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Meet Bodhi Sabongui.
After roles in The Baby-Sitters Club, A Million Little Things, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the 14-year-old actor is currently starring in the No. 1 movie in the country, Black Adam, alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In the film, he plays Amon Tomaz who lives in Kahndaq and is the son of a university professor named Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi). In the DC comics, Amon was enslaved at a young age and Adrianna was his sister, and Black Adam grants him a portion of his power, and he becomes the hero Osiris. In the movie, Amon helps his mom in her mission to free Kahndaq, Black Adam’s home country, which is located in the Middle East from a criminal organization named Intergang. Bodhi, whose father is Egyptian, recognizes the huge responsibility he had with this role to represent younger fans and his community.
“It’s still rare to see an Arabic protagonist, especially in superhero movies,” Sabongui tells Complex over the phone. “A big part of Black Adam and why I’m so excited about it is that even though I’m not a superhero, I still get this opportunity to paint Middle Eastern and North African people in this positive light, which isn’t something that I saw so much growing up.”
The concept of representation was also a big driver behind Johnson’s decision to take on this role. The news that he would be playing a superhero for the first time surfaced 15 years ago, a year before Sabongui was born. The young actor now plays an integral role in the film since Amon is the one who convinces Black Adam to use his powers for good. After Sabongui’s initial excitement to be working with Johnson, he realized there was also a lot to learn from him as an actor and as a person.
“His mentality when making a movie is to always put the audience first, which I picked up on. He’s not thinking about the studio or the critics or anything. He’s just like, ‘So when the audience sees this, are they going to like that? Are they going to laugh at that?’” Sabongui says. “He’s truly making movies for the people and it’s never coming from a place of ego or selfishness from him, and he’s doing what’s going to make people happy. And I think that is just honestly a great mentality to have when you’re the biggest movie star in the world.”
This new wave of Hollywood stars seems to have one thing in common—they’re not trying to be boxed in. After starring in a film that brought in $140 million globally at the box office opening weekend, Sabongui still has his sights set on excelling as an athlete in school and attending college. “I still do love acting and I do want to keep going down this path for sure,” he says. “But there are also things I want to do outside of it that interest me as well.”
Complex caught up with the actor after the movie’s release to talk all about his experience filming, learning how to skateboard on set and what it was like working with Dwayne Johnson. Black Adam is now in theaters.
You all had such a wonderful press run promoting the movie. What has it been like to be reunited with your co-stars? I know you filmed the movie some time ago. How was it being together again?
It was great. I mean, the first time I hung out with them, I was a kid and the only kid on set for most of the time. So I was still able to be friends with them, but a lot of the time I was in school. So now being able to actually just spend time with them outside of work and outside of doing the five hours of school every single day, it was really fun for me to just be able to do that.
One of the biggest surprises for me was how much you have changed from the movie to how you look now. Was it weird seeing yourself in the movie?
Oh my goodness, yes. Yeah, it’s very, very weird to be able to just see yourself so long ago. And what you looked like years ago and just compared to yourself now, it’s just really awkward, but it’s still cool because it’s like, Black Adam, but you’re still your 13-year-old self.
The movie was so long in the making. Dwayne was approached to do the role almost 15 years ago. What was it like for you to know that so many people have been fighting to make this movie and now you got to be a part of it?
It makes me feel, honestly, very privileged that I’ve been able to have this opportunity just because there are so many people putting this much hard work into it and I’m honestly really grateful to be able to be a part of this.
Your chemistry with Dwayne was so wonderful. What was it like collaborating on those one-on-one scenes that you guys had together?
The last scene was actually the first scene we did together, the one in the bedroom where we were talking. And it was the second day I met him because the first day that I met him was a rehearsal of that scene actually. But I think that that was where I realized how real this was. I’m sitting here filming the scene with The Rock and I was like, “Okay, even though it’s The Rock sitting right there, there’s no time to be unable to do my job,” because of how impressed I was. Even though I was just about at that level of being impressed because it’s The Rock.
But I think what I really learned about him is I was able to just have real conversations with him. The thing I talked about him the most was football because that’s an interest I had and I know he had it too. And he’s very easy to connect with. And that was the most fun part about filming that scene was just having the time to be able to talk to him and get to know him.
He has had such a long career, from wrestling to movies. As a young actor, is there anything you learned from him as an actor, as a person, and as a performer?
