Did We Really Just Interview Tarzan? Out in Theaters Friday!

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN – IN THEATERS FRIDAY

Did I really just interview Tarzan? That is what I said to myself as I walked out of a suite at The Beverly Hills Hilton last week still in a daze from taking a selfie with Tarzan! From Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures comes the action adventure “The Legend of Tarzan,” starring Alexander Skarsgård (HBO’s “True Blood”) as the legendary character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The night before my husband and I drove up to Hollywood to check out an early screening of Legend of Tarzan and both of us really enjoyed it! We didn’t have any expectations and I was wondering if they could pull-off such an epic tale. I mean, the story of Tarzan has been made into movies since 1918 and we all have grown up seeing various male actors play this part. I can say that not only did they create a great movie, the CGI and actors make this a must-see summer blockbuster. There is something for the entire family to enjoy and I have a feeling I am not the only mom who enjoys seeing Alex Skarsgard up on screen with his shirt off a lot of the movie! Joking aside, Alexander is a believable Tarzan and I thought the chemistry between him and Jane (played by Margot Robbie) was pretty hot.

I thought it was interesting that the director, David Yates (the man behind the epic Harry Potter films) mentioned in our interview that Alexander was tall and lean and felt his body-type fit perfectly with the story of a man who grew up in the jungle. If he truly was flying from limb to limb and living off the land he would be less bulky like what we have seen Tarzan look like in the past and more lean like Alexander’s body. You judge for yourself once you see the movie, but he looks like a perfect Tarzan to me!

The film also stars Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction,” the “Captain America” films), Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond,” “Gladiator”), Oscar nominee John Hurt (“The Elephant Man,” the “Harry Potter” films), with Oscar winner Jim Broadbent (“Iris”), and two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Django Unchained”).

It has been years since the man once known as Tarzan (Skarsgård) left the jungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane (Robbie) at his side. Now, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the Belgian, Captain Leon Rom (Waltz). But those behind the murderous plot have no idea what they are about to unleash.

A group of mom bloggers had the chance to interview Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie as well as Director David Yates at the press junket last week. Read what they had to say about their roles as Tarzan and Jane and why David Yates wanted to bring this story to life again on the big screen.

I am including what Alexander says as he walked into a room filled with us mom bloggers. I think it shows how sweet he really is! Both of them were very down-to-earth and just nice people! Imagine, Tarzan was intimidated by a group moms – too funny!

Blogger: Hi.

Ms. Margot Robbie: Hello.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: Hi, guys.

Ms. Margot Robbie: Hi, guys.

Blogger: Hi there.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: That’s an intimidating room–.

Blogger: –Says that when they come in.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: Wow.

Blogger: You’re one of the girls now.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: All right, ladies. Morning, morning.

Ms. Margot Robbie: Didn’t know there’d be so many people. This is fun. Cool.

Blogger (I mentioned this as sometimes the actors don’t know): We’re a bunch of mom bloggers.

Ms. Margot Robbie: I know. I heard. So cool.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: You’re all bloggers?

Blogger: We are.

Blogger: Yep.

Blogger: Yes.

Ms. Margot Robbie: Mom bloggers because I was just talking to my publicist about that. And I was like, “Oh, I didn’t–like, is that, like, actually really–?”

Blogger: –Like, a thing–?

Ms. Margot Robbie: “–Helpful when you’re pregnant?” She was like, “Oh my gosh.” She was like, “I had no idea that I would need mom blogs so bad.” And then I had a baby. And I was like–.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: –Is that what it is about?

Blogger: That’s awesome.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: Pregnancy and helping people through a pregnancy, or–?

Blogger: –Not about that–.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: –Just more about having kids?

Blogger: Everything about being a mom. So–.

Ms. Margot Robbie: –She was saying things like even like something about baby food or, like, what–I don’t know. She–.

Blogger: –Like products.

Ms. Margot Robbie: Yes, or that kind of stuff, yes?

Blogger (me): And movie premieres.

Ms. Margot Robbie: Yes, getting out of the house I guess.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: Wow.

So I guess we introduced cute Alex to what mom bloggers are all about – getting moms out of the house! Kidding aside, he was really sweet and even a tad shy I might add. Margot was great and had a lot to say about her role as Jane and how she and Alex worked with the filmmakers to create their characters. She said the director was very open to any suggestions about their character development.

