Interview2

 

Counting Down: I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to give me some answers!

Jake Thomas: OK.

CD: When you read the AI script what were your thoughts on it?

JT: Well they wouldn't let us see the script cause, you know, it was so top secret. But one day me and my dad went to the office and read part of the script except for the ending because they were keeping it like so top secret. When I first read the script I was just kind of confused, because it can be a very confusing movie at times.

CD: How did you get the part?

JT: I just gave them a little of how I act and just tried the best I could. Because they used a script from another movie [for the audition] and I believe they were just looking for a good talkative personality, something like that. Then also Steve [Spielberg] saw my tape of all the roles that I've been in. When I went into the final audition I just set down with him and it's just this one room and he had a chair open for me and all the producers were just standing around and just watching me and Steven. And we just talked about anything. We were talking about my whole family, my house...

CD: Did you feel any pressure?

JT: I was pretty nervous but I was just, "ok, I'm just going to talk to him a little bit and everything will be okay." Because I was really really nervous. Cause...you know? I was in awe!

CD: It's Steven!

JT: I know! When I walked in there I just saw the big guy sitting down and he had an open chair and he was just like, "come on Jake, sit down."

CD: So what was it like working with Steven Spielberg?

JT: Unbelievable. He's a great great guy. Before a very long scene with a lot of lines he would have everyone be totally quiet on set and me, Steven and Haley [Osment] would rehearse the scene until we got it just from reading the script. Then we'd take away the script and it would just be me, Haley and Steven reading over it.

CD: Do you have any interesting stories about working on the set? Did anything funny happen?

JT: [laughs] One thing! There is a scene that they cut out where Frances O'Connor is getting me off the leg braces and she is dancing with me and she picks me up and starts spinning me round and round. So on the shot, after doing it about ten times I started to get really sick and dizzy. So my dad told everyone that I needed to go back to my trailer and rest for a little while because I felt really sick so I had my photo double doing the scene because they wouldn't be seeing my face, then he got sick! So, the next day on the call sheet it said, "New ride attraction: The Frances-Spino."

CD: If you could invent a DVD feature for A.I what would it be?

JT: If I could invent something for dvd...What would be cool is like an A.I thing where it shows you the entire sound stage and you can choose where you want to go. Have a game where you could actually walk though the whole studio and get separate shots of the entire studio - that would be kinda cool.

CD: What do you think is the message behind A.I? Cause I know that a lot of people were really confused about it...

JT: [laughing] I don't know the message to the story. It was very very confusing, but... I'm not sure that there even was a message to the story...

CD: Good answer. You know, Haley Joel Osment is around your age, so how was it working with someone closer to your age?

JT: Great. I had a lot of fun. They had a big crafts service trailer in the sound stage and there they had a TV and a Dreamcast system with a basketball game on it. So Haley, and me if we had a 5 minutes break we would run down there and would start playing the game. Someone had to be with us at all time, like an A.D, so we'd pause the game when someone would call us, do the scene and then run back and do it [play the game] all over again. So we basically played a basketball game one minute at a time.

CD: Does it feel more relaxing the be doing a Disney show such as Lizzie McGuire after doing big feature films such as A.I and The Cell?

JT: It's fun to do but I've been doing this since I was 10 and yesterday I just turned 12.

CD: Do you have anything in terms of upcoming project that you will be working on?

JT: Well not so far, but I'm hoping that after I'll finish Lizzie I will try auditioning for another movie and maybe get another one.

CD: What do you think you will be doing 12 years from now?

JT: Oh man! I know I'll probably be acting, but I might start writing because I got this typewriter and found it interesting writing stories.

CD: What kind of stories will you be writing?

JT: Well, actually, I've gotten into an interest of horror. I've written two small horror stories on both sides of an index card.

 CD: How many people died?

JT: Well my books don't really have... actually I think one person did die in one of my things...One is called "attack of the body takers" and I still have a continuing of that. The other one is called the "The grim truth about the Gremlins."

CD: What types of movies do you like?

JT: My favorite type of a movie is a comedy and action mix, like Rush Hour. Rush Hour 1 and Rush Hour 2, love that.

CD: Thank you so much for talking to me. It was really nice talking to you.

 JT: Nice talking to you.

 

(Source: http://www.geocities.com/jaimie_martinez2001/interviewwithjake.html)