WEYMOUTH schoolboy Adam Nightingale is being tipped for acting stardom after a ‘brilliant’ lead performance in a short film.

Adam, 10, from Preston was first spotted during a TV taster workshop at Bournemouth University.

The film he will be starring in, Disenchanted, centres on the damaging effect divorce can have on young people.

Adam plays the role of Sam, a creative young boy who stops using his imagination as a result of his parent’s divorce.

All the footage was shot on location in the New Forest and at an indoor location in Bournemouth.

The film combines live action with animated characters based upon the actors.

Sarah Peace and Dean Evans of Retro Films, a Dorset-based Production Company, were looking for someone to play a child who has lost the playfulness in using his imagination, but then fights off his own doubts and worries.

CBBC presenter Michael Abs-alom, who is known as Abs, plays the role of the father in the film.

Adam said: “I was doing a TV presenting taster workshop at a college, which was the first time I met Abs, who plays my dad in Disenchanted.

“I walked out of the gallery with my friend and Dean sort of jumped into my tracks and asked whether I wanted to be in his movie and I obviously said ‘yes’.

“I didn’t actually realise I was going to be the lead role until we started filming. I learned from Abs that you still have to do loads of waiting around even if you’re the main character, but can still have fun.”

When asked which actors inspired him, Adam listed Tom Cruise, Daniel Craig, Johnny Depp, Pierce Brosnan and Matt Smith.

However, he does look to other sources when seeking motivation.

Adam said: “I remember a really funny episode of Friends when Matt Le Blanc, who plays Joey, was teaching an acting class and he said ‘when I need to act worried I just try to divide 463 by 13.’ Adam offers this advice for fellow aspiring actors: “Go to all the acting classes you can, after-school clubs and stuff like that and make sure you stand out and always put in 101 per cent; especially if you’re told that there’s a casting director looking for a part in your age group.”

The screenplay is co-written by Sarah and Dean and is receiving support from industry organisations such as Open Society and Regent Cinema in Christchurch, the location of the film premiere on July 2.