Max Harwood and Hero Fiennes Tiffin Talk The Loneliest Boy in the World

Max Harwood and Hero Fiennes Tiffin are two of the stars of the must-see new film, The Loneliest Boy in the World.

When the sheltered and unsocialized Oliver (Max Harwood) is tasked with making new friends after the sudden and devastating death of his mother, he decides that digging a few up (literally) might be his best bet. However, when he awakens the morning after his excavating escapades, he discovers that his newly acquired friends have mysteriously come to life overnight, launching them all into a series of misadventures as they try to keep their secret safe from neighbors, classmates, and social workers alike.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Max and Hero about The Loneliest Boy in the World, their love for independent film, and more.

PC: This is such a unique story and project. What were each of your initial reactions when you read this script?
Max: I was terrified. It felt like such a mammoth role. The first time I read it, I read it with more of a dramatic lens. I knew it was a comedy, but I didn’t read it as such initially, especially coming at it from the perspective of Oliver. I was reading it from a more dramatic perspective, so I was like, “Gosh. This is terrifying. I don’t know how I could potentially even do this or bring this to life.” It was through speaking with Martin [Owen], our director, and getting some references and understanding the tone a bit more that I became super excited about the role. I feel like movies like this don’t get made anymore. It’s a gift of a role and script.

Hero: I instantly fell in love with Mitch’s happy-go-lucky nature and the fact that he has nothing to lose because he’s dead. As an actor, you’re used to playing the vulnerability and the high stakes. There were layers to this role, but above all, there was so much fun to be had. Max does all the hard work. Then I spoke to a friend of mine who had worked with Martin before and he said how amazing and fun Martin was to work with, and then I spoke to Martin and it was true. I knew I was on board then.

PC: Max, you handle Oliver’s journey with so much nuance. How did you create this space for yourself to dive into his emotional arc?
Max: Thank you. I always find the acting questions harder to answer than the ones about the story. But I think finding nuance is a matter of understanding the character’s internal world beyond the script. I worked with Martin and my amazing performance coach, Allie Rashly. We made some specific decisions which I won’t divulge about what happened to Oliver when he was at the psychiatric hospital and why he doesn’t want to go back there. We made those decisions very early on. If you can let the world live and you can have everything sit on an undercurrent of something that isn’t written, then it allows you to be free and nuanced in the script and in the discovery of the other performances that you’re receiving. It was a really visceral project for me because I was really responding to the world around me, the zombies, the set, and the costumes. It was real. I had to be forensic in that sense, and that’s how I brought nuance to it.

PC: Hero, you’re known for all the dramatic work that you’ve done on screen. What has it been like for you getting to step into this comedy genre, especially with a character who has so much physical comedy?
Hero: It was freeing for me. It was freeing, but it also tested me, even though it feels like you wouldn’t be able to use those words together. It felt like a new challenge but a challenge that was really fun. It was something that I could step into rather than step down from. I knew I wanted to do something different given the work that I’ve previously done, and it ticked all the boxes for me and was a welcome and enjoyable challenge.

PC: Max, there’s such great chemistry that comes off the screen between you and the entire cast. How were you able to build that chemistry while filming during a pandemic?
Max: We literally just spent loads of time together. It was forced time [laughs] because of the pandemic. We only had each other. A lot of us had breaks from things that we were supposed to be working on or things that we were in the middle of working on. This was one of the first projects that I did. We did it during the pandemic. We were all a bit eager to spend time with people and have our bubbles increase. Lots of us had come from places where we couldn’t be with more than two people. I can’t lie to you, I was a huge fan of a lot of these actors’ works. It was a great pleasure to chat with them about the work that they’ve done and the people that they’ve worked with and to get to know them a bit. We would play cards and watch Hero play football—because I can’t play football. But it was a lot of stuff outside of work.

Hero: I have to tag onto this. Everyone got on so well. Max, I do have to say that you need to give yourself some credit. You were one of the first ones there. You really did make sure you gelled everyone together and made sure everyone knew each other and spent some time with each other. You really did play a key role in making sure everyone came together and got to know each other because we all had a bit of that post-lockdown social anxiety.

Max: I’m a good party host as well. I love to throw a party, so that might be why. I like to be a host and make sure everyone is looked after.

PC: Hero, Martin directed the film, but he actually got his start as an actor. Is the experience different when you’re collaborating with a director who has experience in front of the camera? What was that collaboration like?
Hero: It definitely is. We have similar backgrounds, and he’s relatively young for a director. The main thing that stood out to me about working with him is that he felt like a friend. A lot of the time, directors (especially when I first started working as an actor) felt way older and as if they came from a different part of the world and were my boss. This time it felt like I was collaborating with a peer and a friend. Having said all of that, he has so much experience and knows exactly what he wants and what he’s doing. He’s also a hilarious person and actor. He’s really great. I love his cameo in the film. He is really good at knowing what the actor wants and where the actor comes from. It’s always a blessing working with people who are like-minded.

PC: You’ve both worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you both as creatives?
Max: The scripts. Independent film scripts are always so ambitious, and they get to be ambitious because the writers aren’t restrained by the studio in terms of what they can and can’t write based on the budget. There’s something innately gorgeous and nuanced about lots of scripts that I get to read that are from independent filmmakers. Not that studio films aren’t great because a lot of the great films that get made these days go to festivals, win awards, and are bought by studios. These independent films become studio movies at the stage of distribution.

I love that filmmakers get to be real filmmakers on independent films. I think more stories are getting told from diverse perspectives and people have a hold of their own work. I love independent films. I could go on for hours about independent films, especially British independent films. As a Brit, I love it.

Hero: I completely agree. There is something special about it, and there are loads of special things about it that we could talk about. One for me personally is that with British independent films, there feels like less of a hierarchy than on other film sets. It feels like everyone is a bit more on the same level and that we’re coming together to collaborate as opposed to falling in place and turning up to do the job. It really does feel like we’re all working together and we all have a vested interest in it.

PC: This is such a visually stunning film. Is there a particular scene that you’re really excited for audiences to see when it drops?
Hero: I like the bathroom scene where it’s me and Max. It’s quite fun.

Max: I think the sequence where Oliver goes to find his family. I won’t give too much away, but the sequence takes place at night. He’s bringing Hero home and it’s cut together in such a snappy way. It’s really exciting. I think people will be like, “Do I like Oliver anymore? What’s going on?”

It feels like a twist, but it’s not a twist. I think people will enjoy that vision. We shot in an actual graveyard. It wasn’t on a sound stage. It looks like a massive, huge sound stage because they lit it so beautifully. It was honestly wild. The church and the graveyard look stunning at night.

Hero: I also want to chuck in the one where Evan is first walking around the house and is missing everything that’s happening in the house. I really enjoyed watching that one back. There is a lot to love. The set and VFX guys did such a good job in bringing that to life visually.

Make sure to follow Max (Twitter/Instagram) and Hero (Instagram). The Loneliest Boy in the World is out now in select theaters and wherever you stream movies on October 18th.