Local child actor appearing in American Hustle

Dec 17, 2013

Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence and Wareham’s Charlie Tacker all stepped in front of the camera for the upcoming, Golden Globe nominated, film “American Hustle.”

Many times during the filming, Tacker sat beside Bale.

“I said, ‘you look like Batman,’ and [Bale] looked down at me, and made this Batman voice and said, ‘because I am Batman,’” Tacker said.

Tacker’s mother, Lisa Zierenberg, jokingly clarified the situation. She said Tacker had no idea he was standing next to Batman at first because Bale was so dressed up.

“Christian Bale had like this comb over. Charlie did not know who he was,” said Zierenberg.

“He was in disguise… he had this beard,” Tacker replied.

“I could see Christain Bale patting Charlie on the shoulder,” Zierenberg explained. “So, Charlie came in for the lunch break, and I said, ‘why does Batman keep hitting you on the shoulder?’ And he goes, ‘mom, what are you talking about?’ I said that was Christian Bale.”

After that, Tacker told the bearded man he looked like Batman.

This was not the only movie star Tacker interacted with, though.

“I saw Amy Adams, and these two kids came up to me and told me to say, ‘hello pretty,’ and I did,” said Tacker.

“I almost hit Jennifer Lawrence in the face with a notebook,” admitted Tacker. Luckily, she did not notice the potential collision.

For Tacker, his role in “American Hustle” is brief.

“He doesn’t have any lines, but he does have great placement. I’m sure he’s going to be in this film,” said Zierenberg.

The film cameras were not the only cameras having Charlie in the frame.

“Channel 7 came to get shots of the shooting, and they got a shot Christian Bale talking to a kid – it was Charlie. There was a shot of Amy Adams, and Charlie was doing the Dougie in background.”

While his role in this film may be brief, Tacker has far more acting experience than most 10-year-olds. Most of Tacker’s work has come with short, student films which has earned Tacker the nickname: “Prince of the Indies.”

This has been accomplished with the help of the New England Acting and casting community.

In these films, Tacker is usually given more demanding roles. In his most recent work, “Advent,” a film about aliens coming to earth, gave him an opportunity to be in an action situation.

Being in indie films and feature films “is not that much different. The feature films will take more time, and the student films will take – maybe a couple of days -- like ten days,” Tacker explained. “The one feature film I’ve been in took like a month.”

Despite the time demands of being an actor, Tacker does also go through the typical life of a kid in Wareham. Presently, he is attending Wareham Middle School as a 5th grader.

Tacker was among the group moved from Decas Elementary to the Middle School. This has been an adjustment for Tacker and his mom.

“It’s a whole other world,” said Zierenberg. “He’s having trouble adjusting, and so are his friends.”

Attendance could have made the adjustment even harder. Luckily, acting has taken Tacker away from school for just five days this year.

For the most part, the school has been supportive of Tacker.

With the rigors of traveling, acting, school and everything else, the pressure can sometimes build on Tacker.

As winter break approaches, Tacker looks forward to playing in the snow. As for his Christmas list, Tacker is requesting a moustache.

“For now, I think I’m just a normal kid in Wareham,” said Tacker. “I hope in my future, I will be riding a private jet to Disney.”