Booboo Stewart is part of the cast of the upcoming western, Let Him Go. He plays a role close to the protagonist played by Kevin Costner (The Postman, Dances With Wolves, The BodyGuard) and Diane Lane (Unfaithful, Under The Tuscan Sun, The Outsiders).

Stewart made his main mark when he played Seth Clearwater in the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. His character made a return in  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. He is also known for White Frog and his character, Warpath in X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Besides being an actor he is also a mixed media artist, musician and Black Belt Martial Arts. He landed a record deal at the age of 12 with Walt Disney records. That led him to tour with known talent like The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus.

I had the opportunity to have a phone conversation to discuss his character in Let Him Go.  He shares his experience working with prestigious actors, feedback on his auditioning and spoke in depth about his character, Peter. Also, talked about the kind of role he is looking for.

Nancy Tapia: Congratulations on being part of the high caliber cast in Let Him Go. Your scenes were pretty much working with aside of Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. What was that like?

Booboo Stewart: It was crazy, haha..It was cool, to put it blandly. It was awesome. I had such a great time. They are so nice, so giving, as creatives.  It was such a calming set. Thomas Bezucha, our director’s the man. He’s such a great guy. I would love to work with everybody again. It was just so much fun. 

Nancy Tapia: There was also another character, which was the horse. How comfortable do you feel working with such beautiful creatures?

Booboo Stewart: I feel pretty comfortable around horses. I grew up on a ranch. I’m actually here right now and so I’ve been around horses my whole life. I have a horse, his name is Rim Rock. He is a Paint, and he’s a beautiful horse. I was actually just out with him a second ago.

Nancy Tapia: Nice!

Booboo Stewart: So I love horses. 

Nancy Tapia: Oh, so this was up your alley working with a horse.

Booboo Stewart: Yeah. Actually for the audition, when I had to send them a tape of me saying the lines, I chose to shoot the audition in our tack room with all the horse equipment.

Nancy Tapia: That’s pretty spectacular.

Booboo Stewart: Yeah.

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Nancy Tapia: So let’s talk in depth about Peter, which is the character in this film. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like Peter is one of those characters a few people can relate to at some point of their life. Where you feel like an outsider and end up completely isolating yourself trying to figure out who you are. Then trying to see how, maybe you can make a return.

Booboo Stewart: Right. Yeah. No, you’re right. He is a very interesting character. He is someone who’s been through a lot of abuse and trauma with the residential schools. The thing that happened from, literally, the late 1800s to the 1980s. Where they would take natives out of their community, put them up in these boarding schools, which were called residential schools. They were just trying to strip away anything native about them. Cutting their hair, abusing them when they would speak their native language.

There’s a lot of really horrible things that happened in those schools and he’s a victim of that. He’s a survivor, not a victim, but a survivor of it. One of the reasons why he lives by himself is he’s trying to just carry on with his life in a peaceful manner of not trying to disturb anything. He’s just trying to live out this peaceful life. That’s why he’s so hesitant when George and Margaret come around. It’s like, “Who are these people? What do they want?” He’s someone who’s been through a lot of trauma. He’s a survivor of all of that, and that takes a very strong person to decide to just step away.

Nancy Tapia: It’s funny because Peter, turns into some sort of a trampoline to gain force for George and Margaret.

Booboo Stewart: Totally. Yeah, he does push them into, without trying to. But yeah, it is a driving force for them to actually go out and find their grandson, and then he gives them some information they need to do so.

Nancy Tapia: I was really hoping that Margaret and George would just end up just adopting Peter.

Booboo Stewart: Everybody says that.

Nancy Tapia: Really?

Booboo Stewart: Everyone’s like, “He should’ve gotten in the car with them,” you know? Peter, he wants his peace. He just wants to be at peace. He loves the quiet life. He likes just him and his horse. That’s what he loves and longs for. I think at the end of the day he chooses that over anything else.

Nancy Tapia: I think we should’ve told Thomas. I think that should have been changed.

Booboo Stewart: Yeah. Exactly. I’ll send him a text after this, haha…

Nancy Tapia: Not only was it a win-win to get this role with an audition tape around horses, but also your hair! That’s such a key-signature of yours.

Booboo Stewart: Oh, my hair haha…Yeah, funny enough, I am actually just looking for a part where I have to cut it.

Nancy Tapia: Are you really?

Booboo Stewart: Yes, haha.. I’ve had long hair for such a long time. I love it. I really, love it. It’s so great. But I really want to do some really down in the muddy dirt, military film, and have to cut it. That would be great.

Nancy Tapia: Wow. Well you’re putting it out there right now haha…

Booboo Stewart: I am! Come on, haha… That’s my goal, to just get down and dirty in the military, maybe cut my hair off. I would let it grow back out of course, but it would just be really nice. But yeah, when I started this character I did several things. One of the things is the physical. I’m a pretty physical person in general, just on a day to day basis. I always think of characters physically, what could I do? So for Peter, there was a lot I could do. You always want to dive in mentally first, for me. Then from there I just, from the inside, it projects physically what should be done also. So that was the voice, and I lost a lot of weight. I lost about 20 pounds for the part.

Nancy Tapia: Oh, wow!

Booboo Stewart: The overall nature of just being very hesitant as letting two strangers into his life. What that meant physically, and just how dirty he would be. Just a lot of little things.

Nancy Tapia: What do you hope people take away from your character from watching this film, in similar situation? That has experienced trauma and isolation like Peter.

Booboo Stewart: That’s a tough question to answer. I think what comes to mind is it might not be a character trait, but just something that Peter went through the residential schools.

I think more people should know about this history of residential schools. It happened in Canada, happened in America. Probably other places, I’m not sure. Just knowing the history of that and what people were doing to the natives is very important. It’s part of the history of the country so, I think, aside from everything else that Peter could teach somebody. I think just historically knowing that being educated on that is such a great thing.

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Nancy Tapia: To start finalizing right now, you have Let Him Go. Anything else that you can share that you’re working on? Or we may be seeing you in the near future?

Booboo Stewart: Of course. Well, obviously the movie just came out that I had done, called The Grizzlies. It’s a true story about a small town in the Arctic and how they have the highest suicide rate per capita in all of Northern America, and how Lacrosse saved the town with sports. It’s a really, really touching true story, beautiful film. I’m very proud to be a part of that also. I just finished a movie called Those Who Walk Away. It’s a psychological thriller, horror, experimental film. Scary out of the box, and we actually shot in large chunks, and then we’ll staple it together to make it look like it’s one scene, where its the whole entire film.

Nancy Tapia: That filmed with your dad (Nils Allen Stewart)?

Booboo Stewart: Yes, my dad is in it. He played Rotcreep, which is the demon in the film.

Nancy Tapia: That’s pretty exciting working with your dad too!

Booboo Stewart: Yeah, of course.

Nancy Tapia: Well, thank you so much for sharing and providing a little bit of time to discuss Let Him Go. Again, you should have gone with Margaret and George haha…

Booboo Stewart: Haha..No

Nancy Tapia: Thank you so much for your time and you take care. Have a great week.

Booboo Stewart: Cool. Thank you,

Stay current with Booboo Stewart on Instagram and Twitter

You can check out Let Him Go in theaters November 6th.

Source: LRM Online Exclusive