Young Actor Shares Twinkle, Mischief With Screen Role
By Sandi Davis
The Oklahoman
Published December 22, 1995
NEW YORK - Even in person, Jonathan Taylor Thomas has a Tom Sawyer-ish quality. His eyes twinkle, he sometimes smiles mischievously and he seems to be having a good time.
At 14, he's also a pro at interviews. After talking to the press for "The Lion King" (he was the voice of young Simba), "Man of the House" (he starred with Chevy Chase) and his role as Randy Taylor on television's "Home Improvement," he knows just what to say and is poised as he says it.
In his current film, Walt Disney's "Tom and Huck," Thomas plays Tom Sawyer.
The Walt Disney Co. invited reporters from around the country to New York to see the film and interview Thomas.
"I read Tom Sawyer in the third or fourth grade," he said. "I loved the story then, and when this came along later on I was extremely happy and I read the books again ... " A few weeks before filming started, Thomas visited Mark Twain's house in Hartford, Conn., which helped him understand how Twain came to write the story. Though "Tom Sawyer" wasn't written in that house, Thomas said there were mementos of the writer's career throughout the home.
"Tom and Huck" was shot in Madison County and in the small town of Mooresville, Ala., which had the sites they needed and a few things they didn't. During production, the area was hit by a tornado.
"We were basically at Mother Nature's mercy," he said. "The tornado was quite bad. It damaged a lot of homes and killed some people there. It was quite awful. We left. It kept on getting closer and closer and the rain was coming down in sheets. It was wicked. You could see it in the distance and we said, 'Let's get out of here, it's not worth it. We're not going to be able to shoot, you know that. ' We took off and got out of there. " Thomas said the rest of the shoot was fun, and he enjoyed hanging out with his co-star Brad Renfro, who played Huck Finn.
In the film, they get in jam after jam and always manage to bail each other out. In one scene, they get disguised in mud to raid Injun Joe's camp.
"One of the most peculiar days was when we filmed the mud," Thomas said. "That was odd, being covered head to toe with mud for two days.
"Most of the time we were in Alabama and it was early summer so it was pretty warm and getting more humid daily. The days we filmed that, it was overcast ... and every time a breeze would come up - coated in mud - we would freeze. " They spent time in a heated tent laughing about their predicament, but the mud had advantages too.
"We couldn't do school because we'd go in the trailer and try to write something and we're dribbling mud all over everything," he said. "They kept on having to reapply the mud because it would dry and flake off, so it was not the most comfortable thing, but it looks pretty good. " Because of the number of children on the set, school was a regular event. The kids would take classes in the short breaks between takes and at one point, Thomas took some final exams in the back of a cave where it was 52 degrees.
In the book and the movie, Tom Sawyer has a youthful romance with Becky Thatcher. In the film, they kiss.
"It was nerve-racking, to do it in front of people," he said. "I finally asked the director how many angles he was going to shoot of this.
"We were both kind of nervous, but that kind of incorporated well into the scene, because Tom and Becky were nervous. It was kind of a peck, so it's no big deal. " Thomas is becoming a teen idol with his picture featured on many magazines aimed at teen-age girls.
"My mom goes in and buys them at the supermarket to make a scrapbook," he said. "They ask her if she has a daughter. " He hasn't had any trouble being misquoted in those magazines yet and likes the fact they give him a chance to make positive statements.”
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