Cody Christian opens up about his role in the film ‘Notorious Nick.’
Cody Christian has been ready for this moment. He stars as MMA fighter Nick Newell in the film Notorious Nick, which is now available anywhere you can rent movies. For the All American star, tackling this role was an “opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.” Cody has starred on some of TV’s most popular teen dramas — including Pretty Little Liars and Teen Wolf — but he’s ready for leading man status on the big screen. He helps tell Nick’s inspiring story in Notorious Nick and happily embraced all the challenges that came with making this movie. HollywoodLife got the chance to talk EXCLUSIVELY with Cody about what this role meant to him as an actor, his rigorous preparation for the role, and more. What was it about this role that stood out to you? Cody Christian: It’s honestly the story. I’ve always really been inspired by other stories of will and determination and chasing the impossible. That’s something that stood out for me as Nick Newell [who was born with a congenital amputation of his left arm]. It’s a true story. You’re seeing this guy be born with a disability and overcome everything that he’s overcome, challenge after challenge. He very early on decided this is something that I want to do, and I’m willing to kind of put everything into it. I relate to that a lot. I came out here from the midwest to pursue this acting thing, and I didn’t know anybody, didn’t know anything about the industry, the business, and then gradually over the years, mistake after mistake, hardship after hardship, it’s just slowly developed. Now I’m 16 years into it, and I still feel like I’m chasing the impossible. I’m chasing the dream. The story really resonated with me and also it takes place in the MMA world, so it was just an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. What was the training process like for you? Cody Christian: It was crazy. When I first auditioned for it, a part of my prep was to watch as much footage and to talk to actually a few people that have similar disabilities because I wanted to understand the mindset. A common thread that I found is that people born with a disability, they don’t know anything else, you know what I mean? To them, their activities and how they go about doing things are very normal, almost as if they perceive themselves as being without a disability because to them it just doesn’t feel any different. But the outside world doesn’t view it that way, right? So kind of diving into that headspace, that mindset of what to feel normal but to be perceived as different and all the struggles that come along with that.
