Interview With Zach Villa, Star Of ‘Hypochondriac’

I’ve seen some really amazing films this year, but one that has really stuck out the most for me is Addison Heimann’s queer horror thriller about mental illness, Hypochondriac. Based on a real breakdown, Hypochondriac has been on my mind, even days after I watched it. First time filmmaker Addison (our interview) didn’t shy away from anything, and the resulting film is funny and dark. To celebrate the film upcoming release, I chatted with star Zach Villa via phone, and we discussed why he wanted to play the character Will, preparing for his role, what’s up next, and more!

Zach Villa: I’d like to inform you that my coffee just kicked in so we’re going to have a great time, you and I!

PopHorror: I’m on my third cup of the day, so I feel you.

Zach Villa: Hell yeah!

PopHorror: I loved Hypochondriac. I’m super excited to speak with you. I appreciate it even more after speaking with Addison [Heimann – director].

Zach Villa: Thank you. He’s a good guy.

PopHorror: What intrigued you about the film and made you want to be a part of it?

Zach Villa: Addison has written something pretty remarkable in that it delves into trauma and the manifestation of mental health in our world—and the individual, Will—so artfully, so funnily and sp scarily at the same time, which is hard to do. And then on top of that, there’s an element of reality. I don’t mean like realism fantasy reality as like a theatrical or film term. I mean like literally our everyday lives. We don’t see mental health struggles depicted in an accurate or truly representational realistic way most of the time in film and in television. It’s usually demonized and a hyperbole. It’s some guy wrapped up in a straitjacket being taken off to Arkham Asylum and screaming. It’s actually like maybe one percent of what a mental health struggle is like.

And it doesn’t always look like that. Most of the time, it looks pretty damn normal. It looks like someone has gotten their shit together. That’s what’s so interesting about this character. Addison has put together someone that, I think, is roughly based on some of his own experience, and that exhibits humor and lived through trauma simultaneously. That’s what life is.

A lot of us are walking around in the sunlight and smiling at Disneyland, but we’re broken inside on some level. It’s early to be talking about our trauma, but I like to do my therapy sessions after five. I don’t know about you guys but… But the thing is, that’s just real, and the human experience is shielded like that. This is the first time that I’ve seen a character that is laughing, kind of got his shit together for the most part, in the beginning especially, and is broken. He has to find his way through that, one way or another. So, that’s why I was so pleased to do it.

PopHorror: That’s what I really liked about it is that it’s very real. It’s very relatable, and it has a pretty normal guy, like you said, at the beginning. Going to work, helping his friends, being with his partner… and then, all of sudden, his mental health takes over him. It’s very real without it being something like you said, a straitjacket, hospital thing like that. He’s trying to find out how to help himself, and I think that makes it more relatable, which is what people need these days. We don’t need it sensationalized and fictionalized.

Zach Villa: No, and this is the dark side of it. It’s kind of a competition of like Wokefest or something. It’s like how woke and excellently can we deal with mental health symptoms? We’ve all seen the things on Instagram of like “10 Things About Depression That You Didn’t Know.” I’ll be the first to admit, I read those too, and I’m like, “Oh, I didn’t know that. That’s actually really helpful.” But by the same token, that’s not it. That’s not the whole story, and I think that just basically the education that we have to invest in to truly understand and know how to deal with this on a daily basis is just huge. You have to invest in oneself, and that’s what the movie does. It really explores that in a new way.

PopHorror: With this film dealing with trauma and mental health, and being based on a real event that Addison has said was his breakdown, how did you prepare for your role?

Zach Villa: Well, the movie got pushed a few times because we were doing it in the lovely age of Covid. I had some exponential time where Addison and I had a lot of 1:1 time to chat. Some of that was at his place around a fire pit, socially distanced, and some of it was on the phone or Facetime. A lot of it, actually. And we became close friends just through discussing the film when we realized that we had a lot of parallel experiences.

As far as prepping is concerned, I can’t deny that by osmosis, some of it—certain traits or inflections or mannerisms—I kind of borrowed from him. I understood that some of this was his personal story. I also just drew a lot from my personal experiences. I won’t delve into it too deeply with friends and family, just out of respect. We all see mental health struggles in our lives and/or know of someone. And it’s not always a guy in a straitjacket.

Well, what does it look like? What really, are the day-ins and day-outs of someone’s journey with that? That’s really where I went with it, and luckily, the cast was so supportive that I didn’t really have to try in some of those scenes like with my romantic partner, Devon Graye, who plays Will’s boyfriend in the movie. He’s so wonderful, so generous, and so willing to go the extra mile with me. So, there were moments where I didn’t have to generate any sort of feeling, I could just work with him, and I was immediately where I needed to be. It’s rare when you have an experience like that. I was very, very fortunate.

PopHorror: What is up next for you?

Zach Villa: It’s actually not on screen. I’m making a record right now. 

PopHorror: Oh cool!

Zach Villa: Yeah, I do music. I have for many years, and I’ve reinvented genres a few times. My old project, Rebel and a Basket Case, ended going on The Tonight Show and that was cool, but it was like ’80s synthwave. I think that’s kind of moving on, like we’re moving on from that. I think that ’90s and 2000s pop, punk, and grunge and all that is back. I saw it coming in 2016, so I’m actually working on a record and getting back to my own musical upbringing and roots in that genre. I have a band called Sorry, Kyle that does that style, but I’m actually going solo as well, so we’ve been working on that record for the past month and a half. That’s honestly where I’ve been putting my time and my energy. I’ve got a couple of other films that are on the docket in the late summer. I’ll be back and forth between the screen and the studio between now and then.

PopHorror: That’s exciting! I’m going to have to look that up. That’s super cool.

Zach Villa: Thanks!

PopHorror: I just have one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?

Zach Villa: Okay, wait. There’s definitely a guy in a Scream mask outside wearing the cloak. Where are you?

PopHorror: It is somewhat intentional. I do love Scream.

Zach Villa: I mean, yeah. Who doesn’t? Let’s go! It’s funny. I actually got to play the villain in Scream in a Covid show called Quaranscream.

PopHorror: That sounds amazing!

Zach Villa: Yeah, I got to play Billy Loomis digitally. We were literally live streaming acting with each other from our apartments across Los Angeles, California. So weird and so fun. What is my favorite scary movie? It’s probably a toss-up between—and I know this is probably typical—The Shining and Alien. I’m a big sci-fi monster kid.

Thank you so much, Zach, for taking the time to speak with us. You can catch Hypochondriac in limited theaters July 29, 2022, and on digital August 4, 2022.