Coming out on DVD tomorrow is âAmazing Grace,â the true story of William Wilberforce (played by IoanGruffudd). So to help promote the film, I recently got to sit down with Ioan and talk one on one about not only playing William Wilberforce, but all the other projects heâs involved with. And of course⦠we talked âFantastic Four 3.â
But since the interview was set up to promote âAmazing Grace"⦠the film tells the true story of William Wilberforce (IoanGruffudd), a leader of the British slavery abolition movement. The film chronicles his epic struggle to pass a law to end the slave trade in the late 18th century. Along the way, Wilberforcemeets intense oppositionfrom members of Parliament who feel the slave trade is tied to the stability of the British Empire. Several friends, including Wilberforceâs minister, John Newton (Albert Finney), a reformed slave ship captain who penned the beloved hymn Amazing Grace, urge him to see the cause through. Earlier this year - when the film first came out - I was able to interview Ioan and if you missed it you can read it here. That interviews covers a lot more ground on âAmazing Grace.â But since Ioan is involved with a lot of other projects, I used a large percentage of my time talking about those future things. And of course I worked in âFantastic Four 3â questions and I even asked him about baby Franklinâ¦Before getting to the interview I have to say a big thank you to Ioan for sitting down and talking to me.And as always, you can either read the transcript below or listen to the interview as an MP3 by clicking here. Collider: I actually interviewed you back when the film first came out.Ioan Gruffudd: Back in February, right? Was it here? Collider: Exactly. Yeah, it probably was.Ioan: Itâs like déjà vu today.I was drilling you for âFantastic Fourâ stuff and you know, before the film came out and we were discussingâ¦Ioan: Of course, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is a great thing for us because we were getting to get people interested in this movie as a result of âFantastic Fourâ. It was great.Absolutely, and do you try to pick projects that can go back and forth because youâve really raisedâyour career, in my opinion, has really taken off, not that it was everâ¦Ioan: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Honestly âFantastic Fourâ was sort of a deliberate attempt to help to raise the bar for myself and to get myself more recognizable here in the States because we know the success of these sort of genres as much as loving playing the part and being immersed in that. As a result of that I got âAmazing Graceâ. I donât think I would have got âAmazing Graceâ had it not been for the success of âThe Fantastic Fourâ, so what itâs done is open all these doors for me to be a bankable enough commodity to do these great independent movies where all the juicy character are.So when you look back because the film was made a little while agoâwhen you look back what do you remember most about the filming process and about wanting to tell this story?Ioan: I remember just being so totally immersed in it and so dedicated to it that I just had the time of my life making it. I realized that hard work and lots of long hours can be fun. Itâs the most fun Iâve ever had on a movie set. I mean, âFantastic Fourâ is a really hard project in comparison to this, believe it or not, because youâre not really getting that acting kind of satisfaction on a daily basis. You know, âFantastic Fourâ is about hitting marks and saying a cool line and then imagining everything. Imaging Iâm stretching my arm or imagining the background and imagining Iâm saving the London Eye, so itâs a lot of workâextra work that you have to do as an actor whereas âAmazing Graceâ itâs about reacting to all these other great characters that youâre surrounded by, so thereâs a definite rhythm to your day and you know at the end of the day youâre exhausted but immensely satisfied.What do you remember being the most challenging part of making the film?Ioan: I think the challenging part was getting over my own sort of nerves really and excitement for it because I knew I was going to work with these amazing actors, with Albert Finney and Sir Michael Gambon and these great actors like Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones, I mean you just look at the cast itâs extraordinary. Just getting over myself and realizing and appreciating that I belong in the company of these guys. I have a right to be here and I think that was the major sort of hurdle really because I knew instinctively I could play the character. Iâd done all the homework. I did all the research. We rehearsed for 2 weeks beforehand, so it was just a matter of getting up there and getting some confidence and doing it.Are you a big fan of rehearsals or do you believe in the 1st take being the magic take?Ioan: Itâs very hard for me. I know there are some actors who are just brilliant at improvising and brilliant at just being in the moment and doing it there and then. Iâm not one of those actors. I need to rehearse. I need to know where I am, where Iâve come from, where Iâm going to and you can only sort of discover that through rehearsal really. Or if you donât have any rehearsal time on the movie set, its maybe by take 5 or 6 I might get it. So, no the 1st take is sort of best kind of discarded as far as Iâm concerned anyway.What research did you do into this? Are there a lot of books available?Ioan: Yes, there are. WilberforceâI mean there are several biographies on Wilberforce and I mean a lot of them are quite heavy reading as biographies go. But some of them are enlightening about hisâespecially about his religious background and how fervent he was and how immersed he was in that and how that was a big part of his life. Itâs interestingâan actorâs research is different to just historianâs research. Iâm looking for things that I can