Born and raised in Canada to a family from the former Yugoslavia, Aleks Paunovic has worn many hats in his lifetime. He has been an amateur boxer, a musician in a heavy metal band that rocked Canada throughout his younger years, and now an actor with several notable projects under his belt.
During our conversation, Aleks and I discussed his boxing background and boxing in general, the ins and outs of performing his own fight scenes, becoming Winter in War for the Planet of the Apes, joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his role as William Faversham Jr. in the Prime Video series, The Greatest, which chronicles the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali. I thoroughly enjoyed the talk. Cool guy.
Let’s get started with Prime Video’s, The Greatest series and your role as William Faversham Jr.
Yeah man, I’m just stoked to be a part of the show because I come from a boxing background and this has always been on my radar. I’ve watched the documentaries thousands of times in my lifetime. Cassius Clay’s/Muhammad Ali’s journey is such an inspiration so I knew about William Faversham Jr. before the role or the series came along because I knew about the millionaires that put the team together to start managing Clay after winning the gold medal during his Olympic run and then getting into the pros. So for me, it was really interesting because when you look at a role like that and a story like Muhammad Ali’s, you only think about the finished product.
It’s Muhammad Ali but when Faversham had him and they were working together, he was just a young, cocky kid who won the Olympics but didn’t have a style that anyone looked at and would consider him a serious boxer yet. But, there was a spark in Cassius Clay that cause Faversham to get a group of people together to guide him to the World Championship. There was this feeling about it and in hindsight, he ended up being one of the greatest boxers and men in the world. Faversham didn’t know that at the time so I loved going into the preparation of the role of believing in Clay but also not knowing if millions were going to be lost on the guy. They had no idea so I love that he had this naivety but also the confidence in betting on this kid and it ended up changing everybody’s lives.
Being that this is a television series and not a film nor a documentary, how is the story being told differently than it has been in previous iterations?
I think the story is being told differently because viewers have more time with each of the people that made a difference in his life, collectively. It wasn’t just him. There were so many pivotal people involved. Ben Watkins is the showrunner and we had amazing writers who had the vision of telling everyone’s story around Cassius Clay and then Muhammad Ali, and see their relationships and how they developed in a more in-depth way. I think that’s been really exciting, and that it’ll be really exciting for the viewers to see how this man became this man.
Being that these are real people that you all are playing, how did you approach becoming William Faversham Jr.? You mentioned knowing about him prior and being a boxing fan and former boxer. What all went into that?
I had some great help with the production of The Greatest who gave me some really great audio files on William Faversham Jr. I already had a vibe of him. He was an educated man who was born in England, grew up in upper New York, and then ended up living in Louisville. So, he had this interesting higher class accent so I was working on that and really making sure that I landed all the intricacies of the character. I watched video of him and how he adjusted his glasses, how he pulled up his pants, and how we held himself in a room. It was really great to try to mimic that.
Also, there has to be a truth inside as opposed to just mimicking somebody. There is that idea that here is a man that believes in this kid so you see both his confidence and his insecurity. That is what I really loved about playing this character. It was full fledged in telling the story of how he helped a very small part, but still a part of Cassius Clay’s beginning. Watching Clay maneuver through the injustices of the times, how outspoken he was and trying to navigate that, but also letting him be the man that he is.
I’ve seen a photo of William. He was beardless. Did you have to remove the beard? I was wondering how that worked out.
Oh yeah. I got rid of that, lol. I went clean, man. I went clean.
Lol. Now, you’re also a former boxer. Tell me about your boxing history and what you learned from it.
Yeah. I never went pro. I boxed amateur. My dad was an amateur boxer as well, along with his brother and my grandfather so I had it in the family right when I was born and knew all about it. Competing in the amateurs taught me how to step in the ring. I know the fears of the ring. I know how you have to calm yourself and I kind of incorporated that into how Faversham was. What’s interesting is William Faversham Sr. was an actor, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and they also had boxing in their background. So, for him to have a little taste of boxing as did I, there was this kind of part in knowing that once Clay/Ali is alone in the room right before a fight, I know that feeling. I know that doubts and insecurities are coming in and out of a fighter, and you have to push through that fear. There was something really remarkable about having the background of being a boxer and understanding inside and outside of the ring.
