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orlando bloom cafeOrlando Bloom Talks About Kingdom of Heaven
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 An exclusive interview with the star of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven.The first time Orlando Bloom worked with Ridley Scott, the director flung the young actor from a helicopter. This time around, Bloom has a slightly more crucial role. Bloom portrays the loosely historically based Balian in Scott's new epic Kingdom of Heaven. Balian is a blacksmith whose faith is wavering after the loss of his family. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, he is pulled into the Holy Wars, events in a distant land which Balian himself was at first only vaguely aware of. He soon rises to knighthood to become the unlikely defender of Jerusalem.
With a varied and impressive resume that includes Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and Troy, Bloom has already worked with some of the best directors in the business at the young age of 28. Somewhat ironically, Bloom has also become synonymous with sword wielding epics. So much so that one may have to strain to think of Bloom in a contemporary film. In this country, in fact, he hasn't been in one, at least not in a major role. That will change for Bloom as well when he headlines Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical Elizabethtown later this year.
For his first lead role in an American film, Bloom could hardly have chosen a larger stage. With a budget said to be close to $140 million and a massive marketing campaign by Fox, hopes are exceptionally high for Kingdom of Heaven with execs already using the "O" word when talking about the film.
The pressure is certainly on Bloom as Kingdom releases wide this Friday. During IGN FilmForce's exclusive interview with Bloom, he was surprisingly calm. Upon entering his hotel room, I was promptly introduced to his dog, Sidi. Being a dog owner myself, Sidi immediately raced up to me to play. Before getting down to questions on the film, Bloom excitedly told me about his dog's breed and how he found the dog while shooting Kingdom.
This is your second time working with Scott after Black Hawk Down. Was there a special relationship developed on that film?
ORLANDO BLOOM: Ridley threw me out of a helicopter in Black Hawk and that was about it. (Laughs) You know what I mean? I had an audition process. I flew into LA, I was just finishing Troy and I read this script on the plane and I turned to the friend I was with and I said, 'Wow, this is the polar opposite to Paris, this character.'
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He's still a bit of a reluctant hero, although Paris wasn't a reluctant hero, he was more like an anti-hero... Here's the lead of a movie that, in the script, for the first five scenes, he said nothing. There's a lot from the movie that you've seen that didn't make it, because I think originally we had like a four hour movie and we had to edit it, I mean obviously we'd have to cut it down to make it fit for a movie today for audiences to sit through…
I had an audition with him so I flew in and I was like, 'Wow this would be great…' I mean I wasn't thinking of doing another sword movie, believe me, but I did think to do something completely opposite to Paris would be a great opportunity for me and to work with Ridley again… I sat down with Rid for about two and a half hours, we talked about what he wanted to do with it and how I saw it. He [told me to] come in tomorrow and we'd shoot some stuff on camera… I had like nine hours to learn three of the biggest scenes in the movie and then get a couple of hours sleep and then I was in there the next day with blood on my face, a stick-on beard and chain mail… I waited a couple of months before I heard anything… I guess, what can I tell you, when I found out it was like a trip to the moon, I was really happy… I went straight into lifting weights.
That actually ties into my next question. How much of the skills you'd learned on Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and Troy could you apply to this film?BLOOM: This was a broad sword technique that the knights would use and it wasn't similar to Pirates in any way, but what I would say is that I had the ability and the capacity to learn sword routines and sword moves from working on Pirates and Troy… And in Lord of the Rings I had a lot of stuff like that. So I think I've learned how to pick that stuff up quite quickly and I get it. A big part of what I wanted to do with this character was go from when I was a boy and try and develop into a man, really try and play him as a man who is on this search, on a journey of personal, spiritual, political, social discovery. To be that man I wanted to be physically bigger, so I put on some weight. I lifted to try to be physically bigger and more present and also more believable as a blacksmith and an engineer of that period…
How much is this character based on a historical figure or figures?
