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Part IV: An Interview with Alexander Ludwig
By Kara Warner
There’s not much to say about Alexander Ludwig’s
Hollywood career – yet. Aside from a few commercials
and direct-to-video gigs, Ludwig is nice and green. However
from what we’ve been told by his uber-experienced cast
mates, you’d never know this film is his first major
feature.
In “The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,” Ludwig is
Will Stanton, the star and center of the plot for most of
the five-book series. Ludwig’s exuberance and repeated
use of the words “awesome” and “fantastic,”
showed he’s anything but intimidated with the challenge
of carrying the film. At the time of this interview, which
was his first with a group of journalists, Ludwig had just
the right amount of genuine, youthful enthusiasm paired with
just a hint of publicist-practiced delivery thrown in. Let’s
hope he sticks with the former when he starts his publicity
circuit in a couple weeks.
Q: So what do you make of Romania?
ALEXANDER: Well, like every country it has its ups and downs,
but I'm having an absolutely fantastic time out here. People
out here just have so little and they're giving so much. It's
fantastic.
Q: Can you talk about getting this role and how that
all came about for you?
ALEXANDER: Well, what happened was that I was in Vancouver
and apparently they were looking around the country for someone
to play this role and around like North America and some places
in Europe. But they phoned me up and they said, “There's
this audition coming. Here's the script. Read it and tell
me if you like it and you can go out for an audition if you
want to.” So me and my mom went over the script and
the second that I read the script, I swear it, I knew that
this part was for me. I absolutely knew it. Ever since I've
been a little kid I've always wanted superpowers, which is
the coolest thing in the world. So I read the script and really
loved it and I really, really wanted this part. You have no
idea. I've never wanted a part more than this one. So when
I first went out for the audition they kept calling me back
and back and back and eventually, after like eight auditions,
I was on the phone with the Vice President of Fox Casting
and we went over the script and we went over my lines and
I did it over the phone. It was really nerve racking. I'd
never met him before and we were doing this over the phone
which was so crazy. So eventually after that they called me
down to L.A. So they flew me down and I had never lived in
L.A. but for like a day or something. I mean, I've been to
a lot of places, but never actually stayed overnight in L.A.
and so that was a pretty cool experience, the first time being
in L.A. and being flown in by a studio. That was really amazing.
I got there and they called me in for an audition, I think,
the day after or the day of. So I came in and I was staying
by Fox Studios and I had to have like three more auditions
and then I waited a day. I was only supposed to be there for
like two days and I ended up being there for like six days
and I didn't have enough clothes and so me and my mom were
shopping. Then eventually we were just waiting and waiting
and it was so nerve racking. I was trying to keep my mind
off of things. They called again and wanted to go over the
script again on the phone in the hotel room and then suddenly
the phone went on speaker, but on every phone in the whole
room and so he started laughing and I was laughing so hard.
I felt so embarrassed because it's the Vice President of Fox
casting and I'm laughing and I couldn't help it, but after
that experience I went back to the studios and ended up doing
another audition. So I ended up doing like sixteen auditions
of this part and I've never done that before.
Q: Were all these auditions by yourself or were you with
someone else, playing off of them?
ALEXANDER: I was by myself and with Christian Kaplan. He
played opposite me in every part. He's a fantastic guy and
so that was really great. Eventually, one day I was in my
room and getting changed into a new shirt to go to the meeting
with my agents from ICM and my agent from Vancouver called.
I was in the changing room putting on a shirt and my mom said,
“Alexander, I'm going to put you on speaker phone.”
So she put me on speaker phone and my agent from Vancouver
is fantastic, and I was putting on the shirt and I hear, “Alexander
you got the part!” So I started screaming in the mall
and I run out without a shirt on. I was screaming and dancing.
It was hilarious and the best experience. I have no regrets
ever since. I mean, any kid would die for this role. I'm so
fortunate to be here and I'm having such a fun time.
Q: Have you read the books?
ALEXANDER: I had actually never ever read these books. I
didn't even know that there was such a thing, and so when
I found out that there was a series of books, and first of
all I loved the possibilities and that was really exciting
for me, but I actually tried to refrain from reading the books
because I'm doing the movie from the screenplay and not on
the book. I was just afraid that it would – there were
a couple of changes in the story, big drastic changes.
Q: He's American rather than British.
ALEXANDER: Exactly and he's fourteen and not eleven. So there
were just some changes.
Q: Can you talk about the character and what you see
as his journey?
ALEXANDER: My outlook on the character, Will Stanton, who
is a thirteen year old boy who turns fourteen. On his fourteenth
birthday he starts getting these weird powers. I think that
Will is not a complete loner. It's not like he doesn't have
any friends or that he's a complete –
Q: Loser?
ALEXANDER: [Laughs] That's exactly what I wanted to say.
I just didn't want to be rude, but he's definitely an outcast
in the group. He just moved from a different place and he's
not a very social guy, but through the whole movie he's discovering
himself and what's going on inside of him and now there are
all these new things that are happening to him and he starts
experiencing these changes and not just physical changes.
He is going through puberty which is what makes the dark manipulation
so much bigger, but also the whole fact about him learning
about himself and how he's slowly coming out the world and
becoming a bigger person. Eventually he really understands
himself at the end of the movie and he understands his purpose
in life. He really just becomes a cool guy.
Q: Is it true that you played Harry Potter at one point
for some promotions?
