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We're Hangin' With..... LIAM AIKEN: STAR OF GOOD BOY! by: Lynn B.
AGW: How did you do the touching scene in Good Boy where you are talking to your dog and crying. Liam: I knew I could do it because I've done it before so, I think it's pressure on myself. I know I can and the lines are so perfect. It was shot the last day so it was perfect. John (Hoffman, writer/director) said, 'everything you've been doing for the last four months, just put it together right here'. AGW: Did you fall in love with Hubble [his dog in the film]? Liam: Yeah but I couldn't pet him because he's kind of hostile in the movie so they didn't want him wagging his tail. AGW: But he licked your face. Liam: [laughs] Baby food. AGW: Do you have a pet? Liam: I got one at the end of the movie. The production gave me one. He's a miniature greyhound kind of like Nelly (the mini-greyhound in the film). He's a cousin. Same breeder. He's like a relative. His name is Kes. It's an old English movie about a boy and a Kestrel. My mom saw it and told me about it. Personally, my idea is that dogs respond better to one syllable names. They're short. It's easier to remember. AGW: What do you look for in a pet? Liam: I look for someone who can play, run around and have a good time and, at the same time, curl up on your lap and go to sleep. He has to pretty much be loyal and just a good little guy. AGW: How hard was it to work with six dogs at once? Liam: It was incredible. The dogs were so well-trained. We'd rarely have to do the scenes more than four times which is pretty good. The trainer would stay, 'turn your head over here. No, too much, back'. They're all real dogs. The only thing they didn't do was fly. Hubble flying was his own jump and then they did it in computer. AGW: Did you just have to imagine that a dog was talking to you? How did you play off nothing? Liam: Someone did [the dogs'] lines which really helped. You can't just count one, two. Fortunately they had someone doing it. The same person read all the parts but he did the voices. AGW: Did you have any trouble with the dogs misbehaving? Liam: Sometimes the dog would just see something that interested him over there and he would be like [demonstrates turning head and staring in the distance]. Then he would just get up and leave. We had those a few times. I'd be in the middle of a speech, 'Now, Hubble…….oookay'. AGW: How did you get this part? Liam: I auditioned. I came in pretty late in the game and then I met with John and did a screen test and then we went to MGM about an hour later and the head of MGM offered me the role which is pretty incredible. That never happens on the spot. You usually hear a month later. I did the emotional scene at the end and the hilltop scene. I did other scenes as well. AGW: Do you have anything in common with your character? He moves to different houses a lot. Liam: I've lived in the same town all my life. I live a pretty normal life. I do one movie a year and have a good summer. I go to regular school in New Jersey. The only thing I really have in common with him is liking dogs but that's the most important thing. AGW: Which of the dogs did you like the best on the set? Liam: I really liked Nelly [the mini-greyhound]. I had been researching them for a while, big dogs, little dogs and I really liked Nelly because if you got her to trust you it was pretty gratifying because that dog trusts nothing. A leaf falls and she runs away. AGW: Did you have film idols growing up or why did you want to act?
AGW: What do you like about acting? Liam: I like that you can play yourself just through different emotions, feel what that person is feeling and going through or you can be someone completely different. AGW: If you only do one film a year, do you miss it when you go home? Liam: Well, when I go back, I'm ready to go back. It's a four month shoot and you're ready to go back home then you're ready to do it again. You get into a routine. You get restless [not doing it]. AGW: What is the next thing you have set up to do? Liam: I have Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Jim Carrey's film. I'm going to start that off in November. AGW: Do you like Jim Carrey? Liam: Yeah. I heard only the best about him. I play Klaus, the brother. AGW: What kinds of movies do you like to go see? Liam: I really liked The Sting. That was a really good old movie and I really liked The Italian Job. I like anything really entertaining. I don't so much watch kid movies anymore. I like anything that's really well shot. AGW: Are you thinking of directing when you're older? Liam: Yeah. I'd like to direct because you read a script and you have a vision. Everyone's vision is different. I read this script and had my vision and then you get there and it's a completely different. I'd just like to see my vision. It's like you move into a house; you hear about it then you get there, this is the house and everything prior to that has been erased. AGW: What did you think when you saw the animals actually speaking in the film? Liam: It's quite incredible to think that we can create such a bond without ever talking in a conversation. The visual effects house did a really good job, nothing too animated or cartoony with eyes bugging out and stuff. It was simple and came out really well. AGW: Did you meet Matthew Broderick [who voices lead dog Hubble]? Liam: He's a very nice guy. He's kind of shy and laid back. I met him because I was going into an ADR session and he was coming out but I didn't meet anyone else. I just met Donald Faison [who voices bulldog Wilson] as he was coming out and going in. AGW: Were there any voices that surprised you when you heard the dogs? Liam: At the beginning of shooting John wanted Matthew Broderick and thoughout the process different people were coming up, 'oh, this might be the person. Oh no'. It was like a see-saw. It wasn't until post production that everyone had been cast. So really, I wasn't sure who everyone was. I didn't remember which people were playing which dog. AGW: What's your favorite scene in the movie? Liam: I like all the park scenes with the dogs running in slow motion. I like those because these dogs are magnificent. It's like the Discovery Channel. AGW: What was your fave to shoot? Liam: I liked to throw the ball for the dogs. The dogs weren't trained to go after the ball. They were trained to not go after the ball because the trainers don't want them to be distracted. They had to train them to go after the ball. AGW: What do you hope that kids take away with them from seeing the film? Liam: I hope they take away with them a newfound idea of friendship. Because that's really what it is. It's a kid who wants a friend who finds one in this dog who never needed one. AGW: Did Kes your dog come with you today? Liam:
Not this time. He came with us on an eleven city tour in twelve days and
he was kinda pooped.
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13-year-old
brown-haired, blue eyed actor Liam Aiken looks young for his age but he's
already been on Broadway and played Julia Roberts' son in Stepmom. He's
been on t.v. as a guest star and will play opposite Jim Carrey in an upcoming
film. Right now his co-stars are a pack of hilarious dogs who act with
Liam in the feel-good film Good Boy!. Liam is a very good…actor
in the movie and was given his own dog at the end of filming.
Liam:
Well, actually I needed a college fund and that's why I started. I did
two or three commercials and I figured that was it but my mom asked if
I wanted to continue and I liked it so I said 'yeah, yeah'. It just grew
from there.