actually physically use in the movie. For example, heâs never still. He never sits still. Heâs always working, heâs always writing, heâs always running somewhere. This is a guy who lived his life to the fullest and didnât let one minute go by that he wasnât being constructive. There are scenes in Parliament where heâs constantly writing or going through his papers there. His house is full of animals. I mean, thatâs something that we discovered through reading about him that he started this society for the prevention of cruelty to animals; so just these little hints and these little nuances that help to create a character. Those are the things that leap off the page for me.And I have to of course move onto some of the other projects youâre involved with because you have a lot coming up.Ioan: Yeah.I know thatâagain I researched you for a little bit and you have this âAgent Crushâ, âFireflies in the Gardenâ, âSecret ofâ¦â I donât want to butcher that last name.Ioan: Moonacre.Moonacre. So how do you pick projects?Ioan: âAgent Crushâ is aâ¦Iâm supplying the voice for this character Agent Crush so thatâs something that Iâve done since I was a child really. When I was back in Wales, we used to dub a lot of the big cartoons like âThe Smurfsâ for example into the Welch language believe it or not. So as a youngster I was in a studio and sound booths you know, sort of mimicking.I just want to make sureâyou did âSmurfsâ when you were younger?Ioan: Yeah.Okay, I just want to clarify that. Thatâs amazing.Ioan: Yeah. I know. I translated it into the Welch language, so that experience of voicing something is being part of my upbringing so when they came to me to play Agent Crush they basically said âlisten we want to hear you do your best Roger Moore impression for the character.â So thatâs what I was doing, although Roger Moore was actually in the project as well.I wanted to ask you about that. Did you have a chance to work with him?Ioan: No, no, sadly enough. I was living here and some of the cast members got together and recorded it as like a play almost live, but no, Iâve met him subsequently and weâve had a good laugh about it and I was sort of apologizing for trying to imitate him very poorly.Thatâs great though.Ioan: Yeah, I mean, this is another string to my bow as an actor. Thereâs another genre voicing a character and being able to be creative with your voice.Can you tell me what part you play in that? I was A.F.MâThe American Film Marketâ¦Ioan: Oh yeah, theyâre trying to promote it and sell it. I played Agent Crush. Agent Crush is a robot that is built to look like James Bond. He thinks heâs James Bond but heâs just totally incompetent and heâs got a few gadgets loose, you know, of his circuitry is missing. Itâs a bit of fun for the kids, really. It works on a couple of levels for adults but itâs basically a kidâs movie, but using that old-fashioned model making and you know, animatronics so itâs a very tangible world. All these models--all these sets were real sets but in miniature version. So it was that old-fashioned sort of Thunderbirds kind of filmmaking.I might come back to that but I want to definitely ask you about âFireflies in the Gardenâ and the other 2 films you have coming out. Ioan: Yeah, âFireflies in the Gardenâ is a lovely script that I read. By the time I got to it all the parts had gone but there was a little cameo in it that I could play and I just wanted to be in it by association because itâs a beautiful story. The main castâJulia Roberts, Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe and Emily Watson, so I havenât seen that yet. I donât know how its turned out but itâs something that Iâm sure Iâm going to be very proud just to be part of. And then âThe Secret of Moonacreâ I think is now called âThe Moon Princessâ. Itâs based on a kidâs novel that was written back in the 50âs. Itâs about a young girl who reads a storybook and that sort of comes alive and she realizes that sheâs the girl that sheâs reading about in the storybook. Itâs a bit of a fantasy kidâs genre and that was something I just loved, you know, it just appealed to the kid in me, kind of like the âThe Never-Ending Storyâ. Remember âThe Never-Ending Storyâ? Very much, yes.Ioan: Yeah, I loved that so it was sort of having a chance to be in a movie of that sort of nature.How was it workingâ¦I forget whoâs the daughter in that. What part do you play in âThe Secretâ?Ioan: I play the uncle of the main protagonist and sheâs played by Dakota Blue Richards whoâs going to be in âGolden Compassâ now. Sheâs the main girl.Yes, yes.Ioan: So her star is in the ascendance and I guess the movieâs coming out next month so sheâll be everywhere I think. Okay, now obviously the writers strike is going on so everything is being put into chaos, but the âFantastic Fourâ franchise has done very wellâboth films. Do you think that Fox is going to be moving ahead with the 3rd? Or have you heard any rumblings I should say?Ioan: You know what, by the last âFantastic Four 2âThe Rise of the Silver Surferâ, we didnât know until very late in the dayâI mean they were building sets and everything was ready to go. We were the last to physically know. So I havenât heard any rumblings. I mean, all my friends up in Vancouver that would be building the sets or getting on with it, they havenât heard anything. So I guess because of the current climate the studios are so keen on getting stuff out for this summer and for beyond if the actors go on strike that they havenât even thought of âFantastic Fourâ. I mean, the earliest we would shoot it would be I guess this time next year.continued on page 2 --------->
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Yeah, I have a feeling that obviously a project like that cannot be moved forward on until the resolution with all the different contracts get resolved. I guess my question is, would youâ¦obviously would youâ¦?
