Evening Standard
New Daniel Radcliffe 'My Boy Jack' interview
читать дальшеIrish television magazine,TV Now, recently conducted an interview with Daniel Radcliffe in which he spoke about his new role in the television film, 'My Boy Jack'. In the interview, Dan talks about the environment in which he was filming, his role in the film, how 'My Boy Jack' compares with the Harry Potter films and more. The entire interview can be read below, or images of the two-page spread can be seen here and here (we apologise for the lack of gallery at the minute, it's currenly being redesigned).
TVN: Daniel you spent six days in County Wicklow, in muddy trenches with rats, for the filming of My Boy Jack. Tell us about that?
To recreate the first world war trenches was an amazing experience. The moment we drove up to this field in Ireland and opened the door, we were suddenly in No Man's Land - it was really haunting and strange and eerie. Maybe I'm romanticising, but there's a certain energy that develops when you're standing, filthy and absolutely soaked to the skin, in a trench: the comaraderie that developed between everybody was so great you can only imagine what it must have been like in the real thing.
TVN: Was it not a horrible experience to be sitting in those cold wet trenches all day long?
It was actually incredibly exhilarating to be in the middle of it. We'd all be sitting there in the rain and mud chatting to each other before a take and then we'd get up and dash through explosions, which were going off on all sides of us. There were markers dotted across this battlefield where the explosions were and then we'd start filming and they'd take them away and start the rain machines, so our vision was reduced by about 70 percent.
TVN: It must have been difficult to perform in this environment though?
It wasn't so much the physical side of filming which was difficult, it was having the mental stamina to deal with the cold and the rain. It was pretty intense. People were offering blankets and tea and we were loath to take them because, in a strange way, all of that cold and discomfort really, really helps the performance. It helps you to get into character, experiencing an element of what they must have felt.
TVN: We're told you have a fascination with the first world war. Is this true?
I have had a relatively long-running fascination with the first world war. I think it comes from growing up surrounded by films and books inspired by that time - I consumed everything including the last series of Blackadder.
TVN: How did filming My Boy Jack compare to Harry Potter?
I suppose the hardest thing about it was being able to keep up with the pace of filming as well. It's a pace of filming that I'm totally not used to. On Harry Potter, which is obviously the main thing I've been doing for the past seven years, we'll do maybe two scenes a day, most likely just the one, whereas on My Boy Jack we'd be doing about five or six.
TVN: Did you struggle during the filming of this at all?
The only time I struggled was on one particular scene where we all had to do press-ups and Jack, as the leader of his platoon, has to do press-ups to the last while everyone falls down around him. It meant that some people would do two press-ups in a take and then fall down, some people would do five and then fall down, some would maybe get up to 10
TVN: How many press-ups did you do?
I had to do about 20 each take! I know that doesn't sound like a lot but after 10 or so takes your arms are absolutely wrecked.
TVN: Is there anything you'd like to add about your character?
I just hope people realise Jack is not going [to fight in the war] because his father wants him to go - he is absolutely going for himself and he genuinely wants to be in the thick of it. He just wants to be out there fighting, as I think most people did at that time.