Photo:hindustantimes
As someone who has made a space for himself in Hollywood by playing the Superman and a rogue CIA agent in ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout’, Henry Cavill is not afraid of long-term commitment to fantasy drama ‘The Witcher’, which marks his streaming debut.
Cavill actively pursued the role of Geralt of Rivia, a supernaturally-gifted beast hunter in the Netflix series, based on the books and stories of Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, the fantasy show started streaming on Netflix from Friday. It has already been renewed for a second season by the streamer.
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"I don't mind long-term commitments. It would be wonderful if that happens (multiple seasons). Geralt is a very important character for me and I'm a huge fan of the IP (Intellectual Property). If fans enjoy what we are providing, then I'll be very excited to play Geralt for many years," Cavill told PTI in an exclusive interview from Manila.
The 36-year-old actor said fantasy was one of the reasons for him to take up the role. "I've been a fan of the fantasy genre ever since I was a boy. I've been reading it ever since I learned how to read. There are eight fantastic books on which we are basing our series on and there are stories off the book. There is a huge amount of material and all of it fantastic to play."
‘The Witcher’ follows the intertwined destinies of three individuals in the vast world of The Continent, where different creatures battle to survive and thrive, and where good and evil is not easily identified. Cavill leads the cast as Geralt alongside Anya Chalotra as Yennefer and Freya Allan as Ciri.
"Geralt is actually a big softie. He has belief in people. He believes in a great world and he's very much a white knight on the inside but his exterior is something that he has built over the years, over the decades to actually protect him from the world which he is exists in," the actor said.
As someone who likes to be actively involved with his action sequences rather than use a stunt double, Cavill said he found a great partner in fight coordinator Wolfgang Stegemann. The British star believes there is always some danger in doing stunts but it also gives one the opportunity for an actor to be a part of the action sequence. A fight sequence at the end of the first episode of ‘The Witcher’ has been singled out by the critics as one of the best sword scenes in recent times.
"It is important for me that the character exists within the action. I have been doing sword work so I was quite comfortable with it and a lot of the moves were instinctively coming to me but with Wolfgang, he is such a wonderful partner to do the storytelling through action. You will see two very different sides of Geralt's personality and character coming through in that fight scene, the actor said.
"Yes, there are some dangers to it (action) but it's exciting for me to explore as an actor. We try to keep it as safe as possible on the set. It's just an opportunity for the character to exist within the action, which is vitally important and something that I enjoy doing," he added.