Muhammad Ali was an idol of mine and I was lucky enough to meet him in 2007 in one of the most incredible situations I’ve ever been in. I was basically asked to be his bodyguard at an event from a friend of mine, Rory Richards, who was an event coordinator. I got to meet him and his wife, Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams. Lonnie was amazing at the time that I met them. I even started weeping. She put her hand on my back and asked, “Are you okay?” I went, “Yeah, I’m fine.” and she goes, “Do you want a picture with Muhammad?” I went, “Oh my God, I would love one.” So, I got a picture with him and had a beautiful, quiet moment with him. I thought that was the epitome of my meeting with him and then, lo and behold, almost 20 years later, I’m now in a position of helping tell his story. I’ve been really fortunate.
Right. The show is called, The Greatest and people look at Muhammed Ali as the greatest of all time. But, there is also always discourse from the new eras where they want to take the new boxers and debate about who would win between them and the boxers from a grip ago, you know what I mean? Yeah, I get it. Just like they do with LeBron James and Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson and Ali. What do you think about that?
It’s totally different because you’re looking at different eras, different medicines, and the longevity of people now is different. I mean, a heavyweight back in the day was 212 to 215 pounds. Now, you’re looking at 250. Here is what I always say to that type of question is that it’s the mental fortitude that Muhammad Ali had. He has never been knocked out in his whole career. Rocky Marciano was the only other heavyweight that I know that has never been knocked out in his whole career. All of these other greats have tasted the canvas. That was one of Ali’s gifts and curses, that he had such a great chin because I think his mental fortitude didn’t allow him to get knocked out.
The mental game is the biggest part of this whole thing like what he did with George Foreman, who was invincible at the time. Not only was his mouth working before the fight and how he was calling it, but from what I heard, when he got in the ring and realized he wasn’t as moving as fast and George was cutting the ring off, he realized the ropes were a little loose. So, how he worked in the ring within the fight, which is how he did during most of the fights that he had, he adjusted. Even when he lost to (Leon) Spinks, who only had seven fights at the time, he came back and beat this kid. So, he learns how to adjust in the situation.
It’s not about how hard he hits or how powerful he was. He was just a super intelligent fighter that had his own style so if you put that on a 250 pound frame in today’s day and age, that’s how I look at it. Like you match them up the same way. He was 6’4” floating around that ring like nobody has ever seen before and would probably do that at 250 pounds if he was brought up in this era. So, I don’t like to compare it in that aspect of it. Everyone had has their time and moment so to compare a generation to another generation is all talk and interesting in that way, but it doesn’t make any sense to me.
I agree because like I said, anytime somebody is great, people go looking for people from B.C. to compare them with. Lol, that’s true. That’s always been weird to me, man. Outside of Ali, who would make up your boxing “Top 5”?
Oh, that’s great. Well, I think Rocky Marciano has to be in there as the only undefeated heavyweight champ. Are you’re talking heavyweight? No, just all across the board. Wow. I mean, Sugar Ray Robinson kind of set the tone of how Ali fought, how speed and technique worked. So, I have to throw Sugar Ray Robinson up there. I throw (Vasiliy) Lomachenko in there. He did some amazing work right out of the Olympics. He was a Ukrainian fighter. (Oleksandr) Usyk coming up from middleweight, light heavyweight, and then into heavyweight, taking out the big boys with technique and and mental fortitude, will, and conditioning. I think Tyson (Fury) did some amazing things from winning the championship, to being so overweight and on the brink of disaster, then coming back and taking on Deontay Wilder the way he did. I’d throw him up there. I don’t know how many I just named, but…You got about five, I think. Yeah, and even (Vitali) Kliatchko. I really enjoyed watching Vitali. Wladimir (Kliatchko) was good and he did his thing but I think Vitali only had like 2 losses and it wasn’t even a loss against (Chris) Byrd, which his shoulder came out and then with (Lennox) Lewis, he was winning that fight and they stopped it on cuts, so he didn’t really lose. I thought he was pretty substantial to the division.
