Thanks, Free & Suz! Yw @ Sus.
Full article & scans of the print version of the
Empire Magazine profile (on pages 8-9) courtesy of the ASkars Library:
Lord of the Abs: Alexander Skarsgård Is the New Tarzan
by Owen Williams/Edited by Chris Hewitt
Tarzan turns 104 this year, and he’s never looked better. The “dad at the beach holding it in” look favoured by Johnny Weissmuller has gone, and Alexander Skarsgård has brought his washboard abs to The Legend of Tarzan. “They’re really making the most of Alex’s body,” laughs his Jane, Margot Robbie. “Jane ends up in tatters too, but not quite to the extent of Tarzan.’
Cinema has given Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creation short shrift recently, as you’ll know if you’re one of the few who saw 2014′s mo-capped Tarzan (starring Kellan Lutz), or the fewer still who saw Casper Van Dien out-acted by his own loincloth in 1998′s Tarzan and the Lost City. But director David Yates’ lavish blockbuster hopes to show that there’s more to the Lord of the Apes than just swinging around the jungle. Forgoing the origin-story route, Yates’ take catches up with this Tarzan after he’s been civilised in London, when something draws him back to the jungle.
“It’s about Lord Greystoke going back to being Tarzan,” explains Skarsgård, “It’s about someone who’s very controlled, someone who keeps a lid on the animal within. Then slowly that savage part of him comes out.”
Yates was attracted by the idea of making the biggest-budget Tarzan since Disney’s Phil Collins-drenched animation in 1999. “Tarzan has never been done with a real wallop of action and entertainment and scale and budget,” he says. “That’s what we’re doing. I hope it’ll surprise people.”
Yet Yates isn’t straying too hard from the template. “There’s still a Tarzan’s-friends-with-all-the-animals vibe,” laughs Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the hero’s buddy, George Washington Williams. “And vine-swinging, and all that good ****.”
- Owen Willams
The Legend of Tarzan is out on July 1 (U.S.)/July 8 (UK).
Article Source:
Empire Magazine/Owen Williams,
The Library's transcription/edits & special thanks to BBD for sending The Library the scans!