Fireflies in the Garden 
Have Dreams, Will Travel 
Quotes
• When his dad learned Cayden would be auditioning for Eastwood, "he thought I was auditioning for Dirty Harry himself," Cayden said. "He was all excited, even though at first I didn't know who Dirty Harry was. But he's not Dirty Harry -- he's Clint Eastwood."
• "I also want to fly F-18s in the Navy when I grow up"
• How Cayden got the part of Max in “Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D”: My agent told my mom and my mom told me, ‘this is the director of . I was blown away and once I heard that it was a superhero movie, I was more blown away. I love super heroes. I love these guys. I auditioned three times. I finished it was just ‘okay, bye, Cayden. See you later’. I was just going ‘wow, man. That didn’t go so good I guess’. Then they got me a callback and I thought maybe I did do good. Then I meet him [Taylor Launter] and he goes ‘hi, I’m Sharkboy’. Then I got it.
• Is Cayden anything like his character? : Well, I can’t count how many times in the day my mom has to tell me ‘focus’, just stuff like that. Sometimes I used to draw little superheroes like Cosmic Man. (He was just a drawing. He could shoot little asteroids out of his hand and defy gravity and stuff like that.) I’m somewhat like Max.
• On the hardest thing to imagine in “Shark Boy” ,: Imagining all that ice cream and cookies around us was hard.
• On actors that Cayden looks up to: There’s not really somebody I want to be like but some of the people I want to work with are Morgan Freeman and Tom Cruise definitely. I’ve always wanted to work with him like in The Last Samurai. I just loved that movie.
• On what Cayden would like to do in the future: I want to go to college and go to Texas A&M. And I want to be a Marine and fly F-18s eventually.
• On his relationship with friends Taylor L and Taylor D: We’re always having sleepovers.
• About Cayden’s character’s name not being on the “Shark Boy” posterr: “I think Shark Boy and Lava Girl sounds more exciting than just kind of Max. So I think that would make people want to see it more if it was Shark Boy and Lava Girl. That’s basically the thing that makes you want to see it, is the title.”
• On narrating the “Shark Boy” trailers: “It was pretty fun but it required some other work because sometimes you have to do more looping and stuff like that. It’s really cool because you get to narrate the preview which is really cool, to see the preview and stuff when you’re doing the looping for it. That’s my voice if you hear it.”
• On the Green Screen work in The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl: “We don’t know what it’s really going to look like because 90% was filmed in front of a green screen. You did have to imagine a lot too because it was just a green screen and you have to come up with it, but usually Robert would give us the basic idea. We were going to do this one thing where my worst enemy dreams up this cannon and shoots it at me. They were going to have to use a green jelly ball to make it look like a cannon, but they didn’t do it. We had to use all kinds of stuff.”
• On the choreography in “Shark Boy” : “We had to do a lot of movement. There were a lot of different marks and everything… If you have to remember your lines, if there’s like this really long paragraph you have to remember or something like that, then you’re kind of wanting to focus a little on the lines at least because if you mess up, you’re going to have to start all over. So sometimes you’re kind of focused on the lines and how you should say it and stuff. And then you forget the movements.”
• On the stunts in “Shark Boy” : We got to do a lot of stunts because they strap you up in these harnesses and you could jump up in the air and do a front flip and land right on your feet. When I heard that the movie was called Shark Boy and Lava Girl, I didn’t know that we were going to be doing that much stunts. I thought that was really, really cool. Beforehand, we had to do some training. The stunt coordinator, Jeff Dashnel, he’s a really great stunt coordinator and he trained us.”
• On his audition for “Shark Boy” : The first thing was that my mom told me, ‘This is the director of Spy Kids.’ So I was just going, ‘Oh my gosh, cool.’ Next, she said, ‘The movie’s called The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl’ and I was going, ‘Superheroes?’ I thought that would be so cool to be in a superhero movie.”
• On being friends with Taylor D and Taylor L: “We’ve had sleepovers and everything. We’re still big friends.” Should they ever end up at the same audition, Cayden is sure they’d be okay. “I’m not worried about it, but if we were to go on the same auditions, it’s never like a rivalry, like I’m going to beat you on this line or something like that. It’s never like that, no.”
