TMW#70: Freddie Highmore interviewed and the long and short of movie titles
Plus a 'blue' movies quiz!
Welcome to your Tuesday edition of The Movie Wingman, featuring an interview with Freddie Highmore ahead of the launch of his new streaming thriller series, The Assassin. Plus, thoughts on straightforward film titles, and a blue-hued quiz in honour of Smurfs…
Freddie Highmore interview
The British actor on The Assassin, handling childhood stardom and directing…
Chatting to Freddie Highmore mid-heatwave is apt, given that his latest project was shot in scorching Greece last summer. Prime Video thriller series The Assassin - streaming from 25 July - sees Highmore co-star with Keeley Hawes. She’s a former gun-for-hire with a very particular set of skills, currently living out a quiet retirement in Greece. He’s the estranged son who - up until a fateful reunion that ends in a sniper shootout - had no idea what his mum did for a living.
The Movie Wingman was shown the first half of the six-part series ahead of our chat with Highmore. Created by brother duo Jack and Harry Williams (The Tourist, The Missing), The Assassin is slick, action-packed and very funny. It marks a return to UK/European productions for Highmore, who found success at an extremely young age with breakout performances in the likes of Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, before later starring in long-running TV shows like Bates Motel and The Good Doctor. Ahead of the release of the sure-to-be-binged The Assassin, we chat to the 33-year-old Brit about action scenes, jaw-dropping locations and starting his acting career so young…
The Movie Wingman: What was the main draw to The Assassin when it came your way?
Freddie Highmore: I think a few things. The opportunity to work with Keeley. I'd been such a fan of hers for so long, and so we had a Zoom together having both read the script and just saw it the exact same way, and connected generally. I think we've got a similar sense of humour and wanted to dig out the same stuff, and so that was really exciting from the beginning.
And also the same goes for Harry and Jack Williams. I'd loved The Tourist as well as other things that they had done and I think that was a real draw just to get to work with them and with their scripts. And I think what they did in The Tourist, and they do well in this show too, is this mix of the serious and the silly: this high-octane drama and that thriller engine, but at the same time always doing it in a way that is quite grounded and is grounded in relationships and characters.
It plays like an addictive, page-turner of a show… is that how it felt reading the scripts?
Yes, it definitely feels propulsive. I think the thing that I always also admire about their writing is, yes, there are those twists and turns, but it never feels like they're there to purely advance the plot and to just keep people clicking. I think they're always grounded in an emotional reality for the characters, and I think they marry the two of those things so well.
There’s this fun dynamic in the show where the mum is the badass assassin with Jason Bourne skills, and when we meet the son he’s very mild-mannered and bookish. How do you describe Edward?
I think he's an overthinker. From that first time that we meet him, it's clear that he struggles with making decisions and overthinks every move of his. But I also think that he doesn't necessarily come to the right conclusion despite picking it through. I think part of the fun is that there are obvious secrets from the very beginning. Notably, the fact that she killed people for a living, that Julie has kept from Edward. But Edward also has made a lot of mistakes and kept a lot of things from Julie. And it's fun over the course of the show to realise what he's hiding as well.
From an action perspective, would you say you have it easier than Keeley given that she comes with these skills?
Definitely [laughs]. At a certain point in the show, she's trying to get Edward to realise that he does need to try and get some sort of skills in order to survive in the world that they've found themselves in. But I never needed to be a professional, so it was much easier for me to just be a novice and lean into that as much as possible. It's so preposterous and crazy to him, as it would be for any of us.
You have some motorcycle action in the first episode. How was that to get involved in?
Great - I could just cling on the back and get driven around. The fun thing about that was just where we got to film in Plaka, which was this beautiful part of Athens that, because of the time of year when we were there in August, was a bit quieter than normal, so we could go around these beautiful streets. I think that's worth saying generally about Greece. The locations that we got to film in were just absolutely amazing, and it was every day you were suddenly in this place that you couldn't quite believe we'd got permission to film in. There's stuff on the beach, to things in central parts of Athens, to being [in an old military base] on the top of the hill... they're just these insanely beautiful locations.
Do you get any downtime to enjoy the location or is it all work, work, work while you’re there?
