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For me, not just the character of 'Ender', but the whole world is so beautifully crafted in the novel that I wasn't sure how it could be brought to the screen - but Gavin has done it justice, and he's done it amazingly.
For me, I value connection a lot, talking to people and connecting. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy having my own time, but I think it's really important to have that connection, so living on Mars would be a struggle for me.
I've been in a few films that have been adapted and, as an actor, the amount of resources and things you can gain just from reading the story, as well as the script, are so massive that it's something you just can't put down.
When you're hanging there twenty feet off the ground, surrounded by green screen, and all you've got is the other actor and the wonderful Gavin Hood shouting instructions at you as to what's going on; it's a really unique experience.
When you're working in the [film] industry and you're working with people who are well known and are so regarded, you do just pick up on things. Seeing the way that people hold themselves and compose themselves before a scene - it's inspirational.
I always think that trying to push yourself as an actor in a direction that you've never been before, developing characters which are more difficult to get into the head of, or are more interesting and further away from yourself, is always a challenge.
It's kind of hard to enjoy the film when you are watching yourself the whole time. But you do get on with it and try and appreciate everything else about the movie. At least that's what I do. It depends on how fresh in my memory the whole experience is.
I just read the scripts that come to me, and I see the ones which I really kind of understand and connect with, whether that's a science fiction or a period piece. It doesn't really matter as long as they're original and I have something to do with the character.
I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason.
I did a film, 'X+Y', in which I played somebody on the autistic spectrum. It's a subject I didn't know very much about, but being an actor gives yourself the opportunity to really immerse yourself in that world and learn things. It's one of the great things about what I do.
One of the things that I really enjoyed playing with Ender was how he's constantly struggling between his brother and his sister. It's like he's got two sides to him. And I've always wanted to play a darker character, and in this film and in the novel, Ender has his moments where he isn't a glorified hero.
I always think that trying to push yourself as an actor in a direction that you've never been before, developing characters which are more difficult to get into the head of, or are more interesting and further away from yourself, is always a challenge. But, you want to take up that challenge and try your best.
I've had a lot of consoles as a kid so there has always been something that I've done as a pastime or with friends and for personal enjoyment. I don't play many sports so it gives me an opportunity to have that same competitive feeling and the same reward when you win but using different techniques. It's much more mental.
For me, with any character, there are different ways that you approach understanding him, and in this film in particular, because I had the novel to refer to. It's always really helpful to have all of that information and all of those hundreds more words which give you an idea into the background and your character and all.
I think that a lot of the time I don't go for something in particular. I see what comes to me, I filter it out. I never really strive to play a particular character or do a particular genre of film. As long as it's a good script and a great range of people and my character is really interesting I can't see any reason not to do it.
When you really want a role and you really want a character, you become quite close to the script and the project, and it is sad when it doesn't go your way. But I've found there's always another one, which will be as good if not better. You can't let your failures bring you down when you're an actor, because then you can't get up.
I think I can speak for a lot of people in that they would be pretty nervous about meeting Harrison Ford, and I was definitely one of those people. For me, and I think for all of us, once you get to know him, you do get on very well. He's such an amazing person and an amazing actor. There were so many young people on the set and he really pulled the best out of us.
In terms of my relationships with a lot of the adult characters, when I was working with Harrison, it wasn't like a verbal agreement, but we both understood that because there was this constant tension between our characters, we couldn't say "Cut" and start acting normal. We had to keep an essence of that relationship in our characters off screen which is really important.
The first time I met Harrison, I think, was at the very first read through of the script. As anyone would be, I was a bit nervous before meeting him. I mean, it's Han Solo, so it was quite crazy. But once you get to know him, he really is such an amazing person. He's such an amazing actor as well. As I said before, his presence really does get the best out of you as an actor.
When you're younger, you get scripts that you are too young for and now I'm getting scripts, which I think, "I'm too old for this character." They can always shift things around to make it work and make the ages work. But I'm definitely getting more complex and interesting roles and less what you would expect. So I can experiment more and have a bit more freedom when I'm putting things on tape.
I think a lot of that is what helped me develop my character. I wouldn't say it was Method, but it was definitely a little more in depth than I've done before in terms of acting. With the other kids, we all were such good friends by the time we started shooting. Because of that, it allowed us to trust each other more to push the dynamics of the relationship to places which you might not be able to had you not trusted that person.
TV and film both attract me equally. In both, you do search for a role that would be enjoyable to do, that has a great storyline and then, secondly, you look at the cast and the crew - are they respectable? How I look at it is my character - has the character got enough substance? It can't just be a one faced character, which is there to fill a gap. He has to have a purpose, so if it ticks all of those boxes then generally it's a good choice.