always cool to do coming-of-age stories and at that time in my life it was definitely very meaningful. But then I had a meeting with Irving [Franco], the director, and immediately his vision of how he wanted to accomplish the project. From that point on, I thought that could be a lot of fun. And I was on board. So that’s how it came together.
How did you prepare for the emotional range that Adam experiences throughout the film?
It’s always different with every different role, right? But it’s a young man who has largely been isolated from the world. So because of that, he has a very limited scope of what it’s like to be a strong person and a good man. Those are the central themes of what he’s trying to discover for himself and through the film he’s experiencing those parts about himself and learning about how he wants to live his life through a bunch of different people and learning from their mistakes, but also things that he admires about those people. I thought that was the very issue to address, so in preparation I tried to make each of those different chapters and experiences that Adam goes through really shape those performances, how I envisioned that character being built, if that makes sense.
Was there anything in particular in the portrayal of Adam that you found challenging?
Yeah, there’s always fun challenges. For this one, there were a lot of physical challenges in the way he’s very comfortable in his physicality. He’s very comfortable in a very independent and raucous way, if you will. He can ride horses and he can figure out how to drive whatever cars he needs to and knows how to handle a weapon and those sorts of things.
That’s funny that you say that because I was thinking about that when we were going through the journey of you losing your father but take the skills he taught with you, so that you didn’t really lose him. You personify him in a different type of way.
Yes, absolutely. Adam goes through a significant amount of loss but also he’s been exposed to that loss of humanity. And so he adapts to it and responds to it in a different way than maybe most people would.
Is there any particular memorable moment you’d like to share while filming the movie?
There were plenty, but you know a lot of it came down to some really fun times with our stunt coordinator Dale Gibson. He’s an absolutely amazing person and a professional roper as well. He taught me how to ride and look comfortable on the horse, which really helped me build Adam and, again, his physicality, which I found really important and a lot of fun. There were a couple times when horses don’t necessarily do what you want them to do on set. So yeah, I mean it’s always fun because that presents some challenges where you think you’re gonna do one thing in a scene and the horse has a completely different idea, so you have to make it work. So there are a couple of times when you know, things like that would happen and the camera would have to adjust. I would have to adjust. I think it came together pretty well. The horses we’re really awesome, and I got to know them a little bit on set, which is really cool.
What message or lesson do you hope audiences take away from the film?
Adam goes through these experiences with so many different individuals that really teach him a lot about himself. And I think how on a much smaller scale, everybody does that in their own day-to-day life, whether they realize it or not and for you to be able to recognize that and use that to your advantage. I think that’s a very valuable and meaningful thing, so I would say that everybody should go into everyday [life] and learn something new from somebody new. There are so many people out there that have something to teach you, and why not try to learn what they have to say. They can be very useful.
You were a child actor and growing up in the business. I was looking back at some of your work and I saw a parallel in your first feature film “Fort Bliss” because you kind of lost your parent in a different way. And so, I was wondering, reflecting on your filmography is there a specific role? or how do your previous roles inform your future roles in particular “Adam, the First” role, did any of your past roles inform that particular one?
I would say every role informs my next in some way. Anything in my life can inform my performances and that’s something I always find valuable, as well as just experiencing a lot in my own life that I can bring to the screen. I can definitely see some parallels there, too, with the character Paul in “Fort Bliss.” But that was so long ago and I was so young to be honest, I don’t fully remember. You know exactly how I. Maybe approach that differently than I did that on the first, but there definitely are some parallels. And some of it’s probably not entirely things that I can even recognize. Some of it might be subconscious. But yes, I think that there are a lot of elements in different roles that I’ve played that teach me about my own life and I use them in my own and use that knowledge in my own life, so I think it’s kind of cyclical in that way where I can use my work to inform my life and my life to inform my work.
So you don’t go back and watch your earlier work?
A lot of people ask me that. But I tend not to and it’s not for any major particular reason. I just don’t. I was there filming the project. So after I’ve seen it come to fruition then I get to see it come out, I’m excited to see that happen and then obviously I hold a great amount of pride in those things that I’ve done, but I don’t tend to look back on them and reflect on them in that way. I like to move on to the next things.
You started acting as a child and now your younger brother Winslow is following in your footsteps. What advice do you give him about navigating the industry?
Navigating the industry can be pretty difficult. Luckily, my parents helped me so much when I was younger. My parents met in a theater, and when my older sister was younger she got involved in the theater. My family was always very involved in community theater. But also bringing me and my siblings to see art of all forms, whether that be music, visual art and museums, and taking us to plays everywhere, all sorts of different things. It’s a very valuable thing to do, if you’re interested in the arts, to pass it on to your kids, and so they always involve me in that space. It has completely shaped how I see the world but also how I value the arts in my own life. They do the same for [my brother]. But also I have a lot of things I tell my brother when he feels stressed about what he’s doing that I’ve been there before and I know he’s acting, feeling like and sometimes that’s really useful because it’s while there are plenty of young actors out there, it’s not a very common position for someone who’s a young age. And so it’s an interesting experience to go through and it’s always nice to have someone who knows what that feels like to bounce ideas off of and to just know that they understand that’s really what it is. It’s all about navigating in a way that makes you feel comfortable and I hope that my brother is doing the same.
How did you find the balance between work and a normal childhood?
It’s always been difficult. I’m in college right now studying [public communications] that’s not completely connected to my career. I have always thought it to be incredibly valuable to live as much of a normal childhood as I could have. And my parents thought the same thing, of course, but also like for me specifically, I mean, you see so many young actors unfortunately go down a pretty dark path that leads them to make really poor decisions and shape many years if it’s not their entire life and I didn’t want to have that same sort of experience where you get so caught up in the industry and being in the limelight and all those things and I never wanted to have that sort of life, so I always valued, getting up, going to school. If I had to leave for work, I would leave for work and obviously prioritize that. But when I was finished with that, I would go back to school and make normal friends that also has made me value so many different things outside of the industry, which I think is very specific to the way I see the world, but also again how that informs my own work and how I approach work when it does come around.
