Chainsaws Notwithstanding, Host Adam Beach Says It’s The Emotional Power That Propels A CUT ABOVE

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede   Always admired as an actor who immerses himself in his roles, Adam Beach can’t believe the sense of freedom and renewal he feels hosting A CUT ABOVE. Debuting Monday, Aug. 8 at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery, A CUT ABOVE is the ultimate wood-carving competition series. A gifted group of 12 chainsaw-wielding competitors from around the world gather in Squamish, B.C., where they must demonstrate creativity, strength, skill, and time management as they turn ordinary logs into extraordinary works of art. To be clear, Beach (The Power of The Dog, HBO’s BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE, Suicide Squad, Flags of Our Fathers, LAW & ORDER: SVU, ARCTIC AIR) had zero familiarity with the wood-carving community prior to A CUT ABOVE. So how the heck did he get here? “Dude, that was my reaction,” Beach said. “When I got the call and they said, ‘we want you to host this reality show,’ I laughed because I was like, ‘is this the end of my acting career? Are they telling me something I don’t know?’ But I talked to my wife – we make decisions together on what I should do – and we thought it was a good opportunity to kind of reignite my passion.” Asked to elaborate, Beach said, “well, No, 1, it’s hard to find movies I like, let alone television. So I should work more, but often I can’t find something I like. This was an idea that was a challenge and something new. And I was like, ‘okay, let’s do this.’ What I didn’t know is how much of an impact it would have on me, and how much it would help in my personal life, let alone performance-wise.” Beach – who is joined on A CUT ABOVE by technical judge Ryan Cook, and artistic judge Katharine Dowson – went on to explain that the show represents the first time audiences will get to see “the real Adam,” as he put it. “In movies, you prep for a scene for three days, or three weeks, or three months, you come in all equipped, and you give the best performance you can,” Beach said. “In this show, you have a second to react, so when people watch this, they’re going to see the real Adam – the real Adam that shows joy, nervousness, tears. The audience will relate to me differently than ever before. And so for me, it reignited a happiness in working with cameras, producers, cast, crew. I feel lucky that I was asked to be a part of this show. I really think it’s going to reignite a new version of who I am, and that makes me excited for my next project. Because there are elements that I found in this show that I’ve never explored in my work as an actor.” Case in point, there were many occasions when Beach found himself emotionally moved by the compelling personal stories of the carvers on A CUT ABOVE. “The first time we all felt it, including myself, was when I went to talk to a carver named John from Ireland,” Beach recalled. “His story was that he was carving for the death of his father. And I lost my parents growing up. I still deal with the abandonment. I still deal with the trauma. I still deal with those emotions. So when he started going into his emotional connection with his father, I started bumbling. The producers helped me through that one, with what to say, but afterward I told them, ‘look guys, I know we have to see John again when he’s finished his carving, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I might lose myself in this emotion.’ And they were like, ‘well, just trust yourself and see where it goes.’ ” Beach said he cried when he spoke with John again, and after they shared an intense connection and talked about mutual healing, John cried, too. “That’s when we found the show,” Beach said. “We knew it was different. We knew I was going to show up with the empathetic nature that I have. And these carvers surprised us, because they all have emotional stories to tell. Each episode, I was like, ‘this is my favourite,’ and then it would be, ‘no, THIS is my favourite,’ and right on down the line. I’m hoping for a Season 2, which depends on a lot of things, including my schedule. But my wife said to me, ‘Adam, this is the happiest I’ve ever heard you at work.’ ” The happiness begins Aug. 8!   billharristv@gmail.com