Thirteen and a half year old Jacob Latimore, who has been a singer since he was nine, makes his motion picture debut in Brad Anderson's horror movie VANISHING ON 7TH STREET. I had a chance to chat with Jacob about working on the movie...
Q: Jacob, you've been a performer for a while now, a singer. Do you think that has helped you with the acting, in terms of being in front of the camera?
Jacob: Kind of, but not really, because the movies are totally different from being on stage, two different vibes.
Q: How was it working side by with Christian Haydensen, who was Anakin in the last two STAR WARS movies?
Jacob: It was really fun. I got really close to him. He taught me a lot, doing the scenes, stuff like that. He's really great. I've seen his passion, it was really amazing working with him.
Q: How about with the other actors, like Thandie (Newton) and John (Leguizamo)?
Jacob: They were really awesome. We didn't have a chance to joke around, like everyone wanted to because everyone wants to stay in the scene, the vibe the two months, but it was fun.
Q: So they were more like "method actors", wanting to stay in character?
Jacob: Right.
Q: What was your favorite part? A specific scene.
Jacob: I kind of liked doing the crying scene, I was proud of myself because I didn't think I could pull if off like I did. But everything was really fun.
Q: How did you get yourself to cry?
Jacob: I thought that if I was in that situation and if something happened to my family, it kind of got to me and I put it on the camera.
Q: Was there anything funny on set?
Jacob: Thandie did this one thing, where she made it look like her lip was gone and kind of scared Brad (the director) a bit. "My God, your lip, your lip!". Thandie, she cracked a little bit of jokes.
Q: How was it working with Brad? His movies are intense so how is he?
Jacob: He's really focused. He makes sure everything is perfect. When we were filming some of the elements weren't there (the shadows) and made sure everything was perfect and our facial expressions and reactions were on point. He was great to work with.
Q: There's a lot of effects that were put in later, in post-production, so did you find it hard to react to something that wasn't there?
Jacob: A little bit but I got used to it after a while.
Q: This is your first horror movie....do you normally watch them?
Jacob: I watch them sometimes, never by myself though. I couldn't say they are my favorite--I love to watch comedies.
Q: I know there will probably never ever be a sequel to this movie but the way it ended left it wide open. What do you think happens to your character down the line?
Jacob: I honestly think we'd end up like everyone else but some people are saying maybe you recreate the world and start everything over.
Q: That's what's implied. And nothing is ever explained in the movie, what the shadows are. What do you think they are?
Jacob: People have their own opinions about it. I thought it was the devil. Or just souls from the dead or something. Some people think it's the Boogeyman or something.
Q: The movie took two months shooting? How was it in Detroit?
Jacob: Great. I stayed out there with my Auntie.
Q: It's always kind of a joke here in Michigan that Detroit always looks like that, like how it does in VANISHING...
Jacob: That's why Brad picked it. No dissing Detroit, it was the perfect scenery.
Q: Anything else you want to mention?
Jacob: Before I started doing the acting I'm a singer, too. I just dropped a single called LIKE A MOTH, and I'm excited about that. I'm working on the album and just signed with Jive records.
Q: That's very different than being an actor in a horror movie, for sure.
Thirteen and a half year old Jacob Latimore, who has been a singer since he was nine, makes his motion picture debut in Brad Anderson's horror movie VANISHING ON 7TH STREET. I had a chance to chat with Jacob about working on the movie...
