Moray siblings Huck and Hanalei Whittle are taking the screen and stage by storm.
Back in 2020, the pair were cast in independent film Jessie and the Elf Boy, which is inspired by the old legend of Ghillie Dhu.
Huck, 12, plays the titular role of elf boy Ghillie Dhu, a magical forest elf who helps Jessie, a teenager he met in the woods as a little girl, to become a successful hairstylist.
His 10-year-old sister Hanalei plays a young Jessie in the film, which was produced by independent Scottish company Fellowship Film.
The film was made possible by a Crowdfunder, which helped pay for special effects, music and sound design.
Mum Samara Shah saw a casting call for the film at a “perfect time” when the kids’ planned performances were put on hold due to the pandemic.
She said: “They had an illustration of an elf boy and I read the description and thought ‘oh my goodness, this is perfect for my son’.”
Huck was selected from more than 100 boys for the part of Ghillie Dhu, and Hanalei was brought on board after he mentioned her in a chat with the casting team.
Family affair
Jessie and the Elf Boy was filmed under strange conditions during the pandemic, but that didn’t stop the siblings from having fun.
Mrs Shah said: “The whole experience was amazing, we’ve never done anything like that before. We were all in masks, the performers less so but the crew, and were all super nervous about not getting Covid.
“Some of the filming days were just beautiful, they were running through the woods together. It comes across beautifully in the film but on that day they were genuinely living that part of carefree running and having fun.”
She even got involved in the filming herself to reduce the number of households on set.
“Everybody helped out, so I ended up helping with things that probably as a parent on set I wouldn’t normally have helped with, including me getting pulled into being a support actor,” she added.
“There’s a scene of someone holding Hanalei’s hand and they said ‘OK, we can put you in a blonde wig and you can do that’.”
Eyes set on the stage
When it came to seeing their faces on the big screen, Mrs Shah said the kids took it in their stride.
“They’re very laid back about it, more laid back than Jamie and I as parents, because they’re so young they just go with the flow and are quite casual about it.”
Huck and Hanalei have been involved in local theatre groups for years, taking part in musical theatre courses online and even down in London.
Huck is one of three children currently playing John Darling in Eden Court’s Peter Pan, and his sister is a stand-in.
Their mum said she expects to see them both on stage many more times in the future, as it is “where they want to be”.
Jessie and the Elf Boy has just been released on DVD in the UK and can be streamed on Amazon, iTunes and Google Play.
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