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Part IV: An Interview with Christopher
Eccleston
By Kara Warner
As was previously mentioned, Christopher Eccleston agreed
to meet with us on his day off at the bar in his hotel (he’s
a Merlot man, FYI). Eccleston is an established actor, having
worked extensively in theater, television and film. He is
perhaps best known for his work in the BBC’s “Dr.
Who,” bit parts in “28 Days Later” and “Elizabeth,”
as well as his recent guest stint on NBC’s hit “Heroes.”
In “The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,” he plays,
in a nutshell, the bad guy – The Rider.
Eccleston is refreshingly frank and laid-back, which makes
him both a great interview and likable. It must also be noted
that during the interview, your author answered, albeit inexplicably,
one of the questions posed to him (perhaps it was the relaxed
atmosphere; perhaps it was because it was the end of a long
day, who knows). Nevertheless, it was a highly comedic blunder
that he handled very well and will not be soon forgotten among
the crew of journalists in attendance.
Q: Had you ridden a horse before this?
CHRISTOPHER: No.
Q: What training did you do?
CHRISTOPHER: As much as we could in a very short time. I
let the stunt men to do the easy stuff and I do all the dangerous
stuff. That's the way I like to do it.
Q: We heard that you do the big stunt where you get thrown
from the horse.
CHRISTOPHER: You know more than I do. The last thing I heard
was that the horse was going to very cleverly go down on all
fours, which I've seen them do, which is pretty extraordinary.
So the last thing I heard was the horse was going to go down
on all fours and I was going to step ever so sensitively off
it.
Q: And then they were going to yank you from the horse
into the air…
CHRISTOPHER: I've heard some of that but I thought that was
going to come later.
Q: For those unfamiliar with the books, what can you
tell us about your character?
CHRISTOPHER: The character of the Rider is the antagonist,
the nemesis, the villain of the piece. He differs somewhat
from the book. There's been some poetic license taken and
there's an ability that the Rider has which he doesn't have
in the book which would be lightly spoiler-ish but he's got
a few surprises up his sleeve in how he manifests himself
too. I'm teasing, but I want that kind of thing to be an element
of surprise for the audience.
Q: You play most of your scenes with Alexander Ludwig?
CHRISTOPHER: Apart from a brief scene with the old ones at
the beginning and at the end, I'm exclusively with Alex. Yeah.
Q: How is that?
CHRISTOPHER: He's an amazing young man and to carry a film
like this, I carried a film when I was 27 and couldn't really
speak or think for the two months afterwards, but he acts
like it's just water off a duck's back. The thing about him
apart from his abilities as actor, which are apparent, he's
just a very, very decent young man. And I'm not just saying
this to you. A few of us have said to his parents who have
been around, you know they brought up an excellent young lad
and you'd like to see him succeed because he doesn't seem
tainted by all the Hollywood bullshit that we all know so
much about.
Q: Were you familiar with the books?
CHRISTOPHER: No. I'd never heard of the books, but as a child
I was hugely passionate about “Lord of the Rings.”
I understand the kind of passion that people feel for these
books. I think they should be left for childhood. People say
“Lord of the Rings” were the greatest novels ever
written. You're like, no, they're not. They're childhood.
But I read the book for this and enjoyed it very much. And
obviously it's close to me because it's couched in Celtic
mysticism and it's a very intensely British book.
Q: I have visions of the dark riders from the “Lord
of the Rings” when I think of your character, are there
any similarities there?
CHRISTOPHER: I think there must be. Yeah. When you read the
book, I can't believe that she wasn't in some ways influenced
by Tolkien because by that time, the mid '70's, Tolkien's
books had made such a huge impact. But it actually predates
Potter and all that stuff. I'm sure that if we dove into some
mythology that a man on horseback spreading terror was probably
lifted by Tolkien himself… probably from Greek stuff,
the archetype being their problem. I think there are kind
of similarities and I think some of the terror resides in
the fact that, for children at least, it's not about machinery.
It's this man as an animal. The thing we've talked about with
the Rider is that without the horse, he's slightly powerless
and that he and horse are kind of indivisible.
Q: Is this the most absolute character you've played
in a while? I was thinking before of the more recent parts
you've done, you tend to go for morally ambiguous characters
whether it's the character you played in 'Perfect Parents'
last year or more recently in 'Heroes', you can't really pigeon
hole these people, they straddle both sides. Yet, this is
a character who, in the book, will be pretty much an archetypical
bad guy. Do you play that for what it is or do you try to
add a few extra colors?
