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Evil under the sun(Daily Post (Liverpool) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)'There was a really grim day where in the morning we had to bury a baby at sea, and in the afternoon I had to preside over a lashing." So says Jack Davenport, with an uncommonly large smile. He's sitting in a hotel bar in south west London, sipping a large glass of red wine. Casually dressed in a brown striped shirt and jeans, with slightly unkempt hair, he looks relaxed discussing his latest sea-faring epic. No, it's not Pirates Of The Caribbean - we'll get to that in a moment. He's talking about two-part drama The Incredible Journey Of Mary Bryant. Telling the true story of the 18th-century woman who became a cause celebre in London after escaping from a penal colony in Australia, it stars Romola Garai in the title role and 33-year-old Jack as the misguided Lieutenant Ralph Clarke, who presides over the prisoners being shipped to Australia."Every story needs a bad guy," he says, referring to his character, "and he's it, but by consistently doing what he thinks is the right thing. He's not a classically evil person, he's just a rather pious sad little man who messes it all up. "It's that eternal thing of giving an unconfident, unformed young man a uniform and a gun and going, 'Off you go'"," he continues. "So when they finally get to Australia, they've got a prison with no actual walls, and men, women and children milling around, and you've got guys like Clarke in charge of it who don't know their arse from their elbow.." As Davenport readily admits, one of the pleasures and pains of this production was working in Australia. "It's a wonderful place," he says, "I just wish I hadn't been wearing quite so many clothes. I lost lots of weight and my brain was like scrambled eggs, because it was so hot." Filming the blockbusting Pirates trilogy, in which he appears with Johnny Depp (the second instalment, Dead Man's Chest is released later this year, with a third to follow in 2007) was also full-on pressure, he reveals. "Movies like these are more defined in terms of set pieces. It's like one great bravura set piece after another. "There's an action sequence in the second film, which actually only really involved six people. It'll probably be eight to 10 minutes on screen, but it took something like six months to do." Working at that pace can get tire some. "I'll be honest, I'd quite like to do something like a play now, because it would be nice to remember what it is you're actually meant to do as an actor." But first there may be a new episode of This Life - if the much reported revival of the cult 1990s drama ever goes ahead. "We did talk about it," he confirms. "We all met, the five of us from the first series, Amy Jenkins (the writer) and Tony Garnett (the producer). "We were all up for it, and so we should be, because we wouldn't have careers of any description whatsoever if it wasn't for that show," he says honestly. |