This final series of His Dark Materials has had a different feel to the second one \u2013 is that simply because there\u2019s been more McAvoy in it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWell, it\u2019s a lot more action-packed than previous series. They\u2019ve been talking about war against the Kingdom of Heaven for such a long time. You can\u2019t just keep going, \u2018I\u2019m gonna do this\u2019 with one guy walking about with a gun. You\u2019ve got to finally deliver war, and so we do get war by the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
As you were spending more time as Lord Asriel, did you find yourself becoming a little more like him? <\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s not that you\u2019re transforming into a different character when you play someone, because it\u2019s always just me. It\u2019s like you\u2019re transforming into a different actor, the actor that you need to be to play the part. I think Laurence Olivier once said, acting is just \u2018knowing what kind of play you\u2019re in\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you sympathise with Asriel?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cAsriel is a maniac \u2013 he killed a little boy to burst through to other worlds at the end of season 1. He\u2019s sort of self-righteously and deludedly in his own ego, thinking he\u2019s a good guy. But his journey is towards realising that it\u2019s just about a wee girl. His wee girl. And the only thing that he can do to help win the day \u2013 is be her dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) and Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson) in His Dark Materials<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC\/Bad Wolf<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n His Dark Materials<\/strong> is a critical success, but it\u2019s not something you\u2019d planned to be in, right? <\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cYes. Somebody else backed out, I stepped in and started filming a week and a half later. I think sometimes you come along at the right time for the project and sometimes a project comes along at the right time for you. It\u2019s so clich\u00e9d but what\u2019s for you won\u2019t go by you. But you\u2019ve got to make the effort to try and grab it before it goes by you. Things can be for you and go by because you never tried hard enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you mind when other actors get parts that you would like? <\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m not competitive with my peers. I don\u2019t feel like, \u2018That guy\u2019s bloody doing brilliantly, I should be doing it.\u2019 I\u2019ve never felt that. Though sometimes I do think, \u2018How are they doing so well, they\u2019re not very good.\u2019 I\u2019m a bit, \u2018Eh? I don\u2019t get it.’\u201d<\/p>\n
When you were young was there someone onscreen that you wanted to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cJayce and the Wheeled Warriors was a really weird cartoon in which the heroes were proponents of industry and used drills and lasers to rip plants apart. Jayce had a shock of white hair, young as he was. And I thought, \u2018When I\u2019m older, I\u2019m going get that dye in my hair.\u2019 My hair\u2019s grey now and, since I got older \u2013 for the last five years \u2013 I\u2019ve had this shock of white hair. Yes!\u201d<\/p>\n
Did you dream of Hollywood and international success?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cAs a teenager my favourite thing to do was lay in bed and imagine stories with me as the protagonist. They generally involved me going to an American high school and I had to overcome a bully or something. But instead of coming from New Jersey, I was coming from Glasgow. There were other fantasies as well, but that was the one I remember. Imagination is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
James McAvoy in His Dark Materials.<\/span><\/figcaption> Bad Wolf\/BBC\/HBO<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n You\u2019ve always been a keen fan of fantasy, then?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI read all the key science fiction and fantasy, Lord of the Rings<\/a>, David Eddings, all the Anne McCaffrey books. I didn\u2019t get to His Dark Materials until I was 21 or 22. I\u2019ve read the books twice, but I\u2019ve also listened to Philip [Pullman] narrate the books twice. I\u2019d almost say to people, do that first.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s the great attraction with Philip Pullman\u2019s voice?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cThe way Philip reads it is beautiful. It sort of feels like you\u2019re listening to your grandpa \u2013 if your grandpa was an English teacher, telling you a made-up story. It becomes clearly structured eventually, but to begin with, it\u2019s just beautiful. And to write about the soul just manifesting as an animal!\u201d<\/p>\n
What has it been like working with the daemons \u2013 in Lord Asriel\u2019s case, Stelmaria the snow leopard?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cThe fact is, I\u2019m allergic to so many animals, cats, dogs. Someone sent me something [about a part] today, asking, \u2018Is it just horses you\u2019re allergic to?\u2019 They sent this great offer but involving dogs and it\u2019s like, \u2018I can\u2019t do anything with dogs!\u2019 The daemons are CGI, and I\u2019m still allergic to them.\u201d<\/p>
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