CHRISTOPHER: I've tried, but failed. [laughs] You try to
add extra colors to it, but I've had that debate throughout
the entire shoot, whether you should just go for mongoloid
one-dimensional savagery bad guy or you should try. I think
there's virtues in both. I think I've tried to give it a twist,
whether that's the right thing to do, I don't know.
Q: Is that something you'd rather not say?
CHRISTOPHER: There are two sides to the Rider. And there's
an area where I can kind of suggest things about his character
while not actually appearing as him. They're just so cryptic.
Q: David Cunningham said that he was striving for a certain
kind of realism in this film and when we talked to Ian McShane,
he said that that was his goal in the character as well, but
he mentioned that your character could afford to be a little
bit more operatic perhaps.
CHRISTOPHER: Who said that? McShane? He's loaded me with
all this. Typical actors. Spineless. [laughs] 'Don't blame
me, blame Chris.'
Q: Is that true?
CHRISTOPHER: I've been watching him, he's pretty camp, Old
McShane. I think the Rider is slightly less defined actually
than most of the characters. He doesn't have as much screen
time as the Rider per se, but even within that, I'm sure a
much better actor than me would say you've got to find a kind
of truthfulness. You've got to. Audiences are pretty exacting
nowadays, so it has to feel real to you in some way.
Q: What was it about him that appealed to you?
CHRISTOPHER: The spoiler thing actually. Yeah. When you see
it, you'll understand. There's an opportunity with the Rider
for humor and subversion and satire that I've not seen before
in these kind of films and it was that. It was that most of
all. 99.9 percent of the dramas I've made have been for adults,
film and television and this was a real opportunity to try
something new. I've had some experience with 'Doctor Who'
of making drama for children, I think it's a real important
area if we can provide them complexity and gray area rather
than just a fun fair ride. That's what appeals to me.
Q: Can you say how it is to work on a film compared with
working on a TV series or an American TV series?
CHRISTOPHER: It's a lot slower. I enjoy the pace of television,
although of course with some of the independent films like,
for instance 'Shallow Grave' or maybe 'Jude' even, we didn't
have as much time. But television is faster. And I think in
television I feel, obviously because of the size of the screen
and less the production values, there's a healthier reliance
on performance and script. I've always said that the strongest
scripts I've had in my career have been, apart from theater,
have been in television because you only have really the actors'
faces. So from an acting point of view, my best scripts have
been in television. It's quicker, but of course you're not
allowed, we're using multi-cameras on this. I don't think
I've ever experienced that. I've never seen so many cameras.
There's probably six trained on us now.
Q: It's unusual that they're doing it in high-def. Is
that a bigger challenge to know that you're being captured
from all these angles that you're not playing to?
CHRISTOPHER: The camera team on this film is fantastic in
terms of telling you exactly what's going on, but I kind of
believe that if you're being truthful, you're being truthful.
I think to a certain extent one can get obsessed with what
lens is on and I do like to know if they're right in there
and if they're also very wide, I'm going to concentrate on
the fact and try not to look too much like Popeye in my close
up, not that I ever succeed.
Q: I'd like to ask you a question about 'Heroes', is
your character coming back this season or next season? Do
you have plans?
CHRISTOPHER: We haven't spoken about that yet. I'd certainly
be open to it. I get the feeling that they'd be open to it,
but I think we all feel that he made a good impact and in
a sense it's a decision whether to leave it at that because
it just adds to the fabric of their series. I think there's
got to be something really meaty for him to do for me to go
back, but I'd certainly like to. I was made very welcome by
that crew and that cast. Being a Brit on that film, I've never
been offered so many cups of tea in my life. But you do, it's
like you get lots of attention because you're different.
Q: Ian McShane told us about his deep love of Romania.
Do you share that?
CHRISTOPHER: I fell in love first. Romania's been unfaithful
to me with Ian McShane. The Romanian people have been absolutely
fantastic, but the problem the actors have experienced is,
particularly the Americans, is that when you're here and you're
not working you are stuck in a hotel. And you're a long way
from home. I mean the Romanian crew on this has been extraordinary
and it's a very different culture, particularly for Americans
to come into. I'm somewhat familiar with European poker face.
I've been made very welcome here.
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