|
| |
| James
Murray talks about his role in major new ITV scifi series
Primeval.
JAMES PLAYS STEPHEN HART
“It was a great opportunity to be able to fulfil my James Bond boyhood fantasies, and run around with guns saving the day. Who isn’t going to enjoy that?”
James Murray is describing his new role as monster hunter and all-round good guy Stephen Hart who makes a habit of getting in the path of some seriously beastly opponents.
“When we first meet Cutter and Stephen, they are at the university where they work. They’ve just discovered a fossil of an ancient fish which no one even knew existed. It is clear right from the off that these guys are the best in their field of expertise, which is palaeontology and proving the existence of prehistoric creatures.
|
|
As they are returning to Cutter’s lab, they are met by Connor Temple who tells them there has been a creature sighting in the Forest of Dean. We discover that eight years previous Cutter’s wife, Helen, who was also a scientist, disappeared without a trace in pretty much the same place. Despite their misgivings, they go to investigate.
It becomes apparent very quickly that something rather out of the ordinary is going on in the woods and it’s no teddy bear’s picnic that’s for sure. The presence of two creatures from the past rampaging around the Forest is kind of the clincher to be honest! The team comes face to face with a Gorgonopsid and Scutersaurus who have arrived in the present through a rip in time called an anomaly. They are then thrown head long into the biggest adventure of their lives.”
Cutter and Stephen are obviously quite the double act. How would James describe the relationship between the two?
“He’s definitely Professor Cutter’s right-hand man both professionally and personally.
He provides the technical support, whether it’s in the lab or in the field. Wherever they are, whatever they are doing, Stephen is the guy who has got Nick’s back.
Stephen is much more the physical side of the machine. He’s the kind of guy who tends to act first, think later and to hell with the consequences. Cutter on the other hand is far more considered in his actions. He’s the strategist whereas Stephen is more impulsive.”
You get the impression these two have a great friendship and that there is real warmth there:
“Yes, absolutely. They are a bit of a double act and you can well imagine that they’ve spent many months on archaeological digs together, excavating grounds searching for answers. I’d bet that they’ve got themselves into places where they shouldn’t necessarily have been, but have used their charm and wit to talk themselves out of a host of tricky situations.
And it’s important to remember that when Cutter lost Helen, Stephen stayed with him and supported him emotionally. These are two guys who have known each other for many years and who have a huge amount of respect for each other. The bond is very strong.”
So we’ve learned how he relates to Cutter, but what are the unique skills that he brings to the team?
“Stephen is the boy-scout on the team and it’s his skills as a tracker that they really benefit from. He’s a bit David Attenborough and Ray Mears all rolled into one.”
Stephen is very much the archetypal hero who can do no wrong; is that something that Murray has enjoyed portraying?
“I really have. Absolutely. I’ve never done that before and that’s what attracted me to this project and this role. On the whole you don’t get much chance to do “shameless action hero” work, and that’s Stephen through and through. It also gave me the opportunity to do some real stunt work as well. It was just really great fun.”
The role gave the actor the opportunity to do some genuine stunt work, but just how much of what we see on screen is James, and what did he find the most difficult sequence to film?
“I would say 99% of what you see is me and while that might sound like a boast, it’s really not. There are no Tom Cruise type stunts going on. I’m not hurling myself from burning buildings onto helicopters attached to the back of high speed trains or anything.
It was predominantly a lot of running through woods or corridors either towards or away from some kind of creature. We all became rather expert at tumbling around and falling over. And while I realise that doesn’t sound too bad, if you’re doing it 20 times over before the director has decided they’ve got the right shot then it tends to get a bit wearing! And that’s when you’re in danger of hurting yourself. We had a great stunt co-ordinator on set to guide us through the really physical stuff though.
There’s a great sequence in the first episode where I’m being chased by a Gorgonopsid which is a ferocious rhino type creature. However it’s twice the size with twice the speed of your average rhino and Stephen has to lure it away from this school by making it angry. The chase starts in the school corridors and then moves out into the playground and then out again into the woods. I start on foot and then end up in our big truck racing through the forest. That whole sequence was fairly elaborate and was probably the most fun I’d say.”
Stephen doesn’t just rely on his physical strength to help the team out of difficult situations. Being something of a crack shot, his skills as a marksman are often called upon to save the day and there are a number of hair-raising moments when he quite literally finds himself in the firing line. How comfortable did James feel handling the firearms?
“Honestly, it was just great. I don’t care what anybody says, in every man there is an itching to fire a gun; it’s the old boys and their toys cliché, and I’m clearly no exception to the general rule. It was a great opportunity to be able to fulfil my James Bond boyhood fantasies, and run around with guns saving the day. Who isn’t going to enjoy that?
And it’s all done in a controlled environment, with guys on set the whole time. They would talk us through the mechanics of it all; show us how to stand, how to hold the guns, where to place our hands etc, it was really interesting. And of course they made sure that nobody other than the monsters bought it!”
|
| |
|