Ioan: Oh, Iâd love to come back. Iâm dying to come back and do the 3rd one. I would love it. Itâs been such an amazing franchise to be part of and Iâm so proud of playing him and to be part of American culture because Iâm a British guy living in America, getting a chance to play an American icon and Iâm really proud of that you know. Itâs a big accomplishment for me.
I haveâsome of my writers have made sure I ask this question. Do you think Franklinâbecause in the comics apparently you guys have a kid named Franklin and do you thinkâwould you welcome the opportunity to play a father? How do you feel about that?
Ioan: You know I having read the comic books as much as I can, but knowing of his existence, I know in The Incredibles the super baby and it was basically plagiarized from âThe Fantastic Fourâ. That whole movie really took all the best bits from all the super hero movies but Franklin, I think, it would be great to see a live-action baby being sort of protected from the world by his parents because he was so powerful. Thereâs so much scope for comedy there I guess at home. I think thereâs a scope for a sort of darker side of it of maybe having to expose baby Franklin to the world in order to save the world. You know, weâre incapable of saving the world or whoever weâre fighting but we need to introduce Franklin because heâs all so powerful to save the world. I know that weâve established the franchise now as being sort of a family movie. Iâd love to see us take it to another level like the âX-Menâ, making it a bit more believable in the sense thatâand creative in the sense that Reed Richards could be that table or something. Not just stretching his arms or that he would form different forms and being clever and not sort of funny but just cleverer in the way that he uses his powers and that we all collectively use our powers. I loved the ending of âThe Silver Surferâ. I thought it was a really quite a moving, serious ending. The end of the world was nigh. I loved that darkness and I would love to go down that route a little bit more. I guess weâve pandered to the orders that made it successful in the first place so itâs very hard to make a completely different movie the next time, but who knows?
It is interesting because Fox did choose with the âFantastic Fourâ to make it very family friendly. I think that a lot of fans honesty with the adult fans were a little upset about that but kids loved the movies. Itâs a safe family environment, so youâve sort of addressed this a little bit with what you just said but do youâthe comic book super hero genre is bigger than everâwould you ever imagine yourself possibly doing another kind of in that genre but as another character or do you sort of see yourself as this is my mark?
Ioan: I mean, I would love to of course, but I fear because Iâve played Mr. Fantastic who was such a big icon in that world, I fear nobody would come near me because Iâm so well established as that character.
Could be prosthetics.
Ioan: It could be prosthetics. I mean, yes, I could be in 6 hours of makeup everyday, which would be a lot of fun, yeah. As my friend, Doug Jones is doing now, on Hellboy II, heâs been doing like 6 hours a day before going to work.
I have some friends who went to the set recently and theyâve been raving about what theyâve been seeing there and especially Doug.
Ioan: Itâs going to be very special this one. I mean, Guillermo del Toro has controlled everything. He doesnât have a 2nd unit director. He doesnât even have an insert director. Heâs doing absolutely everything like on 1 camera, so theyâve been there for like 7 months or something.
But thatâs going to make it.
Ioan: I think so, yeah.
You know what youâre about to get.
Ioan: I think itâs going to be huge. I mean, the first one was extraordinarily successful and I wasnât familiar with âHellboyâ at all. I think now that heâs established as a director and such a brilliant director I think itâs going to be interesting.
So a few other questions. Are you⦠obviously like I got some info off of IMDB and stuff, are you doing anything else right now? Are you reading scripts? How is the writers strike affecting the actors?
