December 2007 | blackfilm.com | features | THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP An Interview with Alex Atel

THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP
An Interview with Alex Etel, continued
by Brad Balfour

December 24, 2007

Q: So what is it about making movies that makes you want to do that instead of just being a kid in school?

AE: Being an actor is weird, because you get to go to all different kinds of countries and things. That's why I decided to advance it, because you do get to meet loads of other people, you get to meet famous people. So if I hadn't done "Millions," I wouldn't have been able to meet those kind of people and go to those kind of places. It's just that kind of things that make me want to get into acting. And I've got this opportunity, so. . . .

Q: Are you planning on doing anything else right now?

AE: Not at the moment. I've been through a few auditions, and not much has come out of it yet. I have been for an audition and the casting guy was at the screening the other day. So I'll wait and see...

Q: So from this experience, what have you learned that you are going to be able to use for your future efforts, besides your Olympic career? Or your animal training skills? What would you use both as an actor and in other things?

AE: I can do a lot more now than before I went to New Zealand, obviously all the Loch Ness stuff and all that, the stunts and stuff that I did. I could write quite an interesting book.

Q: Did you learn things about World War II that you never knew before?

AE: Yeah. Obviously while we were over there, we learned a lot about World War II, and me and my teacher did a project type thing that I did, a movie on the computer of it.

Q: So you're going to be directing next.

AE: Yeah. No, actually, no. Stressful job. I can't do that, no. Maybe [I'll be a] producer.

Q: What kinds of movies or TV shows would you like to do as an actor?

AE: I'd like to appear in "The Simpsons" or "Family Guy." I love those shows. That'd be cool.

Q: Do have an idea in your head of what you would look like?

AE: Not a clue, but I would like to see what they would picture me as.

Q: You can do that online, actually.

AE: Yeah, I've done that, and I looked completely weird. Actually, no--take that idea back.

Q: Do you have it on a MySpace site?

AE: Yeah, I need to put it on my MySpace, don't I? Actually, no, I think I'll leave it, because it did look quite bad.

Q: But are there movies or characters or franchises that you would like to be in? We were talking earlier about some movies, [like] "Narnia". Are there any of those things that you're a particular fan of and can tell us about, and we'll put the word out?

AE: I went for an audition for "Narnia" and I'd like to be in that. That was the casting guy that came. I'd like to be in that, because I'd like to see what it would be like. Because it is a big, big big film.

Q: You have that experience acting opposite tennis balls, too.

AE: Oh, yeah, big challenges for me.

Q: How famous would you say you are in the UK? Do you walk around and people recognize you?

AE: A few people have. When I'm like with my friends in the park and stuff, just random people come up to me and say, "I've seen your film." And you go, "a lot of other people have as well." It's good that people do that, and I'm glad people saw it.

Q: Are you still living in the North of England, in Manchester?

AE: I live only two miles away from my last house. I've never moved two miles out of my house.

Q: Are these friends from school you had when you were much younger?

AE: I have moved schools--I moved school the day after I got back from New Zealand. I got back into that school the day after I got back from New Zealand and I've known no one because they all went to a different school. So I had to make a whole new set of friends--on top of jet lag, on top of finding my way around the new school. So it was hard for me. But I've still got a few of my friends from before I started acting, and they're my really closest friends now--because you know they're not just your friend because... not yet anyway.

Q: What do they think of you being an actor?

AE: I really can't get what they're thinking. Don't know at all. If they do think, they don't tell me. A few of them do, a few of them say, "What are you doing next? Why aren't you doing this, why are you doing that?" Lots of them are interested, but none of them say what they think.

Q: What about the girls seeing you in this film?

AE: A few scenes are quite embarrassing, especially the first scene. In the first scene, I'm in a pair of swimming trunks, and it was toward the end of the shoot, and I'd been eating blueberry muffins quite a lot, so I was a bit pudgy. I was completely white because I'd had three winters on the go. So I wasn't looking at my best. A few people made comments...

Q: But that's appropriate though, because you were...

AE: I'm over in New Zealand making money, and they're in school. What would you rather do?

Q: Are girls hitting you up now that you have been in the movies. What are your options?

AE: I've had quite a few people say comments I'm not disagreeing with, that I quite like. A few of them must be completely crazy if they think not. But I've had a few satisfying comments about me, so it's cool.

Q: Does that kind of attention make you want to be famous, on the cover of magazines, or does it make you feel like you don't know if you can handle this?

AE: Sometimes—when I'm over here doing all this, and you expect that--like, I had to stand up in front of, all together, 3,000 people and that was nerve-wracking [that was in L.A. at the Jules Verne Film Festival]. I had a petition outside to save the Loch Ness Monster, "Nessie—Endangered Species." We got a lot of names on that, and a lot of people making comments then.

But when I'm out with my friends, I don't like it as much if people come up to me because obviously, you've gone out to have a good time with your friends and you've got people following you around and things, watching what you're doing. So it's annoying at times. and I just hope, when I grow up I don't have all my personal business over "OK!" magazine, or whatever. It's hard to avoid.

Q: What other young actors close to your age would you like to work with?

AE: There's not really that many that are as close to my age. It's a very limited number of them. I think maybe I'd like to work with Freddie Highmore, because obviously he's been in loads of films. I've not really seen that many of his films--I've seen "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and things, and he was good in them. So I'd just like to see why everyone loves him.

Q: When you were here for "Millions" you couldn't wait to get out in New York to do things. Do you have a much more restrained feeling about running around New York now, or are there things you need to do?

AE: I've still got my ideas, I know, but I can just keep them in a bit more. I'm just going to Times Square. I love it. The big Toys R Us, Planet Hollywood, stuff like that.

Q: Do you have any particular things you collect?

AE: Not really. I'm just getting Christmas presents and stuff from here, because obviously, it's cheaper over here--the exchange rate.

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