Ryan Kwanten Chats about True Blood, Voicing an Owl and Upcoming Movies
Fans of True Blood are used to hearing Ryan Kwanten talk like a good old boy from down south. It can be hard to reconcile that with his heavy Australian accent which he gets to use in his newest film ‘Legend of the Guardians’. During Press Day for the film, Kwanten and the other actors sat down for interviews to talk about the movie and upcoming projects.
Legend of the Guardians
Kwanten’s latest role is playing Kludd, a young owlette who makes some wrong choices in ‘Legends of the Guardians’. The film is based on a series of books called Guardians of Ga’Hooleby author Kathryn Lasky. Kwanten was initially approached about reading for the role of Soren, which would later go to Jim Sturgess, but felt a deeper connection to Kludd. Kwanten says that this movie is not your typical family movie saying:
“I think a lot of animated films play such a rosy picture of the world, and this was saying, “Look, bad things do happen in life. It’s how you choose to deal with those things that defines who you are.” My character chooses to go a far darker route than what you probably should. Soren, on the other hand, chooses to really embrace his destiny and follow the right path.”
The film was made over a period of two and a half years with Kwanten working his filming around his True Blood role. He says that having the filming stretched out over such a long period of time made it easier to grow and change the character. While the brothers in the film start out close as a family, it is the subtle changes that Kwanten embraced. He felt it was important to show the story of the brothers growing up so that you had a chance to emotionally connect with the characters.
One of the benefits of the role was that Kwanten was able to speak without working on his accent. When he initially started to work in Los Angeles he only wanted to do characters with an American accent, so that he could get himself established. Kwanten says that he hopes that after watching the film, it has a lasting effect and people are able to assess their own lives and the choices they have made. Since this movie is based on the first three books in the series and there are 12 more, there is definitely a chance of a sequel and Kwanten is looking forward to exploring the character and story further.
True Blood
Season 3 of True Blood recently finished up and we left off with Kwanten’s character Jason Stackhouse taking over to help the residents of Hot Shot and Sookie disappearing with Claudine, among other cliff hangers. Kwantendid not give much away about what we can expect to see in Season 4, but he did say that he is excited to see where the writers take the story. He talks about how he never quite knows how a story is going to play out saying:
“There hasn’t been anything that has not surprised me, in every episode. Every single scene has played out differently than where I thought it was going to go, and that’s a good thing to be constantly surprised. I like to pride myself on being able to guess where things are going, and I’ve never been able to do that with my character.”
He does reveal that he will start shooting Season 4 in late November.
Upcoming Projects
Kwanten recently finished filming ‘Knights of Badassdom’with Steve Zahn and Peter Dinklage. He describes the film as a “comedy mixed with horror” film. In the film Kwanten’scharacter finds out that his girlfriend cheated on him and he goes into a depression. In order to help pull him out of that, his friends kidnap him and force him into a live role playing game. Eventually the “role” becomes real and he is forced to get involved.
Kwanten’s film ‘Griff The Invisible’recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and in that film he plays a sociophobic superhero. By day he can’t leave the house, but by night he believes he is saving the world.
In November his film ‘Red Hill’, described as a revenge western, releases in theaters. The film, costarring Steve Bisley and Tommy Lewis, centers on a young policeman (Kwanten) who works in a small town police department that has come under siege from an escaped convict.
Sources: Blog.moviefone.com – Ryan Kwanten, Jim Sturgess and Zack Snyder on Playing Owls and (Not) Getting Fans Pregnant
Collider.com – Ryan Kwanten Exclusive Interview LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS; Plus Updates on TRUE BLOOD, KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM, More
About.com – Exclusive Interview with Ryan Kwanten on ‘Legend of the Guardians’
(Photo Credit: Collider.com)
