News / television
Meet the 10-year-old playing Cary Grant in new biopic
A ten-year-old from Brentry is set to play Cary Grant in an upcoming drama about the film star’s life.
Dainton Anderson is the youngest of four actors playing Grant in the ITVX miniseries titled Archie, named after the late actor’s birth name (Archibald Alexander Leach).
The four-part series focuses attention on Grant’s modest roots in our city, from his birth in Horfield in 1904 to living in a house on Picton Street in Montpelier with his grandparents.
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Dainton said he loved being part of the show, from meeting fellow actors starring in the biopic, such as Jason Isaacs, to learning about Grant’s childhood in Bristol.
Dainton stood outside Grant’s former home on Picton Street, Montpelier – photo: Betty Woolerton
“We were really excited when we got the news that I got the part,” the youngster told Bristol24/7.
“We were just chilling out in the summer holidays and my agent called and we thought it must be something special because she doesn’t normally ring us unless it’s something really big.”
Dainton’s mum, Sharon Stanton, added: “He originally went for the role of John but they told us they wanted him for Archie which was even better news.
“We were screaming around the dinner table when we got the news.”
Archie depicts Grant’s troubled childhood, including how extreme poverty, his father’s adultery and the loss of his older brother, John, tore the family apart and sent his loving mother into a downward spiral of grief and depression.
“I played the character as quite sad at times because his brother dies and he is very poor,” Dainton explained.
“Hair and makeup always put fake mud on my hands and my face so I looked dirty.”
Grant left Bristol when he was 14 but he returned regularly – photo: Bristol Post
Dainton’s family first put him forward for a modelling job as a one-year-old and then helped him audition for TV shows as he got older. In 2018, the schoolboy was chosen out of dozens of hopefuls to play Thomas Melrose alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in drama series Melrose.
Speaking about dealing with the pressures of acting, Dainton said: “I don’t get too nervous for auditions as I send lots of tapes and get quite a lot of recalls.
“But when I am doing the job there’s so many people and things going on on set which I find the most scary.”
Sharon added: “It’s probably more nerve-wracking for my husband and I seeing him on set with all the other actors. But he is just really professional and gets on with it.”
“For auditions, we just go along with it and if we don’t get it we forget about it. He’s been doing acting for a while and sometimes he might have four tapes in a week so we have to just do it and move on.”
Jason Isaacs plays the older version of Grant’s character – photo: ITVX
Archie launches on streaming platform ITVX on November 23.
Main photo: Betty Woolerton
Read next:
- Definitive biography marks the 117th birthday of Bristol’s most famous son: Cary Grant
- ‘State of the art’ film and TV studio opens in south Bristol
- The story of a hidden 18th century swimming pool in Montpelier
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