Doubtfire, Jack is at that point in his career.
For now, Black is content to do more family-friendly fare like Roths flick, written bySupernaturalcreators Eric Kripke.
Is there anything that I didnt do that I would normally do in a movie that wasnt for kids?
Credit: Quantrell Colbert/Universal Pictures
No, he says.
You want to bring the spicy mustard.
is a lovable, friendly alien.
Quantrell Colbert/Universal Pictures
Also,Goonies,Gremlins, these were the movies and thats what we were going for.
Theres an alien egg and its about an alien.
Dad, we gotta go seeAlien.
And my dads like, Oh yeah, youre 10.
I think youre ready.
He didnt know what we were in for.
We went and we saw this thing and it was the scariest thing in the universe.
I kept on having horrible nightmares.
I was too young to seeAlien, lets put it that way.
That was the one that left a mark.
I venture to have fun.
I think a lot of it has to do with relaxing and letting the spirit move you.
Theres always been a conversation about whats appropriate for kids.
Im obviously not gonna drop F-bombs, and thats taken care of for me by the writer.
Is there anything that I didnt do that I would normally do in a movie that wasnt for kids?
You want to bring the spicy mustard.
You want to really give the best performance you could because kids are good judges of movies, too.
He goes insane for a while.
Is he going too far?
No, hes doing something thats magical, thatll last forever.
Ive gotta be careful of being careful.
That was definitely part of the appeal of doing the movie.
Its a movie you take the kids to and not worry that theyre gonna be too freaked out.
Youve been in aJumanji-likeGoosebumps,Jumanji, and now aGoosebumps-esqueThe House with a Clock in Its Walls.
Is Cate Blanchett in it?
Do I get to throw fireballs with my mind?
These are the things that make me get up in the morning and look forward to going to work.
I guess I do think about, does something in the character resonate with me?
And it definitely did with this one.
What was your dynamic like with Cate Blanchett?
And I was like, We are absolutely gonna have fun.
She just put me at ease right outta the gate.
What were your day to days like with Eli?
I liked that he trusted the actors to find things on their own.
He knows the experience of being an actor because hes also an actor.
Hes an actors director where he knows if you over-direct an actor, it kind of ruins the experience.
When a director gives you too much direction, theyre basically taking credit for your performance.
Its like, dude, let me do something!
So yeah it was a lot of fun.
It was particularly great to see him working with Owen because they had their own language.
He sounded like a 10-year-old talking to him.
Like, That was great, but lets do it again and this time use more avocado.
Everyone was having that kind of fun experience.
That really is just the process for me to get into character.
Its not really something thats part of the story necessarily.
In my case, this character was an outcast in his own family.
It was helpful to talk about the details of that.
A lot of times these days actors are dealing with multi-film contracts.
Have you had any discussions about what the potential for this franchise is?
Im knocking on wood.
The House with a Clock in Its Wallsis now ticking playing.
