‘Immortals’ – Henry Cavill and Tarsem Singh

On July 23rd, Relativity Media brought the cast of Immortals and director Tarsem Singh to the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con to show off new footage from the 3D swords and sorcerers epic and talk to potential ticket buyers about the film’s upcoming November 11, 2011 release. Immortals stars the next Superman, Henry Cavill, as Theseus, a peasant chosen by the gods to lead the battle against the evil King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke). Cavill was on hand to discuss the film, along with his co-stars Kellan Lutz (Poseidon), Stephen Dorff (Stavros), Luke Evans (Zeus), and Freida Pinto (Phaedra).

Showing off never-before-screened fight footage of the film’s heroes in action against various creatures, director Singh was quick to point out to the crowd that his film is actually darker than the previously released trailer would indicate. And according to the film’s producers, what will set this movie apart from others of its ilk is Tarsem’s visual style.

After taking to the stage for the fan Q&A, Cavill and Singh sat down with members of the press to further discuss this 3D tale of Greek gods and CGI blood. Cavill was teamed up with his director for our interview which delves into how the script evolved, the film’s tone, fighting with swords, and Cavill’s process of preparing physically for the role. Cavill also answered a couple of Superman questions (because, after all, this interview was done at Comic-Con and it would have been impossible to ignore the fact Cavill’s the new Man of Steel).

Henry Cavill and Tarsem Singh Interview:

How was the Hall H panel experience?

Tarsem Singh: “It was a strange, lovely experience. It was wonderful, just looking out into the void of darkness. I kept saying to Henry that it felt like watching porn. You don’t know if there are weirdos out there or some cute chicks. You keep answering questions and waiting for a response.”

Henry Cavill: “No comment.”

Tarsem Singh: “You’re talking to Clark Kent here. He’s a straight guy.”

Henry, what was the appeal of a project like this?

Henry Cavill: “When you’re growing up as a boy, the idea of playing a sword-wielding hero and beating up the bad guys is always a fun thing, and you get to play it in the big leagues and for real and get the real costumes on and have all the special effects. But, ultimately, it was down to Tarsem.

Reading the script, it had a few kinks in it initially, but Tarsem’s vision was the one thing that sold me on it, and his passion for it. Even if Tarsem came to me with a piece of wood and pretended it was a script and said, ‘No really, I’m really passionate about this,’ he would be able to sell me on it, and it would be an amazing piece of wood.”

What changed to make it better?

Tarsem Singh: “It was much worse than that. Henry is being very nice and saying it was a kink, but there was practically nothing there. So, when we started, I just said, ‘I need to find somebody who I think, when the script works, can act. And, I want an unknown.’ Not that Henry was unknown, but I think he was to the rest of the world at that time. So, when I went to meet him, we had one scene, and that’s all it was. All I did was have him read the scene, and he read it perfectly, and I told him, ‘It was all wrong, read it another way.’ He did that and I told him, ‘You were better earlier.’ He came back and I realized he could go where I wanted, so I went back to the studio and said, ‘We don’t really have a script.’

When we started, he was a king’s son, and now he’s a peasant. I said, ‘Whatever you change, I think he can act it.’ I was just looking for a guy who, no matter where we went, could make it work, and that was Henry. But he’s being nice when he says kink. We just had one scene.”

How did you approach the costume design, especially with some of the helmets that don’t look like traditional Greek?

Tarsem Singh: “The movie is not traditional Greek. When it started, I was thinking it might be much more like Baz Luhrmann doing Romeo & Juliet in Mexico. It’s supposed to be Greek time with electricity. As we started, they tried to tell me, “If you stay closer to the Greek stuff and you don’t have any of these things, you will have a much bigger audience.” But I wasn’t interested in making a straight Greek.

Then, I think you’d end up with exactly what 300 had, and I was going much more towards just having fantasy fun with it. Theseus (Henry Cavill) never had any fights with Gods. He wasn’t, at all, at war with the Gods. We were mixing the two stories, so I said, “Why not go the whole hog and just do what you want to do?”

What’s the overall tone of the film?

Tarsem Singh: “Fun and dark and lovely and sexy and violent.”

Henry Cavill: “Violent and sexy shouldn’t be put together.”

Tarsem Singh: “No?”

Henry Cavill: “No.”

Tarsem Singh: “Haven’t you seen Discovery Channel? The animals are always eating each other, and they’re mating. It’s violent and sexy. I watch it all the time.”

Tarsem, if there was no real working script for this film, what brought you to the project?

Tarsem Singh: “I had a thing that I was interested in, and once I met Henry, I just said, ‘Everything needs to fall around him.’ And then, all the Gods became young. When it started, I started with it for a selfish reason. I wanted to do a story on, ‘If Gods exist, why is the world as miserable as it is?’ I started with that theme, but you’re in trouble if you deal with any modern religion. You’ll get stoned in some countries, and you’ll get killed in others. So, if you pick a dead religion like the Greeks, all you’ll get is people bitching about you on the Internet and I was fine with that.”

