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Hangin' With Archives
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Freddie Highmore’s“Twin” Adventureby Lynn B
We interviewed Freddie in Beverly Hills to learn about the new film based upon the popular novels and what his future holds (he’s got some big school tests coming up!). In “Spiderwick”, Freddie takes on the challenge of playing twins trying to adjust to a broken family and life in a new, magical and kinda spooky old house. Each boy has a totally different personality; one is an angry rebel and the other a more bookish, quiet type. We wondered how difficult it was to portray two roles in one film…. AGW: Would you say you’re more like twin Simon or more like Jared? Freddie: Maybe somewhere in between the two. AGW: Which was easier for you to play? Freddie: They were both kind of different. It was great to have the luxury of playing them both. I guess I would be somewhere in between them because Jared's got perhaps some anger issues which I would hope not to have. I'm not going to smash holes in my kitchen. But, you know, you'd like to have that drive that he does to fight for his family and continue with that and go for what he believes in. AGW: Is this the first film that you’ve done an American accent? Freddie: No, I'd done one before in August Rush earlier in the year. So I guess it was just coming back to it. AGW: Is it easy for you to do accents? Freddie: I try and talk in it as much as possible, so it becomes second nature. You know it's important. You don't want to have to worry about real intrusive R’s and the vowel sounds. You want to just concentrate on the emotions and the important side of the character. AGW: How did you go about defining the characters of the two boys? Freddie: It was looking at changes that might have happened to them as they were growing up. I mean genetically they're the same person. And so, in a sense, it's just interesting to look at how they reacted to different situations as they’ve been growing up and the way they’ve reacted to their parents’ divorce is key. Simon is perhaps more internal but still just as hurt. AGW: You seem to alter the body language in each case as well as the vocal cadences.
AGW: Did you have input into your hair and wardrobe? Freddie: Yeah, a little bit. We always tried to discuss it. Definitely I think if they ask you to do a film, they want you be a part of it and put in your input. They don’t want you just to come up and do the character totally as it’s written. They want you to have your own ideas and bring something new to the project. AGW: You brought some mean guitar playing in August Rush. Are you continuing with that? Freddie: [big grin] Yeah. A little bit, yeah. I try and keep it going. It’s fun. AGW: What was the most challenging scene you shot for “Spiderwick”? Freddie: It was quite challenging on the whole working with CGI creatures and twins, especially at the same time, and looking at ping pong balls and crosses on the walls [representing the creatures that would be computerized later] and trying to remember which was which. I mean I think, in that respect, they tried to make it as easy as they could. They showed us various animations of how it would look, and they had cardboard cutouts and stuff so we wouldn't just be going at it without any knowledge at all. We had a certain amount of basis. AGW: Had you read any of the books before making the film? Freddie: Yeah. To do the film, I started to read them just to help with the characterization since that's sort of what it was based on. AGW: Now that you’re about to turn 16, are you starting to look for more mature roles? What goes into your decision-making in terms of choosing new roles to play? Freddie: I think you always want to try something different for every film you do. You always want it to be a new thing and new characters, new roles. It would be kind of boring to play the same ones over and over again. So, yeah, it would be interesting just to play different things, perhaps play a bad guy one time or someone really, really nasty! You never know. AGW: This film seems to have been very physically demanding because there’s a lot of running and you’re getting dragged by goblins. Was it exhausting for you? Freddie: A little bit, yeah. A little bit physically demanding, but still you know it was always great fun. If it ever becomes not fun, you should just stop doing it and step aside. There are thousands of people who would love to be here in the situation that I'm in. So if you're not having fun, then just stop, I guess. I'm having a great time at the moment, so I'd like it to continue. AGW: But, you’re on record as saying you’re not sure whether you want to continue acting as an adult. How do you feel about that? Freddie: I guess what I really said was that you can't be sure when you're very young what you want to do exactly when you're older. I’m sure I can change my mind and wake up tomorrow and think I'd love to try something else, or love to do this sort of thing I didn't realize I wanted to. So you just keep your options open and at the moment it's great fun doing acting, but don’t set everything on doing it. AGW: What do you enjoy most about acting? Freddie: I really like the people that you meet. They’re really interesting I think, [especially] the top guys, the ones I've been able to work with. Also, you know, it gives you the opportunity to travel a lot and that's been fantastic. I've been to so many places in the world and I guess the one that's perhaps been the