Meet Zak Lee Guarnaccia

My parents, relatives, or friends never really influenced me, or supported me the way every kids might like. It was the imagination I had in me that I used to create, rehearse, and learn to act in movies. But I did have my outside influencer growing up and that was Bruce Lee and because of him I was able to continue my path to my dreams and life purpose, then I discovered two other inspirational talent in action film genera, Terence Hill an Italian actor that was filming all his movie in USA made to be released in Italy, using the slapstick action comedy choreography, and the versatile iconic Jackie Chan that was closer to my vision. One of my challenges was and still today always to be about ten years ahead of time with my ideas, and not be able to fit in the present time, sometime pioneers might get burned before even start.  Back then in Italy in the 70’s and early 80’s, as a martial artist we weren’t exposed to too many professionals, so Bruce Lee then Jackie Chan wore the main guys that I emulated. I wanted to make movies and do stunts just like them, but with my own twist, but I never found the opportunity as no one really didn’t understand what I was trying to accomplish. Several years later I won the Martial Arts and Kickboxing Italian Championship multiple times, won the European Championships title twice, and the World Championships, I trained in China and England, but for some reason still I wasn’t able to receive that acknowledgement and the respect from friends and family, including the media that specially at the time didn’t care much about martial arts. No sure why, but one of my challenge in my life was and still constantly surrounded by naysayers who try to keep me from living my dreams, but I kept dreaming, and I keep on living.

Now in my early twenties, I turned into a fitness expert. After the unexpected loss of my mother in 1985 at age forty-two and the loss of my gym in 1989, I moved to Los Angeles in 1990. With broken English, I pursued an Action-Actor career, but it wasn’t easy to survive with only $400 in my pocket, so I continue competing in the martial arts tournament circuits. As a result, falling again into another long fifteen years of personal pandemic, I reached the rockbottom several times, I head to reinventing myself several more times, but always I kept my strong health and stay fit close as I was in my prime. Destiny was good enough to work in more than 70 films, TV series, Live shows including my old successful exercise video TaiBox-KickTo Fit that I star and produced. It toked one year of struggling to finally found one distributor, with the only offer I couldn’t refuse, unfortunately the deal was on favor to the distribution, and I not be able to earn my financial reward of my hard work to develop, star, produce, and create the whole fitness program, the video reached #6 on the Billboard video chart. A great experience that trough many years later I was able to learned and make a better choices to continue reach my ultimate dreams. I stayed focused to achieve my goals and that continually makes me who I am today. I learned to embrace being the underdog. My struggles developed my strengths. When I’m going through hardships and decide not to give up, that feeds my desire to succeed.

The Next Big Hit it’s a project that I had my first epiphany a concept idea inspire from the movie “A Chorus Line” in 1985. Even when I reached one of the rockbottom in my life I never stop writing, create and visualize my idea, that kept my dreams alive. Consequently in 1999 I was able to pitch my treatment to my screenwriter friend to help write The Next Big Hit first draft. Everyone loved the idea, I really felt that was my time, my breakthrough, but it wasn’t, and even if I had resources to contact some celebrity, all those producers was just looking to take away the project from me.

After many years passed by looking for funding that never arrived, I had to focus on surviving and in my mid 40’s I worked in many jobs like many people did just to pay the bills, jobs that I never thought about it to do, It was my life pause, I felt like a tiger in a tiny cage not be able to run, turn or breath.

Me and my first partner knew there was an audience out there for The Next Big Hit that was hungry for something unique, authentic and that the Hollywood industry hadn’t done yet, till today. Nowadays, I know with technology I didn’t have back in the day, we can make this film without breaking a bank for a budget, through many years I was able to generate of my own just enough funding and became the Executive Producer of my passion film The Next Big Hit.

So after over three decades I decided to call in all my and my team favors, skip the big studios, and take this film, this project with my own hands! Some people interpreted that I’m a stubborn man, but actually they might get confused, as I have a stubborn heart. Now that I have many other resources in the film industry, time still flying and timing is everything in any fields, I strongly feel this is my time, also even if I feel and act way younger than my age, still I’m not getting any younger, so I’m rolling the dice, I’m all in, committed to make The Next Big Hit a “HIT” no matter what! I believe in myself, unconditionally. This is why my new film, “The Next Big Hit” (TheNextBigHitmovie.com) will be a great story. So it’s now time for this story, and to stand-out and get one step closer to my ultimate life purpose.

Always I aim high shoot for the impossible and I will land where I want to be. The key in creating the great visionary martial arts musical comedy, a buddy movie that will get you a “Kick” out of! By combining a mixture of unique story elements from these defined genres (Martial Arts, Mobster, Musicals, LGBTQ+), The Next Big Hit combines new and innovative landscapes for martial arts to be highlighted and crosses all boundaries within the film marketplace, increasing it’s ability to become a Breakout hit with a wide cross-section of audiences worldwide.

The Next Big Hit leading cast; Zak Lee Guarnaccia (as Dino Benito) Red Notice, Barry, Judas and The Black Messiah, Live By Night, The Morning Show, Perry Anzilotti (as Shawn Benito) Gang related, Crossworlds, Bean, Cerina Vincent, (as Sarah) Cabin Fever, A Disney TV series Stuck in the Middle, Not Another Teen Movie, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, and the iconic incredible talented Marlyn Mason (as Madam Veronica Castile) her best known cinematic part as Elvis Presley‘s girl in one of his final films The Trouble with Girls and critically acclaimed series in the 70′ _”Longstreet”, as a love interest to James Franciscus working with Bruce Lee.

