Peculiar things start to happen the moment the Grace family (Jared, his twin brother Simon, sister Mallory and their mom) leave New York and move into the secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. Unable to explain the strange disappearances and accidents that seem to be happening on a daily basis, the family blames Jared. When he, Simon and Mallory investigate what's really going on, they uncover the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it. The movie is based on the best-selling series of books.

Anyhow, to help promote the film, Paramount recently held a press day and I got to participate in a roundtable interview with the star of the movie, Freddie Highmore.

While you may not know Freddie’s name, you’ve definitely seen his work. Although he’s just turning 16, Freddie has starred in “Finding Neverland,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “A Good Year,” “August Rush” and a number of other TV and film projects.  And in this film he’s not content to play just one part…he’s playing two! He play’s both Jared and Simon, who are twin brothers.

Unlike some American teen actors that I’ve interviewed, Freddie came across as an extremely well balanced and someone that has his head on straight. It was nice to see.

And on that note…here’s the transcript with Freddie. If you missed the movie clips from “The Spiderwick Chronicles” you can watch them here.

Freddie Highmore: Maybe somewhere in between the two.

Q: Which was easier for you to play?

Freddie Highmore: They were both kind of different. It was great to have the luxury of playing them both. I guess I would be somewhere in between them because Jared's got perhaps some anger issues which I would hope not to have. I'm not going to smash holes in my kitchen. But, you know, you'd like to have that drive that he does to sort of fight for his family and continue with that and go for what he believes in.

Q: Is this the first film that you’ve done an American accent?

Freddie Highmore: No, I'd done one before in “August Rush” earlier in the year. So I guess it was just coming back to it.

Q: Is it easy for you to do accents?

Freddie: I try and talk in it as much as possible, so it becomes second nature. You know it's important. You don't want to have to worry about real intrusive R’s and the vowel sounds. You want to just concentrate on the emotions and the important side of the character.

Q: Are you still playing the guitar after learning it in “August Rush”?

 
Freddie: Yeah. A little bit, yeah. I try and keep it going. It’s fun.

Q: How did you go about defining the characters of the two boys?

Freddie: It was looking at changes that might have happened to them as they were growing up. I mean genetically they're the same person. And so in a sense it's just interesting to look at how they reacted to different situations as they’ve been growing up and the way they’ve reacted to their parents’ divorce is key. Simon is perhaps more internal but still just as hurt.

Q: You seem to alter the body language in each case as well as the vocal cadences.

Freddie: Yeah. I tried to do that as well and get that in. Also, we worked on the clothes and the visual side — the haircuts and the choice of clothes, the color schemes that were used for each of them.

 
Q: Did you have input into your hair and wardrobe?

Freddie: Yeah, a little bit. We always sort of tried to discuss it. Definitely I think if they ask you to do a film, they've got a certain amount of — they want you be a part of it and put in your input. They don’t want you just to come up and do the character totally as it’s written. They want you to have your own ideas and bring something new to the project.

Q: What was the most challenging scene you shot?

Freddie: I don’t know. It was quite challenging on the whole working with CGI creatures and twins, especially at the same time, and looking at ping pong balls and crosses on the walls and trying to remember which was which. I mean I think in that respect they tried to make it as easy as they could. They showed us various animations of how it would look, and they had cardboard cutouts and stuff so we wouldn't just be going at it without any knowledge at all. We had a certain amount of basis.

Q: Had you read any of the books before making the film?

Freddie: Yeah. To do the film, I started to read them just to help with the characterization since that's sort of what it was based on.

Q: Now that you’re about to turn 16, are you starting to look for more mature roles? What goes into your decision making in terms of choosing new roles to play? What’s your thought process when you evaluate scripts?

Freddie: I think you always want to try something different for every film you do. You always want it to be a new thing and new characters, new roles. It would be kind of boring to play the same ones over and over again. So, yeah, it would be interesting just to play different things, perhaps play a bad guy one time or someone really, really nasty. You never know.

Q: By the looks of it, this film seems to have been very physically demanding because there’s a lot of running and you’re getting dragged by goblins. Was it exhausting for you?

Freddie: A little bit, yeah. A little bit physically demanding, but still you know it was always great fun. If it ever becomes not fun, you should just stop doing it and step aside. There are thousands of people who would love to be here in the situation that I'm in. So if you're not having fun, then just stop, I guess. I'm having a great time at the moment, so I'd like it to continue.

Q: When you were a little kid, was there a movie monster or a book monster that really freaked you out?

Freddie: Not that I can remember. I'm sure there was. I mean, I think that's what perhaps Spiderwick appeals to is the younger kids — the fact that they've got sort of the wish that there could be another world in the back garden, another unseen world that hasn't been discovered yet. I think everyone in fact…like adults… I think it would be great if there were an alien or another world was found on Mars. Everyone would get really excited. It would be really big news, and that's what it taps into in the film.

Q: Do you have siblings?

Freddie: I do. I have a younger brother.

Q: Do you guys get along real well? Have you ever wished for an older sister or are you glad you don’t have an older sister?

Freddie: No, I mean my brother's good enough. [Laughs] But no, we get on very well. Yeah, we’ve always got on well. I think that's one of the worst things about doing films is if you spend a lot of time away from your family. My mom and brother usually stay at home in London so — I mean, they come and visit a few times during the shoot, but it's not really the same. And I guess that would be the worst thing about it.

Q: Are you the type of person who can watch yourself on screen or do you cringe?

Freddie: No, I don't mind it too much. I wouldn't sort of go and watch it over again and again and again and get it out and rent it on DVD. But I don't mind seeing it once or twice and seeing how it turned out — especially with this one. It was really interesting to see the twins come and actually work together and see myself in two places at one time.

Q: What did you think when you saw the finished version, especially after all the special effects were put in and the CGI that was done afterwards?

Freddie: You've just got to trust the people when you're shooting it and just go along with what they're saying and see how it comes out. And I think it was great and I think they did a fantastic job and it looks believable, you know, all the goblins and trolls.

Q: What kind of music or musical artists or bands are you into?

Freddie: Lots of different types. There’s no particular band or artist. I mean maybe I tend to listen to sadder songs some of the time, you know, more emotional ones perhaps. I'm not a sad person. I don't go and cry every [time] but…