'When in Liverpool you are dealing with family'.

Byline: CATHERINE JONES 

WHEN Aaron Johnson read the script for Nowhere Boy he just knew he had to play the young John Lennon.

"I instantly got emotionally attached to it and then I felt like I had to fight to get the role," he says, speaking ahead of the film's Liverpool premiere.

"I could just visualise and understand completely where John was going.

"It was really about him trying to find who he is to become, and his art form and discovering love - it's a coming of age story and I've been through all of those so I kind of know where I'm travelling."

The 19-year-old has indeed been through all those emotions while filming Nowhere Boy, not least falling in love with his director Sam Taylor-Wood.

The two are now engaged, although Aaron is reticent when it comes to talking about his private life.

"Most people like to keep their lives private, and it's hard because I think people think if you're making a film then you obviously want that sort of attention or you want to be in the headlines," he explains.

"But if I wanted that I'd be on I'm a Celebrity."

There's no doubt though that the teenager is proud of both the film and his director fiance.

"I guess you can get a sense of someone pretty much straight away when you walk in the room and you can understand their creative mind, that's why me and Sam instantly clicked because we both think in that way," he says.

"We're very creative people and artistic, so it was easy to understand and that's why I think she was a brilliant director because she could get through to actors who have that sort of mind."

Sam had quite a cast to work with though, not least two leading British actresses in Kristin Scott-Thomas as Aunt Mimi and Anne-Marie Duff as John's mum Julia.

While the script was what first attracted Aaron to the project, he soon realised it came with a fair amount of baggage.

"I realised a couple of months in that we were dealing with this icon and someone that's been around generations before me and has moved thousands of people," he explains.

Much of the filming was done on location in Liverpool (although the exterior shots of Mendips were done in Pinner), and that also brought its own expectations.

Aaron admits: "When you're in Liverpool you feel like you're dealing with the family.

"You really feel like you're dealing with people who touched in with him first, and the ground he walked on, and you think - it's such a fragile subject that we're doing and you want to do it justice the best you can.

"But in Liverpool, everyone was so wonderfully generous and lovely."

Then there was the little matter of learning to play and sing a la Lennon.

"He was a poet and visionary," says Aaron. "And then his mum influenced this voice and this art form, this rock 'n' roll, this anger, this sex, this thing that explains everything of him."

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Picture: COLIN LANE/CL231109LENNON-22 Aaron Johnson as a young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy