`PECULIAR’ WORLD, EDGE
Asa Butterfield steps into ‘Peregrine’s’ peculiar world
Asa Butterfield was just 13 when Martin Scorsese cast him as the star of 2011’s “Hugo.”
At 19, Butterfield teams with another legendary filmmaker, Tim Burton, in Friday’s elaborate, time-traveling 3-D fantasy “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.”
“This film, it’s hard to describe. It’s got a bit of everything,” Butterfield said from his London home.
“Visually, it’s stunning. Tim’s done a beautiful job of bringing this magical, mysterious and colorful world to life. But at the same time, he’s managed to weave in the dark, creepy elements that are so Tim. That’s where he really nailed it.”
Indeed, “Miss Peregrine’s Home” boasts monsters who kill children to devour their eyes, the better to see. Miss Peregrine (Eva Green, “Penny Dreadful”) can turn into a falcon.
Her flock of children with “peculiarities” include one who can float into the sky, one who sparks fires and another who boasts monstrous teeth in the back of her head.
Yet it is Butterfield’s Jake, not Miss Peregrine, who dominates.
“We really capture Jake’s journey, going from this really normal kid in Florida who doesn’t think anything will ever change. Then after his grandfather’s horrific death, he goes to Miss Peregrine’s Home and he’s pretty much chucked into the deep end. He feels really out of place, and that’s what I was tuning into, that feeling we all can relate to — a fish out of water. He doesn’t really know what to do, and he overcomes that. That’s one of the great parts about the story: He’s a reluctant hero who does what he needs to.
“It’s a gradual process. When he gets to the home, it’s the first time he’s felt anything but helpless. He realizes he can make a difference — and when he realizes that, that’s the turning point. He has the chance to do something big and tries to do something he’s never done before.”
Butterfield easily connected to Jake.
“Being a child actor, I related to his feeling of not belonging. When you first come into this industry, it’s quite daunting and quite scary. It takes a while to feel you’re in the right place. The two things I’ve stuck with are that you have to be confident as an actor. And you can’t take yourself too seriously.”