New Craig Horner interview at starpulse.com
Craig Horner Talks ‘Legend of the Seeker’, Bilbo Baggins ‘Hobbit’ Rumors And More
In the mid 1990’s, Sam Raimi (yes, that Sam Raimi) brought us the silly-but-fun TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. The show was later outdone by its own spin-off, Xena: Warrior Princess. What followed got a bit ugly: The syndicated television schedule was soon flooded with copy-cat fantasy shows that could not come close to matching the (ahem) quality of “Hercules” or “Xena.” Soon, this genre imploded on itself and it was gone.
The syndicated fantasy genre is now back. Legend of the Seeker — a less humorous, more straight on action entry — is brought to us by, well, yes, Sam Raimi. The star of the show — Craig Horner, calling in from on location in New Zealand — talks to us about his character, Richard Cypher, the American accent he uses on the show, and some pesky Internet rumors about his involvement in Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro’s “The Hobbit.”
Mike: I was watching [Legend of the Seeker] and I think with Sam Raimi involved [as producer] — especially when you think back to Hercules and Xena — it was surprising with the lack of campy humor. There’s no Kevin Sorbo winking at the camera after a big fight; it seems a very much more straight forward approach.
Craig: I’ll admit, as an actor I was kind of a little bit worried about that. Although those shows were very successful — they really found a niche — they were really what the entertainment industry needed in terms of fantasy a that time. It needed that “let’s not take ourselves too seriously” vibe. If they tried to do that again, especially with such a respected book — The Sword of Truth — I think it would have had a negative effect. It would have lost its fans.
It had to have some integrity and sincerity about it. And as an actor that’s awesome. You don’t really want to be thinking, “Oh, I’m just in this camp fantasy show.”
Mike: In the first episode, one scene that did make me laugh — and only because I pictured producers sitting around a table saying, “How do we bring in the female demographic? I know, when we introduce Craig’s character we’ll have him chopping wood … shirtless.”
Craig: (Laughs) I know, right? Well, I think it had to be something that was a bit Richard Cypherish. It had to establish he was basically just a simple kind of woods guy that built bridges with his bare hands. And I don’t know, sure, if I’m working out I’ll take my shirt off when it gets hot (laughs).
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