Yeah. That’s dope, man. I like Usyk quite a bit. I’ve only been watching him for like, maybe the past 4 or 5 years, but it has been amazing, man.
Yeah. It’s really cool to watch him navigate the situations against big dudes. It’s really great.
What do you think will be the biggest takeaway from the series in reference to Muhammad Ali as a whole and information that people didn’t know before? What can we pull from this?
I think the old guards have seen the Will Smith version of the story so this one is really introducing it to a new generation, which makes it really special. Everyone has seen the most famous face in the world but not everyone really knows the story. Again, it’s the in-depth view of the people around him that supported him to be great and his trials and tribulations to get there, his fortitude to move forward and to become the greatest in the world.
It’s eight episodes and starts from the very beginning. Because of the way we shot it, and the way the scripts were written, people are going to feel immersed into the series, like they are a part of the show. Look, I heard about this show before I was even cast and I didn’t even care if I was cast. I just couldn’t wait to see the show but I was really fortunate to get an opportunity to be a part of it. I’m a fan first.
You said eight episodes. I’ve seen discourse over the past few weeks where people are missing the 20 episode type series but I know TV has changed quite a bit. What’s your take?
I mean, it’s different because you know that the eight episodes are almost like eight features. They’re not just banging out 20 episodes. You may sacrifice some storytelling. I like the fact that production and the cinematography took the time to do the work for each episode so I enjoy it. A limited series is tough sometimes, especially if you know that there’s more to the story but this is season one so who knows what happens if we get a season two and where the story goes from there. We’ll get to tell more of this great man’s tale.
Gotcha. I want to talk a little bit about you, man. Interesting story: All of this year, we’ve interviewed quite a few people that I have actually been actively watching prior to. I have a younger sibling that I’ve always turned onto film or show projects she hasn’t seen and we were just watching the whole Planet of the Apes series not too long ago. I definitely wanted to talk to you about your character, Winter because it’s literally only been a few weeks since we watched 2017’s,War for the Planet of the Apes. How did that role come about and how did you work on physically becoming your character, an ape?
Oh, man. It was it was a pretty intense audition process and I enjoyed it because it was one of those things whereas an artist, you just get to be creative and give them what you your representation of what these lines mean because we weren’t given anything else except telling the story of what these auditions were. I think a lot of people auditioned for the different apes, then they landed on each one’s succession, and then once we got the role, we went to ape camp. You would think that it’s a physicality thing in the ape camp but we started out mostly with the emotionality.
Terry Notary played Rocket and was the stunt coordinator and movement choreographer. He helped us with all of that. One of the first things we did was sit in a circle and he goes, “I need you to let go of all your insecurities, which is just let your stomach out. Be center, be grounded. Don’t think of anything else. Don’t think of how you’re going to play this character. I just need you to breathe and be present in this room.” and it was really tough for a lot of people. He was so intuitive that he goes, “When you’re ready, you can stand up and walk normally, but just stay present in your walk.” I don’t know about you but this is the first time I started thinking about everyone who might suck their gut in a little bit, make their posture a little bit better or when walking, one might always be thinking about how you are presented in the world. This was one of those times where you don’t.
I remember I got up and started walking around, totally present and I’m in it but then I just had a thought of maybe I should start doing a little walk but I didn’t move my body. I just started doing a walk and immediately, Terry says, “Aleks, sit down.” because I lost my center and he saw it without me even doing a movement. So, we were working on that for a few weeks, really getting our center and then we start working on the physicality and then the character. So, it was an intense thing but a wonderful experience. I still carry those moments in ape camp with me as an actor, because it helped me as an actor to be present.
Also, working with Andy Serkis, you can’t go wrong. He is next level, playing Caesar and was just a generous individual on set. Matt Reeves was absolutely wonderful as a director. With each character, with each actor, he knew how to speak to everyone respectfully and getting the best out of them so it was an amazing experience playing Winter, for sure.
