Noah Hathaway did something many child actors unfortunately don’t do. Instead of sticking around the Hollywood scene and publicly getting in and out of trouble as he became bored with acting, he completely got out. The actor is best known for his role as Boxey in “Battlestar Galactica” and Atreyu in “The Neverending Story.” After his last role in the 1994 indie film “To Die, To Sleep,” he left the industry and began looking into other career opportunities.
Hathaway has now returned to Hollywood after his long break and will be seen as part of an ensemble cast in “Sushi Girl.” I ran into Hathaway at the Dallas Sci-Fi Expo, and he took the time to answer some questions.
What are your memories of working on “Battlestar Galactica”?
It was awesome. It was my big playfield. All the little computers worked. They had little video games on them that you could calibrate the wind. They were like Missile Control and one of those things. Between that and the chimp, I was stoked. All I did was play with my monkey and mess around and shoot people’s lasers and steal people’s little guns. [I would] run around and play all day. It was a fun shoot for a 6-year-old.
How fun was it to play with Muffit the robot dog? Was it remote-controlled?
The only thing that was remote-controlled was the ears. It was a chimp inside. The only thing they controlled was the ears. She was amazing. She was more professional than some of the actors. [Laughing]
How did you end up in the role of Atreyu for “The Neverending Story”?
They did a worldwide search and I just auditioned. Wolfgang Petersen wasn’t the first director. They had a different director first that cast me. I guess they fired him. They did another worldwide search. I almost auditioned for that for like a year. Wolfgang ended up hiring me, too. I auditioned for that 12 or 13 times. It’s crazy. We shot it in Germany for a year. It was supposed to be a three-month shoot and it turned into just under a year.
Many people see you as the kid from “The Neverending Story” and “Battlestar Galactica.” Tell us who Noah Hathaway is today.
I like a lot of different stuff. I’m all over the place. I’ve been a martial artist my whole life. I’m just nuts as it is. I’m an artist. I like to have a good time. Life’s too short to be miserable. I jump out of planes. I’m just kind of a nutcase, I guess. That’s the best way to sum it up. I just try to have a really good time whatever it is I’m doing. I treat people the way I want to be treated and try to have as much fun in the interim.
For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:
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Eric Shirey is the founder and former editor of Rondo Award nominated movie news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other entertainment websites. Eric has interviewed and worked with actors like Harrison Ford, Brooke Shields, Gerard Butler, Brendan Fraser, Selena Gomez, and many more.
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