Henry cavill
The actor takes on the role of the witcher again in the second season of ‘The Witcher’, which is coming to Netflix today
“Bringing characters like Superman or Geralt de Rivia to life is both a privilege and a responsibility, but, first of all, a responsibility. They are characters very loved by the public, so you make sure that at least most of your followers are happy and if they are happy, well, that’s great, because I have become a little custodian of these two characters ». Says it the actor Henry Cavill, who returns to put himself in the shoes of the sorcerer Geralt of Rivia for the second season of ‘The Witcher’, available today on Netflix.
Based on the fantasy books of the Polish Andrzej Sapkowski, fiction had a complicated ballot in its first batch of episodes, as many viewers saw it as the natural successor to ‘Game of Thrones’. They were never, however, the intentions of Lauren Schmidt, his ‘showrunner’, who opted for a somewhat less serious and more festive tone, where humor and monsters had a greater presence.
The series follows in the footsteps of this lonely monster hunter, with long gray hair, who in his struggle to find his place in the world, ends up crossing his destiny with those of Yennefer, a powerful sorceress played by Anya Chalotra, and Cirilla, a young princess who, little by little, seems to be accepting the power she has within, embodied by Freya Allan. Cavill says that in this second season “Cirilla will be the key that will help Geralt unlock his protective vein.” “It will help him to be more the same than ever,” he insisted last Friday at the Four Seasons hotel in Madrid, a setting that served as the presentation of the second season to a score of journalists.
As sturdy as he is kind and polite, Cavill was advancing what will be the evolution of a character whom he came to through stubbornness and who he pursued “even before the project was a reality.” A player since his earliest childhood, the actor knew Geralt de Rivia not through the writer’s books, but through the three video games about the character that CD Projekt RED, a studio also of Polish origin, has been publishing since 2007. «I was impressed the richness of that world, which was full of nuances, was an incredible and wonderful universe. I read the books afterwards and I loved them because I saw that all that complexity grew even more inside there ”, he details.
So when he learned that Netflix had secured the rights to adapt Sapkowski’s work, his agent contacted the platform. “They told me that they didn’t have a series yet but that they would contact me. It was there when I met Lauren, but she turned me down for the role and they started looking for other options, “he acknowledges. Cavill, however, did not cease in his efforts and was finally able to show his talent in a second casting that assured him a character that he loves: “One of the things that impresses me the most about him is that when you meet him, he cheats on you, and when you go deeper, you realize that he is a very special person, with great wisdom.
Cavill’s maxim when bringing the character to life has been to always keep the reference material in mind, “trying to be true to the story and do the book justice.” Thus, he campaigned to present “the most intellectual and profound part of the character, all his wisdom, and endow it with greater three-dimensionality.” His was the decision in season one to make the character more silent. «I knew that in the books he was more talkative, but it seemed to me that introducing small dialogues was not going to project the most intelligent part and he knew that I had perceived. I was also interested in each person, when seeing it, take their own impression and build the character, “he says.
The role of fans
Aware that some old-school fans “just missed these nuances,” viewers will now see a more talkative and active Geralt. «I read what the fans say and it seems important to me to do it, from the most positive to the most negative, and I try to stay with constructive criticism. There are a lot of people out there who know this universe and I have read some really good suggestions, “he says.
The filming of this second season has not been without problems. Subjected to a strong physical preparation – “although he had already done wrestling and sword, they are knowledge that has to be refreshed because that is where you give the character his own style, with traditional elements and new techniques,” he says, he injured his tendon. during filming and took six months to recover. «I had to carry crutches for a long time. When I was able to stop, by medical prescription I could only stand five hours a day, but that is not compatible with filming a series, so sometimes I spent seven hours. Many of those scenes I shared with Freya and you cannot imagine how much it helped me.
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