Listen: ‘Hunters’ Star Logan Lerman Talks Al Pacino and Remembers Heath Ledger

The last time Logan Lerman, 28, starred on a television show was 15 years ago on the WB’s “Jack & Bobby.”

He made his return earlier this year with “Hunters,” playing a young man in New York City in 1979 who joins an underground group of Nazi hunters led by a Holocaust survivor (Al Pacino).

“I was really scared about the commitment so there was nothing that I was interested in for a long time just because you have to sign on for five, six years,” Lerman says on Tuesday’s episode of the Variety and iHeart podcast “The Big Ticket.” “I’ve been approached for other projects in the past, but nothing seemed like anything that I wanted to commit that much time to.”

But “Hunters” was different. “It just felt right,” Lerman said. “I liked where it was set up, too. It was at Amazon and I like that platform. I have to say, after working with them, it was just a creatively really free experience. They were pretty hands off with production and supported the show in terms of what the show needed for production.”

Lerman was already attached when Pacino signed on to the show. “He’s just a sweet and disarming presence and he doesn’t like the attention to be on him or to be applauded,” Lerman recalled about working with the icon. “He likes to work and experiment every time he’s reading, and so do I. I just liked the collaboration right away. I mean, he has full control over the feeling in the environment and he puts everyone at ease and is just really sweet, and you’re just working with another actor who wants to find good moments and fully realize their character and the script together.”

During the interview, which took place at the Variety studios just before the stay-at-home orders were enacted in Los Angeles due to the coronavirus pandemic, Lerman also recalled his acting debut opposite Heath Ledger in 2000’s “The Patriot.” Lerman was seven at the time and remembers the late actor teaching him and another cast member, Skye McCole Bartusiak, who passed away in 2014, about music. “I just remember him hanging out with us a lot and trying to instill whatever he could into our young minds and it was really sweet,” he said.

“Hunters” is available on Amazon Prime Video.

Hear the full interview with Lerman above. You can also find “The Big Ticket” on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.