Headline : Alexander Ludwig Interview – The Seeker
By : Kyle Braun @ UGO

Back in May of this year, UGO traveled to Romania to get the early goods on The Seeker: The Dark is Rising. Despite the crazy heat wave that was sweeping across Europe at the time, a cinematic concoction of Romanian crews and English workers pressed on to build the set of the film’s Great Hall, the location of the epic battle between the forces of good and evil. Standing at the front line was Canadian-born Alexander Ludwig, who plays Will Stanton, the one character that can save the world.

At 13, Ludwig was like a kid in a candy store amid the many larger than life set pieces. With his parents close at hand, Alexander walked around the set with a smile and confidence you don’t see every day. Having landed a lead role in The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, Ludwig is now poised to join the elite club of child actors as the film readies for its big screen release. While the workers hammered away on the sets, Alexander caught up to us for an interview about the The Seeker: The Dark is Rising and what it’s like to be a young actor in such a huge film.

UGO: How did you land a role that thousands of kids must have auditioned for?

ALEXANDER LUDWIG: I heard they had been casting around North America and Europe for a while. I first got called for an audition, so… I ended up doing about eight auditions, and eventually I get called, and they say, “Get on the phone with the vice president of Fox casting.” So I’m on the phone with him and I went over my lines with him, and then I did another couple auditions. Then they flew me down to L.A., which was cool because I had never been to L.A. before, and it was my first time I’d ever stayed overnight in L.A. I was flown down by a major studio, which was fantastic… I did my auditions, and me and my mom went out shopping, waiting – I was really nervous and was trying to get my mind off things. One day, I was trying to buy a nice shirt because I was going to a meeting with my other agent, and I was changing in the changing room. While I was in there, my mom comes up to me and says, ‘Alexander! Alexander! Your Vancouver agent is on the phone! I’ll put her on speaker phone.’ So I have no shirt on, the speaker phone comes on right by the door, and she goes, ‘You got the part.’ I run out screaming, laughing, without a shirt, and all the people in the mall are telling me to be quiet. It was fantastic.

UGO: What were your first thoughts of the script?

ALEXANDER: Ever since I read that script, I knew that part was for me. Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted super powers. It’s just the coolest thing ever. I couldn’t want it more. I’ve never wanted a script more than this one, and I knew it was for me. I’m so happy I got it. There were millions of kids that were dying to have this role, and I’m just so fortunate to be here.

UGO: When did acting become your passion?

ALEXANDER: Ever since I was a little kid I was always interested in how the movie magic was made. I watched James Bond movies and I didn’t understand how they got shot. I thought it was actually real people that had been on Death Row or something, the way they had to die. I never really understood how that happened. Eventually, I wanted to get into acting and my parents, my whole family, have been so supportive. Of course, they were a bit nervous to get me into acting as a child. They never know if that’s going to change my personality or hurt me in any way. But my mom has been an actress before, so she set me up with her agent, who is my agent now as well, and since I was nine years old, I’ve been acting and I love it. I’ve been having so much fun, and it’s definitely something I’ll pursue as I move on and as I get older.

UGO: Do you ever feel pressure as you go through the process?

ALEXANDER: Every day, really, but I just think about how fortunate I am to be here, and it all just goes away, because I’m so lucky. Of course there’s pressure when you go to auditions. When we went to L.A., we were waiting a while and we were afraid they were shopping around for another actor, so that was some serious pressure there. They were like, ‘Don’t think about the script,’ but I couldn’t help it, so it was just this craziest thing. Luckily it worked, but you never know in the movie business. There are other things, like when I’m here, I juggle school and shooting a movie, and it gets really stressful. But I can’t wait for this movie to come out. It’s going to be amazing, and David Cunningham is incredible. He’s one of the best director’s I’ve ever worked with. It’s David Cunningham at his best. The only flaw that I can see in David Cunningham is that he’s not already the biggest director in Hollywood, because he will be.

UGO: How does David guide you through a scene to get the specific performance he’s looking for?

ALEXANDER: When I first got here, I was really nervous about meeting David because you and the director have to have great chemistry. He brought me in for a meeting, and I was really nervous about meeting him, but we met and I totally envisioned what he envisioned. It was the exact same thing. It was fantastic, and David never snaps. I’ve never seen him snap once. He is the most calm director in the world. Whenever I’m getting stressed out, he’s always there to calm you down, and he’s shooting seven cameras at a time, or five cameras at a time, but he’s always so calm. I’ve never met a director like him before. When everyone is stressed out on set, he’s the only one calming everybody down.

UGO: When did it sink in that you were going to star in a Hollywood movie?

ALEXANDER: To tell you the truth, it never has. Not yet. I figured when I did the water scene – actually, it did hit me already. It’s such a dream come true, that you’d never, ever think that this would ever happen to me. But I was waist deep in water at the time, with the most beautiful woman in the world. She’s such a great girl, Amelia Warner, she’s such a fantastic actress, and it’s been great working with her. And working with Jonathan Jackson, it hit me. I go, ‘Oh my God, I’m starring in a movie, The Dark is Rising.’ It’s fantastic, and it’ll probably fully hit me when I’m at the premiere and when it’s already finished. I’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I did this.’

UGO: Did you read the books?

ALEXANDER: No, I never even knew about the books until I got the movie part. I try to refrain from reading the books, only because I’m doing the movie off the screenplay, not the books, so I don’t want to get confused with it. There are some things that I’m able to say didn’t happen in the books – actually, I think there are quite a few changes, like he’s 11 in the book, but 14 in the movie. So I’ve tried to stay awake from that, but I’m really excited to read them.

UGO: What’s it like working on the huge sets with so many cool special effects?

ALEXANDER: It’s amazing. I’ve never done anything like it. The stunts and special effects are incredible. I think tomorrow or the next day, the roof of the Great Hall is going to collapse, and special effects have done a great job. Everything they are doing is incredible, like with the fire I can get so close to it. I can experience it to the fullest. Stunt-wise, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do most of my own stunts. The only stunts that I haven’t done are when I have to get near fire, or when there’s like a huge, 40-ft drop. But most of those pulley scenes, where I get pulled up and hit a pad, or I roll down a hill, I did them all. I wanted to be able to do my own stunts because it’s fun. It’s really fun and I’m really excited.

UGO: How do you balance school work with starring in a movie, being in Romania, and being away from all of your friends?

ALEXANDER: It’s really just everybody being so supportive. When I first saw these actors acting in a movie, I never understood how hard it was. You know, it looked like they just came on stage and said a few lines. That was when I was nine years old. Now I know, you have to get in the moment and really deliver. Nobody will ever understand how hard it is unless they are actually doing it. To me, this isn’t a job. It’s not about the money, it’s a hobby, this is my life, and I love what I’m doing and I love doing it. This and skiing, it’s what I love to do.