1 (LIGHT, UPBEAT MUSIC) Captions by Chelsea Thoresen. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 (LAID`BACK MUSIC) SAM: Right now we are in Los Angeles. I'm filming at Warner Brothers Studios. The film is about PT Barnum. Basically, he's the father of the entertainment industry. He started the travelling circus of America. They were looked down upon, outcast; no one wanted to know them. People thought that they should be locked away and, you know, never seen. # Look out, cos here I come. # And I'm marching on to the beat I drum. # PT Barnum, at your service. I'm putting together a show, and I need a star. The movie basically celebrates what's unique in everyone, which is good. I play Tom Thumb. He's basically a really, really short guy ` like myself. Although ` fun fact ` I was too tall for the role. Seriously?! I'm like, I never thought I would hear that. Honestly, I would never think that I would've been too tall for a role. PT BARNUM: Every one of us is special, and nobody is like anyone else. That's the point of my show. And they said, 'We're gonna have you on your knees for the entire shoot.' I'm like, 'What? What?' My knees are permanently calloused now. Film business! Ready? Showtime. (HIP-HOP MUSIC) Today is the final day of the shoot. I'm very excited, as always, cos it's another close-up scene with Hugh. He's very easy to act with. Two years ago, I couldn't possibly imagine that I would actually be in the film industry, like, making this huge film. You don't wanna get, you know, too big for yourself. You know, thinking, 'This is what I'm gonna do,' and 'This is my plan.' You can be in the business one day, and you can be out of the business the next day. It's a rollercoaster, the acting industry. But you hold on for dear life, and you hope it takes you somewhere good. Hey, this is my house. We're currently living here with my dad. Well, I'm the captain, and you'll get everything I say. Yup. Aye aye, cap'n. So, my disability is acrodysplasia, which is, basically, my bones don't grow, and I'm very short-statured, meaning there's a lot of physical developments that don't take place with that as well. A few years ago, you would mistake me as, like, a 5-year-old or, like, an 8-year-old. And I've had many times where I've had people follow me around the supermarket or the shopping centre asking me, you know, 'Little boy, are you lost? Where's your parents?' And I've gotten used to that, but it's still a very annoying thing to have to deal with. Only in the last month of pregnancy we found out that he was just not growing. I don't like to hear the statement that the doctor said. 'I don't know what the future holds for your baby.' And it stung for me, at the time. 'He's gonna die any time.' So... When he started going to kindy, he always was the tiniest among his friends, and the girls liked to mother him. So he actually drew all the attention. He always was a popular person. I went through a bit of a dark time in my teen years. I sort of was very depressed at times. It was in those years where a normal guy should start developing. To me, it was like being completely different to every other guy that's existed. I guess, in some kind of way, I didn't see any point of going on. EMOTIONALLY: And it was very hard. I always would cover that up with a smile. And at high school, they never knew about it. You know, I've come out the other side of it now, so... I am mentally driven and I, you know, I keep pushing until I literally can't go any more. I'm kind of a workout junkie. - (GROANS) I can't lift that at all. - (WOMAN CHUCKLES) In order to try and drop off the childish image, I try and portray, like, this big, adult image. That's probably one reason why I wear suits and I wear less kiddie stuff as, you know, my mother buys me. (LAUGHS) That's better. That looks pretty good. Almost perfect! Doctors, when I was born, said to my parents that they weren't sure how long I was going to survive for. When I started seeing specialists, they were like, my life expectancy could be 18. (LAID-BACK MUSIC) When I started, like, trying to get into acting and nothing happened, it could've been easier to give up, but I kind of just kept on working at it, you know, even though nothing was happening. I was like, you know, just kept going at it, even though some people told me that it probably wasn't a good idea. There's no job security and all those, you know, reasons why you should give up on acting. Eh, what do people know? (CHUCKLES) (STATIC) (UPBEAT MUSIC) Hi, I'm Sam Humphrey. I'm 22 years old, and I'm 127cm. I did my show reel a few years ago now. Cost me about 3 grand to shoot ` every penny that I had in my bank account at the time. I don't sell to kids. I ain't no kid. That's good. I like being the centre of attention, and I like people, and I like to, you know, just play personalities,... (GUNSHOT) ...so drama really appealed to me. That's it. You're wrapped on this scene, I think. Cool. Yay! (APPLAUSE) Thank you. You did well! Today went really well. Now