Alexander Ludwig(Will Stanton)

Question: What was it like going to Romania for three and a half months to shoot Dark is Rising?

Alexander: It was an incredible experience. It was new and exotic. It was a great learning experience. The people there have so little and they want to give so much. I learned a lot as an actor and as a person.

Question: What did you do during your time off from filming?

Alexander: When I wasn’t filming, I was studying for filming (laughs). Or I was out with my mum or my dad – he’d come down for a bit – or with my acting coach. We would tour the city of Bucharest. I hung out a lot with Emma Lockhart, she plays my little sister Gwen in the movie and she reminded me so much of my little sister. It was really great having her there because we got on so well. It would have been a very different experience if she hadn’t been there.

Question: Have you read all the books in the Dark is Rising series?

Alexander: I tried to refrain from reading the books because there are some quite drastic differences between the screenplay and the book. For example, in the book I’m eleven and in the film I’m fourteen. Actually, there’s nothing too big, it’s just different – and I didn’t want to get caught up in the wrong thing.

Question:Your character Will discovers he has amazing powers in the movie…

Alexander: Well, when he turns 14, he is able to start searching for these six signs and he starts getting powers. They are called ‘powers of the light’. He can light stuff on fire, move objects with his mind,
summon great strength and he can travel through time.

Question: Which power would you choose in real life?

Alexander: That’s a good question. Probably moving objects with my mind. I mean, travelling through time, you wouldn’t want to screw anything up in the future. And I guess lighting stuff on fire can only lead to something bad! So, yes, moving objects with my mind.

Question: What are the six signs?

Alexander: There’s stone, bronze, iron, wood, fire and water. Christopher Eccleston the Rider follows me through time and he tries to get the signs before I do. But he needs me to get them because otherwise he can’t find them.

Question: Is that the correct order to unlock the website?

Alexander: You want to hear something funny? I tried to unlock the internet site and I couldn’t even get in! I had to ask the CGI guy what it was. I think it’s the order they are in the book.

Question: Has the excitement about this movie hit you yet?

Alexander: When I first saw the trailer in the movie theatre, now that was a cool experience. My heart started racing. I heard people behind me whispering: “I so want to go see that movie”, and then I stood up in the movie theatre and went: “I’m so going
to see that movie!”

Question: Do you have a favourite scene?

Alexander: I think one of my favourite scenes is definitely the Viking scene. That was a very cool scene to film. It was two days of absolute chaos! There were all these Romanians dressed up in huge Viking costumes.

Question: Did you get to do any cool stunts?

Alexander: There are a lot of cool stunts in the movie and the stunt co-ordinators were so nice. They said I was the only kid they’ve ever let do their own stunts. I get beat up by Chris Eccleston, who plays the Rider. He kicks me and I go like four feet up in the air. That was really fun. They attached a string to my harness and went “three, two, one” and then yanked a rope as hard as they could, I just went ‘bam!’ and shot up into the air. David Cunningham director loves to do all the stunts for real. So pretty much everything you see is real. He brought in 1,500 snakes from Czech Republic for a snake scene.

Question: One thousand five hundred real snakes?

Alexander: Yeah, Ian McShane who plays Merriman let the crew put a thousand snakes on him.
We had so much fun! Jim Piddock who plays George had to have snakes on him as well, but he was terrified, I mean terrified of them – so he was freaking out of his mind!

Question: What other crazy stuff did David do?

Alexander: He dumped seven tons of water into a mansion. I mean, usually people would use CGI for that, but David wanted to do it for real. He even set the big manor house in the movie on fire. Before we left Romania, he was like: “You know what? Let’s burn it. We can use it in the movie” and he did. It was
hilarious.

Question: How was it working with David Cunningham?

Alexander: The way David films is so new. You’ll never see him with less than three cameras. In one battle scene, he was shooting with seven cameras at once. He got over 14 hours of footage for that scene. It’s insane.

Question: So, back to the snakes – are they part of the ‘dark’?

Alexander: Yes, they are part of the dark.

Question: What is the ‘dark’ exactly?

Alexander: The dark is all about manipulation. The dark is pretty much all that is evil on earth. It’s the evil inside everyone, the evil outside everyone, it’s just everything – and Christopher Eccleston the Rider represents the dark.

