LINUS ROACHE ('The Purifier'):
How would you describe your character?
The Purifier? He’s like a High Priest, if you like, of the Necromonger faith – this race of people going through the universe converting humans to this sort of negative view on life that you have to go to greater stages of death in order to achieve a heaven.
You sport a pretty interesting costume in this film. What was the make-up process like?
It was kind of collaborative and also a bit last minute on some of it. We were making some of it up as we went along, and trying to just understand the whole sort of mythology of what we were creating. They had very good people on it so they made me look good.
As a High Priest, do you get into any of the fighting?
No. I’m more of a kind of saintly, priestly figure watching from a distance. I have a very cool demise, though. My end is quite interesting. I won’t give it away but it’s a nice ending (laughing).
A cool demise? You don’t hear too many people saying that about their onscreen death scenes.
Normally when you say, “I have a demise,” it’s a sad thing. But this is a very cool demise.
You obviously won’t be back then for parts two and three, if they do go ahead with the sequels.
Well, in science fiction you never know. I don’t know. Anything could happen.
What are fans of “Pitch Black” going to get out of this movie?
This is a totally different dimension to “Pitch Black.” What you’ve got is Riddick and that drives it – Vin’s character – but where the movie’s going is something completely different. This is more like a fantasy adventure dealing with good and evil on an epic scale, so it’s a different mood. I should think [fans] will go with it.
Do you consider this a sequel?
It’s an interesting kind of sequel because normally sequels keep things in the same genre, and this is literally a flip. It takes the character and then flips it into something completely different, so it’s very different from what’s expected. It’s a very different movie.
And you’ve also got “The Forgotten” coming out soon. I know you can’t say much, but what’s your role in that film?
I literally can’t say. If I tell you what my role is, I completely destroy the movie. I’m the ‘friendly man.’
Do you have a good demise in that film?
No demise (laughing).
YORICK VAN WAGENINGEN ('The Guv'):
Who is 'The Guv'?
The Guv is like a ruler of an underground prison. He’s a prisoner himself and then Vin Diesel is at one point lowered into this prison, and we pull off a certain way to go about it…
To go about what?
(Laughing) I don’t want to say too much. We become sort of buddies and the prison becomes too small for us.
What type of training did you go through for this role?
It was pretty harsh. I mean, you’ll see a lot of computer graphics but there were a lot of real walls and a lot of real rock surfaces. We got trained by one of the greatest stunt coordinators and we did a bit of everything. We practiced on the set a terrible lot. We did a lot.
Were you ever asked to do anything you thought they might have been a bit crazy asking you to do?
I was into it the whole time, I was into it. The whole crew – it was a great experience. It was such a great script to begin with that you really want to tell the story, as a whole group.
Were you a big fan of “Pitch Black” before filming “Riddick?”
I liked it, yeah. I have to be totally honest, I only saw it – because I don’t think it got released in Europe – so I only saw it when I heard I was going to do this. I loved it.
I’ve heard this one is not really considered a sequel. How would you describe it?
No, it’s on a different planet, it’s on a different level. It’s much more way out there. It’s still pretty dark but where “Pitch Black” is very much concentrated, this is not.
What do you think "Pitch Black" fans will like about this movie?
[There's] more action, more adventure, more fantasy. It’s just much bigger. It’s set on different planets and the Necromongers - how bad they are – they’re a very, very interesting race and so you get to see their whole world and it’s fascinating.
MORE INTERVIEWS FROM THE WORLD PREMIERE OF "THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK"
Vin Diesel, Thandie Newton, and Director David Twohy / Colm Feore / Christina Cox /
Alexa Davalos / Producer Scott Kroopf
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
"The Chronicles of Riddick" Movie Premiere Photos
"The Chronicles of Riddick" Production Photos, Credits, and Trailer