my plan is to create my profile and send it off to a bunch of casting directors. I wanted to enrol into acting school, but I couldn't afford it. So, do you just wanna fill out that form there? Yep. Cool. But then I started getting roles, and I got a part on Neighbours. Beautiful. That's great. Excellent. They gave me a call and asked if I wanted to play the character James Utagawa, who's a financial whiz. He is mistaken as a kid to start off with, and so that kind of relates back to me, because I get mistaken as a kid quite a bit. Let's just have a line run out here. OK. All right. So, you're on the phone still to Madison. There's more to acting than just saying the lines. OK. OK? And action. I need to look at your books. Excuse me? I'm James Utagawa. I'm here as a representative of my family's company. And cutting there. Set up. (APPLAUSE) Well done, Sam. Good job. After, you know, landing my role on Neighbours, then it was like, 'OK, I can act, you know. At least I can act well enough to get on Neighbours.' And then getting cast in a huge multimillion-dollar Fox Studio film, it kind of blew my mind. It was like, 'Wow, I must be able to act.' You know, for them to have the confidence to cast me in such a big role and, like, to cast me alongside Hugh Jackman. To be honest, the reason I wanted to be an actor was because of Hugh Jackman. Always wanted to do, like, what he did. I was like, 'That's the guy. I wanna be like him.' Leaving for New York, I was quite nervous. It was the first time I was gonna be away from home by myself. I never thought I would, like, you know, be in business class ever. It's very surreal. Acting alongside Hugh Jackman will be like, you know, 'Hugh Jackman ` take one. You're all good. 'Sam Humphrey ` take 78. 'Try and get this one right, please.' Life in a hotel is gonna be fun. No real difference than home, I suppose. I spend most of my life in my bedroom anyway. Well, there probably is a lot going on in my head. You know, am I good enough? Should I be doing this? Am I, you know, worth them taking me all the way over there? Am I going to be wasting their time? I've never been away from him for so long, but that's apart of it. You've gotta push 'em out of the nest, and hope they can flap their wings before they hit the ground. (LIGHT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) And we are done. (MUSIC CONTINUES) Welcome to my crib, guys. Come on in. Check out the en suite. We have an awesome flat-screen TV right here. And if you're feeling a little bit hungry, we have a fridge over here and the kitchen. But if you want to take a bit of a snooze or something else, follow me to the bedroom. Here we have the bedroom. (SIGHS, CLICKS TONGUE) (ALARM BEEPS) (SLURPS) It was a very long, long day ` about 3am-ish. One of my scenes, I was kind of in a very awkward position for quite a while, and it was quite painful. My back hurts a lot. You've definitely got to have passion for the industry, otherwise you're not gonna want to be able to stay up those late nights and go through all the torture and the pain, but it'll be worth it to see myself on the big screen. (CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS) I'm very happy to say I did get a photo with Hugh Jackman, so, score. (CHUCKLES) So, how has the shooting been over the last, sort of, few days? Not bad. It's been pretty stressful. I mean, half of the time that you're on set, you're waiting. I mean, my call times are, like, anywhere from 6am to 8am. Me and my brother are very competitive people. He runs his own company with his co-founder called Appster. He's very successful. He's around 26 years old. With my brother setting that benchmark in our family, I kind of felt like I needed to rise to that benchmark, which was very difficult, cos he set it so freakin' high. Now that you're a big movie star, when are you going to be moving to LA? I don't... I don't know. Moving to the US, man. Living the American dream. I'm trying to figure all that stuff out, you know. (LAUGHS) I dunno. There's still a lot of stuff to do in Melbourne at the moment. Maybe we could even live together again. That could be a possibility. We haven't lived together in what, like, 10 years? (CHUCKLES) I know. I feel kinda like a bad brother, cos I kinda just went to the US. I was like 'see ya'. (CHUCKLES) But maybe we can be reunited as a family. But, you know, I think you were in a bit of a bad place, but, you know, you've made it out. And, obviously, it's just the beginning. It's gonna be a bit of a journey for you. But, I mean, I think you should keep going forward with that philosophy, right? Like, what's next? What can you do next? When I began, I mean, honestly, I couldn't have imagined it was gonna take me to where I am now. And I've always had that, you know, wanting to be independent no matter what, you know,... Mm. ...my disability is or whatever. And I think with getting cast in the role that I'm in, Tom Thumb, I think it's a perfect representation of me, because being short