Johnson’s Chatroom gets them talking at Cannes

Aaron Johnson, the teenage star of Nowhere Boy and Kick Ass, is set to make waves at Cannes this week with his latest role. Johnson plays the villain in Chatroom, a 'cyber-thriller' made by the Japanese horror movie director Hideo Nakata, which is tipped to be the festival's most disturbing film when it premieres on Friday.
 
In Chatroom Johnson plays William, who manipulates a group of disaffected teenagers who meet online. William then lures them into playing a dangerous psychological game.
 
The film marks the end of an extraordinary year for Johnson, 19, who has become a household name partly because of his high-profile roles and partly because of his relationship with Sam Taylor-Wood, 24 years his senior, who directed him as John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, her feature film debut

It was at the film's premiere in Cannes last year that the couple first 'came out' about their relationship. Now engaged, they are expecting their first child together next month.
 
Chatroom is being shown as part of Cannes' 'Un Certain Regard' selection. Hideo Nakata made his name with the groundbreaking 1998 horror movie, Ringu. Later adapted by Hollywood, it kicked off a string of American remakes of Japanese horror films, otherwise known as 'J-horror'.
 
The new film is adapted from Irish playwright Enda Walsh's 2005 play of the same name. Many theatre-goers found the play "quite terrifying", the film's producer Laura Hastings-Smith told the Observer. The film is more complex than the play, with more action, she added.
 
"There was no offline world in the play, but in Chatroom, the film, there is," she said. "Enda is such a wonderful writer, but the scariness that you get from this film comes, I think, from Hideo's direction." ·