The former child star reflects on how his early acting career and subsequent fatherhood helped prepare him for Danny Boyle's horror threequel. Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
00:00You meet people along the way who have been great mentors and some who just don't really care.
00:04They weren't like swearing at us or anything.
00:07You're gonna feel a lot more than just terrified.
00:09James, congratulations on the movie.
00:12Alfie, gotta be honest, mate.
00:13The only thing cooler in my mind than starring in like a blockbuster movie as a teenager is starring in a blockbuster movie that he's still technically too young to watch.
00:21Yeah.
00:22I always wonder what that atmosphere is like on set.
00:25When you're younger, when you're in something like this and there's swearing and violence and everything.
00:29Do people make extra effort to kind of mind their P's and Q's and reminded that you are younger or do you just get treated like you're in your 20s and you're as jaded as the rest of us?
00:41Yeah, I mean, a lot of people treat me as an adult, which I get.
00:47I'm still a kid, but I liked being older because you don't want to be, you don't want to be babyfied.
00:54I mean, they did, they weren't like swearing at us or anything, but like, yeah, the treat is like, I was mature.
01:01Aaron, you kind of broke through some of the, I didn't realize you were Charlie Chaplin in Shanghai Nights.
01:06I love that movie.
01:07I honestly have this idea in my mind that you did kick ass when you were like a teenager, like younger teenager.
01:14But I think you're already like 19, 20, I guess.
01:16I was doing, yeah.
01:17Did you take some of those experiences of your early career?
01:20Did they teach you some lessons that you were able to kind of put in action when working closely with Alfie?
01:25No, absolutely.
01:26They did definitely.
01:27I mean, I know what it's like to be a child actor on a big film set.
01:30And also like Alfie said, you know, not everybody respects the fact that you're a child on an adult set.
01:36And then some people really do.
01:38And that sort of comes with experience.
01:41But you meet people along the way who have been great mentors and some who just don't really care.
01:46You know, and so when it came to this, I was, you know, I just want to be very hands on with Alfie.
01:52And obviously I'm playing his father in the story, but I had a very natural paternal feel for him.
01:58But yeah, I mean, he came to set like a pro anyway, with such great energy and focus and maturity.
02:05So it was amazing to see.
02:06I'm very proud of him in this movie.
02:08This movie obviously follows on from a film that kind of defined horror for our generation.
02:13It felt like it introduced like the fast zombie, like the extra scary version of zombies.
02:19Yeah.
02:20Did you like go back?
02:22Were you able to go back and watch these early iterations?
02:25What effects did it have on you?
02:27And like on a set like this, do you just kind of giggle or is it actually like quite nerve-wracking
02:34to have people like running and screaming at you and that fear driven through every shot?
02:39It's, it's, it's, it adds to the, to the performance having all of that in set.
02:46But yeah, I mean, there was times where it was,
02:49it would focus and it would be serious, but we had a lot of laughs on set and it was very fun.
02:54I did watch 28 Days Later to prepare for this movie and that was, that was great.
02:59I never heard of it before, but yeah, I watched it to prepare for this and it was really good.
03:06And what about you mate, did you go back?
03:08Like what effect did these movies have on you back in the day?
03:10I did go back actually.
03:11Do you get scared easy or not?
03:12I'm not a horror movie goer, but, but I do love the 28 Days and 28 Weeks.
03:18I mean, it made such an impact on me when the first time it came out and it was such a
03:22groundbreaking movie, but rewatching it, I never realized how much, because I'm a father
03:28of four girls and Brendan Gleeson's character, he's a father of a young teenage girl, how much
03:35that really moved me, how much an impact it made on me on the second time watching it.
03:40But these movies all have that sort of family drama, very intimate sort of emotional sort
03:45of heartbeat and soul to these big horror genre, you know, kind of movies.
03:50So that was what I took away from watching the second time around.
03:54It's interesting you say that because I, I became a dad since like last time I watched
03:59movies and that final third, like the third act maybe with you and Jodie and Wraith, that
04:05made me cry for the first time in a press screening, like I've done this for like 10 years.
04:09And I think it's because my heart was beating so much throughout the, like so stressed from
04:13the film.
04:14And then suddenly this, this thing happens and like as a dad, you're like, no, no, no,
04:18I'm out.
04:19No, it moved me too.
04:20It really did.
04:21And that's what I think is really exciting because most people are going to see and they're
04:24going to have a huge expectation of what they, an anticipation of what they feel they're
04:27going to want to see and that's going to take you on a, on a Danny Boyle journey.
04:31And, uh, you're going to feel a lot more than just terrified, you know?
04:35Yeah, completely.
04:36I feel like it's about, it feels like five different movies kind of like patchworked
04:40together at times and the tonal shifts just leave yourself like breathless and suddenly
04:45you're like laughing and then you're kind of terrified and then you're upset.
04:48It's, um, yeah, it's a bit of a ride.
04:50Maybe get some sleep before watching it.
04:51That's what I suggest to people.
04:52Cause I was knackered and it just left me in bits.
04:55Anyway, just love the movie.
04:56Looking forward to the next one.
04:57Uh, I'll catch you in a year's time, I guess.
