ASA BUTTERFIELD X THE LATERALS
More than 10 years has passed since Asa Butterfield's breakout role in Son of Rambow. Even more notable, he was only 10 years old when he was placed into this marvelous casting coup. From that remarkable performance, Asa followed up with titles like The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, Ender's Game, A Brilliant Young Mind, and BBC's television series Merlin. Obviously these are all a testament to his talent, but truly, Asa Butterfield is just getting started. He came out of the perilous bromide of "child star" with an opposing turn in Netflix's Sex Education. True, the series is classified as a teen comedy-drama, but his performance here is anything but juvenile. Lucky for us, we can look forward to a second season of discussions featuring scissoring, Viagra overdoses and cringe-worthy teenage awkwardness that he is somehow able to make extraordinarily charming.
Asa, who was born in Islington, London, England is a fan of professional gamer "Destiny", supports the Arsenal Football Club and flexes his entrepreneurial skills with an iPad app he developed with his father and brother. His well-rounded persona seems to validate his malleable capacity to inhibit complex characters while never falling victim to the disillusionments of fame. He brings a novel depth that is profoundly striking, regardless of genre. Yet, there are so many small, bright surprises in his work that's plainly captivating. We have the pleasure of witnessing his work in a succession of upcoming films including Greed and The Liar. Regardless of what he chooses to take on, Asa can give us an education on binge-worthy performances.
Tell us how you got into acting. Was there anything or anyone that drew you to it?
I started acting when I was quite young, though never considered it as a career until much later. At the time i loved the social aspect of it, and the theatre and drama (i was a very dramatic child). It wasn’t really until I was on the set of Hugo that I started to appreciate all the elements that make up a film, the set design, the direction, the music, and everyone on that film was so bloody good at what they do. So largely, my love for acting comes from working with Scorsese, his wisdom on cinema, and his generosity to impart some of that knowledge on to me. As you can imagine it blew my young mind away.
Having worked in the industry from such a young age, you've been able to stay incredibly balanced. What piece of advice would you give to the 8 year-old version of yourself?
I guess to just make sure you make the most of all the opportunities given to you, to really ask all the questions you can when you get to work with experienced actors and directors. But also to ensure you keep other parts of your life full, allow yourself to experience new things go outside your comfort zone as these are all things we draw upon as actors in our work.
If you weren't acting, what do you imagine you'd be doing?
I’d like to think I’d be working with animals somewhere, either in conservation or research. Or making video games, pretty different paths but they’re two things I’m quite passionate about. I’m actually in the early stages of making a game with some friends of mine, it’s a slow but really interesting process and is getting me thinking about it all in a whole new light.
We absolutely love you on Sex Education. What would you say is the greatest thing you've learned from taking on this role?
I think it reminded me of the huge spectrum of different people that are around us, no-one is alike and everyone has their quirks and faults. I think this show highlights that in an incredibly frank and non judgemental way.
Otis is such an intriguing teenager, what about him do you admire or connect to most?
He is incredibly wise for his age and I admire his ability to impart advice with a complete lack of judgement. Having had an unconventional home life, a single mum and a not many boundaries, he’s had to grow up fast whilst still being woefully unprepared for many aspects of teenage life.
I think I’ve brought a lot of myself into Otis too, I’m quite observant (i think) and on the quieter side of things, as is Otis, we also have many similar geeky interests in the form of video games and niche Japanese animation.
Sex Education is exceptionally bingeable. What are you binging on these days?
I recently finished amazon’s ‘The Boys’, which I really enjoyed, it was a nice departure from the super-hero cliches we see a lot of today.
If we unexpectedly showed up at your home one evening, what could we find you doing?
Probably playing games with some friends or jamming with my band, glass of boba tea in hand.
You'll be starring alongside Steve Coogan and Isla Fisher in your upcoming project Greed. Tell us a little more about this. Was working with those two everything we imagine it to be?
I loved this project for a whole load of reasons, Michael Winterbottom is a huge fan of improv and acting around a scene, which meant whenever I was working with Steve and Isla (or any of the cast) we had lots all opportunities to go off script and play off the character relationships. This wasn’t something I was used to, but loved the change in style, and they’re all so good at acting on the fly which made it a lot easier for me.
You've always chosen really interesting characters, each of them are completely different and dynamic in their own way. What is your process in choosing the right roles for yourself?
It's a combination of having a compelling story that has some originality to it, whilst having a character that is clearly developed and will make an impact on the audience. The part doesn't have to be a lead, in fact he may only be in a few scenes, but as long as I'm able to give a lasting impression then I’d consider it.