Cineplex Magazine June 2013

SPOTLIGHT CANADA
Finding
His Way
We’re just waiting for Liam James to get
home from school.
The 16-year-old Canadian star of next
month’s The Way, Way Back is running a bit
late for our scheduled chat. When he does call
from his Vancouver home he apologizes — it
isn’t easy juggling school and the commitments
that come with a burgeoning film career.
“It can be tough sometimes but it all works
out in the end I hear,” he says hopefully.
Thoughtful and a little shy, James sounds a
bit like Duncan, the character he plays in
The Way, Way Back. Fourteen-year-old Duncan
is bullied by his mother’s (Toni Collette)
boyfriend (Steve Carell) and spends his
summer hanging out at a water park where
he’s befriended by an oddball park employee
(Sam Rockwell).
“I’d describe Duncan as a regular teen,
but with less confidence,” says James.
“He’s always being beaten down by Steve’s
character, he’s being repressed in a way.
Sam’s character has this huge personality, and
it takes that to bring Duncan out of his shell.”
The film, written and directed by Nat Faxon
and Jim Rash, received a standing ovation
after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival
earlier this year. It’s all heady stuff for James,
who not only got to work alongside such a
great cast, he also had Sam Rockwell serving
as his very own film school professor.
“Sam Rockwell likes to watch a lot of films,
as do I, and he gave me a list of amazing
movies he wants me to see. He even gave
me a couple he had when we were filming,
like he gave me Meatballs to watch, and
Talladega Nights, which is really funny.
“There is a big list somewhere, I can’t
remember where it is right now but I’ll find it.”
—IngrId randoja
14 | Cineplex Magazine | june 2013
The Way, Way Back
hits theatres JULY 5 th
PHOTO by brIan HIGbee