Sean Connery happy young protege has not quit school

24-Apr-2006 • Actor News

When Rob Brown answered the telephone, the gruff Scottish voice at the other end was immediately recognizable. It was Sean Connery, the star of Brown's first movie, Finding Forrester, and he was in a bad mood - reports Canada.com

"Are you still at school?" Connery yelled. Connery had just spotted a commercial for the film, Coach Carter, on his TV and was infuriated to discover that Brown was in the cast. Connery assumed that Brown had quit school and had therefore reneged on a promise made five years previously to get an education.

The younger actor immediately sought to reassure Connery. "I said: 'Yes, Sean, I'm still in school.' He paused, and then said, 'OK!' "

And all was sweetness and light between them again.

Brown, 22, has just opened in another movie, Take The Lead, in which he plays an inner-city high school student who's introduced to the wonders of ballroom dancing by Antonio Banderas. But he's quick to emphasize that he didn't quit school to make it. The film was done in Brown's down time from his studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts where he's majoring in psychology.

Brown had never acted when he was cast in the role of a brilliant young English student who finds his true mentor in an aging, award-winning novelist played by Connery.

At the time, he had no clear-cut career ambitions and a movie was the last thing he ever expected to be doing. He was 15 at the time and his main enthusiasm was playing basketball and football at Poly Prep High School in Brooklyn.

But he had this problem: he owed a hefty cellphone bill, and he was in serious need of money. It just so happened that the producers of Finding Forrester were in the area as part of an open casting call for young male students. Rob, knowing it would be a longshot, auditioned, hoping that he just might get a small walk-on part which would earn him a bit of cash.

Instead, he received the lead opposite Connery.

During filming, the former 007 became a friend and mentor, telling him about both the rewards and the pitfalls of the acting profession.

"When I was doing Finding Forrester, Sean sat me down and he said: 'Nobody was there to tell me when I was going through it, so I'm going to sit down and tell you.' The thing he stressed to me, believe it or not, was to 'stay in school' because that was something he hadn't done."

Back when he was making a big splash with Finding Forrester, Brown was telling reporters that the film might prove to be a one-shot acting job, because he wasn't at all sure that he wanted this as a career. Now, after further films like Coach Carter and Take The Lead, he's more certain.

"In all likelihood, this is what I want to do," he says. But he's still not certain.

"I want to wait until I graduate and get my degree before I make it a firm decision."

He believes it's a matter of exercising common sense.

He remembers that he tried to be realistic when he started work on Finding Forrester. "I didn't know what to expect. I just figured that if I messed up, they'd tell me and show me the way. "That's how I approached it."