• How he and his character are alike: “Some times I’m kind of like Max my character. Sometimes I’ll dream about the superheroes or I used to. I used to think of all these superheroes like Gladiator was one of the superheroes or something, or Cosmic Man. Gladiator has this one sword and it can turn into anything. And Cosmic Man could float and fly. And he could also shoot little asteroids out of his hands.”
• On the director of “Shark Boy and Lava Girl” Robert Rodriguez: “I’m sure you’ve heard of he plays Halo all the time between takes on the set. And so he’s always playing video games. And he’s got his kids to keep him in that kind of thing and he’s always, always drawing, thinking of different superheroes and different kinds of ideas. And his sons are always drawing and stuff too.”
• On how he got started in the business: At first we started out doing modeling for J.C. Penny catalogues and then it just kind of evolved into acting. My mom, she did drama in church and but that’s not why we did it. But my mom coaches us, so it’s just my mom, me and my sister, but my mom doesn’t do drama in church anymore.”
• On his school: “I go to a Christian school. What’s really cool is that we don’t have to wear uniforms, but next year we have to. But other than that, we have chapel but we do math and everything like that. We have bible too and that is the only difference.”
• On playing football: “I’m a really good tackler, but now I’m playing with 100 pounds kids, so I’m not sure if I’m going to be the best tackler. And I’m not sure I’m going to be the best kicker either because some kids are really good at kicking. I just turned 11 yesterday. If you’re between 11 and 12, then you go in the Junior League and you’re playing with like 100 pound kids.”
• On his hobbies: “I like to think of ways to annoy my sister and I play with my dog. He’s a handful. And I play video games. Sometimes I go on hikes.”
• On annoying his sister Jenna: “There’s thousands of ways. I can scare her. I used to listen in on her phone conversations but that was really bad so I don’t do it anymore.”
• On his passion of travelling: “I love to go to all different places. Sometimes you’re in the middle of jungles and sometimes you’re in the middle of humongous cities. It’s so cool. You get to meet all kinds of really cool people and stuff.”
• About Austin: “Well, there’s a couple things I don’t really like about Austin. My parents went to the ultimate university, Texas A&M. And I don’t really like that other university that’s in Austin. It’s called Texas University and we’re rivals with them.”
• About the stunts involved for Shark Boy and Lava Girl: “I love the stunts!”… “We could run backward and do double backflips”.
• On playing on a football team: “I like playing for the team. It feels good throwing that football and trying to get that touchdown.”
• On the most number of takes he has done: “The most takes I've done on one scene is 62. If a hair is out of place or the camera angle isn't quite right, they shoot the scene again. “You have to make sure you give your best on every single shot.”
• On booking “Shark Boy” : “I was really excited when I found out I'd booked Sharkboy. Then I found out I was going to miss half the football season. It was so hard, because the team depends on each player.”
• On him being a Christian: “I'm proud to be able to say I'm a child of God. You have to show your light.”
• On his favourite movie: My favourite movie of all time is either A Few Good Men or The Incredibles, like Jenna said. And I like Top Gun too.
• On his plans for his 11th birthday: Well, for my [upcoming] birthday party we’re planning to go paintballing.
• How he got the part for “Shark Boy” : We went and auditioned, and Robert Rodriguez was there along with Monica, the script supervisor. So I then went in and did my thing, and it appeared that Robert was kind of a very mellow guy. When I was finished he was like, “Okay, that’s good. Bye!” (laughs) and so I was thinking (beat) “Oh…okay!”. So I left the audition, received a callback and the same thing happened when I auditioned again. And I thought that maybe I didn’t do a good job and I was initially bummed out. But then they booked me and I learned that Robert must be very very mellow.
• On how long it has taken to film his movies: on both Mystic River and Dodgeball it was about a week we had to film. On Shark Boy and Lava Girl it was about three months.
• What it was like working with director of “Shark Boy” : It’s just like working a humongous kid. I mean he gets respect, but he’s the kind of guy that plays Halo 2 and XBOX in-between takes. (laughs) He also draws up superheroes and hangs out with his kids a lot. He’s just like a big giant kid.
• How Cayden pictured the different scenes in “Shark Boy” : Usually, Robert would give us the basic idea or show us a computer image of what would finally appear on screen so we would know how to act and react to the filming. We would usually then get an idea and go from there.
• On his co-star Taylor Lautner: Yeah, that Taylor, he’s a stud. He IS Shark Boy. He can do stunts and backflips and things like that. He’s cool to hang out to hang out with and really nice.
• His favourite experience on working on the film: My favourite part in making the movie was probably when we had to start training for all of our stunts with Jeffrey J. Dashnaw, who was the most wonderful stunt coordinator that I have ever worked with. He worked really close with us just to make the stunt work just a bit better. Just awesome, especially with kids.
• On the sacrifices of acting: Once you start becoming an actor, you are definitely going to have to start making some sacrifices because if you want to go hang out at someone’s birthday party or hang out at home, and you have an audition, then that kind of interferes with things. So you have to be willing to do that.
• On future projects: I’m going to be shooting a movie this summer called A West Texas Children’s Story and it’s about this kid who has this kind of sad life and his parent’s don’t pay attention to him. He’s a real lonely kid. Then this girl (played by AnnaSophia Robb from the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) kind of winds up at his doorstep from a car accident and they become soul mates and run away together.
• What he loves the most about acting: I just LOVE to travel. You could be making a movie in the middle of the jungle in Africa or you could be in the middle of a huge city, and it’s just so cool going to all different places. And I like meeting all of the different people on the set as well. I also like how the movie pays off with everybody’s hard work up there on the screen.
• What he thinks kids will like the most about “Shark Boy” : Well, I’ve always loved superheroes, and I’m sure every single kid out there is gonna love these superheroes and want to see Shark Boy and Lava Girl…and the fact that it’s in 3-D.
• About his character: He’s a little bit of a loner; he’s kind of a dork. He gets picked on and stuff, and he’s always dreaming up these characters called Shark Boy and Lava Girl. And his teacher’s always telling him, “They’ll never come true, and you need to stop making imaginary friends and start making real friends,” and so is his mom. But David Arquette, Max's dad, he’s totally into it, and he’s always telling Max's mom, “Y’know, kids need their dreams.” And Shark Boy and Lava Girl, while Max is in school, they kinda come and they rescue him away from his sad little world. At least Max tends to think that, but really, why they came to rescue him is because they need Max to save Planet Drool. Because it’s under destruction.
• On leaving his friends when he makes a film: Yeah, sometimes it’s kinda hard. A lot of friends are like, “How long are you gonna be gone?” And usually, they kinda miss me, and I miss them too…. It’s really exciting to come back. All my friends are really excited. They say, “Cayden’s coming back today!” and stuff like that.
• On getting along with Jenna: Of course we fight, like every single brother and sister, but we get along pretty well.
• On acting with eachother: Yeah, I think that would be cool, because sometimes when one of the kids gets a job, then the family’s kind of split up. It would be like, me and my mom would go and do the job while my sister and my dad stayed at home. And I really would like it if it wasn’t as split up as much.
• On his parents being supportive of his acting career: Well, they’re very, very supportive. My mom, she coaches us, so that helps us a whole lot.
• On other interests besides acting: Yeah, I like to play tackle football. I play tight end on offense, and I was the third string quarterback. And on defense I play defensive back, and I’m never off the field. And I’m also the kicker, and I’m also on the receiving team.
• On his dreams: Well, I want to keep acting for a really, really long time. And I want to go to college at Texas A&M University. That’s like my dream come true.
• On missing Texas: Yes I do. I miss Texas a whole lot. Well here in California, a lot of people are just kinda rude, and they’re really impatient, especially on the freeways and stuff. And in Texas it’s not like that. Here, it’s kinda like a “dog eat dog” world. But in Texas it’s really friendly. And all my family is in Texas, so we would visit family more if we lived in Texas.
• On the director of “Shark Boy” using Cayden’s ideas for the film: None of the other directors that I’ve worked with have really taken any of my ideas, but Robert, he would ask for some ideas sometimes. And sometimes he would take some of our ideas and he’d put them into the script!
• Who is his role model? : Well, probably Clint Eastwood, and I like Morgan Freeman a whole lot. I’ve always kinda wanted to work with Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, and people like that. Probably Will Smith, too.
• Is there any competitiveness between him and Jenna? : Well, it's not a rivalry or anything. We're both very supportive of each other. But once Robert heard there was going to be back to back weekends, it was, "Oh yeah, we're just gonna blow her movie out of the water! What are you talking about? Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Please!" It was stuff like that. But other than that, [we're] very supportive of each other, me and Jenna.
• On pretending with Jenna: We'd play around. We would make up characters together and stuff like that, yeah.
• His biggest challenge of “Shark Boy” : Probably the green screen because you had to use a little bit of imagination.
• Was it fun on set? : Yes. Robert [Rodriguez, the director] would play Halo with us after work. We all became really good friends. We had school together and we lived in the same apartment complex when we were filming in Austin, Texas. On the weekends we would go to the park together.
• On the message of the film: Yeah. Kids will like that it's 3D, it's superheroes, and all the action in it, but the parents will want their kids to see it because it teaches them a little bit about not being selfish and not squashing each other's dreams, because that also squashes yours.
• About his birthday: This was my best birthday. I got a Playstation Portable, there are a hand-held PS2, and I got a camera with a printer dock, a remote-controlled car and shoes that are kind of like trampolines—they make you jump really high. We had a paintball party at Field of Fire in Valencia and I got many bruises. But it was really, really fun. I brought about seven people including my best friend, who was my stunt double for the movie.
• What he likes to do for fun: Play tackle football, play video games, race go-karts.
• On watching TV: I like Walker: Texas Ranger because of the action, but I don't watch that much TV. If it's between watching TV and playing video games, I'd play video games.
• On his favourite book: Midnight for Charlie Bone. It's a little bit like Harry Potter. It's very adventurous. I like adventure kind of books.
• About his up and coming movie role: "I'm going to be starring in a new movie called 'The West Texas Children's Story'. It's about a thirteen-year-old boy whose parents just don't pay attention to him. His parents are kind of messed up. A girl accidentally comes to his door and they become best friends and soul mates. They run away together." We go up to Maine because I am this really good baseball player in the movie. I pitch like a son of a gun. We're going up there to try out for the major leagues. I end up becoming the youngest player to ever pitch in the World Series."
• "I also want to fly F-18s in the Navy when I grow up"
• How Cayden got the part of Max in “Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D”: My agent told my mom and my mom told me, ‘this is the director of . I was blown away and once I heard that it was a superhero movie, I was more blown away. I love super heroes. I love these guys. I auditioned three times. I finished it was just ‘okay, bye, Cayden. See you later’. I was just going ‘wow, man. That didn’t go so good I guess’. Then they got me a callback and I thought maybe I did do good. Then I meet him [Taylor Launter] and he goes ‘hi, I’m Sharkboy’. Then I got it.
• Is Cayden anything like his character? : Well, I can’t count how many times in the day my mom has to tell me ‘focus’, just stuff like that. Sometimes I used to draw little superheroes like Cosmic Man. (He was just a drawing. He could shoot little asteroids out of his hand and defy gravity and stuff like that.) I’m somewhat like Max.
• On the hardest thing to imagine in “Shark Boy” ,: Imagining all that ice cream and cookies around us was hard.
• On actors that Cayden looks up to: There’s not really somebody I want to be like but some of the people I want to work with are Morgan Freeman and Tom Cruise definitely. I’ve always wanted to work with him like in The Last Samurai. I just loved that movie.
• On what Cayden would like to do in the future: I want to go to college and go to Texas A&M. And I want to be a Marine and fly F-18s eventually.
• On his relationship with friends Taylor L and Taylor D: We’re always having sleepovers.
• About Cayden’s character’s name not being on the “Shark Boy” posterr: “I think Shark Boy and Lava Girl sounds more exciting than just kind of Max. So I think that would make people want to see it more if it was Shark Boy and Lava Girl. That’s basically the thing that makes you want to see it, is the title.”
• On narrating the “Shark Boy” trailers: “It was pretty fun but it required some other work because sometimes you have to do more looping and stuff like that. It’s really cool because you get to narrate the preview which is really cool, to see the preview and stuff when you’re doing the looping for it. That’s my voice if you hear it.”
• On the Green Screen work in The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl: “We don’t know what it’s really going to look like because 90% was filmed in front of a green screen. You did have to imagine a lot too because it was just a green screen and you have to come up with it, but usually Robert would give us the basic idea. We were going to do this one thing where my worst enemy dreams up this cannon and shoots it at me. They were going to have to use a green jelly ball to make it look like a cannon, but they didn’t do it. We had to use all kinds of stuff.”
• On the choreography in “Shark Boy” : “We had to do a lot of movement. There were a lot of different marks and everything… If you have to remember your lines, if there’s like this really long paragraph you have to remember or something like that, then you’re kind of wanting to focus a little on the lines at least because if you mess up, you’re going to have to start all over. So sometimes you’re kind of focused on the lines and how you should say it and stuff. And then you forget the movements.”
• On the stunts in “Shark Boy” : We got to do a lot of stunts because they strap you up in these harnesses and you could jump up in the air and do a front flip and land right on your feet. When I heard that the movie was called Shark Boy and Lava Girl, I didn’t know that we were going to be doing that much stunts. I thought that was really, really cool. Beforehand, we had to do some training. The stunt coordinator, Jeff Dashnel, he’s a really great stunt coordinator and he trained us.”
• On his audition for “Shark Boy” : The first thing was that my mom told me, ‘This is the director of Spy Kids.’ So I was just going, ‘Oh my gosh, cool.’ Next, she said, ‘The movie’s called The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl’ and I was going, ‘Superheroes?’ I thought that would be so cool to be in a superhero movie.”
• On being friends with Taylor D and Taylor L: “We’ve had sleepovers and everything. We’re still big friends.” Should they ever end up at the same audition, Cayden is sure they’d be okay. “I’m not worried about it, but if we were to go on the same auditions, it’s never like a rivalry, like I’m going to beat you on this line or something like that. It’s never like that, no.”
• How he and his character are alike: “Some times I’m kind of like Max my character. Sometimes I’ll dream about the superheroes or I used to. I used to think of all these superheroes like Gladiator was one of the superheroes or something, or Cosmic Man. Gladiator has this one sword and it can turn into anything. And Cosmic Man could float and fly. And he could also shoot little asteroids out of his hands.”
• On the director of “Shark Boy and Lava Girl” Robert Rodriguez: “I’m sure you’ve heard of he plays Halo all the time between takes on the set. And so he’s always playing video games. And he’s got his kids to keep him in that kind of thing and he’s always, always drawing, thinking of different superheroes and different kinds of ideas. And his sons are always drawing and stuff too.”
• On how he got started in the business: At first we started out doing modeling for J.C. Penny catalogues and then it just kind of evolved into acting. My mom, she did drama in church and but that’s not why we did it. But my mom coaches us, so it’s just my mom, me and my sister, but my mom doesn’t do drama in church anymore.”
• On his school: “I go to a Christian school. What’s really cool is that we don’t have to wear uniforms, but next year we have to. But other than that, we have chapel but we do math and everything like that. We have bible too and that is the only difference.”
• On playing football: “I’m a really good tackler, but now I’m playing with 100 pounds kids, so I’m not sure if I’m going to be the best tackler. And I’m not sure I’m going to be the best kicker either because some kids are really good at kicking. I just turned 11 yesterday. If you’re between 11 and 12, then you go in the Junior League and you’re playing with like 100 pound kids.”
• On his hobbies: “I like to think of ways to annoy my sister and I play with my dog. He’s a handful. And I play video games. Sometimes I go on hikes.”
• On annoying his sister Jenna: “There’s thousands of ways. I can scare her. I used to listen in on her phone conversations but that was really bad so I don’t do it anymore.”
• On his passion of travelling: “I love to go to all different places. Sometimes you’re in the middle of jungles and sometimes you’re in the middle of humongous cities. It’s so cool. You get to meet all kinds of really cool people and stuff.”
• About Austin: “Well, there’s a couple things I don’t really like about Austin. My parents went to the ultimate university, Texas A&M. And I don’t really like that other university that’s in Austin. It’s called Texas University and we’re rivals with them.”
