Child star turned writer?
Actor Jacob Tremblay is only 10 but he hopes Hollywood executives will still be eager to read his zombie screenplay.
The Vancouver-born child actor, who will celebrate his 11th birthday Thursday, said he’s been working on a script that incorporates the flesh-eating living dead.
“It’d be cool if I gave my script to Amblin and they put it in a movie,” he said, referencing the Steven Spielberg production company.
Tremblay, who rose to fame in Room, believes he would become one of the youngest screenwriters in Hollywood if his film is made.
The actor spoke about his aspirations while in Toronto to promote Wonder, a drama where he plays a boy born with a facial deformity. It hits theatres in November.
But like any seasoned Hollywood pro, Tremblay wasn’t eager to share many details of his zombie script, which is set in the 1980s. When asked to offer even the slightest hint of what it’s about, he leaned back in his chair.
“No. I don’t want to,” he said, before adding a more diplomatic response. “I’d love to.”
Nikki Reed is considered one of Hollywood’s youngest writers to get her feature script made. She co-wrote the 2003 drama Thirteen when she was about 14 years old.
Montreal-born director Xavier Dolan entered the spotlight when his biographical film I Killed My Mother won the Director’s Fortnight program at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. He wrote the story when he was 17.
Tremblay recently had a chance to work with Dolan on his upcoming English-language feature The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, though the director didn’t offer him much advice on his career.
“He was usually just the director,” he said.
Writing screenplays isn’t entirely new territory for Tremblay. He counted six stories he’s already finished and said even more are percolating in his mind.
He’s completed a script involving characters from the Star Wars franchise, though he considers his zombie pitch a more serious idea.