Henry Cavill: “That’s going to happen anyway.”

Tarsem Singh: “So, I just turned it Greek because of that. I was interested in the subject matter of, ‘If Gods exist, why don’t they show up on the White House lawn and say, ‘Be nice to each other.’ I needed to find a reason for them, and I found it, and I think a minuscule of it is still left in the movie.”

Tarsem, you mentioned that 3D goes well with your style. Why is that?

Tarsem Singh: “It tends to be not very fast, cutty and tableau-y.”

Does it help give depth to the very painterly type of images you like?

Tarsem Singh: “Yes. I wasn’t interested in poking your eye out, even though occasionally it helps. For me, when I was making those tableaus, it was wonderful. I went for Caravaggio paintings. Of course, Caravaggio’s paintings aren’t particularly 3D, but for the first time, the Renaissance figured depth out. They got the perspective right. To see a flat image in 3D is all wrong, but right now, whatever we feel works for you is what the convention will make it go far.

It was great having 3D because I needed at least a year and a half to finish the movie, and they told me I had the time. I said no to it on Snow White, the next film that I am doing. I had these guys and I had to make it look great, as long as someone didn’t tell me, ‘Now, do all the modern stuff that’s hip.l What I do tends to look very dated. It just comes with the territory. But, fortunately, it’s very 3D friendly.”

Immortals Star Henry Cavill
Henry Cavill in ‘Immortals’ (Photo © Relativity Media)

Henry, what was the physical training like, to prepare for this, and how did it get you ready to play Superman?

Henry Cavill: “The physical training was extensive and exhausting. I think I was doing 9 to 5, at one stage, with the training. You certainly learn a lot when you go through that process once. You learn about how to do it more efficiently the second time. Although I’ve had a trainer both times, it’s a very different kind of thing for this next job (Superman).

For example, I’m 25 pounds heavier now than I was in Immortals. That is enough said, really. It’s prepared me mentally. When you have that negotiation, when you’re training, and you get to that rep which is difficult, and you know you’ve got 10 more reps to go in that one set, and another five sets after that, and you say, ‘I don’t really have to do this. I can do something else. If I just put the weights down and have a bit more rest, it will be fine.’ It teaches you how to negotiate and win the negotiation and how to notice the lie in your head, which is, ‘Oh, it hurts it’s dangerous,’ as opposed to, ‘Yeah, it hurts, but that’s good.’ As my new trainer says, it doesn’t have to be fun to be fun. That’s very telling.”

Tarsem Singh: “I tell that to my girlfriend all the time. She doesn’t listen to me.”

Did getting to play with swords live up to your fantasies as a kid?

Henry Cavill: “Oh yeah, very much so, especially when you win all the time.”

Did you have to learn archery to use a bow?

Henry Cavill: “There were no extensive archery lessons, no. I did on The Tudors. I had a very brief three hours of archery at one stage.”

Tarsem Singh: “I saw the scene, and I remember Henry correcting us on it. We only had one bow scene and it looks like he’s an expert. He’s always fighting with different weapons, but I remember when we gave him the bow, he said, ‘I wouldn’t hold it like this.’ Suddenly, it was designed for a left-hander. I was like, ‘It’s a movie, Henry, just pull the damn thing.'”

What do you think the appeal is for this type of story with modern audiences? Why will people connect with it?

Tarsem Singh: “What, sexy Gods fighting each other?”

Henry Cavill: “That’s a good point. What will the audience like?”

Tarsem Singh: “For me, I’m very rarely interested in genres. As long as I feel I can put my DNA out there in the ideology, it works for me. That was basically it. I started with it being something else, and it turned into Greek. I don’t particularly care so much for serial killer films, but I’ve done one. And, I don’t like fairy tales, but I’m doing one. I just look at it and say, ‘Can I say something in this, and will the people giving me $100 million let me?’ If it’s a personal film, sure, you can say whatever you want. But, on something like this, am I ready to let them put enough milk in my coffee and still think it’s my coffee? That’s what you try to judge when you fight with people. So far, I’m very glad about the film the way it is. There’s very little milk in it.”

Henry, what’s it like for you now, with all this attention that’s on you? Is it something that you’re able to just tune out and focus on the work, or is it hard to not be distracted by it?

Henry Cavill: “You make a choice, whether you focus on the – and I hate the word – celebrity aspect of it or not. I have chosen not to. I know I can’t make everyone happy, but I know I can do the most justice I can possibly do to a character, or any character if I put my all into it. That’s the choice you have to make.”

While he was at Comic-Con, Andrew Garfield spoke about the awesome responsibility of stepping into the Spider-Man costume. Are you thinking about that with Superman?

Henry Cavill: “It’s very humbling to be chosen to represent such an enormous character with so much depth to it as well, but at the same time, it’s a true honor. I want to do justice to the character, and I want to be the right guy for the job. I want to prove them right, much like Zeus.”