FREDDIE HIGHMORE
TAKING ON NORMAN IN BATES MOTEL AND EARNING HIS STRIPES AS AN ATTITUDE PIN-UP, THE FREDDIE HIGHMORE OF TODAY IS A FAR CRY FROM INNOCENT LITTLE CHARLIE BUCKET
PSYCHO, KILLER
FREDDIE WEARS TOP AND JEANS BOTH BY WHISTLES
FREDDIE WEARS SWEATSHIRT BY MCQ BY ALEXANDER MCQUEEN AT HARVEY NICHOLS
FREDDIE WEARS JACKET BY HARDY AMIES AT MR PORTER; T SHIRT BY PAUL SMITH
At the age of 23 and with a slew of blockbuster movies under his belt, you could say Freddie Highmore is something of a Hollywood veteran.
Eighteen years in the business, the wavy-haired former child actor has played opposite some of the biggest names in acting, from Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham Carter to Dustin Ho~ man, Guy Pearce and Johnny Depp, in films as diverse as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland and most recently the hit TV series Bates Motel, as the formidable Norman Bates.
With this impressive body of work, we’d expected the young British actor to arrive on set masked behind oversized sunglasses and an obscenely large entourage, with an even bigger ego in tow. But when Freddie appears on set (on time, might we add) he’s a far stretch from what you’d imagine a boy with his career to be like.
Clad in a baggy jumper and skinny black jeans, he is the epitome of the boy next door. Quietly sweet-looking and bookish – you could walk past him in the street without casting a second look.
But that is all about to change. Today is the day Mr Highmore can shake his child actor rep. Today, Freddie will become a cover star pin-up.
When we guide him through racks of designer garms, Freddie’s face lights up with excitement and he tells us that he’s happy to let us go to town on him. Music to our ears!
So with no further ado, our team gets to work on Freddie, transforming him – Cinderella-like – into the dashing young chap you see on these pages.
As it turns out, the transformation isn’t that hard. With our cracking team slicking his wavy locks to one side, Freddie’s babyface becomes mature, masculine and sexy in an instant. And in spite of his general reticence, he gives some incredible face the moment he steps in front of the camera, helped by those dark, penetrating eyes that made him a shoe in to play the young Norman Bates
The result? He’s almost unrecognisable. We wager that from this moment on, Hollywood will see Freddie in a totally di~ erent way, deluging him with film roles usually reserved for the likes of Zac Efron and Dave Franco.