most amazing place [is] Cambodia and working in the jungles there with baby tigers. You'd never get that experience or opportunity [normally]. AGW: Why do you think “Spiderwick” appeals to young people? Freddie: [Maybe it’s] the fact that they've got the wish that there could be another world in the back garden, another unseen world that hasn't been discovered yet. I think everyone in fact, adults too, think it would be great if there were an alien or another world was found on Mars. Everyone would get really excited. It would be really big news, and that's what it taps into in the film. AGW: You have a younger brother. Do you two get along well? Would you like an older sister like your twin characters have in the film? Freddie: No, I mean my brother's good enough. [Laughs] But no, we get on very well. Yeah, we’ve always got on well. I think that's one of the worst things about doing films is if you spend a lot of time away from your family. My mom and brother usually stay at home in London. They come and visit a few times during the shoot, but it's not really the same. And I guess that would be the worst thing about it. AGW: Are you the type of actor who can watch yourself on screen or do you cringe? Freddie: I don't mind it too much. I wouldn't sort of go and watch it over again and again and again and get it out and rent it on DVD. But I don't mind seeing it once or twice and seeing how it turned out, especially with this one. It was really interesting to see the twins come and actually work together and see myself in two places at one time. AGW: What did you think when you saw the finished version, especially after all the special effects were put in? Freddie: You've just got to trust the people when you're shooting it and just go along with what they're saying and see how it comes out. And I think it was great and I think they did a fantastic job and it looks believable, you know, all the goblins and trolls. AGW: Your fellow cast members have said that Mark [Waters, the director] gave everyone some strange directions. Do you remember any in particular, like him doing the ogre Mulgarath’s voice on set? Freddie: Well, he had the “Water’s Wail”, this sort of big, loud booming noise over everyone else on the loudspeaker as Mulgarath. [he makes a crazy roaring sound imitating Mark’s version of Mulagrath’s voice] so he was interesting. But yeah, he was really fun, and he just made it a good atmosphere on the set. AGW: What kind of music or musical artists or bands are you into? Freddie: Lots of different types. There’s no particular band or artist. I mean maybe I tend to listen to sadder songs some of the time, you know, more emotional ones perhaps. I'm not a sad person. I don't go and cry every [time] but… AGW: You just like ballads more? Freddie: Yeah, I guess. It just seems more emotional, but it depends on your mood. I'm sure everyone has many types of music that they enjoy. It depends how I feel. AGW: What do you have coming up next? Freddie: There's school and stuff like that. [Laughs] There's these big exams I've got to take in May and June of this year so I'm working towards them and revising for that. But there's no other film that I've got planned for the moment, but maybe something in the summer. AGW: Are these the Brit ‘O Level’ exams or what? Freddie: The GCSE’s (General Certificate of Secondary Education). I guess they're kind of big exams that we take in England. They help to get into universities and stuff like that, and then we take another two years for ‘A levels’ which are only four subjects. So you want to do well in this one as well. AGW: Good for you! Good luck on them. How do you handle your schooling? Do you have a tutor on set and then you go to a private school in London when you’re not working? Freddie: Yeah, I go to a normal school in London with my friends and near my home. I can go and walk in the morning which is nice. I guess I'm just a normal kid apart from the acting. I mean school's important. You've got to keep going at it. Yeah, we always have a tutor who comes out from England to help us. AGW: You’ve worked twice with Johnny Depp. Do you have any plans to do anything else with him? I’m sure you’d like to work with him again? Freddie Highmore: Yeah, definitely. He's a fantastic actor and a great guy so I'd be lucky to do more stuff with him. AGW: Who else out there would you love to work with some day? Freddie: Maybe just the same people again. They've all been so nice. There've been some pretty top people and it would be great to do [more] stuff like that. Pictures courtesy of and copyright Paramount Pictures, 2008 |
 
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Cute,
very talented teen actor Freddie Highmore will be 16 on Valentine’s
Day… the day his film The Spiderwick Chronicles hits theaters.
At his young age, Freddie has already gotten to act with mega-star Johnny
Depp… twice.. in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and
again in Finding Neverland. Working with Johnny is a dream for
most actors, including Freddie’s fellow teen Saoirse Ronan of the
Oscar-nominated Atonement. The young Brit actor has worked with
Russell Crowe in A Good Year and hot Jonathan Rhys Meyers in
August Rush. You can also throw in respected actors like Kate
Winslet and Dustin Hoffman. Not a bad co-star roster! 
Freddie:
[glad we got that] Yeah. I tried to do that as well and get that in. Also,
we worked on the clothes and the visual side; the haircuts and the choice
of clothes, the color schemes that were used for each of them.