Emmerdale star Paula Lane has spoken about her son’s role alongside Matt Smith in Starve Acre.
The horror film follows archaeologist Richard (Smith), his wife Jules (Morfydd Clark) and their son Owen (Arthur Shaw) as a dark and sinister force haunts their home.
Lane, who plays Ella Forster on the ITV soap, married Tom Shaw in 2014, and they welcomed Arthur a year later. She revealed to OK! Magazine that they were all excited by his role, as acting was “in his blood”.
ITV
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“Tom has been an actor from being 17 when I first met him, and that’s been our life together,” she began. “Then, obviously, we’ve had the children and about two years ago, we got wind of this open casting call. They were after a Yorkshire boy aged between, I think, five and seven.
“And it was in every café, every restaurant, everybody knew about it. So I just said, ‘Come on, let’s put him up for it.’ He has it in his blood; he’s a brilliant performer. His delivery is just fantastic. So he went up for it, and then there was a recall and then a final recall, and he ended up getting the bloomin’ role!
“We just couldn’t believe it. We were in shock. Then the parent side of you kicks in, and you say to yourself, ‘Oh, my God, do we actually want him to do this? It was a big leap for any child to be thrust onto a feature film set with these actors that were very, very famous.”
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BFI
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Despite being delighted for her son, Lane revealed that she and Tom didn’t want to put too much pressure on Arthur, with the youngster being given full autonomy on whether he wants to pursue acting fully.
“We will see where it goes, bless him, though he takes everything in his stride,” she said. “We try not to get too fixated on making that decision for him. I want him to really decide if acting is what he wants to do.”