There's time to enjoy the city as well. I would say that it's probably just my personality, but at the end of the day's work, I just usually get home and get to bed and then prepare for the next day, which is very dull, isn't it? [laughs] But no, there were obviously times where you could get out and enjoy Athens and just this amazing food scene and the level of cultural excitement and buzziness. It was a great place to be. And at the same time, I think every day on set felt like, as I said, you're heading into these amazing places that you can't quite believe you are able to film in. And that on its own just felt like an incredibly lucky thing to be able to do. It was almost all location [shooting]. And when you're spending your day [on a yacht], there's no hardship. [laughs]
How does shooting a miniseries like The Assassin compare to some of the longer series you've worked on?
A big part is that there's a more closed-ended story that you are telling within six episodes as opposed to going in with expectations of returning year after year after year… There's nothing that needs to be held back.
Did you enjoy those experiences on Bates Motel and The Good Doctor of committing to a character and building it over years?
Yeah, definitely. I think they're the most fulfilling things that I've done. Getting to spend five years or seven years almost exclusively working on one thing. They were both remarkable opportunities and I'll always be very grateful to have had them.
With The Good Doctor, how did you approach playing a character with autism? Was it very research-based?
Yeah, there was a lot of research, especially towards the beginning, when you are establishing a character to just make sure that autism was being portrayed on the show as authentically as possible. Literature and documentaries, and talking with consultants, and also just people in my own life who I know on the spectrum… all of that went into creating this character. And at the same time, I think the important thing that we always remembered was that we were only telling one person's individual story and that you make choices about this individual, not in any way hoping that this one person is going to be able to represent everyone on the spectrum in the same way that a neurotypical lead character is never going to represent everyone who's neurotypical in the world.
You began your career very young. Do you think anything in particular helped you handle having career success from such a young age?
I think maintaining a separation from it [was helpful]. It was never the focus of my life. I went to school and that was always normality for me, as opposed to moving out to LA or getting swept up in that in some form. So I think it was never the focus of my life as a kid, and I think that was really important and healthy. And then I think also going off to university and not acting for a little bit [also helped], so then it became an active choice to return and do it again as opposed to it being something that I always did and then just carried on doing.
You worked with some big names when you were very young - did you have an awareness of some of these people being a big deal in the industry, or was there a childhood innocence to it all?
I always took it very seriously and professionally, and enjoyed that element of it. I really enjoyed doing it, but it didn't feel like just playing around and messing around. You are in a serious working environment, so there's an awareness that you are with people who are exceptional at what they do, and you feel lucky to be a part of it. But I think at the same time, it was probably a different time as well... social media wasn't really there when I started, and certainly not in the same way. MySpace was probably just kicking off. You were naturally more removed, and it was a more innocent time. And I think it must be much more difficult for kids today, who are so much more connected with the wider world rather than just their immediate reality, to keep a hold of the normal things in life. I think I was lucky to have missed that.
You've directed quite a few TV episodes as well. How did you make that transition?
I'd love to direct more as well. I think I just really enjoyed being involved in the wider process over time on the TV shows that I got to do. So I got to write and direct and was involved as a producer on The Good Doctor, and the experience is quite all-consuming, and I enjoyed being a part of a lot of it. So directing is something I would definitely love to do more of and I'd love to direct a film and certainly in this post-Good Doctor era, where there are lots of new, exciting opportunities, that's something that I would love to do.
Finally, is there anything you haven’t done as an actor yet that you’d still love to do?
I would love to do more in the UK. The exciting thing with doing this show was obviously working with Keeley and Harry and Jack, these greats of British TV… Having been abroad for an amazing 12 years in North America, I think I am excited to find more things to do at home. (Matt Maytum)
The Assassin will launch on Prime Video in the UK & Ireland on 25 July
Name that Dune
A few words on why movie titles should simply tell like it is…
In case you missed it, there was a major announcement last week concerning the third part of the Dune saga: it’s going to be called Dune: Part Three. Not Dune Messiah as many expected (like the 1969 book on which it’ll be based), or Dune: Between Arrakis and a Hard Place, or Dun3, or even Dune: July (it’s always summer there, right?). Not to sound all Daily Mail, but this is a clear victory for common sense – the biggest since the long-awaited second Gladiator movie Ronsealed its way into cinemas as the winningly succinct Gladiator II.
