e didn?t have any words to remember, and his only stunt was rowing a canoe, but 15-year-old Lawrence Doughty can now safely call himself a movie star.

Lawrence portrayed a teenage conservationist David Wingate in a new Bermuda-made documentary, Rare Bird, about the rediscovery of the cahow.

Rare Bird, a film by Bermudian Lucinda Spurling, will be shown at the upcoming Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF). Two showings of Rare Bird sold out almost as soon as the tickets went onsale on-line, and now hundreds of Bermudians are hoping for another showing to be added to the BIFF line-up.

This week spoke with Lawrence about his thoughts on movie making, and plans for the future.

?I thought the film was pretty good,? said Lawrence after one of the first showings of Rare Bird at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR). ?I had a little bit of an idea what it would look like because they showed us a preview when it wasn?t fully cut of the cahow, but at that time there was none of the footage I was in.?

Lawrence said being on the set of a movie wasn?t as he had always imagined.

?It was a lot more relaxed, because it was just me and Lucy and the cameraman,? he said. ?They used a professional photographer.?

Lawrence attends Saltus Senior School, and is the son of Rev. Andrew Doughty and Rosie Doughty. Mrs. Doughty and 11-year-old sister Rachael went along to watch the filming.

?It was very interesting when we went on the filming,? Mrs. Doughty said. ?The cameraman was from the United Kingdom. He had done photography for the Discovery Channel. He was interesting to talk to. Everyone was really nice to Lawrence.?

Mrs. Doughty said it was interesting how different scenes were made to fit together. For example, during filming Lawrence had to mime drawing something. In the film he looks as though he is drawing a cahow.

?It was quite clever the way they did that,? Mrs. Doughty said.

Most of the Lawrence Doughty footage was filmed in a single day, and then a bit more was filmed in about two hours on another day. Some footage taken in St. George?s was never used.

During the movie, Lawrence is seen walking along various paths and forests looking at birds. Later he appears in a canoe rowing across a bay.

?I knew how to row a canoe, because I have done the Outward Bound programme,? said Lawrence. ?The character I play is a young kid who is really, really interested in birds and wants to do a lot with them, and help out.?

Mr. Wingate was about the same age as Lawrence when he received the chance of a lifetime to go along with the naturalists who rediscovered the cahow.

In fact, Mr. Wingate almost missed the opportunity to tag along on on the fateful bird search in the 1950s, because he had school. Luckily, the trip was rescheduled to a weekend due to bad weather, and he was allowed to accompany naturalists.

Lawrence was chosen for the film after Miss Spurling approached his school asking for young actors.

?The deputy head asked me if I wanted to do it,? said Lawrence. ?They picked me because I met most of the physical requirements with glasses and brown hair and I have been quite into acting. I have done a few school plays and Gilbert & Sullivan productions.?

Lawrence took part in Gilbert & Sullivan?s Show Stoppers, performed at the end of last year?s Bermuda Festival. Although he likes acting, he also enjoys backstage work, and has helped with lighting for the last two school plays at Saltus.

?I really did not imagine I would ever be in a movie,? said Lawrence. ?A few people reacted afterward. One lady came up to us in the grocery store and said, ?Mr. Wingate, I presume...??Lawrence hopes to soon audition for a part in the next Gilbert & Sullivan production, assuming there are any parts for children.

?There was no speaking in this movie, but I think I am ready for a speaking role,? said Lawrence. ?I don?t get too nervous and I am pretty good with memorising. For my drama GCSE I have to do a play and memorise it.?

Does Lawrence want to be an actor when he grows up? Not really.

?I would enjoy being an actor a lot, but I am more going to go towards engineering,? said Lawrence. ?I have been on a few work experience days with an architect and a surveyor. I liked the surveying a lot. I went around with the surveyors and just helped them out. I did a little bit. I learned how to use cadcal, which is one of their programmes.?

Lawrence didn?t meet Mr. Wingate during the filming, but he did meet him later at a film preview. One thing that Lawrence said he had in common with Mr. Wingate was a love of being outdoors. ?I did identify with the character,? Lawrence said. ?I do like the environment. I am quite interested in becoming a surveyor, because they work outdoors and I don?t want to be stuck in an office all day. Surveying is good for that.?

The film crew couldn?t visit any real cahow nesting islands, because they are protected, so Lawrence never got to see a real cahow.

?The actual film taught me a lot about the cahow,? said Lawrence. ?I didn?t quite realise just how rare they are. It taught me quite a lot of things about the cahow and how important it is to the environment.?

Mrs. Doughty said she was very proud of her son, and she also thought the film itself was very interesting.

?You wouldn?t normally think that something about natural history would be that interesting,? she said. ?At the premiere, Lucinda Spurling warned that the film was going to be be long, but it didn?t feel like a long time. I think we were all so fascinated by it, and also the determination of the people who were working to help the cahow, in the past and even now. They kept it all going. It is inspiring, I think.?

Lawrence said he is forcing all his friends to watch Rare Bird, whether they want to or not.

He isn?t even 16 yet, but like many actors he is hiding a deep, dark secret. Lawrence has a favourite bird, but it isn?t the cahow. ?I recently went to Guyana on a trip and I saw an amazing bird called Cock of the Rock,? said Lawrence. ?It is probably one of my favourite birds. It has an amazing bright red colour.?

There will be two showings of Rare Bird in the upcoming Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) on March 18 and March 20. For more information go to http://www.bermudafilmfest.com or email Ms Spurling at afflarefilmsmac.com .