Actor Lukas Haas was only 9 years old when he made a big-screen splash opposite Harrison Ford in the 1985 crime thriller Witness. Nearly 40 years later, the former Austin resident is still working as an actor in Hollywood.
Some of the most recognizable titles in Haas' filmography include The Ryan White Story, Mars Attacks!, Inception, The Revenant and The Righteous Gemstones. In 2022, he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the ensemble cast in the comedy-drama Babylon alongside Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
In his latest film, the action flick Cash Out, Haas plays Shawn Goddard, a member of a crew of thieves who drags his older brother Mason (John Travolta) into a bank heist for a big score. Unfortunately, the robbery doesn't go as planned, and Shawn and Mason find themselves trapped in the bank as law enforcement officials surround it.
During a recent interview with the Current, Haas, 48, talked about why creativity is such an important part of his life. He also explained his ties to Texas and discussed what it was like working with Travolta and his other co-star, rapper Quavo.
Cash Out premieres April 26 in theaters and on digital platforms.
You've had a wide-ranging career since you appeared in Witness as a kid. What drew you to your latest film Cash Out?
I love diversity in my career. I love doing things that are unexpected. I don't really love doing the same kind of thing all the time, because you just feel like you're in a rut and the creativity kind of dissipates. I like to stay creative and enjoy myself. So, [Cash Out] is something I had never done before. There's just a whole lot of levity and fun and silliness. I had never done anything quite like that. And then, obviously, [working with] John Travolta, it was like, "Hey, let's do this!"
It's interesting that you already finished shooting Cash Out 2, also, yes?
Yeah, we already made the sequel! It was funny to get that call. It was like, "Hey, we're going to make a sequel." I'm like, "I haven't even seen the first one! It hasn't even come out yet!" It was a lot of fun getting to do it again. I think the second one is even better than the first one.
Your co-stars in the film include John Travolta and Quavo. What was the experience like working with them?
Amazing. John is super special. He's an icon and one of the true pros out there. He's also just a lovely guy who comes to work every day with a smile on his face. It was really easy to work with him. He's incredibly smart about working out the scenes. We would move through each scene and make sure it worked and flowed the best that it possibly could. He's really great at that. And Quavo is just a really cool dude. He's a natural. He's a charismatic guy. We all had a good time together.
I saw in your biography that your mom is from Texas. I'm talking to you from San Antonio.
She was born in San Antonio.
Does she still have family here? Do you come back to visit at all?
You know, I used to live in Austin for a long time after I was born in Los Angeles. My mom wanted to move back to Austin to be with her parents when I was around 13 years old. So, I moved back to Austin. I have a lot of ties to Texas. We have some family there. Texas is where I'm from — half of me anyway.
After all this time in Hollywood, what keeps you going? Is it still as cutthroat today as it was 40 years ago?
You know, [the industry] changes for sure. It's definitely still cutthroat. What keeps me going is being creative. That's what I thrive off of. That's the DNA of me. The cool thing about my career is that I've gotten to work for such a long time. I've been really lucky to get to play a lot of different kinds of roles. What keeps me going is when I get to tackle something I didn't ever expect to tackle, and when I get to play a role that I don't necessarily recognize myself in. When I get to challenge myself, that's when I get to be the most creative.
Do you recognize yourself when you watch the movies you made as a kid?
For sure. Even at that age, I loved acting. My dad's an artist and my mom's an opera singer and screenwriter. Creativity is who I am. I see myself in those [early] roles, although I was so young. It's a different person completely, but I can also see myself trying to be someone else. I was refining my way through it. I'm blessed that this is my career.
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