Meet Gattlin Griffith, a 15-year-old high school freshman and the protagonist of this Friday’s “Labor Day.” What? You thought Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet were the movie’s only stars? Griffith plays a 13-year-old taken hostage, along with his single mother (Winslet), by an escaped convict (Brolin). Those two fall in love, but Griffith’s character holds all the drama together: Come for the Stockholm syndrome, stay for the coming-of-age story.
Griffith has actually been around showbiz most of his life. His father is a successful stuntman who’s worked on films including “The Lone Ranger.” The younger Griffith landed his first acting role at age 6, in a Yamaha commercial.
“It was kind of fun being around cameras,” Griffith tells The Post. “[But] getting free food, I thought that was the best part.”
Since then, he’s logged screen time in more commercials, TV shows (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Cold Case”) and films, including “Green Lantern.” In 2008, Griffith appeared opposite Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” — and befriended her son Maddox on set. “I actually got to play video games with him a little bit after each day,” he recalls.
But Griffith, who lives with his parents and three brothers in Santa Clarita, Calif., isn’t sure that’s what he wants to do when he grows up.
In addition to playing soccer and football, he’s an “equestrian gymnast.” It’s just like it sounds: Griffith, a fourth-generation trick rider, performs circus-worthy stunts atop a horse that’s running full-speed.
“Trick riding is like [theater] work,” he says. “You get immediate attention, whereas with a movie, it’s a process.”
One thing he doesn’t want to do? Take any bull, even though his grandparents are in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame: “I don’t bull ride,” he says. “The bulls nowadays are a lot stronger than they were, I hear!”