I don't know honestly. I'm not sure I'm very well prepared for that aspect. I'm very excited about the fact the people can see the work and I can see the opportunities that give me to do more works in different kinds of parts and very through myself too. I'm just so... I'm just so excited about the different stories I'm reading. From that point of view, it's fantastic! I'm starting to be invited to lots of cool parties. (laughter) But of course, I'm still working on the side!
I'm very excited the
people can be seeing the work that we have done in the past, during a couple
of years.
A journalist: Do you feel pressured or intimidated to taking this role in
this film... world-wide?
Yes.
The same journalist : Er...
I'm kidding! (laughter)
The Narnia's books are like an institution in England particularly obviously.
I read the books when I was eight and I watched the TV series on the BBC
at the same time. I had fun, that was completely magical with Samuel West
who played Caspian. It will always stick on my memory. And then when I went
to the university I studied literature, my special topic. So I went through
all the J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis,... So I was very familiar with this.
The opportunity was very exciting!
A journalist: Can you tell please about your family. How were your parents?
Are you interested by
my parents!?
The same journalist : Yes!
What do you know about
my parents?
The same journalist : I don't know. That's why I asked!
I see. Well, I grew up
in South-West London in a very close family with my parents. I have got
a younger brother: Jack. He is now 23. Much cooler than I am. Very lie back
and easy going, and party animal. So I just try to be more like him. I take
his advice. I grew up with lots of music. My dad was very interested by
the Stones, the Beatles, the Eagles, and the all great bands. He takes me
to the concerts. And I decided to go to university to see what I can do.
Yes, no, yes... I was right: I wanted to be an actor.
The same journalist: So, your parents were not against you becoming an actor?
They said to me when
I was 17 and I said I'm going to do this carrier... they said: Go to university
first. And when I finished the school I didn't go to university. I said
I'm going to do others jobs: music, TV,... When they stop to telling me
to go to university, I decided that I wanted to go. They were perfect.
A journalist: When did you decide to become an actor?
A company came to my
school when I was 15. It was an audition. But my father is a psychiatrist
and my mum a secretary. Between them they have the all gamuts of emotions.
I think that has something to do with an open family.
A journalist: In the movie, you're playing a boy almost 10 years old...
The only things he says
in the book: he's about the same age as Peter.
The same journalist: So he's 13...
He doesn't say he's 13.
The only things he says is what Peter said at one point: he sees a boy about
his age. Peter is supposed to be 13, you're right. But you can write the
many ages he wanted. In the first film, William played Peter, he's now 20.
So he can play 13. So they had to find someone look the same sort of age
like William. And I'm little bit younger than I am. I think that it was
necessary to have the same age. And lots of thirty older are playing teenagers.
It's particularly important in our version of the film how old he is. In
the book, Caspian has a nurse, and a professor instead of when the nurse
is fired. Caspian tells very intelligent questions, which are not the questions
of 13 years old. We don't have the nurse in the film, so a couple of years
have past... so he's maybe 17 or 18. Something likes that. I have a chance
the time before to have to play a king.
A journalist: It's very good to have this age younger. You have a kind of
sex appeal... Are you afraid about to be a new sex symbol in Hollywood?
Er... I don't know. If
some people can see the movie for that reason... then great. I think is
about to me to choose different types in the future, what kind of actor
I am. I never choose Caspian for that reason.
A journalist: Aren't you afraid with this film or Stardust, before you play
on stage...
Yes. When I started I
was. I did a couple of tv jobs and others things. For a film, there are
a lot of people around you, watching what you are doing. You have to be
so much smaller. When I started shooting, I have to be on right kind of
level to reel play moment. Something unbelievable. I think I'm still learning.
At the moment I'm doing a film with Colin Firth (Easy Vertue), and I feel
very smaller. You believe in everything he does. I'm learning all the time.
I'm fascinated.
A journalist: You said you are very familiarized with Narnia and I guess
you have a sort of image of the Prince Caspian in your head...
