SFX

MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

TIM BURTON'S LATEST FREAK SHOW IS ON ITS WAY

- Nick Setchfield

Eternal champion of the misfit Tim Burton is back with another call to arms for society’s outsiders. Based on the bestsellin­g novel by Ransom Riggs – a book inspired by a true-life cache of creepy vintage photograph­s – it’s the tale of a houseful of orphans gifted with extraordin­ary powers.

“Someone actually asked me in an interview two years ago, ‘If there was one director you could work with, who would it be?’” star Asa Butterfiel­d tells SFX. “And I said ‘Tim Burton’. A few months later I get a script, with the words ‘Directed by Tim Burton’ on it… I’m like, ‘God, this is it!’

“It’s a real Tim movie, if you know what I mean. It’s totally up his street. He’ll do a better job than anyone else of capturing this world, which is surreal and fantastica­l and also gothic and weird. And that’s just Tim!”

Butterfiel­d plays Jacob, a seemingly ordinary boy caught in the battle between Miss Peregrine’s extraordin­ary brood and the creatures hunting them. He’s joined by rising star Ella Purnell, Samuel L Jackson and, as the enigmatic, shape-shifting mistress of the orphanage, Eva Green.

“This movie is all about individual­ity,” says Butterfiel­d. “It shows how the kids learn to show off their individual­ity, their peculiarit­y, and what makes them different. Nowadays people are shunned for being different. This movie flips that on its head. It says embrace your difference­s. Make the most of them. These people form a family because they’re all outcasts.”

 ??  ?? Beats taking the dog for a walk.
Beats taking the dog for a walk.

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