STACK NZ June 2015 Issue 63

58 / 58

with MARK ADDY.
1 2
What drew you to the part of Hercules
in Atlantis?
MARK ADDY: Well, I got sent a couple
of scripts by Johnny [Capps] and Julian
[Murphy] and I kind of expected a gradual
introduction of characters, but as I read it
I realised it wasn’t the usual TV script at
all. The Labyrinth and Minotaur feature in
episode one so there’s no long-winded
build-up, you’re straight in with the action.
The scale of it all just blew me away and
the ambition of it was enough for me to
say, ‘I really want to do this’. It’s incredible
– if you got a movie script that was as
good you’d be very happy! Having had a
meeting with the guys, I realised we are
in very safe hands with all the CGI and
effects – nobody in this country knows
it better than them. I didn’t have to think
twice.
How is it playing a legend?
Well it’s maybe not the Hercules
that people think of immediately.
My kids were a little bit quizzical
about the idea of me playing Hercules
at first. I showed them the programme
Britain’s Strongest Man and told them
that this is what strong guys look like
– my Hercules isn’t strong because he
goes to the gym every day, he’s strong
because he’s the son of Zeus!
Your Hercules seems to have a
couple of flaws…
He’s a legend in his mind. If he got into
a fight with some guy in the tavern, by
the time he got back home, in his story,
he would have defeated an army. He’s his
own spin doctor and his accounts of all his
heroic acts should definitely be taken with
a large pinch of salt! Jason and Pythagoras
find it very amusing. They kind of go along
with it as they know that it’s just the way
he is, so they may as well have a laugh at
his expense.
You have a lot of scenes with Jason
[Jack Donnelly] and Pythagoras [Robert
Emms] and it sounds like you have plenty
of fun on and off set…
It’s great. They sent us horse riding
before we started rehearsals and we had
three or four days in France in a stunt
stable, which gave us a chance to get to
know each other. It was great from our
point of view as we had a lot of time in
each other’s company and it meant that
when you arrive on set on day one, you
knew each other already, which isn’t
always the case. We have breakfast, lunch
and dinner together every day and have
done since we started filming in April, so
we know each other pretty well.
How was filming on location in
Morocco?
It was hot! When you’re out in the
desert and its 103 degrees and you’re in
your leathers there’s really nowhere to
escape from the sun. Just when you think
it can’t get any hotter, the director says,
‘Right, get on the horses now’. The stuff
that we shot there is literally in the desert;
you couldn’t create that anywhere else.
The amazing thing for me is seeing how
they’ve joined what we shot in Morocco
with what we’ve shot in Chepstow; you
can’t see the difference, it’s seamless.
That’s down to very clever camerawork
and lighting and everybody is at the top
of their game, it is remarkable. We only
shot for three weeks out there but it was
enough to give it a flavour and a sense of
scale that you couldn’t achieve here.