Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and written by Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler, and Michael Robert Johnson, “Pompeii” stars Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Carrie-Anne Moss, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica Lucas, Jared Harris, and Kiefer Sutherland. The Source Magazine caught up with the cast at a press conference and they shared highlights from shooting the film, which hits theaters today!

 

Q: Tell us a about the actual shooting process for the movie.

Anderson: It was a delight, the actors were all very, very happy.

Harington: It was a delight! You always hope when you’re actor that you’re working around people that you get on with and I very much got on with these two sitting besides me and the others involved. It was weirdly theatrical, I found. I come from a theater background and being in one–we were in…essentially, we’d do some location work but we were in one big studio where they built all of these incredibly big sets, very intricate sets. It was very immersive, I found. It was very tough at times. The thing that…at times I’d be exhausted, I’d be physically drained and the thing that kept me going was that Paul was always there before me and after me which is incredibly annoying. But that’s what you want from your director, someone who is working harder than you so that you push yourself. I loved it, I really loved it. Me and [Emily] had some good banter so it was fun.

Browning: I think, honestly, to me shooting some of the second half of the film…I mean all of the ash and the wind and the sweat and the fire was pretty horrendous. We did have a cast that got along really well so it was nice that we were able to step away from the drama or sort of like…you know, with sort of grey skin, dropping with sweat, looking disgusting and we were able to kind of have a laugh together and it was really nice. I think it was a good bunch of people to go through hell with.

Anderson: Yeah, we did torture them. It was hard work with the ash and of course there’s nothing toxic about the ash, it’s perfectly safe. But the whole crew was wearing protective gear and it’s only the actors. And also, they had to really exert themselves. So they’re running around and they’re sword fighting and one of the things the guys didn’t mention about the swords is we used real metal swords in the movie as well. I wanted the reality of the fighting. Quite often in films when they do sword fighting now the actors have a hilt and then the blade is put in CG afterwards so the actors wave around and you don’t exert yourself properly and it doesn’t look real. So we had this guys really, with real metal blades, fighting in the ash and you can’t really see cause it’s getting in your eyes. And they…all three of our leads…we really tortured them. I never made any of them cry although they got close a couple of times.

Akinnuoye-Agbaje: I wanted to make a note of that. They were all metal blades. I fourth what everybody else said and also just what Kit said about the production and that they’re working hard or harder than you I have to say Wendy Partridge, our costume designer, who came up with these wonderful costumes and the moment you step into these things and see how much detail is gone into making and creating these costumes and sets you just get inspired and excited and, as Kit said, Paul’s energy. The frustrating thing is that whilst you’re going through this hell he’s always jolly and polite and you’re spent at the end of your tether and he’ll walk up and say, ‘Well that’s why you were doing all that hard training! One more please.’ It’s a very family atmosphere. He had his dog, his family around, and there’s a lot of camaraderie. And I think when you get to spend four months together or four and a half months together really pushing yourself to do great it really helps that people are likeable and people share the same vision. I fourth what everybody else has said. It was a really enjoyable process.

-Joshua Kaye

We also did an exclusive interview with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje about the film last year. Read more here:

http://thesource.com/2013/12/15/exclusive-interview-adewale-akinnuoye-agbaje-talks-thor-2-annie-pompeii/