Yeah, she felt a little bad because she felt like she should have seen them when they first came out and slept on them.
Right. All the movies that Matt Reeves did, it was so beautifully told. I just felt so lucky to be a part of that because it was there was so much weight to the story and finishing off with War for the Planet of the Apes of his series was just amazing.
Lol, yeah. She was hurt when Caesar went, man.
I know, man. We all were. We all were.
She is also running through Marvel at the moment, getting ready for Avengers: Doomsday. I actually haven’t seen the Hawkeye series yet. She is coming right up on it, you know?
Wait till Christmas. Watch it in December where you have the Christmas vibe because it’s basically set around Christmas and is a great Christmas show.
Okay. I’m trying to catch up myself, man. I’ve seen all the films but only some of the shows. How do you feel about being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
I get it and it’s pretty great, man. My brother and I have been fans of Marvel. He collected all the comic books when we were young so just being a part of the universe a little bit is pretty cool, man. There are some things you never expect in your life and then there are other things that if given the opportunity, you can’t wait for them to come about. I worked in Atlanta for about seven months, Jeremy Renner is absolutely amazing, and Hailee (Steinfeld) is great. We had a fantastic time on that show and I think the finished product shows that.
We have spoken with quite a few people that are at different levels in their careers thus far, some children, some independent, and of all ages. One thing that I’ve learned from everyone in particular is that the journey is crazy, man. People have gone through significant trials and tribulations trying to get to where they’re trying to get to. What have you learned about continuing to thrive in the entertainment business as a whole after all these years?
I mean, that’s the thing. I was just speaking to a young actor that called me (a friend of a friend’s daughter) and she is starting in the industry and just wanted to get some advice. The first thing I always tell people is, you got to love it. It gets to the point where it’s not about booking anything. It’s just about loving the audition. Fall in love with the hustle because it is a hustle. If you start getting frustrated because you have to go in this audition and they can’t just look at you reel, at the end of the day, you got to fall in love with the hustle, love what you’re doing and consistent persistency is something that I preach all the time. Just keep moving and don’t let it eat you up.
Of course, if you don’t get a role that you really love and it hurts, it’s supposed to hurt because you really want to be a part of it. But, don’t hold on to it. Have your moment where you’re upset or you don’t understand how it didn’t go your way and you’re angry. Honor the moment and then move on because the next one’s coming back and it doesn’t feel like work or that you’re not getting the breaks if you just love the material. Also, try to get some plays under your belt. Try to do some workshops. Try to keep the acting tool moving as opposed to just waiting for an audition and hoping to book it.
Nowadays, a lot of us wear multiple hats. At one point, you were making music? Break that down.
Yeah, I was in a heavy metal band while I was in high school and out of high school, playing all over Canada and I was playing a gig and a casting director asked if I would audition in between shows. I’m a huge “Yes” guy. I’ll give this a shot and I went in, auditioned, ended up getting it, and that was my foot into another expressive art that I slowly started falling in love with. I started in stunts a little bit and then I was stunt acting, then I realized I just wanted to tell stories. I liked doing my own fight scenes, but actual stunt guys are next level. They are the toughest dudes out there and I was like, “I don’t want to hurt so much so I’ll stick to acting and maybe do my own fight scenes”. So, I’ve been fortunate enough to do that kind of stuff.
I was going to ask you about bumps and bruises and you trying to do your own stunts. How serious can that get and what have you seen so far because as I’m getting older, any little fall can take me out of the game, you know?
Dude, what great timing. I just finished a movie about a month and a half ago where I ripped my pec off the bone and it was just a small little fight scene with Josh Duhamel in this movie called, Runaway. No one did anything wrong. My body just moved a little differently and it ripped my pec off. I had surgery in August so I’m just recovering right now. But yeah, those are the times where, you know, 20 years ago, I don’t think that would have happened. I still love doing my own fight scenes. I think it was just a freak accident and if it happens again, maybe I’ll stop but I can’t stop doing them, man. I really love it, so I should be back in a couple of months.
