'The Liberator' interview - Bradley James is Felix Sparks in The Liberator (Drive-In Mag-Italy)
drive_in_mag: We just finished our interview with Bradley James and we are thrilled for you to read all about the new extraordinary Netflix series The Liberator and Bradley’s character Felix. #TheLiberator #Netflix #bradleyjames (10 November 2020).
This article was originally written in Italian. The English translation is below the cut (excerpt below). The original Italian version can be viewed here.
C: I can imagine. The Liberator is, essentially, a story about the strong bonds that can unite human beings from worlds that are poles apart. Something we need to rediscover today. How did you build the bond between you in pre-production and then on set?
B: I started working 4 months before I went on set, so I had plenty of time to understand what it would take to build the kind of bond we needed. As people became part of the project, I contacted them and started building a connection, from here, by talking to them before meeting them personally. Honestly I was looking forward to working with them so when we arrived on set, I had built a personal bond with each of them through messages, phone calls, ... and this really helped, also because, in turn, each of them he had built his own bond with the other team members. I think, for example, when you put a bunch of veterans in a room and they start talking about their experience, even if they've never seen each other before, a bond is created immediately; a bond that comes from sharing what they have experienced. Now, we were shooting a television series, we weren't facing any extreme situations; but there were a lot of things going on, so much material of that story to share, especially in the case of Martin Sensmeier and Jose Miguel Vasquez who had the opportunity to tell the story of their communities, stories that have not yet been told. For me, the key was to let everyone know that, in case of need, I would be there. I don't think this happens very frequently on sets.
[Click for full interview]Drive In Magazine: But in the years to come, if you see me fall silent or cry for no reason, or feel far away even though I'm next to you, remember a name and you'll know where I am: Bradley James is Felix Sparks in The Liberator.
The day after British Remembrance Sunday and, a few days before Veterans Day , we virtually met (again thanks Zoom) Bradley James , the protagonist, in the role of Felix Sparks , of the new Netflix event series The Liberator (available on Netflix from 11 November).
London is in its fifth day of lockdown and Bradley is active, now more than ever, on social networks (you can find him on Instagram at this link @bradleyjames ) where between live stories and pre-recorded touch-downs on tour around the city with others cast members, is giving a concrete example of what are the most important teachings that Felix Sparks has tried to give to generations to come.
The Liberator is the first work in trioscope, an unprecedented animation technique that, unlike those used previously, lets the acting skill of interpretation play a pivotal role; emphasizing facial expressions and details ... and in this field, we know that Bradley James's talent is indisputable, he proved it in the scene of the last season of The Medici , in which he appears to his dying mother and, with a simple glance and a barely hinted smile takes hold not only of the scene but of the whole episode.
But don't be fooled, despite the animation, you will never have the feeling of escaping into something ethereal. The story that is told in the miniseries, inspired by the biographical novel of the same name by Alex Kershaw , is tragic and painful and there is no trick or trick that can make him forget.
The Liberator tells the poignant and brutal story of a unique battalion of its kind, the Thunderbirds , made up of Indians, Mexicans, cowboys, ... at a time when, in America, Indians and Mexicans were even barred from entering bars . Men united by a relationship of blind loyalty and deep friendship built by Captain Felix Sparks ( Bradley James ). A man who succeeded in eliminating social differences by guiding his men through the cruelest scenarios of war that America has ever witnessed; from Italy to Germany, from the harrowing Anzio to the horror of the Dachau camp.
Bradley James is sitting in front of that black background, apparently very professional (but who knows what is hiding where the eye of the camera can't reach), which we started to know from his most recent Instagram stories, on a typical London autumn afternoon, those that, to us Italians living across the Channel, gives that London smoke gray colorto our complexion for which friends love so much to make fun of us during the summer holidays at home.
C: Could you tell us a little about your character? Something not found in the pages of the book, something personal that you discovered playing Felix?
B: Unfortunately there is nothing I have been able to learn about Felix that is not in the book. Not having had the opportunity to speak with him directly (Felix Sparks passed away in 2007, ed); but the basis of the work was precisely this: to do him justice by extrapolating from those pages as much information as possible, even the most hidden between the lines of those wonderful pages.
C: Did you know or did you have the opportunity to read the book before receiving the script?
B: No, first I got the script and then I read the book. From the moment I opened it, however, I could no longer put it down. It has been my Bible for weeks, indeed, for months. I read it in one go and tried to get as much benefit from it as possible. Furthermore, it is a great book because it gives you a very clear and precise idea of the people who "wrote" this story.
