Jason Momoa Raves About Working with 'Wonderful' Child Actor Marlow Barkley: 'My Babies Are the Same Age'
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Broadimage/Shutterstock Jason Momoa and Marlow Barkley
For his latest movie, Jason Momoa not only got to channel his inner kid — he got to work with one for the first time.
The 43-year-old actor's new Netflix film Slumberland sees Momoa as Flip, an eccentric, horned outlaw who guides Nemo, played by 14-year-old Marlow Barkley, through a dreamworld. The movie is based on the turn-of-the-century comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland.
And the Dune star said starring with Barkley, his "first time working with a kid actor," went so well in part because of his relationship with his children.
"My babies are the same age as [Marlow]," he recently told E! News, referring to his son Nakoa-Wolf, 13, and daughter Lola Iolani, 15. "She was wonderful. She's so talented. She's intelligent but at the same time, wasn't trying to be older."
Barkley raved about Momoa, too, telling the outlet, "He was everything I wanted him to be, and more. Always made me laugh. Always knew how to have a good time."
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BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com Jason Momoa and his kids
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The actor, who announced his separation from wife Lisa Bonet in January, added that the role not only let him bond with Barkley as he does with his kids, but let him explore his own inner child, too.
"I was just trying to be younger than her and just be caught up in that forever-boy age," Momoa said.
In August, the Game of Thrones alum told PEOPLE that playing Flip "unlocked a lot of things" for him. When he got to watch the movie in full — with his kids, Barkley and her family — he got emotional: "It's weird when you tear up watching your own stuff."
"It blew me away, and I just was so emotional," Momoa continued. "This role just let me really be free, and the character is so fun."
Charley Gallay/Getty Images Jason Momoa and Marlow Barkley
It helped that he had a preexisting trust with the movie's director, Francis Lawrence, who also directed the first three episodes of See, Momoa's Apple TV+ series.
"Working with Jason on See, I saw characteristics in his personality that I knew would work really well with Flip," Lawrence, 51, told PEOPLE. "So it was fun to do something completely different for the both of us that also allowed us to stretch our creative muscles in new ways."
Slumberland also offered Momoa yet another chance to explore what he said made him an actor in the first place.
"I'm trying to be as adult as possible. But the truth of it is, I just love to play, and it's fun to be creative and use your imagination," he told PEOPLE, adding, "My kids keep me young."
Slumberland is on Netflix now.