(The Next Big Hit is Directed by Pat Battistini will be a limited theatrical release and submit for the SAG and Academy Awards by 2023 and many other valuable Films Festivals.) I’ll see you all at the Oscars!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
My obstacle was learning most of my life lessons way to slow, hard to recognize my pattern. It toked me almost a lifetime to learned those old patterns that detour me or slow me down and recognizing those old patterns made me to create the new patterns to reinventing my life in several times in my life, and finally this is how I learned how I planned to achieve my goals and live out my dreams. Recognizing the old pattern, I will create a new pattern and apply the new pattern to make a difference. Although all of my struggles developed my strengths. When I’m going through hardships and decide not to give up, that feeds my desire to succeed and making all the necessary changes.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As of today, I describe myself as “underdog,” my passion is my drive for my entire life and hardly ever change much unless it was a necessary to get a step closer to the dreams and my life purpose I wanted to achieve. So as always acting is in my blood and so to be a stuntman, in short I became the action/actor. To understand better the action for a long time I stayed focused to work more as a stuntman as acting is not based only on dialogue or extremely closeups, but acting is based as well in body language and the way we can sale the action to the audience, or even better we as stuntman our goal is to make the lead actors that are involved in any physical action looking extremely good. Back in Italy, I had the opportunity to experience what it was like working on a movie set. When I was 16, I worked as one the youngest Productions Assistant and that was when I saw a stuntman hanging from the ceiling and doing a belly flat fall into a three-foot-deep pool. I liked that and thought I can do that! I continued to work in production until my yearly teenage years. My dream was always to live in California where the action films were being produced. But when I was 21 years old, my mother passed away and left a huge scar in my life that I still feel it a little bit today.

When she left, so did my family business and the gym I built. I lost everything, so I decided to reinvent myself in America and to continue to compete in martial arts tournaments with the hopes of establishing myself in the film industry. As I reached the rock bottom several times in my life, I never lost my will, health or happiness to bounce back and reinvent myself to reach my ultimate goals; my dream of acting and filmmaking. I kept all that together simply to stay focused on my health and the new paths that I was able to reinvent, and not the obstacles, I was aware of those challenges that constantly I was surrounded, the way I was doing in is to visualize several scenarios on how would I feel when my dreams actually happen, till a point that I was really getting that physical and mental sensation, I felt it was real, really feeling it at that point that I was able to continue build strength and to continue with my passion as I knew my life reflects my visionary ideal. From the day I was born, I began to materialize my own vision.

I continued to create daily thoughts to motivate myself and continue to generate that feeling when my dreams will happen such as “Life may demand much of me, but I demand more of life.” “I’m the underdog won’t quit, and I’m staying power will see me to victory, my passion is, and always will be, my constant motivation, and I never stop investing myself because the pay-off is what I live for, what others call failure, I call the increasing of opportunity.” So I learned how to tolerate pain, outlast trials, and master challenges. I always I’m aiming high shoot for the impossible and I will land where I want to be. In conclusion, I have dreams that don’t require the buy-in of others, I am the ultimate champion of my own dreams. My journey is not over yet, it will be over when is over, I’m an unstoppable risk taker. Ultimately I built a strong health equity, realizing that my dreams depend on it, one of my dreams is to finish filming and release my film The Next Big Hit a martial arts musical comedy, it’s a project that I had my first epiphany a concept idea inspire from the movie “A Chorus Line” in 1985. Even when I reached one of the rockbottom in my life I never stop writing, create and visualize my idea, that kept my dreams alive. Consequently in 1999 I was able to pitch my treatment to my screenwriter friend to help write The Next Big Hit first draft.

What matters most to you? Why?
I’m a strong animal activist and environmental defender, I’m Vegan, loving animals deeply from my young age with the main purpose in my life to make an incredible support for this planet. As I’m not a scientist, Doctor with MD, PHD or any qualifications that I might get that attention to make people consider my thoughts or information, although philosophers and historic people for over thousands of years, back then no one was actually qualified with any of those degrees, simply because that system wasn’t existed yet, it was simply an ongoing experiment and theories, trying and errors from those people that studies life, environment, space and progressively making huge discoveries as we still today. Science is an ongoing discovery, transformation and rediscovery of something that already we thought we discovered.

I’m aware that the universe we living in it is in an ongoing transformation that we actually have no fact or solid prove where all this going, but we might have a general theory which direction this world might go, and we can’t stop that process, but the reason I was wishing to be that environmentalist Batman or Superman is to keep this hearth or the universe the way it look today as long as I can, with all the challenges and imperfection that already has on his own, including with the humans mistakes that might interfere with the organic process. Seams like and it still is a beautiful life the way the hearth breathing till today, I think we are living in the best moment of the hearth’s life, it is wild, scary, sad, with his viscous circle of life, I wish to keep like this forever that would be awesome, but deep inside we all know, keep everything forever as is it might develop other challenges that might lead to other disasters.