INT: Alex Pettyfer

At
age sixteen, Alex Pettyfer’s resume includes only two credits.
That would be TOM BROWN’S SCHOOLDAYS and ALEX
RIDER: OPERATION
STORMBREAKER
. But I
have a feeling it will be filling up very soon because the dude’s
got talent. In STORMBREAKER,
he plays the title role of Alex Rider who becomes a junior spy
trained in martial arts and a few other Bond type skills.
He takes on the role with a surprising amount of maturity.

I
had a chance to meet with Alex when he stopped by The Four Seasons
in

Beverly Hills


. He came in and shook
everyone’s hand which is a rarity for anyone.
He is articulate, polite and quite funny and he seems like
your typical teenager in many ways, yet a tad bit more mature.
If he plays his cards right, he may very well be the next
Orlando Bloom.

Alex
Pettyfer

So
Alex, we’re you a big fan of these books?
Did you know the character and everything?

Yes,
I did. I read the books
two months previous, getting the script in.
I was nervous about reading the script, obviously bringing a
character out of the book and into… on-screen as they say.
It was obviously quite a nerve racking thing to do.

You
hadn’t read them as a fan?

No,
no, no. I just picked it
up just to read in detention. [Laughter]

Did
you read all of them?

Oh,
yes. I was in detention
many hours. [Laughter] No.
I only read Stormbreaker and Point Blank.

What
did you have to do to physically get ready for this role?

I…
obviously when I was going through the audition process I started
going to the gym because if I was lucky enough to get the part,
which I was – Alex Rider’s quite a muscular, bigger guy. And
yes, I have lost it now, so no comments.
[Laughter] Yeah,
so I wanted to train up obviously and get prepared for the role and
also when I got the role, thank God, I went into training for three
weeks [to do] martial arts, kung fu, kickboxing.
Learning how to “wheelie” on a four ton quad bike or
whatever. It was quite
an experience.

Any
accidents doing that?

Uh,
no, but I did have my knee accidentally ah… when I was doing the
martial arts, I was actually training with a lovely woman called
Eunice [Huthart] who was Angelina Jolie’s stuntwoman and I thought
she wasn’t as tough as she was and went in for a move and
[gestures towards knee making a smacking sound] on the knee which
actually figured out, probably karma, well not karma, but a good
omen because I went to my (physician) who used to be an ex-SES guy
and I created a bit of the character.
I took a piece from; not an arm or a leg [Laughter], just a
piece from him towards Alex Rider.

Did
you talk to Anthony [Horowitz] at all about the character a lot and
what he expected?

Yeah,
no, no, no, I talked to him for about three hours; it must have been
three hours. We sat down
on a sofa and I was just talking to him because I hadn’t read all
the books so I had to skip school, out of detention so I didn’t
have time to go back. Yeah,
so I talked to him for like three or four hours; got some
information.

So
what did you do to get put in detention?

Nah,
I was only joking around. [Laughing]
Just to make you laugh.

So
were you a James Bond fan?

Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was a big fan of them; I’m looking
forward to the new one as well [Casino Royale].

Who’s
your favorite James Bond?

Ah,
well seeing that Alex Rider’s created on the basis of James Bond,
I’d have to say Alex Rider… but my favorite James Bond is, I’m
obviously looking forward to Dan Craig, but Pierce Brosnan.

How
much of your stunts did you do, including the fighting, the martial
arts or rope fighting?

I
did all of them but Don Yen [Stunt Choreographer] brought his team
cuz they decided two days before to change the choreography to rope
fighting, also I thought that it would be good input that Alex Rider
isn’t an aggressive character, he’d rather run and there is no
political message in Stormbreaker, it’s just that one scene I
thought he would run, show a good example that instead of standing
there fighting, being the big guy, there is always an easy way out
and I thought that instead of being physical and using his hands and
legs as weapons, he could be as far away as possible from the
problem. So they were
going to take over and do this stunt and I watched them one day and
I said, “Give me one day.” And it’s one day before
the actual shoot. “Give me one day to train and I’ll do
it. And I don’t care, even if I look [like] crap because he’s
just picking up this thing from out of nowhere.” And I
did it in one day and, you know, I actually got quite good you know,
I spent a couple of hours; I think it was eight hours actually
training in that one day. They allowed me to do it.

What
was something in the books that you wanted to bring out in the
character?

Ah, you know…
like I say all the time you know, a book’s like a door you go into
the imaginative world or a kid and I always see that kid’s see
themselves as characters so I really wanted to portray him as a
normal guy you know. There are people that… he’s not a super
hero or he’s not someone who can fly, it’s out of which that you
could be. Children wanna come out of the cinema and wanna be a
character until they come see the next film, but I want people to
come out and believe that they could be that someone. And
that’s what I really took from the book, you know just being normal
and people can relate to this guy.

We heard that the premier was a big deal in England, what’s
that like with the big success that you’ve had already?

Ah, I’ve only
done one TV drama, it was only shown once. I’ve only been on
telly once probably about an hour, two hours. I really didn’t
expect anything. I got out of the car and it was like –
obviously I had shaved my head from prior doing the film, just to
change my image – I got out and I, my biggest fear is that there
might be five, six kids there just before I walk in and do my press
and I get out of the car, it’s probably about three seconds, like
three-thousand girls [Laughter] and they’re like [he mimics a crowd
screaming], so it was quite a big shock, you know. Especially
as, I’ve never done any big feature films or even anything big prior
to Stormbreaker.

Can you talk about Mickey Rourke when you first met him, how
did it go?

He’s fantastic,
you know, I always give everyone a clean slate before I meet them.
For someone… first of all, he’s a gentleman, he gave me a
hundred and ten percent on camera and off. I really don’t have
any more words than respect for [him]. He really helped me…

What’s your favorite Mickey Rourke film?