Well, one of the greatest ways to stay healthy is by drinking water, man. Tell us about, Legend Water Co.
Oh, man. Nice segue, lol. Yeah. Legend water, man. It’s been a few years now. We’re in about 600 stores across Canada and we have a QR code on there for mental health awareness and rehab facilities for anybody who is struggling. I just wanted to get a cool can out there that you can feel comfortable holding at a baseball game or in a club and just enjoy it without getting the stigma. It’s alkaline water and we’re really excited to get it out there. Legend Water has been doing really well and has been a part of some films that we’ve done as well as some sporting events and I love being a part of the company.
Now, you said the QR codes help with mental health stigma. With everything that you’ve done in your career and even your personal life, how do you maintain your own mental health?
I really think having a great group of friends around you and people that will call you on your shit and that are understanding works. It doesn’t have to be tough love all the time. It can be compassionate, but also telling you the truth about what’s going on and then knowing that you could tell the truth back about struggling in a certain aspect. I think we all struggle with mental health in some sort of capacity. I know I definitely do, and I’m really fortunate to have professional people around that I can talk to. I don’t think it’s anything to be looked down on. I think it’s something that should empower people that want to make their life the best that it can be. So, why sit back and struggle in your own childhood trauma and the stuff that has happened in your life? Why struggle by yourself when people just want to help? People are there to help and I say reach out and live your best life.
Okay. Real quick, give me one interesting fact about yourself that most people don’t know.
One thing about myself that people don’t know. Well, I’m probably the biggest mama’s boy in the world. My mom is my best friend.
Before we wrap this up, briefly tell me a little bit about your childhood because we didn’t discuss your origins. How did you get to where you are today?
Well, my parents were from the old Yugoslavia, they came over to Canada in like 1968, and they didn’t have any family there. It was just them and my older brother and I was like on the way because when they got to Canada, my mom was pregnant with me. So, we didn’t really have a lot but it was one of those things where you really didn’t know it because there was a lot of love in the house and also the other aspect, it was so tough for my dad being an ex boxer, a strong man, and then coming to a country where he didn’t know the language and he was doing hard labor. So, it was tough on him and tough on the family but we worked through it. My father passed away in March and my parents were married for 56 years.
Sorry to hear that. Thank you very much. Not all was great but they stuck together. It really helped my brother and I understand the idea of going through the thick and thin. There was no arts in my life because my dad was a fighter and my mom was a travel agent so I found arts in high school with my buddy and he played in the band, I started watching them play in the band, and then I became in the band. Then we started out of junior high into high school, and then we played all over Canada. So, it was something that was really an amazing journey for me but it was time for me to be done because when I found acting, that was something that I felt was my calling.
Even though I still love playing. We recorded a few years ago with the same guys and have our music on Spotify. It’s called, Specula Black, like 80s heavy metal and we’re still really good friends. I’m actually going to probably fly to my hometown and see them a little later this month (October) because they’re playing in another band.
So, just to see those guys play brings back memories. Growing up in that way and also boxing brought my dad and I closer together when I started competing. I really enjoyed that and then another injury, I ripped my rotator cuff at the pre Pan American games against Argentina, I was up nine nothing and then my shoulder came out. I was a pretty good boxer and I was in the heavyweight division. That whole aspect, having music, boxing, and then the acting really started taking over and off I went.
You have quite a few upcoming projects. Which one are you most excited for?
Come on man, you know The Greatest, I’m excited for it and a film called, Runaway that is going to be coming out soon. Also, I just wrapped one called, New Diamond Restaurant. It’s a comedy zombie horror film, which I’m really excited about.
Dope, man. Well, lastly, how can people keep in contact with you, follow you on social media, and things of that nature?
Yeah. Follow me on social media @alekspaun on Instagram. That’s the only one I have, really. Keep track. Send me a message. I love messaging with fans. Send me a DM and let’s chat.
Words + Interview By Tyrone Davis
Photo By Charles Zuckermann