C: The story is set in a historical period well known by most, a historical period in which, not only have more and more films been set; but that we are used to studying in depth in classrooms. Reading Felix's story, was there a passage, a moment, a memory… that changed your point of view or your belief, your thinking, about that particular period?
B: I don't think a story like this has ever been exposed to a worldwide audience: the role in the American Minority Army in 1940. This, for example, is a detail that I was not fully aware of. Think for example of the numbers, the numbers were not particularly high; but there are stories, some very touching, like the experience of this man who found himself with a group of Mexican-Americans, Indian-Americans,… the battalion that nobody wanted; I realized how fascinating this story was. World War II is a widely covered topic; but that never puts the focus on his subjects and their stories. Felix himself has a unique and extraordinary war history of his own. The combination of these two aspects and the sacrifice of which these men have been protagonists I believe deserved the right attention in this period. We have to endure a slight discomfort for a day or a week and it seems like something that should mark us and last forever; but these children lived in suffering for years, constantly under attack, in situations of life beyond the limit of endurance, freezing or hungry to defend their life minute by minute. I have never appreciated everything they did with the same awareness with which I can be grateful now. That period is like wrapped up in a bubble so it is really difficult for us to be able to fully understand what they really lived or felt. I think it also makes you realize how privileged we are, even in the simplest things and for us insignificant, compared to what they were in that period. How lucky we are not only as individuals, but globally as a society. Ironically, we complain much more than they did in those years, because we have the privilege of being able to do so.
C: Did they make you feel those feelings on set?
B: This is where the homework starts, Cristina. Shooting in this mode, at the end of the day, there was a comfortable hotel room, a warm bathroom and a comfortable bed waiting for me; as well as, in the morning, a hearty and pleasant breakfast. It is you, therefore, who have the delicate task of understanding what the sensory reality is of finding yourself in the situation of the scene you have to shoot and make it realistic. You are in a studio where there are lights and almost 30 degrees shooting a scene set in the cold winter snow and you have to recreate the sensory reaction of your body to the contact with the snow and the cold air despite the heat of the studio; or, although you've just eaten a situation where you haven't eaten in days, ... so yes, I had to work a lot more on this aspect than I would have done shooting in places where it's really raining, where the weather is freezing, where you're somewhat uncomfortable. However, no task was a burden, I loved every single moment of this production.
C: I can imagine. The Liberator is, essentially, a story about the strong bonds that can unite human beings from worlds that are poles apart. Something we need to rediscover today. How did you build the bond between you in pre-production and then on set?
B: I started working 4 months before I went on set, so I had plenty of time to understand what it would take to build the kind of bond we needed. As people became part of the project, I contacted them and started building a connection, from here, by talking to them before meeting them personally. Honestly I was looking forward to working with them so when we arrived on set, I had built a personal bond with each of them through messages, phone calls, ... and this really helped, also because, in turn, each of them he had built his own bond with the other team members. I think, for example, when you put a bunch of veterans in a room and they start talking about their experience, even if they've never seen each other before, a bond is created immediately; a bond that comes from sharing what they have experienced. Now, we were shooting a television series, we weren't facing any extreme situations; but there were a lot of things going on, so much material of that story to share, especially in the case of Martin Sensmeier and Jose Miguel Vasquez who had the opportunity to tell the story of their communities, stories that have not yet been told. For me, the key was to let everyone know that, in case of need, I would be there. I don't think this happens very frequently on sets.
C: You were talking about this new point of view from which the story is being told and I was thinking about how many times it is being repeated to us by previous generations that we have a duty to remember so that what happened cannot happen again. Especially now, with what is happening in the United States, despite the slight ray of light that seems to be seen since November 3 with the election of Biden to the presidency, how important do you think it is to tell the story of these minorities used by the American government in times like the Second World War?
B: The political background has changed dramatically in recent days, as we all know. I think there is a desire, or rather, there has been a desire to hear stories where different communities come together and work together. There is a spirit of humanity, which is in each of us and this spirit is one of the pillars of The Liberator . Nowadays, there are still signs of some treatments for some types of people; but I think there are also a lot of people who are fed up with this situation. I think stories like The Liberatorhighlight the good that can derive from this union, from these bonds. We still have a long way to go ahead of us, I don't think things can change overnight, but it's a start to believe everything will be fine.
C: In a previous interview you stated that you fell in love with Felix's character at first sight. Was there a specific moment when the spark went off?
