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Last Update
- June 21th, 2003
'Reign of Fire'
Interview
Alec Cawthorne, BBC, August 21, 2002
Did you have any reservations about working with CGI dragons?
My initial
thoughts were that it could have become a special effects project
rather than an acting project. I was worried that it might end
up with the people in it looking a little bit foolish. Also, I
was concerned about how the dragons were going to look. CGI is
an incredible thing but I've seen them use it disastrously many
times before. But, that said, I'm kind of attracted by movies
where there is a real possibility of it going badly wrong. There
have been movies where other people have said to me "You're
nuts for doing this! Why would you risk doing this?", and
I've kind of realized that that's what I enjoy.
What
about the head butt from Matthew McConaughey during the big fight
scene?
It dropped
me like a sack of potatoes. In the movie you see me crawl around
the ground for a couple of seconds to try to find my bearings
- that is real! Then I thought I had to get up and finish the
scene or it was going to be no use. I could see that the film
crew were staring to see if I was all right. When we finished
I asked Matthew if he was OK. He said "Yeah, you mad bastard
- I headbutted you!"
There
are rumours that you have a love/hate relationship with acting...
I started
at a young age and some of my memories that I think of as my life
are not my life. They are scenes that I was in. It is a very sad
state of affairs. I'll find myself having dinner with people and
someone will mention something and I will say I was in that situation
once. Then I'll say, forget it, it was a scene I was in. That
can get to be quite confusing.
Did
you go out much in Dublin when you were not working on 'Reign
of Fire'?
I am not
a big social animal, especially when I'm working. I feel really
silly acting in front of other actors if I feel I know them too
well. I don't want people to be able to tell how much I am acting.
We went out in Dublin a few times and Matthew had parties at his
place, but most of the time he was down at the boxing gym - sparring
and just hitting somebody.
Source - www.bbc.co.uk