Stuart Lafferty is a promising young actor who has been acting most of his life, starting out as a small child and now in the big leagues with the likes of Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, Kelly Preston and Aisha Tyler. His latest film is “Death Sentence.”

It is the story about a typical American upper-middle class family that gets ripped apart after a vicious attack, perpetrated as a result of a gang initiation ritual, transforms their lives forever. Bacon plays the vengeful father who sets out to track down and reap his own style of vengeance upon each person involved in the crime. “Saw” director James Wan and screenwriter Ian Jeffers adapt the Brian Garfield novel for the big screen. “Death Sentence” will be in U.S. theaters August 31, 2007.

Linda Craddock (SoSF): Hi Stuart and welcome to Slice of SciFi, how are you today?

Stuart Lafferty (SL): I’m doing very well, thank you.

SoSF: Tell us about the role “Brendan Hume” in your film debut “Death Sentence” with Kevin Bacon, Kelly Preston and John Goodman and give us an idea of what it was like to work with such a cast of premiere actors?

(SL): It was very enjoyable. There were no egos or anything like that. They were very nice, respectable people to work with and it was a very enjoyable experience. Our director was James Wan. He directed “Saw” and “Dead Silence” and he was a really nice, cool guy, too. We wanted to get the organic family chemistry going and I spent a good amount of time with Kevin Bacon and it was just a very enjoyable experience.

SoSF: Fans always want to know about the audition process for a project.

SL: It wasn’t too grueling. I went out for the pre-reading with the casting director. Got a call back and read with James Wan, the director and I think originally from my mannerism I may have been a little more mature than what he was looking for. They wanted it to be a little more of the innocent 16-year old kid that I play so he told me to be a little more innocent and teenager-like so, after that I went in and they paired me up with Kevin Bacon and a younger brother and there were some other kids there and afterwards they brought me back one more time just to pair me up with some more younger brothers and then I was told I had the job.

SoSF: The humor on the set must have been outrageous! Especially with John Goodman.

SL: Well, I didn’t actually get to work with John Goodman. But, I think there were a lot of stunt men and actors who played gangsters I worked with and it was definitely a lot of fun, [plenty] of messing around. As they say, scary films are always the funny ones to make and comedies always the boring ones to make, but it was definitely fun. Kevin Bacon’s a pretty comical guy [too].

SoSF: When you got the part of “Brendan” what did you draw from your training in deciding how play that character?

SL: The character’s a lot like me in the fact that, I’m only 19 myself and I too was an athlete. I played basketball in high school. Well, [for] my character they trained me to play hockey. I was to be a jock and a good hockey player, straight “A” student, a regular happy 16-year old preppy kid who went to private school with the family moments, and the character, the choices I made as the character [sort of] paralleled my life. The dying scene was a little harder. It was something I hadn’t done before. I just used a lot of music preparation and I had to be emotionally down for a couple of nights so I just tried to keep myself in the old somber mood and tried recapturing that feeling because we had to shoot the scene just before I’m about to die quite a few times, so that was definitely the most difficult thing I had to do and the hockey training was pretty hard [as well]. It was something different and I didn’t even know how to ice skate so it was completely different using a different set of muscles and a different type of training than I’m used to.

SoSF: What, in your opinion, sets this particular film based on Brian Garfield’s novel, who also wrote “Death Wish” apart from other vigilante dramas?

SL: I would say, we definitely had to stay true to the genre, a 70’s-type thriller, a little bit too vigilante, somewhat unbelievable. We had to stay true to that 70’s film genre. But I would say there are some very good subtle moments between the family. The whole family video footage [is there] just to add the organic aspect of our family. I feel our family scenes were very believable to the point where they had the impact after watching this film…..I feel there are parts that could make you feel, well, it’s powerful enough that a middle aged, white collar executive could watch it and have an impact like “Wow!, it could happen to me. My son could be taken away from me like that”! So I think it definitely has that aspect. Even though in some of the gangster scenes they stay true to the 70’s styled thriller, somewhat over the top genre, and there are some really good stolen moments between Kevin Bacon and John Goodman, who is really great in this. I think it’s much more powerful and much more memorable than a lot of the other 70’s type action vigilante films that have come out. I think there’s definitely an aspect of realness that a lot of other movies haven’t captured.