B: Yeah, I'm not sure if it happened for a particular joke though. There were three moments in my career where I received the script and, automatically, I felt in perfect harmony with my character. (He smiles, as if to get his hands on if he ever seems arrogant in his answer.)Ok now I have to pay close attention to how I will formulate the next concept… so… in all three cases, the characters were real leaders. Whether I have that innate characteristic in my being or it is only the people who walk alongside me in life who see this quality, what I know is that I can immediately tune into these types of roles and feel them mine. I can't say that I, as Bradley, have the qualities of a leader, but what I can say is that, in reading the scripts of these characters, I get a total understanding of how to play them. In the case of the character of Felix, I think there is a lot to admire and probably sometimes I managed to do justice to his being a leader, other times maybe a little less;
C: So you're a little jealous that Daniel (Sharman, ed) got the lead role in The Medici ...
B: Oh no, absolutely not, in fact I think he got one of the worst parts. Lorenzo spends all his time talking about banks, he has no interesting conversations, he's all a gne gne ... Giuliano (and he stresses his character's name with particular force) is the one who attracts women, the one who enjoys himself ... playing Giuliano is It was pure fun so it was probably Daniel who was jealous of how much fun I could have on set playing my character while he had to study all these jokes about banks, commodity prices, etc ... There was only one funny role in that series and I got it.
C: I remember the night I saw Sin City at the cinema… obviously in that case the effects added something to a very poor storyline film. In the case of The Liberator, what can the trioscope add?
B: The people who work with the trioscope have a way of working that is perfect for the actors. The team was extraordinary. When we finished the production phase and went to post production, they made me participate in every step, so I had the opportunity to see the shot before the effects in trioscope. I was amazed and proud of the result. It was like watching a play; there was blue everywhere (the background to work in trioscope is blue instead of green, ed), the trick was still accentuated because then there was to work with computers, there was no soundtrack and despite this ... it worked, it worked great. I was happy because the trioscope can strike the eye, but if there isn't a story to capture the heart, well ... There is a need for a story and at that point it doesn't matter whether it's in a trioscope or whether it's a theatrical show, people will go to "listen" anyway. If you have the the possibility of having a story that is worth telling and listening to and in addition you have the possibility to tell it giving something more on a visual level, something innovative that the public has not yet seen such as the trioscope and a cast of talented actors, (I I exclude myself, I am talking about the rest of the cast who with their talent illuminated my interpretation), then you have something special.
C: You said that if you could talk to Felix, you'd like to ask him about Anzio. What struck you about that particular period of his life?
B: Anzio… the second episode is titled “One word: Anzio” and I clung to those words because in this episode there is the essence of Felix. Veterans often talk about that moment or that battle that will hunt them down in the years to come, that moment or that place that will lead them to be physically in a place but mentally miles away from it. As we shot, I realized that whatever had happened to that man from that moment on, there would always be a moment when he would suddenly go back to Anzio. It was this that fascinated me. The dramatic scope of that experience. We don't hear about the campaign in Italy very often, because it wasn't the glorious victory that we want the new generations to remember, that we see in the movies.
C: You know Anzio is not that far from Rome ... maybe next time you come to Italy ...
B: I know, I spent a lot of time in Rome and I had no idea… if I have to go back to Italy for a long time, if I have the pleasure of being able to work in Italy again, I will carve out a little space to discover Anzio.
Anziati you are warned….
C: How will you go through this lockdown? Do you think it is different from the first?
B: It's been a busy two weeks and I love being busy. I think there is a different vibe to this lockdown compared to the previous one. During the first, people were afraid of what could happen to them in the event of contagion. This time, there being a little more information about Covid-19, fewer people have that fear so, for example, the other day, going to the supermarket, I realized that it didn't seem like we were going into lockdown ... so I'm still a little confused about how it will be experienced.
After talking about how we both felt extra-terrestrials arriving in London in the early months of the pandemic, from Italy in my case and from Los Angeles in his, in being the only ones to wear a mask when nobody in Britain was still in use; after getting lost among some great passions in common such as football, soccer and especially fantasy football, his phone warned him that it was time to say goodbye because another interview awaited him before a direct Instagram ; but we hope to soon have the honor of being told about a new exciting project, who knows, maybe in Italy.
The Liberator is available globally on Netflix from November 11, and if you're not sure you've exhausted all of Bradley James' filmography or, if you want to make sure you don't miss out on his next work, keep an eye on his page on IMDb .
@BradleyJames 18 November 2020
Our interview today with Bradley James on the occasion of the new Netflix series The Liberator will also be published in Italian on Drive In Magazine. #bradleyjames #theliberator #netflix #italy