tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

"Next week I'll be in Toronto. I'm still trying to get my head around it. I just came back from New York actually where I was doing an independent film. I've gone from one side of the world to the other. My head is going crazy", he says. "I woke up this morning and said ‘Where am I?' I looked out the window and saw the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and I'm like ‘Wow! How did I end up in Australia?' Have you ever seen that film Jumper? It's like I'm in Jumper!"

That's young British actor Aaron Johnson describing the turn of events as he goes globetrotting in the fulfillment of his upcoming movie projects.

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 We're quite excited about the acting career of this charming young British talent- with two high-profile projects (as the young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy and opposite Nicholas Cage in Kick-Ass) soon to hit the big screen, Johnson is definitely the one to watch!

An Introduction of sorts... : Represented by Hamilton Hoddel, the 18 year old Johnson started acting in 2001, with his debut role as young Lorimer Black in the film Armadillo (2001). He also portrayed the role of Niker in the 2004 series Feather Boy.Johnson alsoappeared as Prosper in The Thief Lord (2006), and as Robbie "The Sex God" in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008).

Let's have a look at some selected scenes from Aaron's movies. Make sure you get to watch this clip!

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I have a huge passion for acting but I'm interested in variety, both in the characters I play and the kinds of films I'm involved with.

That's Aaron Johnson. There is always a constant supply of pretty faces aspiring to star in movies. But only a few of these pretty boys and girls can really make it big-time. I've heard a lot of buzz regarding Aaron Johnson for his role in the British teen flick, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. That got me curious, and to my surprise, he's also the same young actor who played Eisenheim in The Illusionist. If a small role in the Edward Norton starrer impressed me, what more if its a prominent role?

Aaron recently appeared as Robbie 'the hottie' in Gurinder Chadha's movie Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging and at 18 has buckets of potential. Indeed, when I was on the set of Angus... Ms Chadha declared that Aaron, from Buckinghamshire, but now residing in London, had star quality. She was right: he does have a winning screen style about him.

What's more impressive is that Screen Daily's UK Stars of Tommorow has selected him as one of their top bets:

Aaron Johnson had an early taste of Hollywood, featuring as the younger version of Edward Norton's character in The Illusionist in 2006 and as a sidekick to Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in 2003's Shanghai Knights. This year he graduates to leading man status with two very different films. The first is Gurinder Chadha's Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging in which he plays the school heart-throb alongside fellow Star of Tomorrow Georgia Groome (see opposite). The second is Dummy, directed by Matthew Thompson (a 2004 Star of Tomorrow), which has just screened at Edinburgh and sees him as a teenager coping with his mother's death with the help of drugs and sex.

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Most Exciting Upcoming Movies: Let's have a good look at three of Aaron's most recent movies:

Dummy (2008): I just think this movie can serve as a fantastic acting vehicle for Aaron! Watch the trailer below:

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The review at Variety says it all:

A teenage boy and his younger brother struggle to cope with the death of their mother in the evocative, low-budget Brit drama, "Dummy," a feature debut for shorts and TV helmer Matthew Thompson. While the screenplay by Thompson and Paula Barnes feels a little overpolished in places and carries just the slightest whiff of sentimentality, the pic's peculiar atmosphere, strong perfs and fine visuals more than compensate. Specialist outfits looking for offbeat fare would be smart to check out "Dummy" for modest theatrical returns and more solid tube sales. [ read more ]

Kick-Ass (2009): It was 'pure luck' that gave Johnson his next lead role in the Nicholas Cage starrer Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass is an upcoming 2009 superhero film based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The film is directed by Matthew Vaughn. Aaron plays a lonely teenage boy called Dave Lizewski, who decides to become a real-life superhero after being inspired by the heroes of comic-books. He soon encounters a mysterious vigilante called Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage), and his daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz), who are working to bring down a drug baron.