ALEXANDER: I think what you guys – I don't know for
a fact, but when I first started acting I was about nine years
old. I had never been to audition in my life and my agent
sent me out. It was just a commercial for “Harry Potter.”
That was the first thing I ever went out for and I got the
“Harry Potter” commercial which was really cool,
but I didn't play Harry Potter. I looked like Malfoy at that
age and they didn't want me to look like that and so they
just dyed my hair.
Q: What kind of powers does your character use and manifest
in the film?
ALEXANDER: The powers that my character has is that he can
light stuff on fire which is really cool. He summons great
strength. He can move objects with his mind. He can travel
through time, but the main thing that I wish he could, but
it would ruin the whole story, is that he can't fly. He wants
to fly in the movie too which I think is perfect because I
would love to be able to fly. It would totally change the
whole story though.
Q: What's been the best scene that you've done so far?
There's been some water things and some snakes, were you enjoying
that stuff?
ALEXANDER: There have been some absolutely incredible scenes
that I've done. Just working with all of these experienced
actors is just amazing. They're all so great and there are
so many scenes that it's really hard to say. I can name a
couple. Emma Lockhart who plays Gwen, she's so fantastic and
such a great person. We really have great chemistry. The Viking
scene was absolutely amazing. The snake scene was really cool
too. Once you find out that the snakes don't have venom, I'm
not as scared as before. If I was by myself with a snake that
had venom it would be a different story, but it was really
cool seeing like a thousand snakes piled in this big pile
and right before he says action there's a snake crawling through
your leg and so you have to grab it and put it back into the
pile. The water scene with Amelia Warner and Jonathan Jackson
was absolutely fantastic. That was so much fun, getting to
throw her over the railing and doing all of these stunts.
I don't know. There are so many scenes. I also really enjoyed
doing this really big emotional scene because I've never had
a chance to experience that and to show that in a movie before,
my emotional side, and I didn't really know before this movie
– I knew that I could do it, but I just didn't know
how to get into that moment. Fox got an acting coach for me
who was absolutely amazing and he worked with me everyday.
We would go in and work together in the car and he really
taught me how to get into those moments. So I'm really fortunate
to have him. I really enjoy doing that part because it really
just juices you and when Emma Lockhart came on playing Gwen,
that was just such an emotional, great scene to be able to
show everybody the other side of my character.
Q: Is Gwen your love interest in the film?
ALEXANDER: She's my little sister [Laughs]. Maggie Barnes
is being played by Amelia Warner and she's the girl who manipulates
me. She's part of the dark and I don't know that. That's why
I think that puberty is also a really big part in this movie
as well because, lets face it, if I wasn't going through puberty
it would be more puppy love than love when I first meet Maggie.
So that's a really big thing.
Q: What was your first day like on the set? This is the
sort of thing that you've always wanted to do and so I'm betting
that the first day was really unforgettable.
ALEXANDER: It was definitely unforgettable. I'll tell you
that. The first thing that we were shooting on the first day
that I came was a school scene with a ton of extras. I've
been with a lot of extras, but when you have extras that don't
speak the same language as you it gets really crazy. So the
first time that I went on set I was really just – I
had met the director beforehand in preproduction, but when
I first met him I was really nervous because you have to have
a great connection with the director and you have to have
a great connection with all of the actors because if you don't
then they're going to have different ideas of what they want
from you. So that's why I really loved David Cunningham because
he's really open to suggestions and he really likes everything
to be messy and wild and just natural. So I met with David
and he was such a great guy. He left me a message because
he's been in Romania for like nine months now or something
like that, and I met with him and I met with Chris [Eccleston]
and I met with all of the other actors. They were perfectly
cast and exactly what I expected. I was so thankful to be
with them. After that the first day came along and it was
the school the scene and it was the first scene where it's
the last day of school before winter break and I'm really
pumped to get out, but it's just like, “Whatever. I'm
an outcast.” It's not depressing, but it's not exciting.
All of my brothers and sisters are excited to get out of school
and do whatever. So I'm walking down the hallway and I see
Maggie for the first time who flips her scarf and starts walking
and as I'm looking for her I see my sister. That's pretty
much the first day. It got pretty crazy though because the
language barrier is a big thing. Luckily, everyone has been
so great and a lot of Romanians – I was really surprised
by this – they all speak English quite well too. So
luckily it wasn't that big of a deal, but with the extras
of course it was hard to communicate with them because when
you say one thing they interpret it another way. It's not
their fault, but it's just what happens. We went to an American
school in Romania and so they got as many North Americans
as possible, but there were also some Romanians and some people
from France. It just got crazy and the way that people perceived
it was me being a kid, but not me being a kid that was bullied.
So they thought that they were supposed to bully me because
they thought that was my character. So as I walking down the
hallway as they were shooting I started getting pushed and
stuff and it was really fun and it worked with the scene.
They were all, don't get me wrong, fantastic people, but it
was just really, really funny to see that happen because it
all worked in the scene. We had a great time.
Q: Ian McShane told us that when he met you he told you
that all that acting coach stuff you should just forget about.
Is that true?
ALEXANDER: Oh, when Ian first met me, what he said was true.
But I'm pretty sure that he didn't mean it in that way. The
coach is fantastic and he really helps me get into the moment
and connect with the characters, but what he meant was that
this was about he and I and no one else. No one is to come
between us, that this moment is just me and Ian. That was
really important and important to the movie, and what he meant
was to not be anyone else, just be natural and be in the moment.
He was just really trying to help me get into character and
it was just he and I, eye to eye and really went through the
moment together.
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