My teachers are Aliens!

So are you excited to be a part of the hip new horror movie scene Elijah?

Erm ... I think scream was an excellent movie, but there are others that have taken the formula and made it old and tired. Not the faculty though! The faculty's different because it isn't really a horror movie, as much as it's a sci-fi movie.

What was the best thing about making it?

It was just so nice to be with actors that are sorta your age, y'know? And the atmosphere on the set was really relaxed - I mean, it's a sci-fi horror, so we never took ourselves too seriously. It was great fun and we got really close.

Are you anything like Casey?

In some ways, but he's so weak - he's insecure, he's in his own world... I suppose I am a little like him in that I'm into my own things, like photography, but I'm not really like him.

There's a really dodgy bit in the film where you're all doing drugs...

Everybody talks about that! I don't know... I think it'd be more controversial if the characters were enjoying the fact that they're getting high, but the purpose is not about that, it's about figuring out who's who! It's all part of the paranoia thing in the movie.

Did you ever think your teachers might be aliens?

Yeah! I think it's quite common for kids to think that - because teachers are kinda strange people, y'know? And everybody was - well, not me, 'cos I never went to a Catholic school - but a lot of kids have those stories about nuns that slap them on the hands and that are really cruel... That's what's funny about this movie, 'cos it's like, 'what if your teachers actually were aliens?!'

Do you believe in aliens?

I have no idea! I think if there were and they were more intelligent than us they'd probably be friendly. Yeah, they'd come in peace!

What's been your scariest moment?

The car accident I had last summer. I was making a turn onto another street, and a car sped through a yellow light. I thought I had enough time to turn, but I guess I calculated wrong. The woman's car knocked mine on its side - it actually flipped it. But the thing is, I came out of it without a bruise or a scratch. How was the car? Erm, not very well.

What about creepy, spooky things?

I had a dream once about a plane crash. when I woke up I could remember the flight number and where the plane was flying. shortly after I went to Vancouver, Canada, just for a few days, and the plane's home number was the same as in the dream! It was really creepy and totally freaked me out! I was like, ' we are not going on this plane!' And we couldn't anyway, I had to work, so I got another flight.

Did it crash?

Erm, no ... but it's still freaky! Everything checked out except for the fact it didn't crash - but then ... what if I had been on it?

When you were little were you scared of what was under the bed?

Totally! After I saw Gremlins I used to check under the bed all the time! And the big thing for me was the closet door had to be shut, 'cause if I could see inside, even just shadows, I'd be totally freaked out. And whenever it got really dark, my mind would play tricks on me - I used to see things that weren't there.

But now your all grown up and the new king of teen movies!

No! Sorry, but that's my first and last 'teen' film - even though I'm very proud of The Faculty.

So you don't want to be as famous as Leo?

No thanks! He's so popular, it takes away any sense of a private life. No, I'm happy with the fame I have.