I have a huge passion for acting but I'm interested in variety, both in the characters I play and the kinds of films I'm involved with," says the 18-year-old British actor, Aaaron Johnson.

Aaron recently appeared as Robbie 'the hottie' in Gurinder Chadha's movie Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging and at 18 has buckets of potential. Indeed, when I was on the set of Angus... Ms Chadha declared that Aaron, from Buckinghamshire, but now residing in London, had star quality. She was right: he does have a winning screen style about him.

What's more impressive is that Screen Daily's UK Stars of Tommorow has selected him as one of their top bets:

Aaron Johnson had an early taste of Hollywood, featuring as the younger version of Edward Norton's character in The Illusionist in 2006 and as a sidekick to Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in 2003's Shanghai Knights. This year he graduates to leading man status with two very different films. The first is Gurinder Chadha's Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging in which he plays the school heart-throb alongside fellow Star of Tomorrow Georgia Groome (see opposite). The second is Dummy, directed by Matthew Thompson (a 2004 Star of Tomorrow), which has just screened at Edinburgh and sees him as a teenager coping with his mother's death with the help of drugs and sex.

Critical Acclaim Already? tMF regulars have been curious about Matthew Thompson's film, Dummy. I would think one of the main reasons is Aaron's awesome performance.

Early review of the film at Raindance confirmed my assumption:

Director Matthew Thompson has crafted an incredibly moving film which focuses on grief, which is shown from denial through acceptance. This is, however, far more than just a psychological study. It depicts a coming of age for Danny (played with a rare mixture of complexity and genuineness by Aaron Johnson).

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tMF has arranged an interview with the filmmaker of Dummy and we'll have more insights into Aaron's performance next. In the meantime, Johnson is already making lots of buzz in Hollywood. Apparently, it's not hard to answer my question. It seems he's almost there!

Aaron in Kick-Ass! The story is both amusing and impressive. It seems the young actor was able to convince another director that he's the perfect young man for the job:

It's not easy to pull the wool over Matthew Vaughn's eyes (or, in this case, his ears) but Aaron Johnson did just that - and won himself the lead role in the blockbuster movie version of Mark Millar's graphic comic book Kick-Ass. Vaughn had instructed his casting director not to audition young British actors for the part of David Lizewski, a wannabe superhero who - Houston, we have a problem! - lacks super-powers.

'I was working in the U.S. anyway and did a screen test using an American accent and he didn't realise I was British. I kind of fooled him,' Aaron told me. Vaughn backed up the story: 'I fell off my chair when I was told. His American accent is pitch perfect and he can bloody well act.'

More on his role in Kick-Ass:

Dave (Lizewski) is just an ordinary guy; he's not geeky, but he's not cool either. He gets his kicks dressing up in a makeshift super-hero outfit complete with Timberland boots.

He goes out to try and find some crime to prevent and ends up getting the hell kicked out of him because, obviously, he's not a real super-hero.
'That's the thing about Kick-Ass,' Aaron explained. 'It's set in the real world and poor old Dave ends up in hospital.'

Director Vaughn has surrounded Aaron with Nicolas Cage, who is playing Big Daddy, as well as Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Mark Strong.

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What's on your mind? Have you seen Aaron Johnson in a movie? Are you a fan? Let us know what you think!

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Comments (2)

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I liked Aaron in The Illusionist and I have yet to see him in the film adaptation of one of my fave books. I think he will conquer Hollywood quietly. He's on a good track so far!

Lydia , October 11, 2008 | url

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Huh. He's absolutely adorable in that first picture! And then, I look at the others here, and I'm surprised to see that they are all of him as well. He transforms quite a bit for his roles. It's so good to see that...I love when actors become their roles and you can't even recognize their personal persona. Does that make sense? Much like, (yes, I must do the comparison,) Rob in all of his roles. Complete transformations!

I look forward to more from Aaron...and I think we'll definitely see more. I like what Lydia said above, about him 'conquering Hollywood quietly,' what a lovely way of putting it!

blearyeyedmesgirl , October 11, 2008 | url

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