Jake Epstein Talks About The Wedding Contract, Jewish Representation, and His Dream Broadway Role
Hallmark Channel’s latest film brings together Glee’s Becca Tobin and Degrassi’s Jake Epstein in The Wedding Contract. The duo play Rebecca and Adam, a recently engaged Jewish couple, who feel their union may be jeopardized by their different values and beliefs. Actor Jake Epstein returned to Pop Culture Planet to discuss the new film, connecting with his Jewish heritage, his dream role, and more.
The actors “instantly” got along when it came to working together on The Wedding Contract. “It was super, super fun. Meeting Becca was such a highlight. She's so funny. I don't know if you've heard her podcast before The Ladygang. She's such a legend,” Epstein told me. “She's so perfectly ironic and opinionated and no bullshit. It was such welcoming energy. We instantly got along really well and it made for a really, really fun shoot.”
While Epstein has starred in multiple Christmas movies, he’s also been a part of representing the Jewish experience on screen several times. “I had a wedding. My wife isn't Jewish, but it was a partially Jewish wedding, so I related to this story so much. It felt really special to get to tell the story that was part of my culture. I think the more specific you are, the more universal the story is. I really feel like a lot of people are going to relate to this story,” he said. “I've also done a bunch of Christmas movies in my own time, but when [Hallmark has] come wanting to work with me to tell these Jewish stories, I'm like, ‘I should be the one telling this Jewish story. Absolutely.’ It feels really fun to get to explore this authentic part of myself and I feel like I get to be a part in trying to be really realistic with what that Jewish experience is. The more and more I've been lucky enough to be doing acting, the more I've been wanting to be part of stories that feel really authentic to who I am, so it’s super special to be to be part of this one.”
Epstein continued: “I come from a family of Holocaust survivors. That history really means a lot to me and my family. That's probably the thing that keeps coming back to me is to get to be part of this Jewish story and to be honest. I know that like a lot of the audience for these movies are in the Midwest of America, maybe there's not a lot of Jewish people that live in those parts of US, and so it feels really important to me that those stories are told really authentically.”
What makes The Wedding Contract different from other Hallmark movies is that it’s about the part of the relationship after the “will they, won’t they courtship.” “Very few movies start off at that point where it's like: what happens next? You've fallen in love, you've found this person, it feels really special… then what?” questioned Epstein. “One of the things this movie looks at is: how do you create that work-life balance? How do you let each other fulfill your own dreams in terms of your own career, your own lives? How does that affect the other person? Will your families get along? That’s pretty realistic to the real-world, building a life with another person. I feel like this movie looks at that in a way that's funny and fun and charming and realistic.”
One of the most challenging moments on set took place in Epstein’s character Adam’s office. “Day one of shooting was all the scenes in Adam's office. One of the things I find really funny about the guy is he has these minor panic attack meltdowns and the way that he deals with it is that he runs on his treadmill, which is in his office. It was like a sauna,” he shared. “I am every take having to run on this tread, so, in between, the poor makeup teams’ patting my face. I went through four shirts because I'm looking like I jumped in a pool after every take. That was challenging but also really fun.”
While Epstein is best known for his work on Degrassi, he’s also a phenomenal stage performer starring in Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. “What would be the dream role right now? It might be the one role that I would be allowed to play in Hamilton, which would be King George,” he revealed, manifesting his next Broadway stint. “I was lucky enough to play Jonathan Groff, who originated the role… I played his role in the Spring Awakening tour and was lucky enough to meet him and be in touch with him. That would be the role to play. King George in Hamilton, I’m saying it right now.”
With all the incredible roles in his career, his favorite was putting together his own one-man show. “Last year I wrote this one-person show and it was about my experience living in New York. I did it during the pandemic when I didn't know if theater was going to be a thing anymore. It was picked up by a major producer and we did it at this legendary massive theater. It was a 1,400 seat theater,” he shared. “It was like the joy of my life to get to tell the story on stage. I'm continuing a tour, like a Canadian tour, in the fall of that show. It's called Boy Falls From The Sky. In terms of like something that I got to create from the ground up and put something into the universe that I felt was like a value, it would definitely be that show.”
Catch The Wedding Contract on Hallmark Channel. Plus you can re-watch our Pop Culture Planet podcast interview with Epstein celebrating 20 years of Degrassi, below:
