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Teens star as enemies at TIFF's I Declare War By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville teenagers Michael Friend and Aidan Gouveia are comfortable with each other sharing the spotlight when they're not in character, but on the big screen, they're mortal enemies in a game of imaginary war. The two are starring in the highly anticipated Canadian film I Declare War, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday (Sept. 9). "When we started shooting, we thought this was a small movie, something for us to get more experience," said Gouveia, a Grade 10 St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School student. The movie soon picked up awards at Actionfest and Spirit Awards and got into TIFF. All three TIFF showings sold out within hours and the film's trailer has received the most YouTube views of any movie being screened at the festival. "This literally was the little movie that could because it just started as something really small and it's gone this far," the 15-yearold said. Both boys say they're proud to have been involved in such a successful project. "It's really exciting and I feel honoured. It's almost hard to explain the feeling you get," said Friend, a Grade 11 Etobicoke School of the Arts student. The 16-year-old attended T.A. Blakelock High School the past two years. The film is about a group of children ­ 12 to 13 year olds ­ who play a game of capture the flag after school. However, in their imaginations, the children's war game is real and violent. "It's basically capture the flag and we use sticks, but in our imagination, we see guns and the movie is filmed through the lens of our imagination," said Gouveia. The film switches back and forth between reality and imagination, in which toys turn to real guns, and conversations are far more serious. The battle is between two teams, one that is led by P.K. Sullivan, played by Gage Munroe, and the opposite team led by Gouveia's Quinn. Artscene 31 · Friday, September 7, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com nikki wesley / oakville beaver / @halton_photog at war: Oakville's Michael Friend (left) and Aidan Gouveia are two of the stars in the highly anticipated Canadian film I Declare War about school children playing war games. The film premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. P.K. is a tactical mastermind and a constant winner of the game. "He's lost pretty much every time so it's his goal to beat the other team," Gouveia said of his character. "Usually P.K. is the ultimate master in the game of capture the flag and Quinn wants to beat him this time." However, as Quinn is trying to outsmart the other team, there are other troubles afoot right within his fold. Friend plays the villain in the film, Skinner, who is on Quinn's team, but mutinies, taking over command. "All through the movie he's known as the spaz, but after talking to the director and producers, after breaking down the character, I realize he's hurt because of what P.K. has done to him," Friend said of his character. Skinner is a former close friend of P.K.'s, who is now best friends with a boy named Kwon, who plays on P.K.'s team. This friendship makes Skinner jealous. "He does anything he can to get his way, even if it's going against his team, which he does," Friend said of Skinner. Playing such a mean character has been a blast for Friend, he said. "I think every actor dreams of being the bad guy. It's probably the most fun to play because it's not really me. It was fun to get into character," he said. To add coals to the fire, this particular game of war also includes a newcomer: a girl, something the boys aren't used to. "We've never really played with a girl before so Quinn's pretty sexist about it. He's not a mean guy, but he thinks it's a boy's game," Gouveia said. The two teens did not know each other prior to the film, even though they share the same agent, have mutual friends and live relatively close to each other. Both have done acting work before. Both have appeared on commercials. Friend has also been on Family Channel's Majority Rules, the sci-fi show ReGenesis and a children's film called The Dogfather. Gouveia has appeared in an episode of YTV's Life With Boys and has done other small roles. Both teens hope being part of I Declare War will help propel their careers further. "With this movie, we're hoping things will pick up and snowball and get bigger and bigger. It now seems more realistic to be an actor," Gouveia said. "Before we shot this movie and saw how serious it can get, it was a dream but now it's started to turn more into reality." Friend added he's proud to be involved in such a great film, saying it would be on his list of films to see it, even if he wasn't appearing in it. "I would 100 per cent see that movie because I don't think I've ever heard of anything like it except maybe Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies," he said. "This has almost every genre put into it. It's really fun, crazy action, scary, drama. It's everything in one." Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson directed the film. It's rated 14A. The Sunday showing is at 4:15 p.m. at Scotiabank 4. It plays again on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 10 at 2 p.m., and Friday, Sept. 14 at Scotiabank 4 at 9:45 p.m. Advance tickets are sold out, but limited tickets will be sold at the door. For more information, visit www.tiff.net.