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Star Who's Swapping Hollywood for GCSE's
Telegraph.co.uk, 2007
By Will Lawrence
Freddie Highmore is only 15, but he has starred in a string of hit movies. He tells Will Lawrence about his latest, 'August Rush'.
When shooting his latest movie, August Rush, in New York City, Freddie Highmore attended a smattering of sporting events. He saw the New York Rangers, the city's ice hockey team; the New York Knicks, the basketball team; and the New York Mets, the baseball team.
"The problem," says the 15-year-old British actor, "was that whenever we turned up, the teams seemed to lose. I brought bad luck, I guess!"
Freddie Highmore is not someone you'd normally equate with ill fortune. He has already shot six major films, working with Johnny Depp, Tim Burton and Robin Williams.
"I never really acted at school," he says. "It was doing small parts on TV that really got me started.
People would say that I wasn't bad, and the parts then got bigger and bigger. I got my first big film role with [Marc Forster's moving JM Barrie biopic] Finding Neverland. After that, I was lucky enough to get other parts as well."
To be fair to Highmore, his rise owes more to his talent than to luck. He was cast as Charlie Bucket in Tim Burton's 2005 film of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the prompting of Johnny Depp, who had been impressed by his young co-star's performance in Finding Neverland.
"Johnny's a mate, a real first-rate guy," says Highmore. "We became friends on Neverland, and we still email and text. He's so normal - he says hello to everyone on set, from the director to the tea lady."
Highmore also appreciated the fact that Depp treated him like an adult. "That was really important for me, although I think I am a bit more mature than some kids my age because I've spent more time with adults. And I haven't grown my hair over my eyes or anything."
Between acting jobs, Highmore still attends school and is preparing to take his GCSEs next summer. Like many of his classmates, he enjoys football – his family are devoted Arsenal fans – and music.
"There's never been a particular band that I've followed religiously," he says. "But I do tend to listen to sadder music. I'm not a sad person, upset the whole time, but I seem to be quite emotional." He stops and smiles. "Maybe I should grow my hair over my eyes!"
Music powers the narrative in August Rush, a modern-day fairytale featuring a beautiful performance from Highmore in the title role as an American orphan with an unusual gift for music: he is a talented guitarist and hears symphonies in the rhythms of everyday life.
Before Highmore signed on for the film, which also stars Robin Williams and Keri Russell, his parents had been encouraging him to concentrate on his schoolwork. Once the family read the script for August Rush, however, they realised it was too good an opportunity to miss.
"It was interesting to play someone a little detached, and not to have to talk so much." says Highmore. "Often, it can be more powerful not to say anything, rather than talking all the time. And when you are so great at one thing often, socially, you can be let down a bit.
For example, people who are amazing at music or maths, sometimes they can't really talk to you, a bit like August. He is more inside his head."
With his most recent film work now all wrapped up - he'll soon be heard as the voice of Pantalaimon in The Golden Compass and will appear as twins in The Spiderwick Chronicles next year - and exams looming, he will have to knuckle down to some serious studying, punctured by regular visits to the Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal Football Club.
"We're going there tonight," he chimes, as the interview draws to a close. Does his jinx on sporting teams have the same effect in London as in New York? "We'll have to wait and see," he smiles.