Aaron is quite excited about this film:

"It's not just for comic book readers. I mean it's got a lot of stuff to go through the editing process yet but so far it's already rating an R and it's too violent and there's swearing in it and stuff like that. It's packed with really fucking cool shit. It's any boy's dream really. The whole idea with Kick-Ass is actually a reality, it's not like Spider-Man, it's anyone can do it, anyone can dress up. All the things that happen, the events that Kick-Ass goes through are very traumatic..." 

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An interesting side note on Aaron's casting. It was said that director Matthew Vaugh has instructed his casting director not to audition young British actors for the part of David Lizewski. But it seems Aaron passed the audition by doing an American accent:

I was working in the U.S. anyway and did a screen test using an American accent and he didn't realise I was British. I kind of fooled him,' Aaron told Baz Bamigboye. The director also backed up the story: 'I fell off my chair when I was told. His American accent is pitch perfect and he can bloody well act.'

Nowhere Boy (2010) : is an upcoming film about John Lennon's childhood and adolescence and the feature film directorial debut of director Sam Taylor-Wood. The film, which is based on the book Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon by Lennon's half sister Julia Baird, is about Lennon's teenage years and his first steps to stardom and will focus on the influence his Aunt Mimi and his mother Julia had on his early life, and his friendship with future fellow Beatle Paul McCartney.

Lennon's role will be played by Johnson and Thomas Sangster will play Paul McCartney. Kristin Scott Thomas will play Lennon's aunt Mimi and Anne-Marie Duff will play Lennon's mother Julia.

Says award-winning writer, Matt Greenhalgh:

"When looking for my next project I was wary of musical protagonists - but when John Lennon was floated, that vanished. He is beyond music; above it even. And his early life as told in Julia's book took me into a world that illuminated so much about this legendary genius. I could see the drama and film immediately. The women in his life, the men who weren't, the birth of rock'n'roll; all imposing on a brilliantly complicated adolescent mind.

"The nagging questions, the icy secrets, the need for love. John's angst and anger pouring out into his music, his thankful salvation. Without this story we would never have heard the Beatles - can you imagine that?"

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Excitement Builds up for Nowhere Boy: Again, The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye got the scoop!

It was important to find someone to play the young Lennon who had the chops to act opposite Kristin Scott Thomas (Mimi) and Anne-Marie Duff (the lad's mother), both powerful actresses. Johnson, who was in last year's Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging and the forthcoming comic-book thriller Kick-Ass, fit the bill. Sam told me she wanted to 'evoke the soul of a boy that becomes John Lennon'. She added: 'I'm trying to get into the head of that teenager'.

It was fun watching her exchanges with the actors, and how she cast an astute eye over the proceedings.

'Get rid of the sailors!' she demanded in one scene that she thought looked a tad cliche-ridden. Both Sam and writer Greenhaigh stressed that the film is not a documentary.

'It's fiction based on fact,' the writer explained. 'Of course, I wasn't there in any of the scenes I write about. It all happened in my head. People get confused and go "Oh, this didn't happen!" and so on.'

His aim, he said, was to find 'the spirit and instincts of Lennon'. 'It's the footage of his life you haven't seen yet. It's the essence of the younger Lennon just before his mother dies and he becomes the Lennon everybody knows.'

Johnson, meanwhile, said he worked for weeks on his accent and, watching him film scenes at Liverpool's docks, you can hear that the voice is close, but not an impersonation. Johnson and his fellow members of the Quarrymen - Thomas Sangster, who plays Paul McCartney, and Josh Bolt as Pete Shotton - worked with music consultant Ben Parker on their various instruments.

Johnson did two months worth of guitar and singing. 'I keep being told: "No, no it's really good 'cause he was s*** back then! He was still learning." So by that reckoning, I'm c***!' the actor joked.

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The Last Word: Of course, from Aaron Johnson himself:

British TV is excellent quality so if there's ever a drama that comes up I would certainly think about doing it. I like working in tv, theatre and film - so I would never turn a job down just because it's not in film. If there's an exciting or interesting project on the table, I would do it.

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tMF Recommends: AOL Interview with Aaron Johnson | Aaron Johnson Talks Kick-Ass | IMDb Page | Aaron's Fansite