But since the interview was set up to promote “Amazing Grace"… the film tells the true story of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), a leader of the British slavery abolition movement. The film chronicles his epic struggle to pass a law to end the slave trade in the late 18th century. Along the way, Wilberforce meets intense  opposition from members of Parliament who feel the slave trade is tied to the stability of the British Empire. Several friends, including Wilberforce’s minister, John Newton (Albert Finney), a reformed slave ship captain who penned the beloved hymn Amazing Grace, urge him to see the cause through.

Earlier this year - when the film first came out - I was able to interview Ioan and if you missed it you can read it here. That interviews covers a lot more ground on “Amazing Grace.”

But since Ioan is involved with a lot of other projects, I used a large percentage of my time talking about those future things. And of course I worked in “Fantastic Four 3” questions and I even asked him about baby Franklin…

Before getting to the interview I have to say a big thank you to Ioan for sitting down and talking to me.  And as always, you can either read the transcript below or listen to the interview as an MP3 by clicking here.

Collider: I actually interviewed you back when the film first came out.

Ioan Gruffudd: Back in February, right?  Was it here? 

Collider: Exactly. Yeah, it probably was.

Ioan: It’s like déjà vu today.

I was drilling you for “Fantastic Four” stuff and you know, before the film came out and we were discussing…

Ioan: Of course, of course.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is a great thing for us because we were getting to get people interested in this movie as a result of “Fantastic Four”.  It was great.

Absolutely, and do you try to pick projects that can go back and forth because you’ve really raised—your career, in my opinion, has really taken off, not that it was ever…

Ioan: Oh, yeah.  Absolutely.  Honestly “Fantastic Four” was sort of a deliberate attempt to help to raise the bar for myself and to get myself more recognizable here in the States because we know the success of these sort of genres as much as loving playing the part and being immersed in that.  As a result of that I got “Amazing Grace”.  I don’t think I would have got “Amazing Grace” had it not been for the success of “The Fantastic Four”, so what it’s done is open all these doors for me to be a bankable enough commodity to do these great independent movies where all the juicy character are.

So when you look back because the film was made a little while ago—when you look back what do you remember most about the filming process and about wanting to tell this story?

Ioan: I remember just being so totally immersed in it and so dedicated to it that I just had the time of my life making it.  I realized that hard work and lots of long hours can be fun. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a movie set.  I mean, “Fantastic Four” is a really hard project in comparison to this, believe it or not, because you’re not really getting that acting kind of satisfaction on a daily basis.  You know, “Fantastic Four” is about hitting marks and saying a cool line and then imagining everything.  Imaging I’m stretching my arm or imagining the background and imagining I’m saving the London Eye, so it’s a lot of work—extra work that you have to do as an actor whereas “Amazing Grace” it’s about reacting to all these other great characters that you’re surrounded by, so there’s a definite rhythm to your day and you know at the end of the day you’re exhausted but immensely satisfied.

What do you remember being the most challenging part of making the film?

Ioan: I think the challenging part was getting over my own sort of nerves really and excitement for it because I knew I was going to work with these amazing actors, with Albert Finney and Sir Michael Gambon and these great actors like Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones, I mean you just look at the cast it’s extraordinary.  Just getting over myself and realizing and appreciating that I belong in the company of these guys.  I have a right to be here and I think that was the major sort of hurdle really because I knew instinctively I could play the character.  I’d done all the homework.  I did all the research.  We rehearsed for 2 weeks beforehand, so it was just a matter of getting up there and getting some confidence and doing it.

Are you a big fan of rehearsals or do you believe in the 1^st take being the magic take?

Ioan: It’s very hard for me.  I know there are some actors who are just brilliant at improvising and brilliant at just being in the moment and doing it there and then.  I’m not one of those actors.  I need to rehearse.  I need to know where I am, where I’ve come from, where I’m going to and you can only sort of discover that through rehearsal really.  Or if you don’t have any rehearsal time on the movie set, its maybe by take 5 or 6 I might get it.  So, no the 1^st take is sort of best kind of discarded as far as I’m concerned anyway.

What research did you do into this?  Are there a lot of books available?

Ioan: Yes, there are.  Wilberforce—I mean there are several biographies on Wilberforce and I mean a lot of them are quite heavy reading as biographies go.  But some of them are enlightening about his—especially about his religious background and how fervent he was and how immersed he was in that and how that was a big part of his life.  It’s interesting—an actor’s research is different to just historian’s research. I’m looking for things that I can actually physically use in the movie.  For example, he’s never still.  He never sits still.  He’s always working, he’s always writing, he’s always running somewhere.  This is a guy who lived his life to the fullest and didn’t let one minute go by that he wasn’t being constructive.  There are scenes in Parliament where he’s constantly writing or going through his papers there.  His house is full of animals.  I mean, that’s something that we discovered through reading about him that he started this society for the prevention of cruelty to animals; so just these little hints and these little nuances that help to create a character.  Those are the things that leap off the page for me.

