An interview with Ed Speleers, the 18-year-old who plays the lead in the upcoming magical fantasy “Eragon”
Ed Speleers, the 18-year-old who plays the lead in the upcoming magical fantasy “Eragon” said that he was surprised to learn that production almost shut down because they didn't find a proper lead. "I heard about that well into the production, and I'm glad I didn't hear about it right away, it certainly would have added a lot more pressure," Speleers said.
The large-scale film project that would bring Christopher Paolini's fanciful novel to the big screen was almost scrapped, a 20th Century Fox spokesperson confirms, because they couldn't find the right guy to play the teenage lead. They were almost forced to shut down production because they wanted to find the right actor. Paolini wrote the book when he was 16, and has a trilogy of books planned. The story is about a farm boy who finds a blue stone that turns out to be a dragon's egg, and he becomes a magical hero.
Speleers didn't have any film experience, but performed in school plays, yet when director Stefen Fangmeier saw the blond Brit with blue eyes he thought he was perfect for the part. “I wasn't aware of the difficulty and it certainly would have put a lot of pressure on me, but I am used to dealing with a lot of pressure, I just didn't think about it,” Speleers said.
When he found out, while at school, his father called him and he was so excited he ran down the halls screaming in only his boxer shorts. “I was telling everybody 'I got the part, I got the part!' and then I realized that I had kept the audition a big secret so no one really knew what I was talking about anyway,” Speleer laughed.
Also starring Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou, John Malkovich and Robert Carlyle, “Eragon” is scheduled to open Dec. 15.