• About the stunts involved for Shark Boy and Lava Girl: “I love the stunts!”… “We could run backward and do double backflips”.
• On playing on a football team: “I like playing for the team. It feels good throwing that football and trying to get that touchdown.”
• On the most number of takes he has done: “The most takes I've done on one scene is 62. If a hair is out of place or the camera angle isn't quite right, they shoot the scene again. “You have to make sure you give your best on every single shot.”
• On booking “Shark Boy” : “I was really excited when I found out I'd booked Sharkboy. Then I found out I was going to miss half the football season. It was so hard, because the team depends on each player.”
• On him being a Christian: “I'm proud to be able to say I'm a child of God. You have to show your light.”
• On his favourite movie: My favourite movie of all time is either A Few Good Men or The Incredibles, like Jenna said. And I like Top Gun too.
• On his plans for his 11th birthday: Well, for my [upcoming] birthday party we’re planning to go paintballing.
• How he got the part for “Shark Boy” : We went and auditioned, and Robert Rodriguez was there along with Monica, the script supervisor. So I then went in and did my thing, and it appeared that Robert was kind of a very mellow guy. When I was finished he was like, “Okay, that’s good. Bye!” (laughs) and so I was thinking (beat) “Oh…okay!”. So I left the audition, received a callback and the same thing happened when I auditioned again. And I thought that maybe I didn’t do a good job and I was initially bummed out. But then they booked me and I learned that Robert must be very very mellow.
• On how long it has taken to film his movies: on both Mystic River and Dodgeball it was about a week we had to film. On Shark Boy and Lava Girl it was about three months.
• What it was like working with director of “Shark Boy” : It’s just like working a humongous kid. I mean he gets respect, but he’s the kind of guy that plays Halo 2 and XBOX in-between takes. (laughs) He also draws up superheroes and hangs out with his kids a lot. He’s just like a big giant kid.
• How Cayden pictured the different scenes in “Shark Boy” : Usually, Robert would give us the basic idea or show us a computer image of what would finally appear on screen so we would know how to act and react to the filming. We would usually then get an idea and go from there.
• On his co-star Taylor Lautner: Yeah, that Taylor, he’s a stud. He IS Shark Boy. He can do stunts and backflips and things like that. He’s cool to hang out to hang out with and really nice.
• His favourite experience on working on the film: My favourite part in making the movie was probably when we had to start training for all of our stunts with Jeffrey J. Dashnaw, who was the most wonderful stunt coordinator that I have ever worked with. He worked really close with us just to make the stunt work just a bit better. Just awesome, especially with kids.
• On the sacrifices of acting: Once you start becoming an actor, you are definitely going to have to start making some sacrifices because if you want to go hang out at someone’s birthday party or hang out at home, and you have an audition, then that kind of interferes with things. So you have to be willing to do that.
• On future projects: I’m going to be shooting a movie this summer called A West Texas Children’s Story and it’s about this kid who has this kind of sad life and his parent’s don’t pay attention to him. He’s a real lonely kid. Then this girl (played by AnnaSophia Robb from the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) kind of winds up at his doorstep from a car accident and they become soul mates and run away together.
• What he loves the most about acting: I just LOVE to travel. You could be making a movie in the middle of the jungle in Africa or you could be in the middle of a huge city, and it’s just so cool going to all different places. And I like meeting all of the different people on the set as well. I also like how the movie pays off with everybody’s hard work up there on the screen.
• What he thinks kids will like the most about “Shark Boy” : Well, I’ve always loved superheroes, and I’m sure every single kid out there is gonna love these superheroes and want to see Shark Boy and Lava Girl…and the fact that it’s in 3-D.
• About his character: He’s a little bit of a loner; he’s kind of a dork. He gets picked on and stuff, and he’s always dreaming up these characters called Shark Boy and Lava Girl. And his teacher’s always telling him, “They’ll never come true, and you need to stop making imaginary friends and start making real friends,” and so is his mom. But David Arquette, Max's dad, he’s totally into it, and he’s always telling Max's mom, “Y’know, kids need their dreams.” And Shark Boy and Lava Girl, while Max is in school, they kinda come and they rescue him away from his sad little world. At least Max tends to think that, but really, why they came to rescue him is because they need Max to save Planet Drool. Because it’s under destruction.