And I have to of course move onto some of the other projects you’re involved with because you have a lot coming up.

Ioan: Yeah.

I know that—again I researched you for a little bit and you have this “Agent Crush”, “Fireflies in the Garden”, “Secret of…”  I don’t want to butcher that last name.

Ioan: Moonacre.

Moonacre. So how do you pick projects?

Ioan: “Agent Crush” is a…I’m supplying the voice for this character Agent Crush so that’s something that I’ve done since I was a child really.  When I was back in Wales, we used to dub a lot of the big cartoons like “The Smurfs” for example into the Welch language believe it or not. So as a youngster I was in a studio and sound booths you know, sort of mimicking.

I just want to make sure—you did “Smurfs” when you were younger?

Ioan: Yeah.

Okay, I just want to clarify that.  That’s amazing.

Ioan: Yeah.  I know.  I translated it into the Welch language, so that experience of voicing something is being part of my upbringing so when they came to me to play Agent Crush they basically said “listen we want to hear you do your best Roger Moore impression for the character.”  So that’s what I was doing, although Roger Moore was actually in the project as well.

I wanted to ask you about that.  Did you have a chance to work with him?

Ioan: No, no, sadly enough.  I was living here and some of the cast members got together and recorded it as like a play almost live, but no, I’ve met him subsequently and we’ve had a good laugh about it and I was sort of apologizing for trying to imitate him very poorly.

That’s great though.

Ioan: Yeah, I mean, this is another string to my bow as an actor.  There’s another genre voicing a character and being able to be creative with your voice.

Can you tell me what part you play in that?  I was A.F.M—The American Film Market…

Ioan: Oh yeah, they’re trying to promote it and sell it.  I played Agent Crush.  Agent Crush is a robot that is built to look like James Bond.  He thinks he’s James Bond but he’s just totally incompetent and he’s got a few gadgets loose, you know, of his circuitry is missing.  It’s a bit of fun for the kids, really.  It works on a couple of levels for adults but it’s basically a kid’s movie, but using that old-fashioned model making and you know, animatronics so it’s a very tangible world. All these models--all these sets were real sets but in miniature version.  So it was that old-fashioned sort of Thunderbirds kind of filmmaking.

I might come back to that but I want to definitely ask you about “Fireflies in the Garden” and the other 2 films you have coming out. 

Ioan: Yeah, “Fireflies in the Garden” is a lovely script that I read. By the time I got to it all the parts had gone but there was a little cameo in it that I could play and I just wanted to be in it by association because it’s a beautiful story.  The main cast—Julia Roberts, Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe and Emily Watson, so I haven’t seen that yet.  I don’t know how its turned out but it’s something that I’m sure I’m going to be very proud just to be part of.  And then “The Secret of Moonacre” I think is now called “The Moon Princess”.  It’s based on a kid’s novel that was written back in the 50’s.  It’s about a young girl who reads a storybook and that sort of comes alive and she realizes that she’s the girl that she’s reading about in the storybook.  It’s a bit of a fantasy kid’s genre and that was something I just loved, you know, it just appealed to the kid in me, kind of like the “The Never-Ending Story”.  Remember “The Never-Ending Story”?  

Very much, yes.

Ioan: Yeah, I loved that so it was sort of having a chance to be in a movie of that sort of nature.

How was it working…I forget who’s the daughter in that.  What part do you play in “The Secret”?

Ioan: I play the uncle of the main protagonist and she’s played by Dakota Blue Richards who’s going to be in “Golden Compass” now.  She’s the main girl.

Yes, yes.

Ioan: So her star is in the ascendance and I guess the movie’s coming out next month so she’ll be everywhere I think. 

Okay, now obviously the writers strike is going on so everything is being put into chaos, but the “Fantastic Four” franchise has done very well—both films.  Do you think that Fox is going to be moving ahead with the 3^rd?  Or have you heard any rumblings I should say?

Ioan: You know what, by the last “Fantastic Four 2—The Rise of the Silver Surfer”, we didn’t know until very late in the day—I mean they were building sets and everything was ready to go.  We were the last to physically know.  So I haven’t heard any rumblings. I mean, all my friends up in Vancouver that would be building the sets or getting on with it, they haven’t heard anything.  So I guess because of the current climate the studios are so keen on getting stuff out for this summer and for beyond if the actors go on strike that they haven’t even thought of “Fantastic Four”.  I mean, the earliest we would shoot it would be I guess this time next year.

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