Star of ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ Roman Griffin Davis, thinks you’ll understand the film’s message

The lead of “Jojo Rabbit� looks like a tiny rock star, cool blue eyes and blond shock of asymmetrical mad-artist -- or electrical-socket-toucher -- hair ... though he admits his mother chose his “Yellow Submarine� T-shirt. And it’s his first professional acting gig.

“Well, I played an extra in a school play. I played a tree,� says Roman Griffin Davis, with a deadpan delivery beyond his 12 years. “I took a lot of acting experience from that.�

The Londoner was 11 when he stepped into the demanding role of Johannes “Jojo� Betzler. Jojo is a wide-eyed Hitler Youth whose wacky imaginary friend is ... Adolf Hitler (played by director Taika Waititi). The part requires unusual emotional availability for a child actor, and he’s in almost every scene.

Davis had to research the Hitler-Jugend for the film: “I thought it was interesting how these kids were manipulated and their life was drained.�

Waititi said, “The thing about Roman is he cares so deeply about other people. He’s extremely sensitive and extremely kind. The character wasn’t born a Nazi. The things that make you fall in love with Roman exist in Jojo; they’ve just been covered over by this other thing for a while. So that’s what you’re aiming for; getting back to the kid you fell in love with.�

After he was cast, Davis binged all of Waititi’s movies.

“I liked how he had a specific style,� says the young actor. “It’s an interesting and funny and personal style that has a lot of good energy and life in it. I like him because it’s very personal, his work.�

Davis has always been around the industry - his father, Ben Davis, is a cinematographer and his mother, Camille Griffin, is a writer-director.

“When I went on sets I was always like, ‘Yes, I want to eat all this chicken … and gravy.’ But yes, I was influenced by my parents.�

When not acting, Davis likes to “paint a lot. I’m a big fan of an artist called Cézanne. And Lucian Freud. My mum’s also an artist.�

“Jojo� won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, besting such heavyweight contenders as “Marriage Story� and “Parasite.� Davis notes of the vote announcement, “I was with my mom [mimes her on her phone]: ‘You can stop refreshing it. “Joker’s� won, Joaquin deserves it. I can’t take that away.’ I remember my aunt refreshes it and goes, ‘Whoa!’

“I kind of understood [the film’s win] because at the Toronto premiere, everyone’s laughing at the same bits and everyone’s crying at the same bits. That shows you they’re understanding the message and such.