Question: And the dark is rising?

Alexander: Let me try to explain. Basically, a thousand years ago there was this big battle between the light and the dark, and the light prevailed – but the dark was never destroyed. So the dark is rising again and when the seeker comes of age (me) the dark starts rising even more and it’s my job to find the six signs to restore the light so we can fight the dark. It’s a big responsibility, especially for a 14-year old! (Laughs) At the very end of the movie, you will see the dark actually rising and then there’s a big battle, which is totally wicked and you guys are going to love it. I’m so pumped!

Question: What was it like working with Christopher Eccleston?

Alexander: Oh! He is fantastic, so cool. I remember when I met him for the first time, we had a meeting together in Romania and he was talking about the Rider and how the subtleties of the Rider make him so powerful and his vision for the Rider was exactly how I pictured him. He’s given me so much good advice. It was such an honour to work with so many talented actors on this film. Ian McShane, Chris Eccleston, Francis Conroy. They were all so amazing. They are such generous actors.

Question: Christopher Eccleston presumably had a lot of scenes with horses?

Alexander: Yes, he was really good with the horse. I heard that on the first day the horse kind of jolted, but in the scenes I did with him, he was up on the horse and loving it.

Question: Did you get to ride a horse?

Alexander: I really, really wanted to because I love horses and I ride them whenever I can. We’ll go gallop like crazy at home in Canada. But no, I didn’t get to ride in Romania because I was under contract. I can’t get hurt…

Question: Was it hard to keep up with your schoolwork in Romania?

Alexander: It was really tough to juggle schoolwork with the movie. Especially when I did an emotional scene or something that requires a lot of strength – or ‘mind power’ – I guess you could say. It’s really hard to transition straight over to studying science or maths. I actually got quite far behind with my schoolwork. So, in the summer I took a month catch-up course in Scotland and Oxford and I got a year ahead in English.

Question: How have your friends reacted to your success?

Alexander: It’s really hard to find true friends that stick by you all the time no matter what, good or bad. And you really start to notice who your good friends are when you do something like this. Everyone’s been so supportive, it’s ridiculous. I really have the best friends, and the best family.

Question: What are you going to spend all your hard-earned cash on?

Alexander: Believe it or not, it wasn’t that much money. For me, it’s all about the experience – not the money. This isn’t a job to me. If anything, it’s a hobby. My money is being saved up to go to a great college – that’s a main priority for me. And I’m saving up for a car, of course, because next year I’m driving! So cool.

Question: What kind of car?

Alexander: Well, I love to ski. Ski-ing is a major sport for my whole family and we go up to Whistler every weekend. So it’s really important that I get
something I can fit all my skis in to and that I can drive on icy roads. So, probably a 4x4. My dream car would be a 2000 Lexis 4x4 – and I want to make it a
convertible. Something a little bit different!

Question: So ski-ing is your main hobby?

Alexander: I was brought up ski-ing. I started when I was seventeen months-old, and I was ski-ing double black diamonds by the time I was five. You feel so free. I love it. The type of ski-ing I do is called ‘big mountain ski-ing’. Actually, before I did the movie I was in a competition. They give you a run with a bunch of cliffs on it and you pick the way you want to go down it, and you get judged on how high the cliffs are, what you jump, what tricks you do, fluidity... It’s really fun. My biggest cliff so far is 25 feet but I want to jump a 35 foot one.

Question: Any other sports?

Alexander: Kickboxing, Jujitsu and hockey. Oh and I love surfing. I do it whenever I can – in
California and Hawaii.

Question: Are you into sporty girls?

Alexander: Yes. I want someone who’s athletic and out there and ready to go – someone who’ll try new things. I don’t have a girlfriend right now because it wouldn’t be fair – I’ve been away so much this year, it’s been ridiculous. But hopefully I can find a girlfriend. I’d like someone who is really kind, smart, funny and a fun person to be around.

Question: Someone who can keep up with you?

Alexander: Yes – which would be very hard to find. (Laughs)

Question: What’s next?

Alexander: I’m actually meeting with a producer and director over an independent film. I really like the script and I don’t know whether it will do good or bad, but I don’t care. I just want to play this role. It’s not a fantasy film. It’s actually the exact
opposite.


Dark Is Rising is released in cinemas nationwide
on October 19th.