te t ow sowing Crooked House rivate investigator Charles time out ayward (Ma Irons), is soon It’s been through combining consistent daily visited by ophia eonides Boy wonder practice with his relentless passion, undeniable (tefanie Martini), a beautiful raw talent and highly supportive family that’s young lady who Charles shared enabled him to make the most of it all. a doomed romance with years guitarist stars Callum told Canberra Weekly he had a lot of fun ago in Cairo. ophia is seeking filming the series. to hire Charles to investigate the in docu-series “They basically went behind the scenes with recent death of her grandfather me, figuring out what it would be like to film a the business tycoon Aristide Teenage Canberra guitar virtuoso Callum McPhie, 13, will A musician who can count Ozzy Osbourne and music video and what it was like for me to record eonides. ophia suspects that Ma rons stars as Charles ayward be featured in an upcoming ABC docu-series about child in Crooked House. Dragon Force as fans while having an endorsement some music.” prodigies. Photo: Eva Schroeder. Aristide was murdered by a deal signed with guitar manufacturer Ibanez, He performs under the moniker Callum the Heavy member of his sprawling and multiple TV appearances, some professionally Metal Kid; and currently continues learning with when having faced the challenges of being a parent, toic family. oon, Charles drives cast is strong, the banter is recorded original singles, plus a YouTube clip of three tutors, playing both classical and metal guitar. she became curious as to just how challenging it up to the imposing mansion to witty-and-uick-paced and an Enter Sandman cover that’s amassed 8.2 million He says he’s continuously inspired when he would be to raise a truly exceptional child. fi nd a killer. the mystery is genre bending. views has got a pretty sweet resume. discovers new bands. With the docu-series being funded by the ABC’s It’s amazing that it has taken so Although the production design Plenty of career musicians would aspire for “Metallica has been a huge influence, I’ve done arts division, Collins says when they cast the show long for more of Agatha Christie’s is stunning, with the mansion such a CV, and there’s a young Canberra guitarist a lot of Dragon Force and Dream Theatre and they looked for kids who were exceptional in an murder-mysteries to get the and its sprawling rooms being who’s done all that and more by the age of 13. recently started listening to Children of Bodom, artistic sense. cinematic treatment. ast year’s characters all on their own, it Callum McPhie of Kaleen can not only seriously who have some great guitar lines,” he says. “I knew of Callum through his appearance on Murder on the rient Eress set is a pity that the movie is not as rock, but can also lay claim to an IQ in the 98.8th Callum’s father Doug McPhie, once a Australia’s Got Talent, where he gave one of the up a ercule oirot franchise. cinematic as other big-screen, percentile along with being a maths wizard, and professional guitarist himself, taught his son more incredible performances.” Crooked ouse, set for production old-school, closed-room murder- having chops as a writer. initially and says his son’s immense talent was Callum was tracked down by Collins and back in 2011, seems to have mysteries such as rient Eress He’s being featured in an ABC docu-series obvious very quickly. the production team for the series, where capitalised on this momentum, and The Girl ith the Dragon called Making Child Prodigies that’s about, well, “Within weeks of starting he’d developed a he is profiled alongside four other unique, using the rient Eress formula Tattoo. exactly that. finger speed that surpassed mine … he was playing extraordinarily gifted children. of a star-studded cast. erit: espite not being as Callum took his first guitar lesson when he was songs most guitarists wouldn’t learn until they’d She says what stood out to her about Callum is All the tropes are here a cinematic as one would hope, seven years old; a couple of weeks later he was been playing for two to three years.” his creativity and the many ways it expresses itself. dysfunctional and etremely Crooked ouse holds its own. dabbling in Metallica and playing songs other Executive producer of Making Child Prodigies “Callum is obviously great at maths and playing privileged family, a beautiful ou will discover why it is one students take years to learn. Jennifer Collins says the idea for the series came heavy metal on guitar … he came with something but dark mansion, a femme of Agatha Christie’s favourite completely unique in that he’s an amazing performer. fatale, a down-on-his-luck I stories! 3.5 stars. “Like all the kids, he’s a real individual and and, of course, a murder! The - uke McWilliams he’s surprising. “We got to look at his writing, which is filled with humour … His brain is quite amazing, and the humour that comes with that mind of his is quite Bunde o oos remarkable,” she says. ere at the Canberra Weekly we Collins says the series examined the children by receive all kinds of goodies from looking at their lives, their families and their schooling agencies, publicists and businesses. environment over the course of five months. This week, we’ve put together “We asked all the families where the kids a great prize pack containing a get their talent from and we commonly saw an selection of fi ction and non-fi ction acknowledgement that somewhere in their families books, valued at well over 200, for there were genes … but what was very common one lucky reader to win. was parents supporting the child, and that it was a shared passion. “That’s where the nature and the nurture come together.” Making Child Prodigies will air on ABC TV on nter to Tuesday 29 May 8pm, while Callum the Heavy To enter, email competitionscanberraweekly.com.au with May books in the Metal Kid’s debut single Injustice For All is subect fi eld. Tell us your name, full contact details and what is your favourite available via iTunes. literary genre. Entries close am May 1 and winner drawn same day. ne entry per person. Callum took his first guitar lesson when he was seven years old; a couple of weeks later he was dabbling in - Denholm Samaras Metallica and playing songs other students take years to learn. Photo supplied.

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