Jacob Tremblay talks to us about his famous besties & why he never gets scared while filming thriller movies

Many of us first encountered Jacob Tremblay through his profound performance in Rooma role that won him a Critic’s Choice Award and countless rave reviews. In the film, he portrays a young boy experiencing the outside world for the first time after living in captivity with his abducted mother, played by Brie Larson. You should also know that Jacob’s incredibly well-deserved fame blessed us with some of the most precious moments in awards show history.

The 10-year old acting phenom is back at it again in another thriller, Shut In, starring Naomi Watts. The movie, which hits theaters this Friday, stars Watts as a child psychologist who believes she is being haunted by the ghost of her patient, played by Jacob.

We are more than ready for Jacob’s latest emotionally-riveting performance in Shut In. We were lucky enough to chat with the talented-beyond-his-years actor about his new movie and his friendships with leading ladies Naomi Watts and Brie Larson — and, naturally, we talked about real life robots and trick-or-treating in Drake’s neighborhood, too.

Isaiah Trickey/FilmMagic
Isaiah Trickey/FilmMagic

HelloGiggles: What was your favorite part of filming your new movie, Shut In?

Jacob Tremblay: It’s a really fun film… it’s the first film where I got to do really cool stunts, like running in snow and stuff like that. So that was a really fun part about it. It was new [for me]… so I was really excited to do them.

HG: Clearly, you’re amazing in the thriller genre — from your incredible performance in Room to this new film. Do you ever get scared when you’re filming these movies?

JT: Well, I don’t get scared during filming because there are cameras around — and if you look in the corner, there’s a guy eating a sandwich. But when you see the movie and it’s all edited with music, it’s pretty scary… And when you see the movie, it’s like a roller coaster. But it was also a really fun one to film because I got to ride on a snowmobile every time I had to go to the bathroom because it was snowing so much [on location in Montreal].

HG: Is it still a crazy experience seeing yourself on the big screen? Or are you kinda used to it by now?

JT: I sort of became used to it because the first time I did a movie, to see my face on the screen blew my mind. And in the second one, Room, it blew my mind too – especially because I was going places [in the movie]. And now this one [Shut In] was cool because I have some really cool dirt makeup on me [in the movie].

HG: Speaking of your incredible performance in Room, do you still keep in touch with your co-star Brie Larson?

JT: We definitely keep in touch on Instagram and other social media. We email each other. Now she’s in Captain Marvel, and she was Ma in Room, so now she’s Captain MArvel… get it? (laughs)

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Turner
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Turner

HG: That’s an amazing joke. In Shut In, you are working with the very, very talented Naomi Watts. As a young actor, what did you learn from working with her?

JT: I definitely learned a lot. I learned lots of different tips from her. We enjoyed working with each other so much, we decided to do two films together! [Editors’ note: The Book of Henry comes out in 2017!]

EuropaCorp
EuropaCorp

HG: We want to know more about what you do in your free time! What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not acting?

JT: At school, I started a coding club. And now my dad is starting to teach me to play baseball… And in December or late November, we’re gonna start snowboarding.

HG: That’s awesome! Can you tell us more about the club you started at school?

JT: We have two robots at school named Dash and Sparrow. And I got to control Dash, and it was really fun.

HG: Have you been into technology for a while?

JT: I’ve been into it for a while — once I heard of it and they showed us pictures of what the robots looked like, and they looked really cool. Although I did expect them to look more like the Terminator!

HG: Halloween, the best holiday ever, just passed. We want to know what you did for Halloween! What did you dress up as?

JT: I dressed up as two things. There’s a Halloween dance at my school a few days before Halloween, and I went to that as Marty McFly [from Back to the Future]. And after that, at Halloween at Jimmy Kimmel, I dressed up as Maverick from Top Gun.

And I went trick or treating in a neighborhood where Drake lives, so that was really cool. The first three houses I went to, I got a full bag because they gave us giant chocolate bars. So that was AWESOME.