I tend to forget that Freddie Highmore has been acting since he was seven, that his first breakout appearance was in 2004’s Finding Neverland. I forget that he’s appeared in a number of notable features including Two Brothers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, A Good Year, The Spiderwick Chronicles and, my personal favorite and a film I feel is criminally underrated, August Rush. I forget all of these things because, let’s face it, the kid is so fresh-faced he still looks like he’s 12-years-old even if he is noticeably taller than he was in any of those aforementioned motion pictures.

Writer and director Gavin Wiesen and star Freddie Highmore on the set of The Art of Getting By © Fox Searchlight

I say all of this because when I spoke to the 19-year-old actor over the phone to discuss his latest effort the New York set coming of age drama The Art of Getting By I was struck once again by just how cute and bubbly he sounds. But once you get to speaking with him, once he starts answering questions, you start to realize just how far this kid has come, his intelligence, maturity and quick-wit apparent in nearly every syllable.

“It was [writer/director] Gavin Wiesen who personally got me the script,” answered Highmore to my query as to how the project came his way. “He was really keen on me to do it. I think he got me the script a year, a year-and-a-half before we started shooting. It was something I really enjoyed reading. It was fresh. You read a lot of High School romance scripts that don’t represent real life in the way it actually is and I felt this one was more honest. I liked that about it.”

The parallels between Highmore’s own life and the one his character in the film, George, go through are immediately obvious. Where the latter is struggling to come to grips with the ending of his teenage years and his ascent into adulthood (and not exactly going about this transition in the best of ways), Freddie himself is dealing with the transition from being a child actor into an adult one. This is many ways his is first role playing within the grownup world, something that was not lost upon the still teenage star.

“Absolutely,” agrees Highmore instantly. “The parallels are definitely there, which I think is one of the reasons I wanted to play the part. Everyone knows those sorts of gears that George goes through, and it’s not only that first love which is incredible special but it’s also that point in your life where you have to choose what you want to do with the rest of it and where you want to go from there. I think it has a lot to do with becoming the type of proactive person we want to see ourselves as instead of the type of person who has decisions made for them.”

“This is the girl I love. This is the person I want to be. This is the job I want to do. You have to start making those decisions for yourself. You can’t hide behind certain facades like you do when you are younger, much like George towards the start of the movie, when actually the journey and the hardship is to come out of that shadow and be the person you want to be. By doing nothing you don’t get anything and I like to think I’ve made sure in my life to do as little of nothing as I can, so, yeah, I could relate a lot to the character. I think I understood him quite well.”

You get the feeling that this was not the kind of roll that required a lot in the way of research on the actor’s part, that he understood and related to the character so well any outside information would detract from his portrayal. Not so, according to Highmore, because just because he related to and felt like he understood George an emotional level didn’t mean he was comfortable inhabiting every last part of him without some assistance.

“I was comfortable with the character,” he aggress quickly, “but the story is set in such a particular setting and concerns such particular people you still have to do, much to the opposite of George in the movie, your homework. New York is the backdrop and George is such a particular type of New York student, and while I think there is a correlation behind his actions and what he is doing that is pretty universal you still have to make sure and get the details right. My research more involved experiences and setting, trying to get those character details unique to this type of New York High School student right. But I also was able to draw upon the feelings that George was going through that I had gone through myself as well. So it was a mixture. I understood the character and could draw upon my own experiences but still did some additional research as well.”

Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore in The Art of Getting By

© Fox Searchlight

His costar in the movie is fellow up and coming young actress Emma Roberts, recently seen in Scream 4 and It’s Kind of a Funny Story. She plays Sally, a fellow lost soul but one from the more popular and affluent side of the student body, two things that don’t keep her from hitting it off with George. Their friendship bobs and weaves naturalistically throughout the story, the two having a genuine, sometimes uncomfortable chemistry that and High Schooler should be able to relate with.

“It was just brilliant working with her,” says Highmore excitedly. “Everyone says how much chemistry we have which I guess is a real good thing. I just know we got along splendidly on the set. She certainly made things easier. We worked so well together and didn’t have to fake those emotions. She was just lovely and I enjoyed working with her quite a lot.”

“I think that [George and Sally’s] relationship is something that everybody goes through. Perhaps that is what could make the film so appealing. Even if you don’t react in exactly the same way that George and Sally do to their situations everyone will sill be able to identify with [them], those main feelings and the events that come up in their lives. I think what they go through is universal.”

As for Highmore’s real life as it extends beyond acting, the young star is still pondering where it is he wants to go now that he’s on the cusp of leaving his teenage years behind. “It’s funny,” he muses, “I start at Cambridge in October so I’ve got three or four more years I guess to put off the ultimate decision as to whether or not I’m going to act for the rest of my life. But I’d love to carry on doing acting. I do love it. I hope I can combine my schooling with my acting; that would be fantastic. That’s what I hope I can do.”

“I always think of the first thing I did as being Finding Neverland, that was the one that really got me started [as an actor]. I feel like over the years I’ve learned so much and by working so many talented people I’ve been quite lucky in a lot of ways. I feel I’ve learned that sometimes it doesn’t have to be a big moment that has a profound effect on you, it might be something little that somebody says and you don’t realize at the time just how important that might be. That’s a lesson I can take with me as I go about living the rest of my life.”

In the end, Highmore’s hopes for The Art of Getting By are surprisingly modest, expressing hope that people discover the film and enjoy it. At the same time, he does see the potential for more, and it is that potential to maybe make a difference in a viewer’s life that has him most excited.

Freddie Highmore in The Art of Getting By © Fox Searchlight

“I hope people have a certain amount of connection to the film whether they’re parents, teens or people just coming out to see a good movie,” he says bluntly. “I think it is a film everyone will be able to relate to and see some of themselves in, and in some ways I hope that the situations that we give representation to can help [people] deal with their own situations in regards to growing up. So many people think they’re alone when they’re dealing with their problems and I think to see it represented like this in a movie can help. It can show people that they’re not alone, that some of their problems are universal and that they can overcome them. I hope people are able to take notice of that.”