Acting Up: Walker Scobell
The Snapshot:
Walker Scobell plays a 12-year-old who teams up with his future self to save humanity in the sweet, genre-bending sci-fi action comedy film, The Adam Project.
(The film premiered on March 11th on Netflix.)
The Performance:
In terms of stellar performances by kids, it appears we have another Sam from Love Actually on our hands. Meet Walker Scobell from The Adam Project – who looks like a star in the making.
When we first meet the young Adam (Scobell), he’s getting the sh*t kicked out of him – not by love – but by the same school bully, yet again. It’s 2022 and unfortunately, Adam’s ability to cut down his bullies with a snarky comment only leads to further pummeling. That is, with his back against a wall, Adam responds the bully’s comment “I’m going to enjoy this…” with:
“Who talks like that? Did you order a bully kit starter pack on Amazon or something?”
It’s the kind of thing Deadpool would toss out there in the middle of a fight before finishing off his opponent. But not so much for Adam, who takes the beating, per usual, and as a precursor to meeting his future self (Reynolds), a fighter pilot from 2050 who lands in his family’s outhouse with a gunshot wound. He’s from the future and young Adam has no idea who he is…
At first.
Watching big Adam’s repartee with his younger self is like watching a therapy session in real-time – well worth the price of subscription. A version of: ‘What would you say to your 12-year-old self if you had the chance?’ Except, big Adam doesn’t like his younger self so much or his “very punchable face.” Yet, the more time they spend talking initially, the more young Adam wises up.
The moment when Scobell’s Adam puts the pieces together of who he’s talking to – after they match the same scars and realize they’re both wearing their father’s exact same watch – we see young Adam’s grasp what’s happening and it’s a priceless Hollywood moment. A sentimental scene in a film that’s full of them – a novelty considering its sci-fi, action-film stripes. And that’s what sets The Adam Project apart from many one-note action films. There are themes about how we relate to ourselves and our parents (or don’t) – a splash of that father/son magic from Field of Dreams mixed in with what made Back to the Future such a good multi-generational film.
Also – Scobell. It’s rare you see a child performance that is such a plus-plus for a film. As young Adam, Scobell gives this film a great counterpart to Reynolds’ comedic energy and brilliance, catching you off-guard with a hearty realness that goes beyond anything merely serviceable.
Throw in the plot point where the two of them collectively attempt to make peace with their absentee father (Mark Ruffalo), who’s made a key breakthrough relating to time travel, and this film reminds you why cinema exists: to entertain, to thrill and maybe even to make us cry.
Photo Courtesy of Netflix
The Career:
As his IMDb bio would have it, the now 13-year-old Scobell comes from a military family that has led him to move around a bit, living everywhere from sunny California to hilly Colorado.
As someone who’s always liked to make people laugh, Scobell decided to pursue a career in acting, working on his craft after a trip to Cali. But here’s the kicker: As a fan of superhero movies, Scobell was reportedly obsessed with Deadpool from age 7 and spent countless hours mimicking Ryan Reynolds from that film – before he ultimately got a chance to play him.
It’s a relevant detail that, according to the film’s director Shawn Levy, benefitted the film immensely. “[Scobell] shows up on set and he gets to co-star with his hero, whose rhythms and inflections he has literally ingested for half of his very young life,” says Levy. “We never needed to teach Walker how to say and do things the ‘Ryan Reynolds way.’ He already knew how.”
It can’t be a picnic to cast the 12-year-old version of Ryan Reynolds: a young actor who can match Reynolds’ whip-smart, sarcasm, humor and general likeability that makes most men want to be him. But casting director Carmen Cuba, who “auditioned 376 kids in her search for the perfect actor to fill those shoes” says Scobell nailed it according to this story on the Netflix blog Tudum.
Something you’re actually able to see – since Netflix posted Scobell’s audition tape for the role of young Adam to show how good he actually was during his callback. In finding their man, they were all able to preserve the big ol’ heart for this film – the kind that usually fills its black hole-sized emotional void with crash-bang visual effects that make people forget how to feel.
As for Scobell, now that he has a time-travel epic under his belt in The Adam Project, the future looks bright. Other than doing one of the funnier mac-and-cheese spots you’ll ever see (thanks to a partnership between Reynolds’ advertising firm Maximum Effort and Kraft), Scobell is about to embark on a career that should lead to interesting places. Speaking of, his next film is Secret Headquarters, co-starring Owen Wilson, where Scobell will play a kid who discovers a secret space under his home that may just belong to a superhero – who also may just be his estranged father.
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Gregg Rosenzweig has been a writer, creative director and managing editor for various entertainment clients, ad agencies and digital media companies over the past 20 years. He is also a partner in the talent management/production company, The Rosenzweig Group.
