Familiarity with the Alex Rider Books: Alex Pettyfer says he knew the books before signing on to play the young superspy. “I read the books two months prior to getting the script in. I was nervous reading the script about bringing a character out of a book onto the screen. Obviously, it’s a nerve-wracking thing to do, but I was excited.”
Pettyfer admits he felt a little added pressure bringing to life a character so loved by readers. “He’s a kid’s imagination, or a kid per se. The kids think they are him. I did feel a bit of pressure, maybe on the looks side of things, but I knew that if I get the correct feeling for how he is inside, I think it would come out on the looks. I think it was more the looks that I was worried about.”
Getting the Character Right: “I really wanted to portray him as a normal guy. He’s not a superhero. He’s not someone who can fly and who is out of reach. You could be [him]. Children come out of the cinema and want to be a character until they see the next film, but I want people to come out and actually believe they could be that someone. That’s what I really took from the book, just being normal and people could relate to this guy.”
Preparing Physically to Tackle the Role: “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 is quite a muscular, bigger guy… And yes, I have lost it now, so no comments. I wanted to train up obviously and get prepared for the role. Also, when I got the role I went into training for three weeks doing martial arts, kung fu, kick boxing, learning how to wheelie on a quad bike or whatever. It was quite an experience.”
Pettyfer emerged from the stunts of Stormbreaker practically unscathed. “I did hurt my knee accidentally 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. I went in for a move and she got me in the knee.”
Stunt Work and Donnie Yen: “Donnie Yen was coordinating the martial arts sequences. I did all of them, but Donnie Yen brought his team on because they decided two days before to change the choreography to rope fighting. Also, I thought it was good input because Alex Rider isn’t an aggressive character. He’d rather run. There isn’t a political message in Stormbreaker… It’s just that one scene I thought he would run and should be a good example that instead of standing there and fighting and being the big guy, there is always an easier way out. I thought instead of being physical and using his hands and legs as weapons, he could be as far away as possible from the problem.
They were going to take over and do this stunt and I watched them one day and one day before the actual shoot I said, ‘Give me one day to train and I’ll do it. I don’t care even if I look crap,’ because he’s just picking up this thing from out of nowhere. I did it in one day and I actually got quite good at it. I spent eight hours, I think, training that day doing the neck rope stuff and, yeah, they allowed me to do it the next day.”
On Riding Bikes and Horses: “Funny you brought up horse riding. I think I’ve had one horse riding lesson and fell off and said I’m not getting on again. But Alex Rider can’t horse ride. That’s the only thing he can’t do. No one is invincible, so Anthony created that. We were very against the one horse riding scene because of that one thing. But it was so 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, Piccadilly Circus. I was really reluctant to get on that horse becoming the character, but I did it and I sat on him and I held on for my life, behind the stuntwoman.
Sarah [Bolger] was on it a couple of occasions. It was quite something else. You get the same feeling and fear as your character, which is good, and I think might have come across on the screen.”
Pettyfer continued, “And the bike scene, a kid was asking me if I really did that or if it was blue screen. I said, ‘No, it’s like ballet. You need perfect timing. If I had accidentally gone astray I would have been run over.’ It was all choreographed down to the split second and they were really against me doing it, along Chelsea Bridge, which also was another location we got lucky enough to use. But I did do it and I enjoyed it very much.”
Page 2: Alex Pettyfer on Working with Mickey Rourke and Alicia Silverstone
