Karlovy Vary – It would make perfect sense that Jaeden Martell would have a teenage girl fanbase, right? The 16-year-old actor has made waves since he first appeared in “St. Vincent” five years ago. Roles in “Midnight Special” and “The Book of Henry” followed but, yeah, it was 2017’s global smash “It” that likely got their attention.
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The Karlovy Vary Film Festival is in a town a good hour and a half away from Prague, the largest city in the Czech Republic. That didn’t stop a slew of teenagers from getting there bright and early to get good seats from an hour-long conversation I moderated with both Martell and Kara Hayward about being a “child star” in the movie business. The 20-year-old Hayward, who made her professional debut in Wes Anderson‘s “Moonrise Kingdom,” was on hand to support her Sundance drama “To The Stars” which is screening at the festival. Martell has two films at Karlovy Vary; the Sundance Midnight hit “The Lodge” and “The Adventures of Wolfboy.”
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Our conversation, which you can view in the video embedded in this post, touched on the two actors very different educational experiences while working regularly, how on set tutors often aren’t really tutors (a genuine surprise) and their individual passions for their profession. Hayward also discussed her recently wrapped indie “Drunk Bus” which he stars in alongside “Ozark” cast member Charlie Tahan and it sounds like a potential Sundance or SXSW player. Martell, on the other hand, had a lot more to tease.
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Besides giving some unique tidbits away for September’s “It Chapter Two” (it turns out the younger cast wrote letters to their adult versions in character before production began), he talked about reuniting with Chris Evans for the second and third time on Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” and the upcoming Apple Plus series “Defending Jacob.” But that’s just a bit of what he touched on regarding each project.
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And, of course, when it was all over he signed autographs and took pictures with every fan there. (As did Hayward.) You can enjoy or chat and realize I need to lose a good 15 pounds in the video below.
