(Cover) - EN Movies - James D’Arcy felt “immediately liberated” to play Britain’s King Edward VIII as there is no “definitive” view of him.
The actor stars as the royal in upcoming drama W.E., directed and co-written by Madonna. The story follows the affair between the king and American divorcée Wallis Simpson, which saw him abdicate the thrown in the 1930s to marry his love.
James didn’t find it particularly challenging to portray such a controversial figure.
“I didn’t find it difficult, because there isn’t a view of him. There are stories, but there’s no one definitive view of him, so that’s immediately liberating. Like all of our lives, it’s complicated and that helped me a lot because there is no definitive image. There’s a lot of stuff that’s written about them that I personally came to the conclusion it was not true and was probably propaganda,” he told Cover Media.
“Ultimately, I’m not a historian, I’m not a documentary maker - I’m just an actor. I didn’t write the script and I didn’t direct the script. My job is to try and service the script and the vision of the director, and that’s always the case for actors.”
James says Madonna’s extensive research ahead of filming was a massive help. However, ultimately the W.E. team had to come to their own conclusions about the relationship between King Edward and Wallis.
“The good news in this instance is that the story that Madonna wanted to tell was very clear, and so there was a lot of material and I did read all of it – and it’s all contradictory. Whatever you want to say about them, I will find the page in the book that suggests that that’s the truth, but ultimately I can’t play all of those books,” he explained.
“There are some elements [of the film] that are just not truthful. I’m over 6ft. and he’s not – I didn’t cut my legs off at the knees to play the role! And also, he didn’t sound anything like I did in the film. He sounds very weedy indeed.”
W.E. is released in UK cinemas on January 20 2012.
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