BLOOM: It's a fictional character, but there is a basis because Balian did actually exist and Balian did defend Jerusalem, but in order to have a through line of a character that came from France and went to Jerusalem, Ridley and Bill Monahan, to get the through line of that character they had to fictionalize parts of the earlier events to create a movie out of this character… This is a very big chapter of history… Balian is this guy who is now being knighted on his father's death bed. The code of the knight is 'Be brave in our bright that God may love thee. Speak the truth even if it leads to your death.' And he follows that code to the bitter end. He's like, 'This is who I am and this is what I'm going to do.' Defend the people, each day do right and no wrong, that is your oath… Through the course of the movie he finds himself on a much larger stage… He starts to have to like assume the responsibility of the defender of Jerusalem…
You've become almost synonymous with period pieces at this point. Are you going to have to start searching out projects set in the present?
BLOOM: Yeah. I had the training at drama school where I studied Shakespeare and Brecht and Chekov and all these period historical playwrights and I think that I responded to the material… I'm 28 years old, I'm five, six years out of drama school and the scripts that I was reading, the ones that I responded to were the more historical…
Is it strange now to step into a film with Elizabethtown where you aren't wearing the elaborate costumes?
BLOOM: Yeah, it was an amazing experience and it was very different. I have done, just before I did Kingdom, I shot a movie called Haven which I also, we're trying to get into a place where we feel ready to release it. It's a great movie… And yeah, Elizabethtown, [my] first contemporary role in an American movie with the quintessential American director and Cameron is a phenomenal director and is an incredible human being. [He] really put me through my paces in terms of nailing the accent, playing this guy Drew who is partially him, and I loved every moment of it…
I've been tracking Elizabethtown through the course of production. Speaking with Susan Sarandon and Jessica Biel they couldn't say enough about what a creative environment Crowe creates on set, playing music and the like?
BLOOM: Yeah, the first time I shot a scene and then suddenly some music came blaring on in the middle of it I was like, 'Oh, I guess that one wasn't going to work then.' But I loved the whole process. Similarly, this movie was life changing for me… This was my first lead movie in like a $140 million movie… But it proved to be one of the most profound experiences I've had.
How is the Pirates coming along so far? I know it's early.
BLOOM: It's awesome. We are [in the Caribbean now]. Yeah, it's great, it's awesome. Gore knows how to… Johnny's amazing. It's the same group of people doing the same crazy s**t. Obviously with the success of the first movie, there is something to live up to, but they're not afraid of that. We're just cracking away at that and it's a great story, a great script.
Are you also shooting parts of the third movie?
BLOOM: We're mostly sticking to the second one right now. There will be a couple of bits just in terms of location stuff that we'll have to do.
What is the trick to acting opposite a larger than life character like Jack Sparrow?
BLOOM: Playing the straight man? It's a challenge. Johnny's an amazingly gracious actor. He's been one of my guides in terms of one of the guys that's inspired me as a young actor. In terms of playing the straight guy is a challenge. When everyone around you is doing all this incredible pirate acting and you're having to sort of play the straight guy and move the story forward, you kind of want to be doing some of that pirate ripping it up stuff, but in truth, to be a part of that project is what I love.
I think it's great family entertainment and yet it's smart and witty, intelligent entertainment too. I'm still in the first chapter of my career, I like to think, and hopefully I'll have a long career and opportunity to do the Jack Sparrow-type characters when I'm like 40-something. Right now I'm still flexing old wings… I'm very conscious of how fortunate I've been, but I'm also aware that I've got a lot to learn… If I did it all right away… What would be left to do?
So with the curse of the pirate films before Caribbean's success, is there a sense of pressure on set?
BLOOM: They've maintained the same atmosphere as before. Gore [Verbinski] knows how to make a good movie and the writers and Jerry know how to make a good movie and they're trying to maintain that looseness that we had the first time around that enabled us to make this wild movie… Now there's some expectations, but nevertheless, we're still going at it like hammer and tong.
--- Jeff Otto
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