Under The Mountain: Interview with Tom Cameron, Sophie McBride and Leon Wadham
Under The Mountain stars a clutch of relative newcomers in the lead roles. Tom Cameron and Sophie McBride star as the twins Theo and Rachel - with Leon Wadham taking the role of cousin Ricky.
tvnz.co.nz -
Tell us how you all
got involved - as you're all relatively new to the game?
Leon -
Yup, we're all newbies - it's our first film for
all.
Sophie - It was kind of a fluke really, I had
the audition and auditioned with Tom and got it.
Tom - The big factor was we auditioned together
and we got along quite well and director Jonathan recognized
that.
Sophie - Because the chemistry is so important
professionally...
Tom- It's all about the twinness bond, yeah;
we're all good friends to this day.
Leon - I'd been playing in theatre in wellington
and this is my first film and after the auditions, I hung out with
you guys and with Chelsea McEwan-Miller (who plays Ricky's love
interest Clementine) and we all clicked.
Tom - So you auditioned with Chelsea as well
eh?
tvnz.co.nz-
Leon, I'm guessing your
auditions with Chelsea were more about the kissing than the lines?
(Ricky spends a large part of the start of the film
kissing)
Leon (laughing)-
Eventually, initially my readings were
with a lady called Carol who was in her thirties or forties - so
those were very different and I came up to Auckland and met Chelsea
who plays Clementine and then it made sense - (At this point, Tom
and Sophie laugh) - and I thought, yep I can do this -
definitely!
tvnz.co.nz -
For a first time film, a
major production and an impressive cast, it must have been a great
learning curve and experience?
All - Absolutely.
Sophie - You learn so much; especially with
someone like Sam Neill, Tom's first day was with Sam; which could
have been quite intimidating.
Tom - Actually the first minute was with him; my
very first day and my very first scene was with Sam -and I was so
nervous; all I had to do was walk across the shot and I walked
across like a plank; Sam took me aside and had a talk with
me.
Sophie - Yeah he took us all aside and had a talk
with us. Everyone was generous with their time.
Leon - All the way through, he was always keen to
help us make the performances so much better.
Tom - It was quite hardcore - but he taught us
everything we know Oliver Driver was very helpful.
Leon - Everyone wanted it to be a success; and
that kind of energy was great to work around.
Sophie - Our first proper scene was in the house
where the Mr Jones character is explaining the whole journey to us
and we were terrified of Sam sitting across from us. But the
minute we started, it was relaxed because he did this bit where he
presents to us the stones. He's supposed to say "Here are these
stones" - and instead, to get the right reaction out of us, because
we weren't giving the right shot reaction, he said "Here are
these magic beans" - and we didn't know whether to stop acting or
crack up - but they ended up using that shot because it was
genuine surprise.
tvnz.co.nz -
What was it like on
set?
Tom -
Great fun; we were all in the same trailer
together.
Leon - We were all tripping around Auckland having
laughs - serious on screen but then off, we were having a good
time.
Sophie - We've been quite the trio!
tvnz.co.nz - What were your friends' reactions to you
being involved in this given the iconic status Under The Mountain
has?
Sophie -
Kind of surprise really; they said "Oh you've
got a movie; that's great, ok" and then carried on in school but
now they go "Wow, You're IN a movie, that's cool!" There's been a
lot more Facebook friend requests now!
Leon - It was like - "You've got a movie, ok" Then
you say it's Under The Mountain and they're like "What? I read that
book!"
Sophie - " I grew up with that" - I heard that a
lot and I was terrified - all these reactions...
tvnz.co.nz - Was that daunting?
Tom - I felt a lot of pressure playing one of the
leads in this.
Sophie - Living up to these iconic
characters..
Leon - Obviously a well known well loved
story...
Tom - We didn't want to ruin it, you know.
But we had Jonathan there so it was so good...
Sophie - And the film is such a new take on it
that it has a fresh approach so there's not too much pressure to
make it as exactly it's been done before.
Tom - This version's a bit more modern. We didn't
actually watch the TV series; so we didn't know what to do and
so we decided for us it was the best way...
Sophie - So not to be influenced by the characters
that had been done before.
tvnz.co.nz - How was it seeing the Wilberforces for the
first time?
Sophie - Oh wow!
Tom - Really, really scary - Oliver
Driver gave us genuine fear - he was so tall and
intimidating as Mr Wilberforce!
Sophie - The prosthetics were amazing ; incredible
- hours and hours in the morning, Oliver spent getting it all done
but it was very very impressive.
tvnz.co.nz - Prosthetics rather than CGI must get
you to a place where you can believe in the characters and the
action?
Leon -
There's more to react off that way.
Tom - We did have some blue screen stuff but
prosthetics helped so much - the real stuff in front of you rather
than just using your imagination.
Sophie - Although you did have to do some
imagining as they animated over the prosthetics so you had to use
just your mind.
tvnz.co.nz - There are some real character arcs for
all of the main leads in this? That must have been good to
play?
Leon -
Across the course of the film Ricky has to man up
- he initially avoids responsibility for half the film; he has
no idea what's going on with the twins and he has to step up - and
that's really fun to play rather than just eat and say silly things
and kissing my girlfriend; I get to be a hero - good times.
Sophie - Tom and I have quite a strained bond at
the start ; after our mother's death, I really need Theo to deal
with it and deal with grief but Theo doesn't handle it well at all
and clams up.
tvnz.co.nz - So what's next for you guys?
Tom - I'm in a new
TV2 show next
year called
This is Not My Life and I'm hoping to
do acting; anything that comes along, I'll give it a go and stuff
but at the moment, I'm off to Canterbury next year to do law just
to get a degree under my belt for a fall back - that was a split
decision between my parents and me.
Sophie - I'm just going to keep studying; keep
going on at Victoria and if anything comes up, I'll be very happy
to give it a go but I'm also happy studying.
Tom - I just missed out on a part in a film called
Hopes and Dreams from Brendan Donovan.
Sophie - The Lovely Bones would have been
great!
Tom - I might get a job as a hobbit on the next
film...
Sophie - A little ginge hobbit! (raucous
laughter)
tvnz.co.nz - What are your hopes for the 2009 version of
Under The Mountain?
Tom - My parents have seen the film and they quite
like it. I think it's going to be amazing.
Sophie - My parents have too and they can't get
quite over the fact that it's Sophie on screen! I think the younger
ones are going to love it and be terrified; there's quite a broad
appeal and the teens, well there are teen scenes in the films - and
the adults will remember the book and the tv series; so I think
it's going to do well.
GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF UNDER THE MOUNTAIN HERE!
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR UNDER THE MOUNTAIN HERE!
