Teen actor Luke David Blumm calls Atlanta home

Luke David Blumm, 14, is a freshman at Midtown High School. That is, when he’s not traveling internationally to film movies and television shows.

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Luke David Blumm

Credit: via IMDB

Blumm is currently starring in the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s Avenue of the Giants, a film about a cross-generational odyssey of healing and discovery in which extraordinary friendship blooms between an aging soul and a troubled girl. Blumm plays the young version of Holocaust survivor Herbert Heller (Stephen Lang) in haunting, historical flashbacks.

Avenue of the Giants was filmed in Prague. During the filming, Blumm’s mom, sister, and uncle came to visit for a few weeks. It turned into a family trip while he was working, he said.

“I mostly travel with my dad so I miss my mom and sister the most. I also miss my pets and my friends. We try to come back on weekends, but sometimes you get a really cool vacation out of it,” Blumm said. “I’ve been fortunate to visit some really cool places.” 

Blumm, who has never taken formal acting lessons, has appeared in suspenseful and horror television series’ like The Walking Dead and The Watcher, and the horror movie Son.

Working on a horror production is like Halloween every day, Blumm said.

“I really enjoy doing horror. I enjoy horror/suspense because the acting style is naturalistic, like real life, but just a little bit more exaggerated because the stakes are so high and the situations are so intense,” said Blumm. “But the vibe on horror sets is very child-like and fun. Everyone loves to play with the fake blood and trying to give the audience a scare. Even though the material may be dark, the mood on horror sets is usually very light and everyone is having a great time.”

Blumm said he’s been very lucky to work with “some of the greatest actors alive.”

On the set of The Watcher for five months, Blumm played Carter Brannock, son of Nora (Naomi Watts) and Dean (Bobby Cannavale).

“Bobby would talk to me about actors he likes, and we talked about acting a good deal. I learned a lot from him,” Blumm said. “Acting is one of those things that you get better at by just doing it. Each project you work on, you learn more.”

Blumm said he stays in touch with other actors by text messages or Instagram, but it can be disappointing to work closely with great actors and then go his own way. He stays in touch with Virginia Madsen and Nicola Peltz Beckham from their newly released independent film, Lola, and Emile Hirsch from Son.

When Blumm is back in Atlanta, he likes to visit the BeltLine and dine at the city’s vegan restaurants, like Planta. Just like a typical teenager, he loves Jeni’s ice cream.

“We also like to go to the drive-in movies as much as we can. Atlanta is a really cool city, and I’m glad we moved here,” Blumm said.  

Avenue of the Giants is showing Feb. 20 at Tara Theatre and on streaming starting Feb. 27. Blumm will be in attendance at the Feb. 20 screening to answer questions from the audience.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Rough Draft Atlanta.