| Mark
Benton talks about the incredible thriller why-dunnit Fallen Angel
Mark plays Eddie
When Mark Benton first read the part of Eddie in Fallen Angel he immediately wanted to do it, but wasn’t sure if he could.
I just didn’t know how to play a part like that, which is a great challenge for an actor, he explains.
Whats really interesting is the ambiguity of the character. Is he a paedophile? Does he want to hurt Lucy? We imply his intentions but want to keep the audience guessing right until the end. What’s interesting to me is seeing whether the audience has any sympathy with this character, who has a lot of darkness within him.
|
|
|
Mark says he had visions of Quasimodo when he was working out the character of Eddie because he was a monster with a heart.
Says Mark: The director said something very interesting to me, that Eddie was Frankenstein’s monster. He is obviously a lonely guy, who lived with his mother until Angel comes to lodge with them. He’s easily manipulated and after she dispensed with his mother, Angel took over his life and led him easily along the path she wanted to follow.
There was a real subtlety to his actions where this little girl Lucy is involved and the smallest touch becomes a massively big deal. It is very emotional. But I think he gets his salvation at the end. He pays his penance.
Mark had to learn magic for some of his scenes with Jade Sharif, who plays Lucy. He says: I had a magician come round to the house to teach me some tricks and I was amazed by him. He showed me a ball trick and a card trick, which I couldn’t get the hang of, so I ended up making these little balls disappear for Jade when we were filming this very poignant scene. She didn’t know it was about to happen so her reaction is natural. It also lightened what was a pretty horrible subject matter.
|