Ioan: I hadnât actually thought about it because this summer I mean-- I really havenât done anything since âFantastic Fourâ apart from voicing Agent Crush and literally finished doing âThe Secret of Moonacreâ now last week. Then I got married at the end of the summer so that was my big project. Then literally 2 days later was on the plane to go to Budapest to do the movie. So, Iâve just come back and this is happening so I mean, itâs a scary time. Itâs something that has to be done and I think itâs something that has to be fought for and the studios arenât budging and this is the only way of bringing them to the table, I think is this strike. I think we will be going out as well next year as actors, although the writerâs might set a president that might help us in negotiations as the Screen Actors Guild, so weâll see.
Itâs interesting because unlike the â88 strike, the advent of the internet has opened the door for middle America to discover what exactly is going on and the writers, who are very creative, have been putting together these YouTube spots, explaining their side very eloquently. How do you feel about the situation and do you think this is an absolute that the directors and the actors are going to be fighting over the new media money?
Ioan: I think so, absolutely. And itâs only right and just. Of course, our side is going to see it one way and the studios are going to see it in a totally different way. But, absolutely. Something that weâve created, that youâve had a part in bringing to life thatâs being exploited and youâre not seeing any revenue as a result of that so I think itsâ¦yes, this internetâ¦thereâs no legislation in place for the internet to begin with and itâs just boomed into this intangible thing. So I think itâs only right that we fight for that.
And the other thing is when you look at the numbers, youâre not talking about dollars, youâre talking about cents.
Ioan: Yes I know, but I guess in the studio senseâI mean, cents means if youâre talking about billions then itâs a lot of money for them. I know the DVD sales are what keeps the studios running at the moment, you know? The âFantastic Fourâ was paid for on the back of the DVD sales for the first movie. Thatâs the kind of money weâre talking about and yes, it is a percentage of that but justifiably so I think.
I wanted to jump backâyou filmed in Budapest you said?
Ioan: Yeah, The Moon Princess. Yeah.
So can you talk about the experience of being on location there and also thatâs where theyâre doing âHellboy 2â. Budapest is really exploded.
Ioan: Itâs an amazing city. The history of the place is extraordinary. Theyâve been under Communism; theyâve been under the Natziâs. They fought civil wars there and sadly at the moment their governmentâthey had a revolution back in â56 I think and things should have gotten better but theyâve sort of gone back to almost like a dictatorial state. Itâs a fascinating place, a brilliant place to visit.
What was it like working with Dakota especially after she did âThe Golden Compassâ?
Ioan: Yeah I know. Sheâs 13 years old going on 33. Sheâs such a wise old soul. Itâs sort of scary in a sense, but sheâs brilliant. And I loved working with her because I remember when I was her age starting out, I didnât have half the confidence or the courage or the talent that she has now as a 13 year old so I just love seeing her enthusiasm and she knew everyoneâs lines. She was just immersed in it you know, as a child would be. I really want it to be successful for her sake as well as for our sake.
Iâm ending up, but I wanted to know with the strike does it allow youâobviously are you thinking about doing some theatre work in London? Could that be an avenue that youâd explore?
Ioan: Because Iâm a member of the Guild it wouldnât be fair to go off and do work in other parts of the world. I mean, I believe strongly that I should support the Guild and I donât think they would appreciate that at all. I mean, I live here. Iâm part of this society and I would have to support it so Iâd find it very hard to cross the picket line albeit in the U.K.
I guess what Iâm saying is what it comes down to is the projects that are already inâbecause again Iâm still figuring this outâthe projects that are still in development or the projects that are greenlit and ready to go, those are the projects that are ok to take?
Ioan: I mean as far as me as an actor, yes, I mean because our guild isnât on strike at the moment. Yes, so I donât know how the studioâI mean, I guess theyâre allâI donât know if the directors have the rights to re-write things or the studios have the right to re-write thingsâ¦I donât know. But yeah, if things are ready to go now then you can go off and shoot them which is the way movies should be make really. Like âAmazing Graceâ was made that way. The script was in such a great state from its conception that we just went off and shot that script. I mean, in the big studio movie world itâs like you have a greenlight to budget and a release date and go off and do it so itâs constantly pink pages, grey pages, you know, blue pages, change of locations, change of build that set, no weâre going to tear it down, weâre going to do it here now. Itâs just extraordinary, so it might force people into just locking off a script and then going off and shoot it. It might save the studios a lot of money in the long run.
I was thinking the same thing. Michael is now doing the next âNarniaâ movie. Heâs doing the 3rd. So have you called him up and said âyou know, I was thinking âNarniaâ?â
Ioan: Yeah, because of my relationship with Walden who made this and Michael I would have got the call by now if there was anything appropriate for me Iâm sure.
Well, listen I really appreciate your timeâ¦.