In the SyFy miniseries Neverland Rhys Ifans takes on the iconic role of Captain Hook, with a twist.
The story reveals how Hook began his life in the back alleys of Dickensian london, running a fencing school where he presided over a gang of young pickpockets, lead by Peter Pan (Charlie Rowe).
When he and his boys are transported to Neverland during a daring theft, Hook discovers a way he can take revenge on the London elite; but his lust for power leads him into a fateful clash with Peter.
On their adventure they meet another power-hungry Captain named Elizabeth Bonny (Anna Friel) and her band of pirates, who changes Peter and Jimmy's relationship forever.
The adventure brought Ifans and Friel together off-screen too, which may help explain his more mellow outlook, on show below, as the Welsh actor discusses playing one of the greatest literary villains of all time...
What attracted you to Neverland?
Loads of different reasons. I consider projects very deeply, but there's always a point in your life where there's a bit of randomity. I was living in Majorca on an island so I was surrounded by the sea and had been, I guess, living a kind of pirate's existence for a summer. The script came along and revisiting a very traditional tale and the idea of a prequel was very interesting to me. I found it really fascinating that Nick had chosen to explore how these characters would arrive at the story we're all familiar with.
Did you grow up with the story of Peter Pan?
No, I wasn't read it. I'm Welsh. We didn't do Peter Pan. We have far more ancient legends to be put to sleep with. But of course I was familiar with Peter Pan and I knew the story inside out, as we all do, or we think we do. I think that's what's interesting about Neverland. It kind of reminds us that we maybe we don't know it that well.
What was it about Jimmy's character that you found so intriguing?
Hook is such a wonderful villain, but I thought it was interesting to explore the way that no one is born bad. I was interested in seeing what might have driven Hook to become Hook. At the beginning of Neverland he's an Edwardian gentleman, although he's been forced to live on the periphery of society. I saw his becoming a pirate as a coming of age. In the same way that Peter Pan visits the foothills of manhood, Hook finds himself in a place where, liberated of all the oppression of Edwardian England, he becomes like a Hell's Angel or a hippy.
I like the idea of him meeting a woman who is totally liberated. A woman like Bonny would never have existed in Edwardian England. She'd be in an asylum or in prison. So he's presented with this free world where everything is possible and where you live forever, and a beautiful woman who in one way liberates him and on the other hand unhinges him. My feeling is that he isn't destroyed by Neverland, but he is liberated by it. But the friction between what he's left behind and what he's discovered is what I found interesting.
Did you find working with the green screen a challenge?
It's not new to me; I've done a lot of it before. I don't have a problem with green screen at all. I think children invented CGI. We invent worlds. A stick can become a sword. Or a bowl of stones can become a bowl of tomatoes. That's what children do and that's what CGI enables us to do. So you just enter into that and it's not a problem at all.
Did you check out other famous Hook performances like Dustin Hoffman's in Hook?
Yeah, I'd seen 'em all. It was like stepping into old boots, but they're very different. Hook in the original has a function and there is that whole father/son friction with him and Peter. But it's kind of on the surface, which gives the original story its power. Neverland strips it of all that and leaves it 21st century, psychoanalytically correct, without digging too deep.
Did you find it easy to strike up chemistry with Charlie?
He's a brilliant actor and I saw him grow as an actor during the making of Neverland. Because it was pretty much chronologically shot as much as we could. He's just an amazing presence on screen and I got to know him as a kid who's slowly becoming a young man. I love working with kids because they play. But he thought like an actor, he wasn't a kid who Nick had found who was right for this role and then wouldn't be an actor after this. He works like an actor and has the professionalism of an actor, which is just an astounding quality.
He has his head well screwed on. He has brilliant parents, which I think is so important when you're starting out that young. I can't imagine what it must be like to start out on this level of exposure, I don't know if I could have handled it. It was so important that Peter Pan was right. I can go as crazy as I want as Hook, but it was important that he had a certain quality, and it's amazing because some of the scenes I did with him are heart-breaking. When you work with someone who is that young and so open, there's no acting required, the scene just takes care of itself.
If there was a sequel to Neverland, would you want to pursue the role further?
No, I think I've pursued it far enough. Dustin Hoffman has done the rest for me!
Can you relate to Peter Pan as a character?
Well, I've tried flying several times, and it worked for about two feet but you end up by a fire escape! But I'm interested in the whole debate of living forever and what that presents us with morally. I have no answers, but I love how that debate is scattered throughout this.
It is a 21st-century take on Peter Pan. And there are big questions in there, but it's also really good family entertainment.
Have you consciously sought out roles in family films?
No. Well, I guess in some ways, because I don't have kids myself and most of my friends have kids. I'm a godfather several times over, so there is a bit of me where, if there's a gap between the heavy drug-taking movies that I do, I think, oh god, I better do something that my godchildren can actually watch! I have no pretence about that at all. I honed my passion for acting in theatre and education and I think it's important not to belittle the child audience. I want to tell a story. I grew up in a household where I was read a story every night by my father or my mother, and so I know how important story telling is, and that's my draw.
Neverland is released on Blu-ray and DVD on 28th May courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox. Home Entertainment