Q:How did you train for the jousting?
A:It was a lot of fun. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that I was doing it my mum's back yard with my friend down the road. So, it was an extension of that. It was just a bigger playground. They taught us how to joust for three weeks and then we didn't really do any of it. Ultimately, if we did anything it was starting off and coming back to the mark with sweat on the face and then any of the hits, I wasn't about to get hit by a lance or hit someone else. I didn't want to do that .It was a lot of fun making and I had a lot of fun sword fighting.
Q:How do you feel about carrying a film as the top billed star?
A:I guess I just wanted to be as relaxed as possible. I didn't want to go in there tense and too nervous and thinking of it that way. It was more or less I wanted to be excited on the fact that I had more time to create an arc for a character and I never felt the weight of a leading man because I had a great ensemble cast with me the whole time. So, the only weight that I felt wasn't during the making of the movie but when I saw my mug on the poster. That was just slightly intimidating.
Q:Will this Four Feathers remake you're working on be faithful to previous versions' statement about cowardice and bravery?
A:It is faithful but my portrayal of that was that he wasn't a coward and the fact that it was actually one of the bravest decisions he could have made, to leave and not go to war and not fight. I certainly follow that and stand by that and I would probably do the same thing. To me, the fact that he was labeled a coward, he was actually a hero smuggled in amongst all that, a hero in his own mind to himself and that's in terms of being true to himself. He would have been a coward if he went to war because inside of him, everything inside of him said don't go. It's a coward to go against your instincts and he didn't. For that, he was brave.
Q:How did you avoid the stereotypical teen roles after 10 Things?
A:I don't know if there's a method that I could pass on to anyone or advice because there isn't and it's just a tough thing to do. But, I just had to be true to myself. I wasn't going to be happy doing that and I wouldn't have lasted. I would have quit and been finished because if I'm not happy doing something or if I'm not having fun, my patience drops out really fast. It was fun, but there's a line they just draw on the character, this line where they don't go any further into the characters on the page with teen movies. They can't help it. It's not written to have all this depth on page. There's just a lot more to portray outside the teen market. There just wasn't anything interesting, just the same stuff and the same characters and when they see you play one thing, they want you to do it again. It's like oh, we know you can do this, it's a safe bet, let's get him to do it again. I just wasn't going to do that.
Q:Are you working on anything else now?
A:I'm going to take a break for six months, hopefully a year if I can. I just feel I've got to put back the equivalent into life because 18 months of work just takes so much out of you. So, I've just got to put it back into my own life. (end of the interview)
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