and, like, the life that I've lived. Tom Thumb ` or Charles Stratton ` he was short and he was hid away from the world and stuff, but then, you know, when PT Barnum discovers him, he, like, literally completely transforms his life. And he comes from being this guy locked away from the world to becoming, like, one of the stars of the show and being out in the open, and everyone adores him, and he becomes, like, you know, famous. Yeah. (LIGHT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) I definitely think there's a different confidence in him. I think he's sort of embraced even, like, himself as a human being, and I just notice a general sense of just better confidence in him. I'm gonna push him to really move to LA and stay here for a bit, because I think that he needs to be here and really jump on as many opportunities as he can. So I think that he can do a lot more. I'm super, super excited for him, and I think he has all the talent in the world. Not only that, but he's just a genuinely... I'm not saying this because he's my brother, but he's just such a genuinely nice, loving, just incredible human being with amazing character. I love him a lot because of what he's achieved, and he's always pushed the boundaries, no matter what people have said ` that he can't do it or, you know, 'There's no way that someone your age or someone that young can achieve all these impossible goals.' And I think, at the same time... Cos he's given me a lot of inspiration as well and told me, like, you know, just to keep pushing and don't give up and stuff like that. And so I think it's helped a lot, because I've seen where he's gone, and I've seen what he's done despite what people have told him. and it's kinda like, well, if he can do it, you know, then anyone can do it. And, like, with that competitive edge, it's kinda like, well, I have to do it too. I feel like, you know, this is just really the beginning for you. and I think you've just gotta keep pushing, man. Like, get out here, challenge yourself, you know, get outside your comfort zone. And I know you're gonna be super successful. I just know it. I really do. Mm. You know, I sorta look at the journey, and I feel like you really backed yourself. You really, you know, challenged yourself to give acting a shot. You know, that's really what you were passionate about and how you wanted to make it. (HIP-HOP MUSIC) So, we're all vegan, all organic. Everything is made from scratch. And we also have a question of the day for each table to discuss. Oh. Today's question is, 'What are you grateful for?' What am I grateful for? That's a great question. It is. I love it. I love it. All right. Take your time. Thank you. Cool. That's going on my Instagram. READS: What are you grateful for? I have a list of goals, of things that I would like to achieve. I would like to set up a charitable foundation to eradicate poverty. People who are homeless can come in and have a hot meal, have a place to sleep, and you can reintegrate them into society. I wanna... Also, actually, by the time I'm 25, I do want to be married, and possibly, you know, have a kid on the way. I wanna win an Oscar. Again, I don't know when; I don't know how. Some day I will win an Oscar. I would say my look has definitely changed. I dress a lot more smart-casual now. Obviously, I like to look smart all the time. That's also part of my brand, you know, being the short, good-looking, smooth guy all the time. And wearing a suit all the time... A lot of effort goes into putting a full suit on every single time. Josiah, my brother, he has definitely helped me with that. He told me that I had to stop wearing most of my old clothes. He actually told me I should get rid of them. He's also told me I should get rid of all of my Star Wars shirts, and I said 'no'. I'm like, 'Never!' So I was kind of staying true to myself, cos I absolutely love all my Star Wars clothing and everything. I always wear a Star Wars T-shirt underneath all of my smart-casual clothing. Just cos, to me, it's like I'm still, like, myself. Even though I do love the way I look and everything,... you know, I have my Star Wars passion with me wherever I go. (BOTH VOCALISE 'STAR WARS' THEME SONG) I met this guy, Godxilla ` that's his name, Godxilla ` and, well, he's a Star Wars geek as well, and, yeah, I suppose once a Star Wars geek meets an old Star Wars geek, pretty much, you bond. You bond for life. There's a lot of nerd stuff that takes place when two Star Wars nerds get together. What is your favourite scene in Star Wars, man? Ooh. Your favourite scene in Star Wars? I don't know if I have a favourite. You gotta pick one. You gotta pick one. (SIGHS) You're putting me on the spot here. Dude, this is all about being on the spot. There's a camera rolling! What the heck? (CHUCKLES) Um, OK` You are the spot. I didn't put you on the spot. You are the spot, yo. So be the spot! Don't try it, Anakin! I have the high ground! You underestimate my power! Give me your best Smeagol impersonation. Oh boy. IMITATES