Tom Hopper portrays Logan in Space Cadet. The new comedy will be released tomorrow, July 4 on Prime Video.

Tiffany “Rex” Simpson (Emma Roberts) has always dreamed of going to space, but life isn’t going quite as planned. Determined to turn things around, she aims high and with the embellishing touch of her supportive best friend Nadine (Poppy Liu), her “doctored” application lands her in NASA’s ultra-competitive astronaut training program. In over her head, Rex relies on her quick wits, moxie and determination to get to the top of her class. NASA program directors Pam (Gabrielle Union) and Logan (Tom Hopper) certainly take notice, but can this Florida girl get through training and into the cosmos before she blows her cover? Written and directed by Liz W. Garcia (“Purple Hearts,” “The Sinner”), Space Cadet is a comedy about the power of being yourself, following your dreams and shooting for the stars.

I spoke with the actor over Zoom about the importance of following your dreams, why his character reminded him of Clark Kent/Superman, his favorite filming memory, and more. Keep reading for everything he shared!

This film is all about taking a chance on yourself and how it’s never too late to dream big, which is something I loved. When is a time in your life personally, when you got that advice whether it be from a movie, show, or someone in your life, anywhere at all, when you really needed it, and what did it eventually lead to? 
Tom Hopper: Well, actually, the biggest person in my life that has always said that were two people really, my mum and my late grandfather, my granddad, Fred, who we named my son after, Freddie. They always said to me, “You must always follow your dreams, no matter what happens. Leave this town, go and do something, go and travel and follow your dreams. Always go after what you really desire in life,” and that was kind of instilled in me from quite a young age. So, I suppose I always had a feeling inside myself of anything is possible if you put your mind to it because skill comes from hard work, right? Some people have natural skill, but generally, a skill or acquired knowledge comes from just hard work. If you apply yourself to anything, I believe it’s possible. So for any child, I think it’s like, go after it, why not? 

It must be nice to be part of a film that has that message as well. It must make you so happy as an actor to get to spread that.
Yeah, it’s a big part of why I love the script so much because I believe in that. I really, really believe in that and it’s nice to have a comedy film that has a great message in there as well. 

For your character in particular, can you talk to me about how you got in the headspace and where you specifically drew inspiration from, anything like that to make the character who you wanted him to be? 
Yeah, I mean, a big thing that [was] a draw for me was he’s Clark Kent to me. I think that Logan is someone else, and he’s fitted into a mold through his education system and through going through NASA and fitting into what he feels the mold should be. But actually, there is a, call it a Superman or another side of him that is the real him or certainly a side of him that he wants to bring out more and he’s never able to. Rex is that kind of catalyst that allows him to do that, which is why I think he’s so drawn to her in the first place, she’s someone that he sees a little side of himself in her. 

What did you enjoy most about how the story handled its main themes? Like you said, the fact that it’s part of a comedy as well. 
I think it does it really well because it’s quite hard to do actually, a real, kind of a goofier comedy to really hit those themes and then, to have these switch to a heartfelt moment and to really hit that theme home. That’s not easy to do and I think Liz did a great job as a director and a writer, and her edit, I think to pull that all together and to really make these characters live is a testament to her filmmaking. So yeah, I thought she did a great job. 

Lastly, any behind-the-scenes stories that stand out when you look back at the experience? I’m not sure if there was improv but I imagine it was a fun, fun set to be on.
Yeah, plenty of improv. I suppose [one] of my favorite moments was the karaoke scene, that was great fun because I literally landed on a plane in New Jersey actually and I was taken straight to a karaoke rehearsal. So it was basically me and Emma, within an hour of meeting each other, we were singing these different songs and we had options of songs. There wasn’t one decided because they were looking at which one they were getting the rights to, so we were basically going straight into rehearsals for singing these songs. And then, we didn’t know even after that which song it was gonna be. So the pair of us had a fair few nerves of which song, but it was the one we wanted it to be in the end actually. It was a good one. 

Fate worked out then, right? You knew. 
It worked out well. It was the one we could sing the easiest as well. It was the easiest to sing, thank goodness.