I thought that he was
13 with blond hair, (laughter) because I watched the BBC series and I read
the book. So I knew he's blond. But it makes a lot of sense how he is. He's
supposed to be a swarthy foreign of specific islands. That's what he says
in the book. The sound is a kind of European accent, and so I think it was
very useful to have Spanish, Italian and Mexican actors. It was a great
challenge and it is an interesting aspect of the film. Sergio Castellitto
is wonderful!
An Italian journalist: Of course. He's Italian!
Yes! (laughter)
Elbakin.net: What do you expect after this film and Stardust. The both are
about fantasy. Is it a choice or... ?
Not particularly. It
is just popular at the moment with a kind of revolution of the Potter, The
Lords of the Rings, Eragon and all this. You can see it with friends, family,
and children. The people have a real craving for. I'm shooting a romantic
comedy at the moment and it couldn't be more different. But I'm having great
time. I will have to do so different things in the future... That kind of
fantasy films is the most fun job, because you get love, horse ridden; fight,...
It's a boy's dream! You have to do it, six day a week!
A journalist: You choose to drop out of a play for the film. What your colleagues
think about that?
They were wonderful.
They couldn't be more open. I'm still friend with lot of them. They were
very warm with me. They just understood that there was something I had to
do. It was a very very difficult time for me, because it was my dream to
work in a theatre. It was just tragic for me: two of my dreams came to in
the same year, and I had to make a decision... not to regret to do Hollywood
film for the rest of my life.
A journalist: How was the shooting with the 4 Pevensies? It was probably
fun, but can you tell something specific, stories, or problems... ?
My relationship with
William was very interesting. He has a lot of fun. There is on the script
a sort of conflict between the two protagonists to know who the leader is.
I think that the conflict is always interessant in a story, even between
two characters on the same side. It's interesting. I think that we couldn't
have the same relationship in real life. Unfortunately for me, William is
very physical and loves to jump, run... and I don't. So we go to fight staff:
he was on the running machine for like an hour and me (he's out of breath)...but
then I go back to the hotel and eat pizza with Anna. I'm not the best of
the both. (laughter)
A journalist: It's not very commune for actors to go to the university and
finish it...
Well, I think that in
England the tradition is links... we have so many greats ones. I wanted
to go to university because I thought that I could. I wasn't 100 % sure
that I wanted to be an actor, and I had to explore the others avenues. I
did grammar and English together. It was very academic, it wasn't practical.
It's was theory. But it was great because it was the criticism of a lot
of books and poetry. Now I read some scripts and I have to decide which
one is good. So basically I have a degree for that! (laughter)
The same journalist: Do you read bad scripts?
Yes of course. Hundreds!
(laughter)
A journalist: do you remember something particular for the casting?
It was a very quick process
for me. Somebody saw me in a play. I read one scene. Then I think the next
day, I did a screen test with the director. For it they had a table with
different swords. I just told that: I will never know how to use that! A
sword is a little bit dangerous. They said me: just swing with!
Elbakin.net: Will you be on stage again or... ?
Definitely not. Not for
this year because the opportunity to do others films... Theatre is a wonderful
thing: to have the public reaction, the silence,... It's an electric place!
So one day, soon.
A journalist: What's your favourite scene?
I haven't seen it. So
I don't know!
The same journalist: So when you were shooting...
I love the scene with
Sergio Castellitto (who plays the king Miraz): I had my sword on his throat
and he has a kind of smile... makes me scare! This kind of moment... but
I don't how it will be on the screen.
A journalist: Do you know that Sergio is although director? Would you like
to work with him?
Yes, I think he's great!
I love the accent too, keep talking please! (this journalist is Italian)
(laughter)
A journalist: can you please talking about your first big experience, Stardust?
It was a great training
round for me... to walk near Sarah Miller. I was near to have a heart attack!
In the beginning in a magic market place, I just looking around... and they
said to me: what you're doing now, you will do it for an half an hour. (laughter)
So I did not so many work!
A journalist: You're the hero in the film?
No, I'm in the first
ten minutes! I played the hero's father.