Great interview with a really bright New Zealand actor Julian Dennison. He’s young, funny, and a decent person, I’d say. They’ll talk about so much different things: New Zealand, school, family, age restrictions, curses, etc. By the way, did you know that Julian Dennison has a twin brother?
This interview already has over 2 million views. And it was published less than 24 hour ago.
– Hi there.
– Stay back or Justin Bieber dies.
– Justin Bieber. He called you Justin Bieber. Oh, wait, wait. Okay, let's not do – whatever that is. Okay? Let's just talk. It's Russell, right?
– Firefist.
– Firefist. Ooh. That's a great name. Where does it burn? Just the fist or all the way up to the elbow? Ohoho! Definitely all the way up to the elbow.
Jimmy Kimmel: Please, welcome Julian Dennison. Julian, I'm very pleased to meet you. How are you doing?
Julian Dennison: I'm good.
Jimmy Kimmel: By the way, I mentioned that you were too young to see the movie.
Julian Dennison: Yeah.
Jimmy Kimmel: Does that apply in New Zealand?
Julian Dennison: Yeah, yeah. So I'm 15. And it's R-16 in New Zealand.
Jimmy Kimmel: R-16.
Julian Dennison: Yeah. So I can't watch it. So we're doing this fund-raiser on the 30th of May, I think. Because my cousin's going over to England to do rugby.
Jimmy Kimmel: Okay.
Julian Dennison: And the cinema – so we got a cinema. And they're, like “Oh, yeah, you can introduce the movie, you can do everything, but you're not allowed to watch it”. A few of my mates got kicked out of the cinema as well.
Jimmy Kimmel: I’d like to hear that there's stupid red tape in countries other than ours. I really do. I don't know why that makes me feel better about things. So, what's the drinking age in New Zealand?
Julian Dennison: It's 18.
Jimmy Kimmel: It's 18.
Julian Dennison: I think it's 18. So I know what I’m doing when I’m 18.
Jimmy Kimmel: What are you going to do when you're 18?
Julian Dennison: I don't know. Mom's watching. I'm joking, mom.
Jimmy Kimmel: What about all the profanity in the movie? Your mother and father are fine with that? That’s not a big deal?
Julian Dennison: Yeah, they were fine with that. No, they weren't.
Jimmy Kimmel: No, they weren't?
Julian Dennison: So, there was some stuff that got cut out of the film. I remember I was doing a scene with Ryan and he whispered in my ear and my virgin ears – damn, it was pretty intense. But I can't say it because it's television and it's Live. So, I said it and I freaked out.
Jimmy Kimmel: Really?
Julian Dennison: But they really enjoyed the film, though.
Jimmy Kimmel: I think I started cursing when I was, like, 5 or something.
Julian Dennison: You came out of the womb.
Jimmy Kimmel: Really. But it was Brooklyn, you know. It was, like, a different thing. Are there words in New Zealand, curse words that we don't know of here? Like –
Julian Dennison: No, not really. We sort of get influenced by America.
Jimmy Kimmel: I see. Oh, really? Interesting. So you've learned things from us. And we've really taken nothing profane from you.
Julian Dennison: I wouldn't say “learned things”.
Jimmy Kimmel: You've absorbed things from us.
Julian Dennison: Yeah. I'm like a sponge.
Jimmy Kimmel: I see. I saw you in a movie I thought was a great movie, “The Hunt for the Wilderpeople”.
Julian Dennison: Oh, thank you.
Jimmy Kimmel: Isn't that like the biggest movie ever in New Zealand?
Julian Dennison: Yeah. I think it's still right top of the box office there. We sort of get movies, like, 5 years late. Down in New Zealand.
Jimmy Kimmel: Really? Why is that?
Julian Dennison: No, that's a lie, Jimmy. Of course not. But no, I was so proud of that. It was sort of my breakout movie. Taika Waititi was the director.
Jimmy Kimmel: Yeah. He directed the last “Thor” movie, too.
Julian Dennison: I remember I had an interview about 2 1/2 weeks ago and he said, “I just want to let you know, you owe your whole career to me”.
Jimmy Kimmel: He's right. You do owe your whole career to him.
Julian Dennison: I don't want to say that to his face.
Jimmy Kimmel: Yeah. But it really is remarkable. And then, “Deadpool”, a movie you were familiar with or had you not been able to see that?
