A new interview with Tom, talking in depth about playing a character on the autistic spectrum, has been shared online. Read the interview in full here.
One of the principle components of the autistic spectrum is the struggle with socialising appropriately. Was this something that was on your mind when playing Leonardo, interacting with other characters?
Very much so. And hopefully it’s not as frustrating for the other actors as I sometimes worry it might be. The unpredictability of thought and spontaneity can sometimes be a bit annoying to play opposite I’d imagine. Traditionally as an actor I like to give the other characters as much support in scenes as possible, but sometimes Leonardo is going in a completely different direction to everyone else, and therefore I’ll take on other traits – a lack of eye-contact, inappropriate lightness of touch during something sombre or vice-versa, or a very quiet volume of dialogue as Leonardo concentrates on something he believes nobody else in the scene will understand...
