what a fantastic job you did it thank
you very much I wanted to ask you for
some are your earliest memories of Moby
Dick did you read it as a child or in
school
no I unfortunately I did not read it as
a child um the first time I obviously
heard about this film was was when I got
sent the script and I loved the script
and I always had to Skype with Ron and
go through that whole process and then
when I got the part and started
preparing I was given a huge stack of
books which I had to work my way through
and Moby Dick was one of them and I'm
not gonna lie I unfortunately didn't
finish it I resorted to the film um but
but it's such an incredible story and a
story of this sort of magnitude gives us
the motivation to give give it
everything that we've got you know and
make sure that we did justice to these
men and gave a very real performance
yeah I wanted to ask you about that
because these are men you know that did
this for a living you know they go out
to sea yeah risk their lives said
goodbye to their families they were
there for years on end whatever I mean
huge responsibility or what to take on a
role like this massive massive
responsibility really and the reason
being is because these are real men it's
not like we're making a piece of fiction
this actually happened to 21 men and my
character in particular is a
fourteen-year-old boy and the idea that
what these men went through happened to
a little kid to me is ridiculous I can't
quite imagine what it would have been
like for poor little Nickerson and the
fact that these were real people
it gave run sort of the the drive to
make sure that every aspect of this film
was real and from the sets from from the
performances from our bond with all the
other cast and he was very very driven
about making this film a real experience
for audiences okay so let's talk about
the real experience and your preparation
for this cuz my goodness I hope you got
a well you know why God what you guys
went through just tell us a little bit
about the preparation the preparation is
what really made this movie it wouldn't
have been possible without the
preparation that the cast did the crew
and also of course run a film of this
size deserves
a crew that are going to work as hard as
possible and it deserves a director as
skillful and as amazing as run but the
preparation sort of started with reading
and looking into the history and finding
out what it is that these men went
through just to be a whaler this is
before we we studied the sort of weight
loss and being emaciated we then
physically had to get into shape and go
to the gym which was great fun for me
apart from what I had to train with
Chris because that's kind of I mean it's
yeah I'm never gonna win in that battle
no so it was I wasn't really that fun
you're going up against the work come on
I know I mean there's not much I can do
but try my best which I will always do
but um and then we had to learn how to
sail the ship we we all sort of got
together and we were sent to this like
sailing school and learn how to tie
knots and lower the mast and change them
the course of the sail I believe it was
cool and it was a whole collection of
things really that made us well-rounded
sailors in a way and that whole process
brought us all closer together and made
filming a lot easier yeah and it's the
kind of movie where you know if I hate
water
I need not audition are you a water guy
I mean hell are you really you guys were
put to the test beyond belief in this
movie
yeah it's but rightly so you know I
think um to do justice to what these men
went through and to make sure that we
made a real film that audience could
audiences could really experience to me
it almost felt like if I wasn't trying
my hardest and if it wasn't incredibly
tough then I wasn't doing it right um
and the water was tough but I mean I was
16 at the time and it's it's great fun I
mean I'm doing stunts and being held
around I'm learning how to scuba dive
and and it was really a dream come true
and also I was doing it with great guys
like Thor and Chris I mean Aggie
Howard's the best and to have Ron Howard
at the helm makes everything better you
know and and I was just so privileged to
be a part of this crazy experience who
got seasick the most how much worth no
he didn't of course he didn't he's a god
no actually I got sick for the first two
days and then they gave me this like
pill and like listen this will make you
feel better but it was really like a
drowsy pill so I just like slept all day
and then towards the end of
shoot out in Langham era there's also
towards the end of the diet and I hadn't
had sugar for a long time and like I'd
even cut sugar out of my tea which is
like it's amazing for me
I love sugary tea but uh but I was so
fed up one day and I went to the crew
catering and stole a quest on and I ate
the quest on
secretly no one knew about this but my
body was like no gotta go and I just
threw up over the side of the boat and
everyone was like how he's throwing up
surely there's nothing for you to throw
up because you're not eating anything
and I was able to like blame it on
seasickness and be like yeah no I don't
need anything I'm really good at the
diet but uh but no it was it was tough
but all for the right reasons you know
500 calories a day Wow and then working
out and then making this film do you
know that's rough yeah it is it is tough
but we were with a great group of guys
we were doing it as a team and yeah
there was a bit of competition here and
there and and it was kind of like being
part of a rugby team and going on like a
rugby tour you know and it was a very
special experience and the weight loss
is really what bought brought us actors
closer together and as I'm sure you've
seen in the film it kind of makes the
film the relationships that you see on
screen um and it was also just really
fun as much as it was painful okay
there's a scene in this movie that
everyone's talking about and of course
you know where you your character needs
to get down inside the head of a whale
now we know this is moviemaking well you
know it's Ron Howard he makes it
realistic that is disgusting my friend
can you talk about that you think it was
disgusting
no it was I mean I knew I remember
reading that scene and sometimes I skim
read a script and I'm reading through
and I read the page and I saw she
doesn't wait a minute but what I
couldn't quite understand that this is
something that people would do so even
the idea of me filming it sounded
ridiculous but Ron was obviously so sort
of keen on making everything real that
he had a whale built like a big
prosthetic whale and we had it on the
ship and there was like a hole which was
only only just big enough for me to sort
of go through and and I was covered in
on this lube and stuff and I had to like
go in and and the problem was it's not
when we were actually filming the scene
is when they'd say cut and I had to
think
back out but because I was so sort of
slippery I'd sort of get halfway out and
then slipped right back in again so I
spent 20 minutes after the first take
stuck inside the head of the whale and
that's a throw a rope down and pull me
out and it was like being born like 20
times a day it was it was a weird day it
was a very strange day and then you had
to do it again
yeah well Ross Pacific uh I remember it
was about two days afterwards and Ron
came up to me and he wasn't himself
really wasn't his sort of a happy
chappie self sorry my wrong what's not
hated you okay he was like yeah Tom
listen took um you know that scene we
shot the other day and I thought he was
about to say it was really good and he
was happy with you and I was really
excited he was like could we shoot that
again and I thought he was joking I was
like thanks no seriously can we can we
shoot that again and we did and my
brother Sarah she came to watch that day
and he loved it he loved watching me
suffer so I'm glad one of us enjoyed
that day but um but Ron was very
sympathetic not sympathetic enough to
join in and and to give me direction
inside the whale's head but uh but it
was it was a crazy day how did you and
the guys keep her spirits up I think we
just knew that we were making such a
fantastic movie and one of the things
that makes Ron so special is he brings a
level of calmness to the set and he's so
prepared that he's able to relax and
knows exactly what he has to do and for
with anything that goes wrong he always
has a contingency and that gives us the
time to relax and to then trust him and
when you trust your director and when
you'll know when you know you're making
a good movie you hard work doesn't feel
like hard work it feels like it's it's
right you know and and also with a group
of guys just on a Ron Howard film I mean
how lucky I mean you can't do any better
than that so it was an amazing
experience
I can't leave today without just
mentioning congratulations to you you're
gonna be the next spider-man I know you
know listen everybody is so excited how
does that feel how does that feel it's
it's art I still can't quite believe
that it happened it's been a dream of
mine since I was a little boy and and
he's always been my favorite and I and
and
fact that I've been given this
opportunity I feel honored and
privileged and I can't I can't wait to
do him justice and to just get to work
on it you know I've been reading comics
relentlessly and and and it's been its
bit I just I really can't wait to get to
work on it well we can't wait to see you
but first off what a tremendous job
you've done thank you ever since I
talked to you and met you feeling
possible I really you're such a
wonderful young man thank you very much
actor