For one thing, imagine the relief Denis Villeneuve’s poster designer must be feeling, having only to change one word (with the ‘T’ already there!) on the Part Two logo so they can crack on with the more important business of cramming all 72 principal cast members (give or take) into one collage.
The Dune news comes as we mark the 20th anniversary of 2005, when the ascendancy of epic fantasy somehow necessitated titles with more words than a Tolkien trilogy (including the appendices). Attaining peak long-windedness, the top three movies of that year were - for brevity’s sake - Goblet of Fire, Episode III and the first Narnia movie. And that’s how those films are more generally referred to, just as we talk about ‘Pirates 1’, ‘Fellowship’ and ‘John Wick 3’ (whenever I hear the full, arcane title I think not about preparing for war but a geometry teacher asking, ‘So, how many sides does a Parabellum have?’).
Long titles are a scourge on typography and memory, but in the latter regard, shorter, pretentious and/or meaningless ones can be just as much of a pain. I defy anyone but the most hardcore fan to remember the ordering of the Resident Evil franchise; was Retribution before Apocalypse or after Extinction? Which one was Awakening, or am I thinking of Underworld? At least Resident Evil semi-redeemed this subtitular wantonness with 2017’s The Final Chapter, though I’d have appreciated it even more if they’d interposed the words ‘Sixth and’ between ‘The’ and ‘Final’. That’s the kind of verbosity I can get on board with.
Returning to the present, the gloriously, flatly descriptive Dune: Part Three offers a beacon at an uncertain time for cinematic nomenclature. On the one hand, we have a resurgence of colonic bobbins: Jurassic World: Rebirth (of what?); Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning (didn’t feel like it); Captain America: Brave New World (what exactly was new? Up-and-coming 82-year-old star Harrison Ford? A Hulk on the rampage? The ‘discovery’ of adamantium, a substance steeped in enigma, 25 years of X-Men movies aside?). On the other hand, there’s the naggingly familiar Superman, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Naked Gun… are these new films, or a snapshot of my VHS cabinet circa 1999?
Of course, keeping titles plain (but original!), simple and clearly numbered does lessen the chances of a dramatically satisfying title drop, something I’m as fond of as Peter Griffin (see below). Maybe Josh Brolin will squint into camera and utter a gruff “Yup, we’re in Dune: Part Three all right,” as the shit once again hits the sand, but I doubt it.
Furthermore, the concept of pretentious, waffley titles, full of ‘of thes’ and ‘and thes’, signifying nothing, did mean 2022’s The Bubble had at least one great gag, in the form of film-within-a-film Cliff Beasts 6: Battle for Everest – Memories of a Requiem. Lengthy titles can also serve up comic opportunities, via the abbreviated text of the humble ticket stub: I well remember a colleague presenting paper proof that he’d attended a 2004 British drama called not Ladies in Lavender but the more eyebrow-raising ‘Ladies in Lav’. Talk about getting caught short… (Matthew Leyland)
The Wingman Quiz: Blue movies (not like that)
It’s a big year for the colour blue: Superman, Fantastic Four - and of course, the king of all blue-character fantasy franchises: Smurfs (in cinemas this Friday). Time to see how azure-footed your movie knowledge is… Scroll down for the answers.
Blue Velvet received an Oscar nomination in which category?
a) Best Director (David Lynch) b) Best Picture c) Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper) d) Best Supporting Actress (Isabella Rossellini)
Which of these music stars has NOT had a role in a Smurfs movie?
a) Rihanna b) Katy Perry c) Pink d) Demi Lovato
Which Euro-auteur directed 1988’s The Big Blue?
a) Paul Verhoeven b) Luc Besson c) Bernardo Bertolucci d) Werner Herzog
In the Avatar movies, what is Colonel Quaritch’s (Stephen Lang) first name?
a) Norm b) Miles c) Max d) Horace
Dark Blue (2002) is based on a story by which novelist?
a) Cormac McCarthy b) Dennis Lehane c) James Ellroy d) Dr. Seuss
Quiz Answers
a) Best Director (David Lynch)
c) Pink
b) Luc Besson
b) Miles
c) James Ellroy