Meet Altadena's Teen Film Actor

A screening of a "family film." At a church. I'm expecting, for lack of a better word, schmaltz. Plus I have to interview the child star and I just know he's going to be a brat. 

I'm allowed to be wrong once in a while.

Friday night's screening of Snowmen, produced by Mpower Pictures, provided a snowflake of maudlin, but mostly it was fun even for a know-it-all with no kids to protect from the sex and violence of your average big-screen movie. The script was tight. The cast was terrific. The audience gasped, cried and laughed. And as hard as I tried to maintain journalistic distance, I couldn't avoid enjoying myself.

Snowmen stars Altadena's own Bobby Coleman, whom you may remember in the title role of the Martian Child opposite John Cusack, or more recently as Miley Cyrus' brother in The Last Song. Bobby plays pre-teen Billy Kirkfield, who erroneously believes he's dying of cancer. He wants to do something important before he dies so he won't be remembered as a loser. He recruits his entire school to help break a Guinness World Record® of "most snowmen built in one day" and he almost succeeds. Then he actually dies. Sort of.

Star Bobby Coleman is 14. He's been acting professionally more than half his life. He says when he was 6 he decided he'd quit acting at 18 to become a singing scientist. (That's a show I'd watch.) More mature now, Bobby says, "I think I will continue to do it until life says otherwise."

For Snowmen, which filmed on location in Park City, Utah, Bobby had to shave his head. On the way to baldness he took advantage of the opportunity to try other hair options: Mohawk, spikes, etc. "It definitely accomplished its goal," he says. "I got a lot of attention."

Child stars do get attention, yet Bobby's confidence comes without pretense. For a boy who has starred opposite some of Hollywood's biggest names, he's remarkably not icky. He likes to go barefoot. He says he prefers film work to TV because "I like going to a completely new place and playing a completely new character with a completely new crew and everything's completely new, for a couple of months."

Our interview concluded, Bobby led me inside the evening's venue, the Altadena Baptist Church, where he posed for pictures with his family. There I met Bob Coleman Sr., a nice guy with an innovative idea.

Though Bob had nothing to do with the production of Snowmen his company, Wildfire Cinemas, brought the film to Altadena. Wildfire "seeks to provide pure movie entertainment to communities without the offensive elements so commonly found in movies today," according to the press release. Bob says families don't go to theaters these days because they can't afford to and  because theaters rarely show family fare. He wants to exhibit these films in smaller venues, like churches and community centers, with the help of volunteers and low ticket prices. "It's never been possible before," Bob says, "but now we can do it thanks to digital technology."

Coleman plans to funnel ticket sales back into film production--and "it has to be good or why would people come back?"

Debra and Elton Blake of Altadena will come back. In the church basement after the film, Debra told me she hadn't been to the movies in 15 years, not just because of content but also annoying audience behavior and the general discomfort of the modern theater experience. "Excellent" was her word for the experience of viewing Snowmen at the church. She liked the movie because there was no violence (except the snowball fight) and she enjoyed seeing families in the audience.

One boy, who identified himself as a friend of Bobby Coleman, said "A lot of family stuff isn't really 'family' because it's got cussing and stuff in it." He said he liked the movie.

Bobby Coleman's next film, Robosapien: Rebooted, comes out next year. By coincidence, Bobby's sister will be played by his real sister, Holliston Coleman, also a professional actor. To make it a family affair, Robert Coleman the elder plays a military guard and Bobby's mom, Doris Berg Coleman, plays the "bratty boy's mom."

I'm going to take a wild guess and say she's playing against type.