By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Tribune
March 21, 2023
Steven Krueger stars opposite Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis in the Showtime series “Yellowjackets.” “I play coach Ben Scott, who’s the assistant soccer coach,” the actor said. “When our plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness on the way to the national championships, I wind up being the only adult and one of only a few males who are stranded with a group of high school girls. Add to that a traumatic leg amputation in the aftermath of the crash and a deeply-held personal secret and it makes for a very dynamic character. I’m incredibly lucky to be part of such a rich and complex story. It’s been the most challenging and most rewarding role of my career so far.”
Though he’s technically based out of Sarasota, Florida, the actor said that over the past two and a half years, he has lived in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Santa Fe, as well as in Florida. “I have my car and a storage unit and not a whole lot else at the moment,” said Krueger. “It has been fun and liberating to realize I can get by with so few actual belongings.”
Q: Where do you film “Yellowjackets”?
A: We shoot in Vancouver and the location itself plays such an interesting role in the show. Strangely, this is my first time working in Vancouver, but it’s an amazing city. It’s like if you made a miniature Chicago, dropped it in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, and then pushed it onto the Pacific Coast. I love being outdoors in my free time and you’d be hard pressed to find a place that offers more in the way of unbridled nature and stunning scenery than Vancouver. We shot season one during the summer of 2021 while Covid was still a major issue. The United States-Canadian border was still closed at that point, so once we arrived we were more or less trapped up there for six months. We couldn’t leave to visit our friends or family and couldn’t have anyone visit us. That was hard and it took a mental toll on all of us. The silver lining is that we only had each other and it created a lot of great chemistry among the cast. Things were much more normal for season two, although we did have the cold, wet and dark Vancouver winter to contend with.
Q: What was the first trip you took as a child?
A: My dad was a pilot for a commercial airline, so we had the luxury of being able to travel a lot. One of the earliest trips I can remember was to Disneyland. We lived in Wisconsin when I was very young, so it was a whole new world to see Southern California. Obviously I loved Disneyland. I had a little autograph book and chased the characters all over the park trying to get every signature. Pluto was my favorite. The one major damper on the trip is still so vivid in my memory. There was a mild earthquake the night before we went to the park. It wasn’t scary or anything, but I was in bed and amidst the jostling I somehow managed to cut the back of my ankle with my big toenail. It was like a little paper cut and it was so painful walking around the park the next day. Pretty sure I cried at some point. And then I proceeded to wear socks to bed until I was in college.
Q: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?
A: There are so many interesting people in this world. One of my favorite parts of traveling, whether it’s around the U.S. or overseas, is meeting locals and being exposed to life through their eyes. It sounds cliché, I know. But it’s really easy to get stuck in your own routine and proclivities when you travel. Because we naturally feel vulnerable when we’re away from home and what’s safe is what’s familiar. Forcing myself to embrace, or at the very least explore, something totally different and new is when I feel most exhilarated. And the personal growth that can often result from that exploration is an added bonus.
Q: Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A: Anywhere I can drive and get out in nature. California is an embarrassment of riches in that department. Whether it’s national parks like Yosemite or Sequoia, remote camping and backpacking tracks in the Sierra Mountains, or cool towns like Ojai, Big Sur or Carmel, I’m a sucker for a weekend road trip.
Q: Do you speak any foreign languages?
A: I used to be pretty fluent in Spanish, but I think I need to live in a Spanish-speaking country for a few months to brush up. I honestly don’t know how adept I am at learning languages at this point. My brain probably isn’t quite as spongy as it was in high school and college. Maybe I need to try a new one and find out. French? Arabic? Mandarin?
Q: What are your five favorite cities?
A: Seville, Spain; Hanalei, Hawaii; Chicago; Paris; Cusco, Peru.
Q: Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A: Japan, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand are all high up there. But my dream destinations at the moment are South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. I’ve been dying to get there for a few years now. I think I’m finally going to make it happen this winter.
Q: When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A: If I’m traveling for work and living there for several months, I always bring a handful of things to make it feel like home. My own pillows and sheets, a handful of framed photos and a stack of books. Also one of my first stops in any new place is a local plant store so I can fill my temporary home with house plants. Greenery is crucial! If I’m traveling for pleasure, I always have an array of snacks with me. Like my friends actually make fun of me for it. But meals can be sporadic and unpredictable when you travel and I tend to get a wee bit cranky when I’m hungry.
Q: What is your guilty pleasure when you’re on the road?
A: I almost hate to admit this but, Starbucks. I don’t even drink coffee. But I know I can get an iced black tea and a somewhat healthy snack if I ever need it. Consistent and reliable. That’s my one little safety blanket when I’m out and about in the world. And if I’m on a road trip, a bag of Gardetto’s [snacks] from the gas station. Not sure I’ve ever eaten them outside the car, but damn do they hit the spot during a long drive.
Q: What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?
A: I try to strike a balance between planning ahead and being spontaneous. I’m not the kind of person that can just show up somewhere and figure everything out on the fly. But I also hate having a rigorously planned schedule that accounts for every hour of every day. So usually I’ll make sure I have places to stay and I’ll plan ahead on any major attractions that I know are going to be crowded or potentially booked up. Beyond that I go with the flow and my sources of information are almost always friends or family that have traveled there before. Or even better, a local who knows all the great spots that won’t pop up in a Google search.
© 2023 JAE-HA KIM
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