I think the main thing is how his mentality when making a movie is to always put the audience first, which I picked up on. And I love that because he’s not thinking about the studio or the critics or anything. He’s just like, “So when the audience sees this, are they going to like that? Are they going to laugh at that? Or is the audience going to do this?” He’s truly making movies for the people and it’s never coming from a place of ego or selfishness from him, and he’s doing what’s going to make people happy. And I think that is just honestly a great mentality to have when you’re the biggest movie star in the world.
Can you talk to me a little bit about your career and everything you did before Black Adam and how you feel those roles prepared you for this?
The main thing that prepared me for Black Adam acting-wise was my parents, for sure. Seeing as how they’re both actors and they’ve been my acting teachers through every audition and every single thing I’ve done. But the other projects that I’ve done were more—they were fun things to work on and there were experiences in terms of making friends in the industry. And even though Black Adam is just on such another scale, those were also some of the most fun things I’ve ever done.
You did a lot of skateboarding and a lot of physical action scenes [in the film]. Are you a skateboarder or did you have to learn for the movie?
I learned for the movie. So they had a stunt double for me named James [S. Gonzalez]. And for the first few weeks of the shoot, I wasn’t filming, I was just doing the skateboarding and school with James who was teaching me. I couldn’t stand on a skateboard when I showed up. But something that really helped was that I had done snowboarding before and I was an athlete already, so it was a bit easier for me to pick it up, but it was really fun.
The snowboarding helped, I’m sure. Also aside from Black Adam, I feel like Amon is a central part of telling the story in the present day. What was it like for you to take on this role once you read the script and know that you were going to be an integral part of this movie?
Yeah, when I booked it, I knew I was going to be important—I didn’t know I was going to be that important. His character is just such a key part of the movie and being able to see how much they follow that storyline within the movie is just really exciting for me. And I’m just really very happy with how it turned out. And I’m also very happy with how the character turned out in terms of how he serves as a vessel of hope for the movie and pushing it forward. And he’s the one who convinced Black Adam to do all the things he does. I love how it turned out and how they did it.
Another special part of this role is that [Amon] is fighting for his people. He’s very outspoken and he’s very knowledgeable about the injustices that are going on in his city and in his country. Can you talk to me a little bit about that aspect of the character?
Oh, for sure. With the fact that Kahndaq is an imaginary country, but it definitely has a lot of parallels to things that happen in real life. And it’s this country in the Middle East that’s occupied by this military dictatorship. And Amon’s main goal in life is to, basically, he’ll stop at nothing to play a part in helping to free his country. And I think he sees Black Adam as an opportunity to help him do that. And I think that goes all right.
Do you hope that kids see themselves in him and say, “Hey, I could do this, too, if there’s ever an injustice in my community”?
I do. I really hope so. I think it’s very important for kids to be able to understand the importance they have in terms of changing the world because this world is going to be theirs, or I could even say ours in some time. And I think it’s all up to how kids are going to do things. So I think the mentality that kids can’t really play a part in changing things or making a change or broad strokes, it’s just not true. And I think it’s a very good thing for kids to know that and to have the idea in their head that they can make a difference.
Dwayne told me on the red carpet that representation [in the film] was so important to him. When you were younger, or even now, when you watch superhero films, are you looking for someone who looks like you on the screen?
Well, I haven’t seen it to a full extent. It’s still rare to see an Arabic protagonist, especially in superhero movies. And I think a big part of Black Adam and why I’m so excited about it is that even though I’m not a superhero, I still get this opportunity to paint Middle Eastern and North African people in this positive light, which isn’t something that I saw so much growing up.
After doing something like Black Adam, where do you set your goals next? What is something that you hope to do with your career in the next five years?
Yeah, apart from Black Adam, and I mean, well even apart from acting, there are other interests that I have as well as acting. And if you’re talking about the next five years, I’m trying to go D1 in football, if I’m being completely honest.
I still do love acting and I do want to keep going down this path for sure, but there are also things I want to do outside of it that interest me as well. And I mean, I just want to go to college. I want to keep being an athlete and act as well. I want to keep all three of those things going. That’s basically my plan.
What do you hope that fans feel or that they get from watching Black Adam, especially when seeing your character take on such a lead role?
I think I’m very excited about them to feel the story of it and how the story of it is portrayed. I think that the movie turned out to be very much a roller coaster in the best way possible. Comedy and amazing action sequences and my goodness, the effects! Even the story of the fight kind of being resolved and then a whole new one starting. And if you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about.
But just everything about how the movie was made, I think was executed as best as it could have possibly been. And I’m so excited for people to be able to see the amount of hard work we put into this over the past decade and a half. I mean, my goodness.
