Cover Boy Jonathan Taylor Thomas Seems To Have The Talent, Looks, Charm And Brains For A Big Film Career

Jonathan Taylor Thomas scarcely looks his 14 years. At 4-foot-11, the pixieish actor could pass for 10 or 11. Until he opens his mouth.

Then you’d swear he was 45.

He talks about narrow-mindedness and superficiality in the movie and television business as if he were a longtime Hollywood veteran.

“It’s kind of odd,” Thomas said in an interview last week. “Once you have a movie and it opens well, people automatically become interested and that’s the shallow aspect of this business and you just have to accept it… . This business is very much based on how much money things will bring in. But then, I think most businesses are about making money.”

These days, Thomas is becoming a business unto himself.

For the past five years, he has starred as Randy, the middle son on the hit Buena Vista Television series “Home Improvement.” In the process, Thomas has claimed the hearts of hordes of pre-pubescent girls and has emerged as the most popular cover boy on teen magazines.

After providing the voice of the young Simba in Disney’s 1994 smash “The Lion King,” he co-starred in March in Disney’s “Man of the House” with Chevy Chase and Farrah Fawcett and got most of the credit for its strong $9.5 million opening. (The film grossed $40 million.) He stars as Tom Sawyer in a new live-action Disney film “Tom and Huck,” and this summer audiences will see Thomas play the title role in New Line’s live-action version of “Pinocchio” starring Martin Landau.

He is Disney’s hot new property - Buena Vista Television is owned by Disney - and the biggest name among child actors since Macaulay Culkin. Disney insiders joke that any day now, he will occupy his own office strategically placed between those of top company executives Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz.

The success of “Man of the House” more than doubled Thomas’ fee for “Tom and Huck,” to $600,000 from an initial $250,000, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. He owes Disney one more film under an option with the studio, but no project has been selected.

“He literally was the first person we thought of for Tom Sawyer,” said the film’s producer, Larry Mark. “He was at the top of the list from the get-go, both because of his acting talent and because he has a certain amount of box-office appeal.”

Indeed, even British film director Peter Hewitt was won over by Thomas’ charm and acting ability, though he initially expressed reservations about casting a contemporary sitcom star to play the lead in the Mark Twain classic.

“I had never watched ‘Home Improvement’ and everyone at Disney was talking about this boy,” Hewitt said. “The idea (to cast him) came right from (studio chief) Joe Roth. I was being told he’s this big teen heartthrob and he’s on this very popular sitcom. I didn’t know who he was or what he looked like, but I knew of the phenomenon that was Jonathan Taylor Thomas. So, on that basis, I thought it wasn’t a good idea (to cast him as Tom Sawyer) … until he got in the room. He read through some stuff and he was just marvelous.”

Thomas accepted Hewitt’s hesitation graciously.

“I kind of suspected he wasn’t sure about me,” Thomas said from a limousine car phone after a flurry of interviews for “Tom and Huck.” “It’s only natural for a director to be concerned about his project. I would have expected him to be a bit skeptical, especially with a period piece and my being in a hip kind of ‘90s series.”

Just what makes Thomas so hot?

His success can be attributed to a combination of talent, looks, smarts, charm and plain old luck, industry insiders say.

“He’s not cute as a button, although he’s certainly incredibly attractive and appealing. I think that makes him more interesting. He also seems incredibly open. He sort of invites you in as if he’s saying, ‘Come have some fun with me,’ ” producer Mark said.

“Generally, kids who are really successful in Hollywood are small for their age and have kind of a pleasant, blendable look; they don’t have to be gorgeous,” said Judy Savage, owner of Savage Agency, which has represented children and young adults for 18 years. “The ones who succeed are generally very smart and the luck comes in when they’re in a project that takes off, whether it’s a hit television series or a movie that makes a lot of money. Jonathan Taylor Thomas has the whole package. And he’s in a vehicle that’s highly visible.”