I suppose I converse for everybody after I say that having Aaron Taylor-Johnson dominate our social feeds and screens proper now can solely be a very good factor.

No matter whether or not you’ve a penchant for vampire flicks otherwise you’re keen on Spider-Man spin-offs, his renaissance is very thrilling for thirty-something girls like me, whose adolescence had been accented by his breakout function.

By no means thoughts the Kickass films, Nowhere Boy or REM’s “Überlin” music video – earlier than any of that, he starred in Angus, Thongs and Good Snogging – the heartwarming coming-of-age story from 2008, which follows a younger teen and her buddies as they navigate secondary faculty, first crushes, fallouts and bullies. It’s, irrefutably, top-of-the-line films ever made. Who may neglect it?

Properly, Taylor-Johnson, apparently – if his present press tour is something to go by.

Admittedly, when he couldn’t reel off his first line from the film lately, I let him off the hook. Certain, he memorises phrases for a residing and his interplay together with his cat “little Jubbly Jubbly” will eternally be imprinted in my thoughts, but it surely did come out 16 years in the past. Let’s give the man a break.

Much less acceptable, nonetheless, is the truth that he “forgot” who Dave The Giggle was (you understand, his character’s mate) throughout a BBC Radio One interview with Greg James.

To rub salt within the wound, he, too, failed to recollect “Ultraviolet” – the long-lasting anthem that his on-screen rock band, The Stiff Dylans, performed for protagonist Georgia. And through the identical sit-down, whereas cuddling puppies (not a euphemism), he commented on how the movie pushed him out of his consolation zone at a time he was principally doing “indie movies” – and the way he had no thought it will “nonetheless comply with me round right this moment.”

I (kind of) get it. Regardless of the numerous strings he’s since added to his bow – and the very fact he’s attempting to advertise new work – he’s nonetheless requested initially about Angus, Thongs and Good Snogging. It should be draining to be quizzed about the identical issues again and again, and it should be irritating to speak much less about your new initiatives and extra concerning the function you probably did as a teen.

Plus, whereas he has dismissed the Bond rumours prior to now, ought to he ever want to be thought-about for the half, he’ll doubtless need to shake the teenage heartthrob picture and put himself ahead as A Severe Actor. In any case, you’ll be able to hardly think about 007 delivering one in every of his most well-known strains from the movie to a Bond lady: “Maintain my hand, you muppet”.

However what I want he would take into account is the massive and very constructive impression his first huge film had – and nonetheless has – on so many younger girls like me.

I bear in mind watching it on the cinema with my childhood good friend as a 17-year-old. Confronted with the fact that we’d quickly be leaving for college and going our separate methods, the movie served as a poignant reminder of how lovely feminine friendships are – and the way a lot you endure collectively in these years.

From the ridiculous magnificence fads and the cringey slang you employ at that age, to the hormonal awakening you expertise whenever you first lock eyes in your teenage crush and the heartbreak that inevitably follows: we had been by all of it.

Sure, the truth that geeky lady Georgia finally ends up with Taylor-Johnson’s character Robbie is very inconceivable. So, too, is the very fact her dad and mom rent a nightclub for her fifteenth birthday. However we’ll enable a little bit of inventive licence – particularly since these had been the identical fantasies we had for ourselves again then.

The purpose about movies like that is that they’re foolish, frothy and hopeful – they’re not meant to replicate gritty on a regular basis life. However they do remind us of wider themes: similar to how treasured our teenage years are and the way we shouldn’t be in a rush to develop up. I first watched it nearly 16 years in the past, but can nonetheless bear in mind feeling a definite pang of loss – mixed with pleasure for the futures that laid forward for us – as we left the theatre bawling our eyes out.

To this present day, at any time when I’m feeling low or in want of nourishment for the soul, I flip to Angus, Thongs – simply as others flip to, say, Mamma Mia! orThe Vacation. It brings me again to these early foundations, leaves me with sore cheeks from grinning an excessive amount of and instils a way of invincibility in me, steeling me in opposition to no matter I’m dealing with in my very own life. And I do know I’m not alone on this – else why would it not be so enduringly common? And why would it not nonetheless come up in interviews?

It’s why I feel Taylor-Johnson ought to rethink his stance on all of it. Somewhat than feeling ashamed or embarrassed by it – or attempting to maneuver on from it altogether – he ought to take satisfaction within the reality he’s a part of one thing that gives solace for lots of people… and bear in mind who his core fanbase are.

In addition to, if he’s going to distance himself from any of his work, it needs to be that horrible movie he did with Blake Energetic…