Asa Butterfield Heads Out Of This World For 'The Space Between Us'

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MARS (CBSMiami) -- Set in the near future, an astronaut stationed on Mars discovers she is pregnant.

Dying in childbirth, her son, Gardner Elliot, lives and grows up on the planet.

19-year-old British actor Asa Butterfield plays Gardner in The Space Between Us.

"The first human born on Mars, he doesn't have much company other than the scientists he has grown up with and naturally he wants communication with people his own age," said Butterflied. "And he starts talking to this girl, Tulsa. It's a chat room for foster kids, so he hacks into their system and goes by the user name Spaceman 24/7 and she doesn't catch onto the whole thing and they form a friendship."

When Gardner turns 16, he's given a chance to go to Earth and meets his chatroom friend, Tulsa. She doesn't really believe he's from out of this world.

CBS4'S Lisa Petrillo asked Butterfield what it was like to play such an innocent young boy who had never seen the world before.

"For me, it was really important to capture his childish sense of the world and he has this very warped view of his expectations of Earth and what the people will be like and things he'll see," he said. "When he gets there, he's in awe and it's funny."

While discovering the magic of young love and Earth itself, it also becomes clear that Gardner's organs cannot survive the planet's atmosphere, so he and Tulsa do whatever they can to see more of Earth before it's too late.

"I'm just happy to be able to share this film. It means a lot to me and hopefully it opens up people's eyes to how lucky we are to be on this planet," the actor explained.

The Space Between Us is rated PG.