Quotes

[about his inspiration for acting] I think I got the feel for it from my dad. He's a great actor. He's been acting on stage for 12 years now. And I got the feel immediately. Dad's been helping me all the way. It comes naturally for me. I think it got passed down from dad. acting.

[on his acting performances] It's a team effort at my home, even when I'm nine time zones away.

I try to keep away from being big-headed. That's what causes people to lose the acting thing. They start being commercial, and then they stink for the rest of their lives. But there are several respected adult actors who were child actors that started very young. I'm going to try and model myself after Kurt Russell and Jodie Foster. Just keep learning from the role and not just go for the money.

[on what he takes from home with him] I carry my sense of trying to learn, my curiosity and my memory.

That professionalism comes from what I've watched people do on the set. I'm just trying to be as respectful to the environment, as they have been. I think I still act like a kid. I just try to be as professional as I can.

For me, choice is the most important thing because I'm going to be an adult actor pretty soon. So I've got to be choosing the right roles now so that by the time I get to that age there will be wide options available.

Age is definitely a factor because, at this age, you're very age-specific. As a younger kid, you can play a wider variety of ages. As a younger kid you can play a wider variety of ages, I guess, because the voice hasn't changed and there's a physicality that progresses as you get older. Now you can't play a 17-year-old when you're a 15-year-old, whereas when you're 10 you can play 8 or even 12. The good part is that, especially with this movie, the changes that I am going through are within the context of the film. So people pretty much know where I am, age-wise, at this point, and that was one of the great things about this film. It demonstrates that that's the direction I'm going in.

It's hard to act terrified when you have 200 crew members around you.

My friends are definitely more important than my career. If I had to choose, I'd choose my friends over my career.

Being different personalities brings out some of the personalities that you have, too. So I guess I have become a more well-rounded person.

It makes me feel great when other young actors say they look up to me. I hope I can be a positive role model.

It's important in selecting films that have that feeling behind them, there's a place for films that are just light and entertaining, but for me it's most important to find the films that will last.

[about if not getting as much attention as he used to] I guess it's not so much a relief because being recognized is not a problem. It is more relaxing not being noticed as much. Also, it's not just that I'm not recognizable. I think people relate better when you're older, because I think they have more respect for your age. As time goes on, I think people are becoming more respectful out in public. So it's never been a problem. It's just been interesting to watch.

Academically, it's actually pretty easy learning between the tutor and actual school, with people at school, it's been pretty easy as well. There's just a great group of kids in my school and they've been real understanding of my career.

[his feelings about the possibility of " being forgotten"] O don't think there's any fear. With acting, you can never count on there being work available. It's whatever's there, so I don't think there's any fear. It's possible. Someday, there may not be any work, but I guess that's not something I'm worried about. If I just keep doing the right roles, I think that won't be a problem.

Harry Potter, we were never really interested in. It never crossed a desk with us. Nothing really happened with it. Myself, I felt that it should have stayed a book. I never would have wanted to do the film. It's a great book and 70 percent of the book is your own imagination and putting in where the author has purposely left the gaps so kids can sort of put in their input and sort of custom read the book and I think that's one of the most brilliant parts of the novels and when the movie comes out it's going to be a stereotype for people when they read the book.

[about his character in Home of the Giants (2007)] It's important to find roles with characters growing up. Gar is one of those characters that moves me along the time line in my career."

I try not to let the fame part of it be a factor in everyday life. Because when it comes down to it, the only thing that's important to me that has to do with the fame is just the work on the set and the acting part of it. And the result of that acting is, as you say, can be fame, but I try not to concentrate on that too much because that's not the most important thing about this business for me. It's about the work. And I think if I continue to focus on that, I hope that my career will be able to continue as well as it has been going so far.

Being a teenager and stuff, where you have the responsibility to do things right, I mean sometimes people are going to look up to you, that's your obligation as an actor, or as someone who's in the public eye, to do the right thing. You've got to keep your record clean because it's your responsibility to everyone who's ever watched your film, and that's something that you sign on to when you work on a film, when you get into this business that is something that you take with the acting, you know, the responsibility of life outside of that. So I guess that it's a little more pressure, but it's good pressure, you know? It's a motivation to do good things. Not that I wouldn't anyway.

[About his drunk-driving accident] With regard to that incident, whatever attention has been given to it, I brought it upon myself. So I would definitely not say that my childhood in this business caused that in any way but the response to it is definitely something that is affected by my place in the business. So for me it was a good lesson. You can't blame the press for giving attention to incidents like that. It was an extremely important learning experience for me to try and stay in check and do the right things, like I always should.

[About his 2006 conviction for drunk driving] That night was an example of being a foolish high schooler sort of screwing around before college starts. It's unfortunate that when those things happen, they just talk about Hollywood when really we have a national problem . . . with all types of substances and types of dangerous behavior . . . You know, by treating it just as a Hollywood thing, we ignore the fact that . . . it can happen to anybody.

There's so much to learn about acting and performance in general . . . I mean, acting is a very complex art, and there are a lot more theories and methods and techniques to it than I think anybody would think . . . Some of our best respected film and stage performances come from people like (Marlon Brando and everything, and they studied their entire lives.

I'm never interested in the business of promoting myself. I really don't care if people know who I am or what's said about me. I'm just here to do a job.