Julian Dennison: It came out in 2016. The first one. And I was about 13 then. So i wasn't allowed to see it. But I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago. They had to cut out the sex montage in it. So yeah, they got rid of that. But it's a really cool movie.
Jimmy Kimmel: Really?
Julian Dennison: I heard of it, though. I really wanted to go see it but mom didn't let me when it came out. It's always mom.
Jimmy Kimmel: When you're a teenage movie star, do you have your own mansion or anything?
Julian Dennison: No. I still live at home. I still share a bedroom with my brother.
Jimmy Kimmel: you do? Really?
Julian Dennison: I can't sleep when it's quiet. So it's good having him here.
Jimmy Kimmel: I see. How old is your brother?
Julian Dennison: He's the same age as me. He's a twin.
Jimmy Kimmel: Oh, you have a twin brother? How about that?
Julian Dennison: Yeah. Not identical, though. But he's super cool.
Jimmy Kimmel: Fraternal twin.
Julian Dennison: Yeah. He runs my social media.
Jimmy Kimmel: He does? Do you pay him to do that?
Julian Dennison: No. No family discount.
Jimmy Kimmel: You ever worry? I would never trust my brother to run my social media because brothers do ridiculous things to each other.
Julian Dennison: No, he loves me. I love him.
Jimmy Kimmel: I know he loves you. But sometimes that's part of the problem.
Julian Dennison: Yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Kimmel: Do you have an assistant or anything like that?
Julian Dennison: So, my mom, my dad, my siblings. I'm probably the slave at the house.
Jimmy Kimmel: I see.
Julian Dennison: Not as an assistant. I don't think I need one yet. Maybe I could do because I have homework. That's such a good idea.
Jimmy Kimmel: If you could have your assistant do your homework. So you're still in school. It must be such a strange thing to juggle. I mean, you're on television, you're in the movies, you have all this stuff going on, and then you still have to do homework. Like, did you have to do homework this week?
Julian Dennison: Yeah. I actually did some before coming on the show.
Jimmy Kimmel: You did? What did you have to do?
Julian Dennison: I had to do some Maori. That's the indigenous language of New Zealand. I'm learning that at the moment. And also some math homework.
Jimmy Kimmel: Did you say meth?
Julian Dennison: Math.
Jimmy Kimmel: Oh, math. You have to be careful around here. They have a significantly different meaning. So, what math class are you in? You do algebra? Geometry?
Julian Dennison: I honestly don't know. I just sort of sit back and just–
Jimmy Kimmel: It doesn't matter. You don't have to learn anything anymore. You're a movie star.
Julian Dennison: My brother told me – he's really smart. And he was talking to his teacher once and the teacher's, like, no, see, you've got to train your brain because this is the only thing that part of the brain can do for. And he was, like, well, if this is the only thing I'm using it for, I'm not going to use it for anything else.
Jimmy Kimmel: Well, at least he's thinking up something. That's unbelievable. Do you like the United States? Do you enjoy being here?
Julian Dennison: Yeah. It's fun. We got back from New York yesterday. And that's an amazing place. There are some crazy people in America.
Jimmy Kimmel: Yeah, I know.
Julian Dennison: There's definitely some crazy people. I’m not gonna name names.
Jimmy Kimmel: There's a lot of people. We have – is it true that there are more sheep than people in New Zealand?
Julian Dennison: Yeah. There probably is. Yeah. There's more sheep than people.
Jimmy Kimmel:Wow.
Julian Dennison: I don't know where we keep them all, though.
Jimmy Kimmel: Which do you prefer, the sheep or the people?
Julian Dennison: That depends on the people.
Jimmy Kimmel: So you do like it here? You enjoy coming?
Julian Dennison: Yeah.
Jimmy Kimmel: Did you get to visit all these different places?
Julian Dennison: I remember the first time we came to Los Angeles. And it felt like it's such a big city. I come from Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. And it's such a – not a small city, but Los Angeles is so big, we sort of feel, like, super lonely. Because we didn't know anyone. But now we know people.
Jimmy Kimmel: Yeah, right. Or kind of know people in that very fake way that is inherent to Los Angeles.
Julian Dennison: Yeah. That's right.
Jimmy Kimmel: Well, congratulations on the big success of the movie and your career.
Julian Dennison: Thank you very much.
Jimmy Kimmel: “Deadpool 2” is in theaters now. You, probably, saw it already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRj5d35ePvw
