Beau Mirchoff has seen the future of America with Donald Trump at the helm, and it is not pretty.
It could be funny in a scary kind of way, however, judging by what transpires in Trumpocalypse, a satirical online short that the Mount Douglas Secondary School grad is appearing in.
Joining the ranks of actor-activists such as Mark Ruffalo and Martin Sheen, Mirchoff said the prospect of Trump becoming the 45th U.S. president is so scary he’s doing “everything I can to denounce the orange-headed thing.”
The Los Angeles-based actor, best known for his roles as Matty McKibben, the high-school quarterback in MTV’s cult hit series Awkward, and in TV shows such as the first season of NBC’s mini-series Aquarius and Desperate Housewives, filmed his scenes two months ago. The online video was written and produced by Monty Geer, his Awkward co-star whose past online satires include taking aim at Pokémon Go.
“He wanted to wait until the final hour, when Trumpocalpyse is almost upon us,” said Mirchoff, who couldn’t have imagined last week’s infamous Trump sex-talk tape would have coincided with its release.
“I’m a lifelong Democrat, but I could never vote for Hillary,” says the actor’s cocky character in the two-minute video that was directed by Albert Lopez and co-stars Geer, Simone Rene and Matt Iseman.
Muslim work camps, Orwellian surveillance of those who didn’t support Trump’s Make America Great Again vision and some chilling developments including gay-marriage laws being overturned, immigrants denied voting rights and women potentially jailed for having abortions are envisioned in the tongue-in-cheek cautionary tale depicting American life two years into a Trump presidency.
While amusingly attempting to reach disaffected Bernie Sanders voters, Trumpocalypse doubles as a diverting public service announcement urging Americans to get out and vote.
“It’s insane to me how filled with vitriol comments [during the campaign] are, and how upset people can get,” said Mirchoff, who was born in Seattle and moved to Victoria two days later.
“They get so blinded by their hatred. If we can get just one per cent of those people to laugh at this and go: ‘Maybe I’m making a mistake. Maybe I should vote,’ I think we’ll have done a good job,” he said.
The filmmakers’ intention, Mirchoff said, was to use political satire to help dissuade “Bernie or Bust” supporters from potentially taking votes away from Clinton.
“I think they should think twice before voting for [Green Party’s] Jill Stein or the Libertarian guy [former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson],” says Mirchoff.
While he understands there are many American voters who are “hurting” and dissatisfied with the status quo and Washington, Trumpocalypse aims to show why Trump isn’t the answer.
“To think that Hillary is the anti-Christ and that Trump’s the only thing because he’s anti-establishment is ill-founded,” said Mirchoff, describing Trump as “a fraud and a demagogue who exploits people’s fears.”
He said it helps to have a sense of humour as you digest a steady diet of the political absurdity reported nightly on American television networks.
An amusing example this week was on CNN, where Ana Navarro, the fiery, no-nonsense commentator and Republican strategist described as “50 shades of crazy” the argument put forth by Trump apologist Scottie Hughes, who blamed Fifty Shades of Grey and the sexualization of pop culture for Trump’s lewd remarks.
When Mirchoff publicly admitted last month that he agrees with Trump on one thing — a need for more law and order — his own wit surfaced.
“We need Law and Order. Thank God TNT still plays reruns,” he tweeted.
“We do. I love that show,” the actor said. “Sam Waterston! That guy is the man.”
Mirchoff squeezed in a hometown visit this month after wrapping Flatliners, Sony’s remake of Joel Schumacher’s 1990 sci-fi thriller, in Toronto.
He plays Brad, one of a group of medical students who conduct secret experiments that trigger near-death experiences. The film stars Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev and James Norton.
“I was a fan of the original, so I was giddy about doing it,” said Mirchoff, whose highlights included working with Kiefer Sutherland, who appeared in the original.
“He’s awesome. He’s very gracious, but he takes his work very seriously,” he said. “He’s an intense dude.”
Meanwhile, Mirchoff has started rehearsals for an L.A. production of Laura Eason’s opposites-attract comedy-drama Sex With Strangers. He plays Ethan, the successful, self-absorbed young blogger who becomes involved with Olivia, an older novelist played by Ottawa-raised actor Tanya Clarke.
“We’re just starting to get into it. It’s going to be fun,” said Mirchoff.
