This movie invited the famous child star Alfred Thomas Highmore and the British acting actress Helena Bonham Carter to play the role of the son and stepmother. In fact, Helena and Haimer have collaborated for the third time. Their first collaboration was the movie " Women Talking Dirty ". He was 6 years old at the time (he was 17 years old in 2010 and was studying at Cambridge University). The second collaboration between the two is the famous " Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ", which plays the role of mother and child. Helena commented on Haimer this way: "He is a very moving actor, very smart, but not a young man. He is not acting like an actor, he is a born actor."
Director Clarkson said: "This film is about a little boy who finds affection in a family that lacks affection. I think the most thought-provoking thing is that the little boy's beloved mother can't cook at all, and even feels timid about it. The stepmother he hates is a master cook." The stepmother played by Helena has a complicated personality and is a bit nervous-this is in line with her usual casting, as you can see from the Harry Potter series. Mrs. Potter's crazy cleanliness is a manifestation of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but she is not completely cold and ruthless. The stepmother interpreted by Helena is said to be very similar to real people. What's interesting is that Helena herself can't do housework very much, ""I don't do housework very much. My mother said that she is still waiting for me to develop an instinct for housework. "
