“Anne Hathaway has been a hero of mine for a very long time and I admire her career,” says the 16-year-old actor
Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Christian Convery gives a breakout performance in David Robert Mitchell’s sci-fi thriller The End of Oak Street
- The film follows a family, played by Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, and Maisy Stella, navigating life after a cosmic event
- Convery credits the cast’s real-life bond and intense preparation for their authentic onscreen family dynamic
Christian Convery is one of Hollywood’s young rising stars.
At only the age of 16, he’s won an Emmy for his role as Gus in Netflix’s hit TV series Sweet Tooth, and appeared in movies like Cocaine Bear and Guillermo del Toro‘s Oscar-winning adaptation of Frankenstein to name a few.
The American-Canadian teen actor sat down with PEOPLE in an exclusive interview to talk about his new role in writer-director David Robert Mitchell’s dinosaur thriller The End of Oak Street.
Convery stars alongside Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor and Maisy Stella as members of the Platt family who band together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown. The movie is now in theaters.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
PEOPLE: Was the making of this movie as intense as watching it?
CHRISTIAN CONVERY: On the days that we were being a normal family, for example, at the start of the movie at the block party or eating pizza in the dining room, those days were super fun. But then you get to a whole week of just emotional turmoil. It can get pretty emotionally exhausting.
I think what made our performances also super real was the fact that we really were put into a physical and mental state similar to the characters. Obviously not in a life or death situation, but in terms of how much we were committing to the role. So it made it a lot easier to portray those emotions.
Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
PEOPLE: Did you all bond together before playing a family?
CONVERY: To be honest, there really was no magical trick. I think we really just all hit it off with each other. Everyone matched from the moment that we met. But I think in preparation, the table read was pretty helpful to see how our dynamics would roughly play in the scene. And also there was quite a lot of prep work and meetings that were held, which allowed us to communicate, ask questions.
Outside of that, over lunch or on the weekend, it was pretty typical for some of us to meet up. But I really do feel like portraying a family authentically in a movie is one of the hardest things to do. And having that bond in real life definitely made it easier. So we became a big family on set with all the cast and all the crew. It was great.
Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
PEOPLE: How’s Anne Hathaway as an onscreen mom? Behind the scenes, was she motherly in any way?
CONVERY: Anne Hathaway has been a hero of mine for a very long time and I admire her career. So going on, I was quite nervous. But what I really appreciated was that she did just treat me like any other actor who was working at a respectable level. And I think keeping the separation of, onscreen, she’s like my mom, and, just in real life, we’re simply coworkers, added a lot of respect and, honestly, was a great learning opportunity for me because I was communicating with her on a normal level.
PEOPLE: You seem like an incredibly grounded actor for someone so young. When did you begin acting?
CONVERY: I started acting at six years old.
PEOPLE: Wow. When did you get super serious about this as a career?
CONVERY: I think my big switch was around nine years old when I had to become the lead of a show called Sweet Tooth that I filmed for five years on and off in New Zealand. And I really started evolving and dedicating my time to understanding cinema, the process, how different actors take on different roles, watching the iconic movies and studying different directors. So I’ve been professionally focused on this for a very long time now, and I have so much more to learn. It’s important you never build yourself higher than you really are.
The End of Oak Street is now in theaters.
Read the full article here
