Scottish actor Dougray Scott is from the school of intense method acting. For "Mission: Impossible II", he did seven months' training with Navy Seals; for "Ripley's Game" he lost two stone and learned picture framing. Bor his role as Thomas Fairfax, in "To Kill a King" (which he also produced), research took a more scholarly approach. He became a student of the country's leading Fairfax expert, a historian from the University of East Anglia.
What was it about the Cromwell/Fairfax story that made you want to shepherd it into production?
It was a great script to start with and it was a piece of history that has only really been explored once, with the Richard Harris film, "Cromwell". But that never really told the true story, because Fairfax was the creator of the New Model Army - it wasn't Cromwell. Fairfax was the general, Cromwell was his lieutenant. And so it tells the friendship of the two, how they grew up together and the journey along the road to a republic. Of course, they chose different paths - it's about the tensions which that caused, and the consequences for the country. It's also about the tragedy of people's dreams and how power corrupts some people.
You had a forced hiatus in production. How did you deal with that as a producer and as an actor?
Yes, it was very stressful, but you grow up a lot in terms of your understanding of the industry and how to deal with the corporate things. My focus never wavered; I never accepted the film was not going to be finished.
Didn't you have to risk dipping into your own pockets for the production to keep it going before other finance came along?
Although I had a choice, if I hadn't done we'd have had a problem. But I knew I'd get my money back. I truly believed the film was going to be financed. I wouldn't have put my hand in my pocket, but I had a gut feeling somebody was going to come in. Yeah, it was a risk, but you live your life once.
You had to pay to dismantle your set at Hampton Court, which is one of the Queen's properties. It's a funny situation - did you make a cheque out to the Queen?
Yeah [laughing]. It was in order to pay the crew to get the set, more than it was to pay Hampton Court Palace. But it was a huge thing because nobody had filmed at Hampton Court Place as we had. It really helps the film in visual terms, and the last thing you want to do is leave your set at Hampton Court Palace, so we had to get it out. Everyone has difficulties on productions, but ultimately it was a happy ending because the film's finished, and it's the film we wanted to make, and it's a terrific film. You know what you have to do, so you just do it.
