Derby Grammar School student Tom Cross won best young actor at the Independent Shorts Awards in Los Angeles. A 13-year-old boy has received an international prize for his performance as the lead in a short horror film.
He plays Patrick, the lead character in Andres Rothschild’s short horror film Unbidden, which was shot near London.
He regarded the production as “very difficult” to create.
‘Inspiration’
When a mysterious boy is discovered in the woods, a family is compelled to confront their grief and worries.
“It was shot on the outskirts of London throughout the summer, mostly in the evenings because they needed to film in the forest in the dark for the horror film,” he explained.
To portray a monster, the film had to use various camera angles, but Tom’s character Patrick was the only one who could see it.
This entailed capturing each scenario multiple times from various perspectives.
“There was one scene where I was screaming at the actor playing my father because I could see the monster, and he had to lose his cool and shout back at me,” Tom explained.
“We had to re-enact that moment so many times for different takes; it was quite difficult.”
The film was also named the winner of the Horrors4You Dark Hour Award and the Multi Dimension Independent Picture Festival’s best horror film.
Before he participated in the film, Tom appeared in Priscilla Queen of the Desert at Nottingham Theatre Royal and Two by Jim Cartwright at Derby Theatre.
His mother, Becky, a former professional dancer who appeared on two seasons of Come Dancing, was a big inspiration and encouragement, he said.
She stated:
“Tom has always enjoyed performing in front of an audience.
“He enjoys his acting classes and is unfazed by the fantastic projects he has already filmed or performed in.
“We are quite proud of Tom’s efforts so far and look forward to the next project.”
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