SMEAGOL: My... precious. It calls to us. That's actually creeping me out. (LAUGHS) Barack Obama would say, (IMITATES BARACK OBAMA) 'We cannot go over there and do that to those people. It's just not acceptable. All right, Power Ranger night. Wait, wait, you gotta touch rings. (BOTH GROAN) We out! (BOTH LAUGH) (HIP-HOP MUSIC) Rehearsals were very, very stressful. Dancing ` I'm not a dancer. I will make that perfectly clear. So, I had to dance. I would just spend hours rehearsing the dances in my apartment to hit the right timing. In the end, we got there, but I got told that I didn't need to dance, which was a bittersweet moment, to be honest, because I spent a month and a half ` and even longer while we were filming ` stressing out, freaking out that I was gonna stuff it all up, to come in to film day, when we needed to film the dance, being told, 'Oh no, don't worry. You're not gonna be in the dance any more.' I'm like, 'Cool.' I was happy. I was like, thank goodness, cos it would be a train wreck. But that's film business! (LIGHT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) For me, a lot of things are very difficult. Day-to-day life is hard. I'm a very driven person to be independent, to not have people help me so much. It's a little bit of a weakness for me as well, I suppose, in terms of being a little too prideful to ask for help, because I want to be so independent. But, like, going to the grocery store, for example ` if something's up on the top shelf. All the cheap stuff is on the top shelf. So the short people can't grab it. So, I swear, all the short people have to buy all the expensive stuff. That's my supermarket (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY). (SIGHS) So, I generally climb the shelf to grab, like, the cheap stuff on the top. And it's always a little bit awkward if I try and wait for the aisle to be clear. So that it's not, like, five people in the aisle watching me scale a shelf and then a struggle to try and grab something down. (HIP-HOP MUSIC) Obviously, LA is where it's all happening. That's where all the jobs are and auditions are and everything. Whether or not I move to LA or not is still up in the air. Things are nice in Melbourne. You know, I have my TV pilot going, and that's getting a lot of attention. It's called ` Hi, I'm Jeremy. I'm here about the job. Oh, that's a really strong handshake. We're in a world where everyone has a disability, and if a few people don't have a disability, and they would be, like, the social outcasts. Why don't duds have normal jobs? It's not nice to call people duds. We say 'without specialty'. Saying 'without specialty' sounds just as mean as calling someone a dud. No, it's not. It's proper. Yeah, 'without specialty' is the official term. Because he doesn't have a disability, he's looked down upon. He's treated like he's stupid. A little bit like how society kind of views it today. They kind of think that maybe people with disabilities can't do tasks that, you know, normal, able-bodied people can do. Excuse me, you're in a park for people without specialty. So what? So, I happen to be sitting here with a poor man who is not special. Oh my God. I am so sorry. Some people are so ignorant. It's great. It's a great role. I love it. (LIGHT, UPBEAT MUSIC) (BOTTLES CLINK) Kyle? Kyle? I can see you. I'm only partially blind. Jerk. (RELAXED MUSIC) I am right now kind of working on my autograph. A lot of people have said to me that they need to get my autograph, and, to be honest, I don't have one. So I'm working on sort of... developing one which is simple, yet complicated enough that people can't copy. As well, at the same time, one that I can do every single time, which looks the same and is the same. Cos the worst thing you want is, you know, to sign for a fan and then sign for another fan, and it's different. And then there's a dispute. And, you know, 'This is Sam Humphrey's autograph.' 'No, this is it.' 'This is it.' 'This is it.' You don't want that hassle. Will I be typecast? I will definitely be typecast, especially at the start of my acting career. Typecasting is a big thing in the acting industry, because, you know, they understand the types of roles that you can play, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to probably be cast as a kid more often than not. And to start off with, obviously, you take the roles that you get. There is no plan B. There's no backup plan. I used to think, 'If acting doesn't work out, 'what do I do? I need a plan B,' and everything. But my brother has given me this advice ` he says if you really want to go for something, don't have a backup plan, because a backup plan is basically saying to yourself you're going to fail and that you need something else to fall back on. So if you don't have a backup plan, then you have to make plan A work. It's just... It's do or die. (UPBEAT MUSIC) No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else. Captions by Chelsea Thoresen. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017