Oscar-winner Merhershala Ali and Glenn Close star in a new film now streaming on Apple TV+.
"Swan Song" is a sci-fi drama about a man with a terminal illness who turns to an experimental solution to shield his family from grief.
Critics praise Ali's performance, and so does the young actor who plays his son, a fifth-grader from Dallas named Dax Rey.
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"He was doing an amazing job. He, I had to act like I was playing his son but it felt like on set like I was actually his son. He was doing that good of a job and we cooperate so well." Rey told NBC 5. Does that mean he did a good job, too? "Well, yeah," he smiled.
Rey competed against other kids to get the part and remembers the day he found out he'd been chosen.
"My dad came into my room and he was like, 'You got it!' And I was like, 'Oh, my gosh.' I had a freakout. I thought it wasn't real. I thought dad was joking but he wasn't," he said.
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In a sense, Rey is following in his dad's footsteps.
"That's what I went to school for myself. I went to college to be an actor, theatrical and so forth. And, I was doing pretty well but when they met him and my daughter, it was like, this is where it really is and it just worked out to be a lot better." said Donald Rey.
Dax Rey started in print work, went on to commercials and now, TV and film.
"He has a lot of movies out. He has a movie on Netflix called 'Wish Upon A Unicorn.' He was in the last season of NBC's 'The Good Place.' That was his first big role," Donald Rey said.
"I like playing different characters. Playing different characters is fun," Dax said.
When he's not acting, Rey is a regular 10-year-old, and it's evident when you ask him about his wish list for Christmas.
"The first thing I have on my wish list is a big Lego set that will take me a week maybe because I love building Lego sets. I just like having a challenge," he said. "Maybe going to a trampoline park because I haven't been there in a while. And, probably seeing some family members."
