Despite his tender age, 17-year old Thomas Sangster has already appeared along side some of the biggest names in the business. He’s worked with Liam Neeson in Love, Actually, Emma Thompson in Nanny McPhee, David Tennant in critically acclaimed episodes of Doctor Who, and now he’s set to star opposite Sir Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth in The Last Legion. He plays Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of Rome, who must go in hiding when barbarians invade the empire.
What was interested you in The Last Legion in the first place?
Thomas Sangster: I think the fact I hadn’t done anything like that before, it was an epic, there were Romans involved! I did the Romans at school and I think they’re considered quite cool! And because of the action as well, that was really fun.
It was also really good to do because it was filmed in Tunisia and Slovakia, and it was amazing there. It was quite a culture shock actually because it went from 50 Celsius in Tunisia and we literally got in a plane and got of in Slovakia and it was freezing cold, it was very odd.
You did Tristan and Isolde as well; do you enjoy doing these big historical epic films?
TS: They are good fun, just because I haven’t done much of them before, it’s something different for me, and if any more come up I’ll definitely do them… I got to do a little bit of sword fighting as well which was good but I wanted to do more!
This was your third film with Colin Firth, do you like working with him?
TS: He’s a great guy actually… We’ve actually got a really good relationship, it’s a bit strange, and after each film we’re like “see you in the next one!”
You also share a lot of screen time with Sir Ben Kinsley — what’s he like, and does he make you call him sir?
TS: It was great to work with Sir Ben Kingsley, I mean, he is who he is, a great actor. He didn’t make me call him Sir Ben but I did anyway!
So what’s it like being at school and having to act as well?
TS: It can be a bit difficult just because even when you do school work on a film set you can’t give it your full attention because you’re in a completely different place, you know you’re off playing Caesar and then you need to come in and do maths work — its a bit crazy.
What have you got coming up in the future?
TS: At the end of the month I’m going to Italy to do a film version of Pinocchio which is great and it sounds quite fun although I haven’t read the script yet! And I’ve got a few other things on the horizon and some possibilities next year as well…