SoSF: Did any changes take place with any of the characters, or storyline from your audition until you starting shooting film?

SL: The script was shortened. Originally my character, was supposed to be a [smaller] supporting role, it’s still a supporting role and the director wanted to shorten the movie just because I think there’s too much involved in it and [as a result] it makes my character look like [its] a bigger role than I actually had. I would say there really weren’t that many changes that went into the script. We pretty much shot the entire script. There was actually one scene where after I die, while I’m dying after I had been sliced, my dad brings me into the hospital, the night before the director asked me about the character in the scene you know you’re still dying and there’s blood everywhere and you’re being carried into the hospital looking at yourself, can you do that tomorrow so I said definitely and that was kind of spur of the moment but that was really the only thing that changed on me.

SoSF: So you are working with these veteran actors, and this is your film debut. Were you given any advice during the shoot by any of them while on the set?

SL: No, I really didn’t ask for that much advice. I really wanted to do it on my own. Kevin Bacon is a cool guy and he realized I was serious about what I was doing and so he respected that. I think he really respected me as a good enough actor to not have to coach me or give me a lot of advice.

SoSF: You started your acting career at 4 years old with a commercial for Sears, McDonalds and Amway. What was that like as a child to work in the industry in front of camera, memorizing lines, etc?

SL: When I was a child, I really didn’t do as much theatrical stuff. I did more commercials and modeling type stuff and to be honest with you I don’t remember that much of it [from] when I was younger. I do remember that it’s kind of easy sometimes when you’re a child to just pretend as opposed to being an adult (laughs). I kind of got into acting theatrically after that besides doing a little bit of modeling but I pretty much just went to school. I wanted to a be a regular kid and I didn’t really start up again until I was a senior in high school at age 17 and I kind of went full throttle so I’ve really only been going full out for the last 2 years. [Starting out] as a child, it definitely helps now knowing what it takes in the industry and how hard it is and how many times you get rejected. It’s definitely helped me to deal with that probably more than some of the actors who come out for their first appearances in their 20’s.

SoSF: Your television debut was a memorable one. You guest starred on “One Tree Hill” with your older brother James. That must have been a treat.

SL: Yeah, it was fun, definitely. The creator had written a role pretty much for me and it was a lot of fun to work with my brother and it made my first experience a lot of fun. In front of the camera theatrically that made it easy for me.

SoSF: I understand you are putting on your producer’s hat, working on a film about the “Churchill Club”. Tell us about the project.

SL: It’s a story about this group of kids from the 40’s and Nazi Reich. Right after the Nazis had invaded Denmark, the Danish had submitted and they had their power taken away by the Third Reich soldiers so, the kids banded together and started this thing called the “Churchill Club” and they started to sabotage the soldiers, stealing their guns. They actually blew up a supply train that was coming into the town they were living in. They were brought to headquarters, put in jail, broke out of jail and started more sabotage acts which pretty much inspired the whole nation and the national resistance movement. So I have been working on that with one of my friends and the director who has the rights to a novel, well, not the actual novel, but one of the members that’s still alive, he wrote a book about it and we’ve been working on it for about a year now. So we’re trying to get that aligned with financing.

SoSF: It is my understanding you are passionate about basketball and you have participated in the NBA’s Entertainment League and you played in high school?

SL: I played in high school but I haven’t actually played in the League. I just played in some of the pick up games. My brother’s pretty active in the league and a lot of the charity events. Hopefully I will be able to play in the league next year. I’ve played basketball pretty much my whole life, including right through my senior year in high school.

SoSF: I’m a huge fan myself.

SL: Yeah, it’s a great game.

SoSF: With the premiere of “Death Sentence” coming this Friday, what would you like the audience to know about Stuart Lafferty’s talent going forward?

SL: Hmmm, about my talent going forward. I want to have a career, a good dramatic career. Not as much into the career type comedy. I would really like to perfect my craft and have a very respectable career. And, I would really like to get into producing.

SoSF: Stuart, we’re about out of time so I want to thank you for taking the time to do this interview for our fans at Slice of SciFi and I wish you well and look forward to the premiere of “Death Sentence”.

SL: I hope you enjoy it