He cites Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s involvement with the Cottingley Fairies as an example, a series of faked photographs showing young cousins Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths playing with fairies, that captured the public’s imagination when he used them to illustrate an article he wrote in 1920. He was drawn to the project by ‘that strange reaction against the scientific ethos of Darwinism and ‘God is dead’, and lends that extra weight to credulity and a belief – a fascination – with the occult and spiritualism’ around the turn of the twentieth century. His latest central role in Stephen Hall’s period horror The Gates is rather a shift in tone, as Rhys-Davies plays post-mortem photographer turned paranormal investigator Frederick Ladbroke. We were doing one, but Garry Marshall died and that was a great shame – what a lovely man, what a lovely director. ‘I introduced to Chris Pine the other day at a fan convention and Chris and I were talking because there are rumours still of doing a third one. The star, who played Chris Pine’s uncle in The Princess Diaries 2, discussed his involvement with a potential threequel (Picture: Walt Disney Pictures) Unprompted, he brings up the ongoing (now official) reports of a third Princess Diaries film, which have kept die-hard fans going over the years. ‘She has seen The Princess Diaries 2 because her friends insisted,’ the proud dad reveals, which marked his second time working with Dame Julie after 1982’s Victor/Victoria, and saw him play the devious Viscount Mabrey, uncle to Chris Pine’s character Lord Nicholas Devereaux, whom he plans to use to oust Mia (Anne Hathaway) as ruler of Genovia. However, his youngest, Maia, 17 – who he shares with partner Lisa Manning – has not missed out on every gem in her father’s film catalogue though. ‘She hasn’t seen Raiders Indiana Jones films, she hasn’t seen Lord of the Rings. I say to her, “Why don’t you have a look at Sahara with Brooke Shields?” You see me leading a cavalry charge and that really is me!’ ‘My daughter, who jumps at about one meter 40 or 50, does not believe that I can ride a horse at all. He also ‘loves’ horses and has worked with them too without much issue – bar impressing his children, it seems. Rhys-Davies recalled working with Raiders of the Lost Ark’s famous capuchin monkey (Picture: CBS via Getty Images) Returning to Raiders, we discuss the actor’s experience working with the capuchin monkey who is assigned to follow Marion and Indy by her one-eyed assassin master, who ingratiates herself at the start with Sallah’s family. The cast is really good – I mean, it really is a damn good cast – the script is good, and Harrison, of course, is wonderful,’ Rhys-Davies adds. ‘But I think that Mangold is a great director. How the heck are we ever going to match this, let alone top it?” And then watching it top it!’ the Emmy nominee recalls.
Chris pine princess diaries movie#
‘I think my problem is I remember watching the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark in the cinema for the first time and seeing that opening sequence, which ends with him jumping into a plane with a python, and being depressed and thinking, “Oh my god, this is possibly the most exciting opening of a movie that I have ever seen. He also admits he’s comparing it to the first film, for which he has a fierce fondness – as do many of us – and particularly remembers wowing him when it was released. Rhys-Davies is confident the film will be a summer blockbuster, but a little more hesitant about this own reaction to the movie, after so long away.
‘It was my belief and understanding that the part would be a bit bigger,’ he adds, laughing, and it’s true that the franchise’s fans may be disappointed to see him underutilised in a cast that also includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Indy’s goddaughter Helena, Mads Mikkelsen and Antonio Banderas. ‘I could not turn down – you can’t, it would be disrespectful to Harrison, for whom I have a great deal of respect, and to the audience really not to appear.’ So, more specifically, why did he say yes this time around? ‘But Sallah is an Arab hero and more than that, there is a humanity and a grounding at least in the first one that sort of adds something to the movie.’ He concedes that the ‘interesting but tragic’ Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif – star of movies including Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Funny Girl – could be one too. Sallah first appeared in Raiders of the Last Ark back in 1981 (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)
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