• On leaving his friends when he makes a film: Yeah, sometimes it’s kinda hard. A lot of friends are like, “How long are you gonna be gone?” And usually, they kinda miss me, and I miss them too…. It’s really exciting to come back. All my friends are really excited. They say, “Cayden’s coming back today!” and stuff like that.
• On getting along with Jenna: Of course we fight, like every single brother and sister, but we get along pretty well.
• On acting with eachother: Yeah, I think that would be cool, because sometimes when one of the kids gets a job, then the family’s kind of split up. It would be like, me and my mom would go and do the job while my sister and my dad stayed at home. And I really would like it if it wasn’t as split up as much.
• On his parents being supportive of his acting career: Well, they’re very, very supportive. My mom, she coaches us, so that helps us a whole lot.
• On other interests besides acting: Yeah, I like to play tackle football. I play tight end on offense, and I was the third string quarterback. And on defense I play defensive back, and I’m never off the field. And I’m also the kicker, and I’m also on the receiving team.
• On his dreams: Well, I want to keep acting for a really, really long time. And I want to go to college at Texas A&M University. That’s like my dream come true.
• On missing Texas: Yes I do. I miss Texas a whole lot. Well here in California, a lot of people are just kinda rude, and they’re really impatient, especially on the freeways and stuff. And in Texas it’s not like that. Here, it’s kinda like a “dog eat dog” world. But in Texas it’s really friendly. And all my family is in Texas, so we would visit family more if we lived in Texas.
• On the director of “Shark Boy” using Cayden’s ideas for the film: None of the other directors that I’ve worked with have really taken any of my ideas, but Robert, he would ask for some ideas sometimes. And sometimes he would take some of our ideas and he’d put them into the script!
• Who is his role model? : Well, probably Clint Eastwood, and I like Morgan Freeman a whole lot. I’ve always kinda wanted to work with Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, and people like that. Probably Will Smith, too.
• Is there any competitiveness between him and Jenna? : Well, it's not a rivalry or anything. We're both very supportive of each other. But once Robert heard there was going to be back to back weekends, it was, "Oh yeah, we're just gonna blow her movie out of the water! What are you talking about? Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Please!" It was stuff like that. But other than that, [we're] very supportive of each other, me and Jenna.
• On pretending with Jenna: We'd play around. We would make up characters together and stuff like that, yeah.
• His biggest challenge of “Shark Boy” : Probably the green screen because you had to use a little bit of imagination.
• Was it fun on set? : Yes. Robert [Rodriguez, the director] would play Halo with us after work. We all became really good friends. We had school together and we lived in the same apartment complex when we were filming in Austin, Texas. On the weekends we would go to the park together.
• On the message of the film: Yeah. Kids will like that it's 3D, it's superheroes, and all the action in it, but the parents will want their kids to see it because it teaches them a little bit about not being selfish and not squashing each other's dreams, because that also squashes yours.
• About his birthday: This was my best birthday. I got a Playstation Portable, there are a hand-held PS2, and I got a camera with a printer dock, a remote-controlled car and shoes that are kind of like trampolines—they make you jump really high. We had a paintball party at Field of Fire in Valencia and I got many bruises. But it was really, really fun. I brought about seven people including my best friend, who was my stunt double for the movie.
• What he likes to do for fun: Play tackle football, play video games, race go-karts.
• On watching TV: I like Walker: Texas Ranger because of the action, but I don't watch that much TV. If it's between watching TV and playing video games, I'd play video games.
• On his favourite book: Midnight for Charlie Bone. It's a little bit like Harry Potter. It's very adventurous. I like adventure kind of books.
• About his up and coming movie role: "I'm going to be starring in a new movie called 'The West Texas Children's Story'. It's about a thirteen-year-old boy whose parents just don't pay attention to him. His parents are kind of messed up. A girl accidentally comes to his door and they become best friends and soul mates. They run away together." We go up to Maine because I am this really good baseball player in the movie. I pitch like a son of a gun. We're going up there to try out for the major leagues. I end up becoming the youngest player to ever pitch in the World Series."