Zack Gottsagen

In The Peanut Butter Falcon, a coming-of-age tale about a young man named Zak who runs away from a nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, the actor leads a cast of Hollywood A-listers, including Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, Bruce Dern, Thomas Haden Church, Jon Bernthal and John Hawkes. A major break for any fledgling star, the role was specifically written for Gottsagen, a former Special Olympics athlete with Down syndrome.

Zack Gottsagen, who has Down syndrome, co-stars in "Peanut Butter Falcon." The road trip movie stars Shia LaBeouf an as outlaw on the run who befriends a man with Down syndrome (Gottsagen) after he’s run away from his assisted living home to pursue his dreams of being a professional wrestler. Co-directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz wrote the movie for Gottsagen after meeting him at a summer camp for people with disabilities.

The story behind the film “The Peanut Butter Falcon” is as unexpectedly heartwarming as the film itself. And it all started with the film’s star, Zack Gottsagen. In town recently to be a presenter for the Media Access Awards, the actor posed for a photo shoot in the Beverly Hilton lobby. Songs from his favorite movie, “Grease,” played in the background to help loosen him up. His mother Shelley said he’d watched it so many times as a kid, he wore out the VHS tape. Asked what part he’d most like to play, Gottsagen immediately replied, “Danny Zuko.”