Finn Wolfhard has been having a great couple of years.
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Since the 16-year-old Canadian actor broke out in Stranger Things, he's been heavily in demand for popular spooky franchises, including Warner Bros' 2017 megahit It and the upcoming animated Addams Family movie.
Next year he'll star in Ghostbusters 2020 and the horror remake The Turning based on Henry James' novella, The Turning of the Screw. But the teenager insists his genre-heavy resume is purely circumstantial.
"I never liked horror up until I was like 10 years old," he said. "A lot of it is coincidence that I've done (so much) horror. But I love horror because what makes a great horror movie is that it's not just scary, it's (a little of) everything. In a real-life horrifying situation there's always (some) comedy or something sad. I think that's in all the horror stuff I've done because I try to make it the realest (portrayal)."
Wolfhard reprises his role as Richie Tozier in It Chapter Two, now in cinemas, which picks up on the second half of the Stephen King horror tome, and he has a supporting role in the non-horror drama The Goldfinch, which opens on September 26 and is adapted from Donna Tartt's 2013 novel.
In both films Wolfhard shares his character with an adult counterpart. Preparation with them varied.
"For The Goldfinch, Aneurin (Barnard), who plays older me, was shooting first so I almost had to work off of him," he said.
"Our director John Crowley got sound bites from him and saved them so I could listen to them and (hear) how he spoke and what his mannerisms were."
For It Chapter Two, Bill Hader, whom Wolfhard has been a "huge" fan of since 2009's Adventureland, plays an adult Richie. To prepare, the younger actor spent a few days hanging out with Hader, mostly for Hader's benefit.
During a press day for It Chapter Two, Wolfhard talked about returning to Derry, playing a Russian expat in The Goldfinch and what the future holds for the aspiring director.
Q: I read that you got your first acting job from Craigslist. Had you always wanted to be an actor or did it just kind of fall in your lap?
A: Well, I kind of did the math in my head when I was like, nine. I was like, "Well, if I want to make films" - because I want to be a director - "I could just go on a film set and learn there." And then I ended up falling in love with acting and the set and making friends all the time. And so I've just been doing that ever since.
Q: When would you like to branch into directing?
A: Hopefully in the next few years. I'm trying to direct some shorts and I have some stuff written, so hopefully soon.
Q: What kind of movies do you want to make?
A: Indies and lots of human stories. But comedies, totally. I'd love to make a horror movie, that's definitely where I want to be one day.
Q: What attracted you to the script of The Goldfinch?
A: It's like a classic '70s kind of film, just the subject matter of it, and it's a real human story, which you don't get a lot of anymore. I mean you do, but a lot of them are watered down. This one is a really, really serious and true telling of what it's like to grow up with loss. I just loved how unapologetic it was and how the characters were just so honest.
Q: How did you prepare to do a Russian accent for the role?
A: We had a dialect coach named Christina who is originally from Russia that lives in New York now. And she just basically held my hand and took me through everything. It was really hard. But once I got it (down), it was like there was no character without the accent. So it made me kind of a better actor or at least a more prepared actor.
The Goldfinch opens in cinemas on September 26, 2019.
- McClatchy