Elijah Wood and Ant Timpson on the childlike charms of Bookworm | Interviews

Elijah Wood: For me, the biggest challenge with Strawn was (learning the magic tricks). There are a couple of moments in the film where specific magic tricks give you a sense of what he’s really capable of. For me, the biggest thing was being believable. That came down to card skills, showing that I’m comfortable with a deck of cards so that I can make that character a believable illusionist or magician.

I saw a magician in Los Angeles over a month ago, Mike Pisciotta (of LA’s Magic Castle), who would just sit down and do fanning, play the deck, and pick up a card in a way that was comfortable in my hands. The thing about Strawn, to get back to your point about the delusions of grandeur, is that he pretends to be more successful than he is. And when you start to get beneath the surface, he’s kind of a failure. But I wanted That element of him to be real: he was good at one point. But the rest of it was just the fun of a character with a kind of inflated self that’s a protective element. He’s trying to present himself to his daughter as this capable, successful person. And the cracks start to show, and he can’t hold it any longer. The two of them are then thrust into scenarios that are beyond even his daughters’ (capabilities).

There’s an eagerness to impress that also parallels both characters. But while we’re on the subject of the daughter, tell me how you discovered Nell Fisher in the role.

Ant Timpson: We did a nationwide search in New Zealand and looked at a couple of hundred kids of that age — nine to 14 — and there were a lot of auditions. She’s one of those characters who could have gone off the rails of precocity, so we wanted to find someone who had that X factor and who we could click with straight away. Nell just stood out. We did chemistry readings with Elijah and it really came to the fore when you guys were performing together. Hopefully this doesn’t sound offensive, but she looked like she could have been Elijah’s love child (laughs).

I did a little research on her; she had done a low-budget film in New Zealand called “Northspur” when she was eight, and she was really good. You could tell something was happening. Then she got “Evil Dead Rise,” so we talked to Lee[Cronin]the director; I wanted to know how much fun she was on set and if he had any tips. He just said, “Look, hire her right away. She’s incredible.” She exceeded all expectations, honestly; she was incredibly well-rehearsed and prepared. She knew the whole script so well that she was giving me notes the whole time. Not that Elijah ever dropped a line, but when others did, she knew theirs. That’s craftsmanship. She’s also going to be in “Stranger Things,” so we know she’s going to be huge.