Illegally, Nine
and a Half Weeks [Laughter]. Yeah, but I did enjoy Sin City as
well. It’s a re-birth of who he was.

Can you talk about some of the stunt work that you did, like
being on bikes, horses and such?

Funny enough you
bring up horse riding. You know I’ve never actually… I think
I’ve had one horse riding lesson and fell off and said I’m not
getting on one. But Alex Rider can’t horse ride, it’s the only
thing he can’t do. You know, no one’s invincible so Anthony
[Horowitz] created that and we were very against that horse riding
scene because of that one thing.
But to bring out that, that… it was sort of fantastic to
watch. We got the
Queen’s cavalry, we got Hyde Park free, through Leicester Square
and all that kind of stuff or wherever we were.

You know, I was
really reluctant to go on that horse as becoming the character, I
did it and I sat on and held on for my life behind the stuntwoman
and also Sabina, uh, Sarah [Bolger] was there on a couple occasions.
So it was quite something else you know, you get the same
feeling and fear as your character which was good and obviously came
across on screen. And
the bike scene, I think a kid was asking me, “Did you really do
that or was [it] blue screen or something like that?” and I said
no, no it’s like ballet where you need perfect timing.
If I had gone accidentally like that [gestures move], I would
have been run over. So
it was all choreographed, [certain] split second and they were
really anti me doing it along Chelsea Bridge, which, also another
location that we got lucky [enough], but I did do it and I enjoyed
it very much.

Did you ride a bike as a kid; is it just natural for you?

Yeah, you know I
can’t like pop wheelies but I learned but I learned how to do them
when I was on there, do stoppies and skid along.
So I was always eager to learn new things you know, you go on
the set and you know, I could never work again after this, this
could all go POOF [Laughing], so I wanted to learn everything I
could as possible.

Are you hoping for a sequel?

We’re going to
wait until October the Sixth and see how it all goes.

Have they discussed it with you at all?

No.

How did your friends react to your role in this movie?

You know my
friends just act normal you know, I’m just Alex, not Alex Rider
but just Alex [Laughing]. I
don’t even think they even watched it.

They didn’t come to the premiere?

Ah, one of them
did, yes.

What’s your favorite scene basically and why?

Ah,
promotionally my favorite scene is the quad bike scene [Laughing].
My favorite scene is with Mickey [Rourke], you know, I think
it’s…

At the dinner table?

Yeah, I think I
give so much… we both make so much energy in that one scene – so
much charisma and life towards it – obviously because he helped me
a great deal and you know he gave me so much energy towards him, so
I really love that scene.

Do you feel any added responsibility because all the kids
love this character, so was it tougher for you to bring him to life,
knowing that everybody knows who this guy because they read these
books?

Yeah, as I said
last time you know, he’s a kids imagination or, a kid per se, you
know, kid’s think they are him so I did feel a little bit of
pressure maybe on the looks side of things.
I knew that I had to get – if I got the correct… how he
was inside, I think it would have came out in the looks.
So I think it was more the looks that I was worried about.

What’s next for you?

Ah, I’m just
focusing on publicizing this and you know… who knows.

Getting back to the friends thing real quick, you guys
familiar at all with the show Entourage and are there any like
rumblings, like do your friends ever try and get you to hook them up
with chicks or go out… [Laughing]

Ah… Um…
Ah… [Laughing]

Do you see Entourage?

No, I haven’t
seen it.

Is there any actor or star that you’d love to work with,
that you admire?

Um, Robert
Downey Jr.

Oh, bad. [Laughing]

Yeah, he’s a
great actor.

He is.

You know, even
though I never understand this.
I don’t know why people give a crap about his personal
life; you should see him as an actor or a character.
And I think what happens behind peoples scenes make them
better actors so hopefully the more experiences you have, the better
you can become on screen.

What was it like on set with Sarah [Bolger] who is already
quite famous?

I actually
didn’t have any fans this had come out [Laughing], so I was fine,
I could walk done London and no one… “Well, who’s that blonde
guy… eh, he’s just someone… neighbor or something”.
But no, Sarah’s great, she’s gonna go so far – she’s
a great actress. And her
little sister is great as well; she came to the premiere party.
But, you know… Sarah for such a young girl, well she’s
fourteen, fourteen, yeah, for such a young girl she’s really got
something there.

Did Bill Nighy and you improve at all, he had a very dry
sense of humor in the film?

It was all in
the script. He creates
it, this character he said, like we got in the caravan to do make-up
and he had already been there and I didn’t know who he was and I
didn’t want to say anything so I just sat down.
And the first ever words he said is he looked in and he put
his glasses on and he said, “I look like my Dad.” [Laughing]
So, it was quite funny to work with him as well.
He’s a great character.

If things move along really well for you are you thinking
about moving here?

Nah.
I’d never be a part of like an Entourage or… I’m a very
English guy and I love my home, I miss that at the moment.

Is London home or are you outside the city?

I’m just a
tiny bit outside, I’m a country boy.

Okay…

I’m called a
country boy, yeah; I’m only about fifteen, twenty minutes outside
of London.

Maybe not Entourage but what about Extras?
Did Ricky Gervais ever come to you and…?

No, but he used
Harry Potter instead of me so [Laughing]… And I met him at a party
and it’s like, “You know, if you ever wanna like let me in
and…” never got a phone call. [Laughing]

There’s time.

Thank you very
much.

Let me know what
you think. Send questions or
comments to [email protected].

Source: JoBlo.com

About the Author

3115 Articles Published

JimmyO is one of JoBlo.com’s longest-tenured writers, with him reviewing movies and interviewing celebrities since 2007 as the site’s Los Angeles correspondent.