Villain you'll 'love to hate': Actor from East Peoria has role in upcoming comedy movie

East Peoria native Zach Scheerer will appear in the highlight of his acting career in a movie due out this fall.

Scheerer said recently he had "just finished a film where I star as the main villain" opposite Jaime Pressly, Ty Simpkins, Britt Robertson, Cierra Ramirez, Wendie Malick and others. Andy Palmer directs. The film is scheduled to release in theaters and on demand Sept. 29. The first trailer for the movie was released Aug. 21.

"The Re-Education of Molly Singer" is a comedy with the storyline, "To save her job, a young lawyer must go undercover, enrolling as a freshman at her old alma mater, in order to resuscitate the well being of her Boss' terribly awkward teenage son."

The East Peoria Community High School graduate has appeared in the TV series "Grey's Anatomy," "Lucifer" and "Dave." He has a black belt in tae kwon do and his image has appeared in magazines including Men's Fitness and GQ. He has been the cover model for numerous romance novels.

Scheerer describes his role in "Molly Singer" as "kind of a cool villain. ... Deep down he’s actually a good guy." He adds, "Even though Stu is quite the jerk ... you will love to hate this character."

Thoughts from the set

The actor shared some thoughts on his costars and director:

Jaime Pressly: "She’s truly a great person. She was so motherly to us all on set and it was so surreal working with someone I grew up watching my whole life."

Ty Simpkins: "Ty is the real deal. ... He’s done it all: 'Iron Man,' 'Jurassic World,' 'Insidious,' 'The Whale.' He’s a great actor and really cares about his craft."

Britt Robertson: "Britt crushed it! She’s so talented. I felt blessed to work with her. I remember my wife and I watched her in 'The Longest Ride' with Scott Eastwood when I first started acting. I had barely landed any success in the industry at that time and now here I was toe to toe with her on screen and basically her antagonist the entire film. So surreal I still have to pinch myself at times."

Cierra Ramirez: "Cierra is extremely talented as well. She’s so known from her show 'Good Trouble' that we had to hurry sometimes while shooting at Kennesaw State College because people were lining up to see her."

Wendie Malick: "I never got a chance to truly work with Wendie as her character never crosses paths with mine. But man what a blessing to share the screen with such a legendary and talented actress."

Andy Palmer: "I could never say enough about Andy. He believed in me, a nobody in Hollywood, to play this character and there were some big names that went out for it. ... He is an actors' director and lets us find our character on screen."

Just for laughs, the Midwest transplant was asked about the recent snowfall in Los Angeles and Southern California. Scheerer's response: "Ha ha ha! You wanna talk amusing: Watch SoCal drivers drive in the .5 inches of snow that didn’t even barely stick, unless you were in the mountains. You would have thought they were driving in the Illinois Blizzard of 1983!"