Lad milks his role for all it’s worth
Schoolboy Daniel huttlestone had some famous costars on his latest film: Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, James corden, Emily blunt, Tracey Ullman and, umm . . . Tug, Diamond, Twofold and Pearl.
The last four, though, needed to be reassured before appearing in front of the cameras on Disney’s sublime, bigscreen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into The Woods, which opens here on January 9.
Daniel, 15, from hornchurch, Essex, spent a month getting acquainted with Tug and her three udderstudies — sorry, understudies. All four, as you may have guessed, are dairy cattle.
‘I spent four weeks on a farm getting to know the animals so they would be comfortable with me,’ Daniel told me, adding proudly: ‘I did some milking, and I milk by hand in the film.’
During pre-production, there was talk of using animatronic cattle, but Daniel and the mini-herd got on so well the filmmakers opted for the real thing, though some of the cows required a little make-up.
‘They were unusual co- stars,’ Daniel conceded, adding that if he gave up acting now he could always go into the dairy business.
Into The Woods is based on fairy tales, and Daniel plays Jack — as in Jack and the beanstalk.
he’s a cheeky chappy who lives with his mother (Ullman). his best friend is Milky-White the cow (Tug), but his mother makes him sell her.
Jack interacts with the baker and his wife (corden — pictured above with Jack — and blunt), who need Milky-White to fulfil a pledge to a witch (Streep). All of the characters then become entangled in a quest. In stage versions, the part of Jack is usually played by an adult, but director Rob Marshall felt it made more sense for the role to be played on screen by a real youngster.
And Daniel, who was Gavroche in the film les Miserables, opposite hugh Jackman and Russell crowe, was born to play Jack.
his parents, Mark and linda, are into amateur music and dramatics. Aged five, Daniel was on stage with his mother in oklahoma!. At nine, he was performing with Rowan Atkinson in oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury lane. And at 13, he made les Miz.
he celebrated his 14th birthday on the Into The Woods set and the cast and crew visited his camper van. ‘Everyone came. Meryl had some cake. Everyone had cake,’ he recalled.
later, he and corden played the Fifa game together on the Xbox. ‘I won!’ Daniel laughed.
les Miserables won several oscars and baftas, and there’s much chatter about Into The Woods, and its top-notch cast, being contenders this awards season.
Daniel is taking a break from musicals for his next film — an edgy drama called london Town with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and liv Tyler — which will begin shooting in london in March.