Fantasy 3-D adventure The Gamesmaker arrives in cinemas this weekend, in which veteran actors Joseph Fiennes and Ed Asner appear alongside rising star David Mazouz.
The talented teenager is best known for his role as the young Bruce Wayne, who will one day become Batman, in the smash-hit American TV drama Gotham.
Award-winning Argentinian director Juan Pablo Buscarini has given The Gamesmaker a lavish, almost animated-style aesthetic – comparable to stylish films such as Hugo and Pan’s Labyrinth – creating a magical world that audiences young and old will fall in love with.
Chatting to 14-year-old Mazouz, I can’t help thinking that while audiences may love the film’s wonderful fantasy world, it must have been even more incredible for a 12-year-old, as he was at the time of filming, to be part of it.
“It was a blast filming it,” he says. “We shot for three months in Argentina and I was working every day, sometimes six days a week. It was a gruelling but an incredible experience for me.
“I got to do some really cool things. I went in a hot-air balloon, did a ton of green-screen, CGI stuff – it’s beautiful to look at. When I watched the movie, I couldn’t believe how they did that, because I would be there looking at a green screen and they edited it to make it this shipping yard with tons of cranes – really fun. So many green screens and so much fun.” Mazouz then reveals a little more about the plot and themes of movie.
“It really is fantasy heaven,” he says. “It’s a hero’s story about Ivan, my character. An accident happens with his parents and he is propelled into this magical, wonderful, haunting, scary world of finding out what happened to his parents and learning more about his family and himself, gaining friends and enemies on the way and, ultimately, taking down the bad guy. It’s a great action, fun, kids’ story.”
Although Mazouz has been acting professionally since he was 8 years old – with an earlier high-profile role alongside 24’s Kiefer Sutherland in two seasons of the under-appreciated TV thriller Touch, in which he played an autistic child who did not talk but could see hidden patterns and connections in the world around him – his star is really in the ascendant now, with his high- profile role in Gotham and now this movie putting him among Hollywood A-list company.
Fiennes in particular seems to have made an impression on the youngster. “Joseph Fiennes is awesome, seriously,” says Mazouz. “He’s such a great actor and a great mentor and role model for me. He’s such a nice guy, with a great family – I just loved being on set with him and it was great when I got to see him at [the] Sundance [Film Festival] in March. He’s been in the business so long, but he’s still such a great guy.”
It’s interesting to hear Mazouz talk of role models. The long list of child actors who have gone off the rails, at least temporarily, includes the likes of as Macaulay Culkin and Drew Barrymore – but Mazouz seems confident he won’t be following them down that path. “A lot of things can go wrong with child actors but I don’t think I would fall into that, though I guess that’s what everybody would say,” he says. “I go to regular school, have regular friends – I just have a normal life when I’m not working. A lot of the kids, where things went wrong, it’s because they make acting their whole life. I really have, and want, two completely different lives.”
Asked, then, for a role model among the ranks of former child actors, Mazouz sensibly opts for someone who has largely avoided the off-screen drama of many of his peers. “My biggest idol is Leonardo DiCaprio,” he says. “He’s such a great actor. I’ve never actually met him, but he seems such a nice guy too. He did loads of really great work when he was around my age – he’s still working today and you don’t hear any of these crazy stories about him. He’s my biggest idol for sure.”
Although Mazouz is chatting to me to promote his new movie, there is an elephant in the room that I can’t help addressing. A big, dark, bat-shaped elephant – after all, I’m talking to the young Batman.
“That’s kind of fun,” he says. “What 14-year-old-boy doesn’t want to be Bruce Wayne? It has been an incredible experience.”
With Gotham about to start its second season and taking up “about 10 months out of 12”, Mazouz doesn’t have time for too many other film projects in the near future, although he is set to appear alongside Aaron Eckhart in the horror movie Incarnate.
Looking further ahead, Mazouz says, with his refreshingly unprecocious sense of reality: “I love working in this business and I definitely want to stay in it.
“I really want to direct and write in future but I’m still young – so we’ll wait and see.”
cnewbould@thenational.ae
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
6.30pm Meydan Classic Trial US$100,000 (Turf) 1,400m
Winner Bella Fever, Dane O’Neill (jockey), Mike de Kock (trainer).
7.05pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Woven, Harry Bentley, David Simcock.
7.40pm UAE 2000 Guineas Group Three $250,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner Fore Left, William Buick, Doug O’Neill.
8.15pm Dubai Sprint Listed Handicap $175,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner Rusumaat, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 Group Two $450,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner Benbatl, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor.
9.25pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner Art Du Val, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
10pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Beyond Reason, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Company%20profile
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WISH
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