Blogger: So, how was it for you both recreating, like–creating a brand new story to, like, a classic tale that everybody knows already?

Ms. Margot Robbie: You take it.

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: Well, I think you kind of have to. It’s because it’s such an iconic character and–or both Tarzan and Jane are iconic characters, and it’s such a well-known story that I think it’s been told over 100 times on film and, obviously, all the novels.

And so, I was really excited when I heard that Warner Brothers were planning on

story to, like, a classic tale that everybody knows already?

Ms. Margot Robbie: You take it.

And so, I was really excited when I heard that Warner Brothers were planning on making the Tarzan movie because I was a fan growing up.

But, it also, obviously, made me thing, like, well, what’s the approach? How is it going to be different, you know, because you can’t just, like, remake a movie that’s been made 100 times?

And I just think Adam Cozad, who wrote it, came up with such a brilliant take on it. I love the idea that it opens–it’s a surprising introduction to these characters because you kind of expect the loincloth, the, “Me Tarzan, you Jane.”

And instead, it’s this very sophisticated couple in Victorian London.

And I thought it was really interesting and very smart.

And kind of the trajectory of the story is the opposite of the old novels or the old movies. It’s not, you know, the wild man, like, finding his way into civilization. It’s someone who’s already acclimated to that and then is forced to go back and kind of reconnect with his roots and with his inner animal in a way, which I thought was quite interesting to play.

Blogger: So, it was really a really physical role. How did you prepare for that?

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: In kind of different–well, phase one was to kind–I wanted to put on some weight. I was out here in L.A. wrapping up True Blood.

And so, for the first three months, it was just I ate a lot, and I lifted weights.

The idea wasn’t just to get big. But, I wanted to put on some weight, but also, it was important that, in the movie, he doesn’t look like a bodybuilder.

It was important that when he returns to the jungle and he’s back in his natural habitat, you have to feel that he is born and raised there, that it’s natural. And it–so, it was–to have–to work on agility and be nimble and flexible.

And so, once we got to London about six or seven weeks before starting the movie, they cut down the portions a lot to very small meals. And it was more cardio-based workout. And we got to work with–Wayne McGregor was an incredible choreographers–on movement stuff.

And that was really fun. So, it was much more than just eating chicken breast and lifting weights because, again, I didn’t want to get too big because then it–animals don’t have muscles that don’t serve a purpose because it’s stupid in the wild because that means they need energy. And that means you have to hunt more.

And so, it’s all about efficiency in Mother Nature, obviously. So, the idea behind it was everything has to be there for a reason.

Blogger: I really like that Jane was very, like, whip smart. She was never waiting for Tarzan to save here. Any opportunity she had, she was like, “I’m going to, like, get out of here and, like, get to help everyone.”

Can you talk about sort of developing that character and what your favorite parts of being her was?

Ms. Margot Robbie: Yes. I mean, it was something we spoke about–so, David Yates, the Director, and I, our initial conversations were very much on, like, okay, how do we make this Jane relatable to, like, a contemporary audience? How do we make her feel a bit more real and someone I can connect to because I’m not going to sit there and just be like, “He’ll come for me. It’ll be great.” It just seems stupid.

If she’s really that intelligent, she’d be problem solving the whole time. So, even in scenes where the focus isn’t meant to be on her and there’s other things happening, and obviously, there’s like plot points you need to serve sometimes, it’s like, in the background of the shot, can I always be actively trying to escape, like even if it’s just like niggling at the guards or, like, trying to kick someone or, do–and Dave was like, “Oh, this would be hilarious if you’re always kicking–like, if it’s towards the end of the movie and kind of like scared to get near because you’re just always lashing out at them, that would be amazing.”

And yes, we spoke a lot about making her very independent and very capable. I think both of them are very capable when they’re apart, which we’re apart for a lot of the movie.

But, we also spent a lot of time talking about how to make them also very dependent on each other because, at the heart of it, to me, it’s very much a love story. And if you don’t invest in that, then you don’t really invest in the outcome of the movie. And then you kind of lose your audience a bit.

So, it’s important to focus on that. And to focus on that, it makes sense that they both need something from each other, where Tarzan’s physically strong, she’s emotionally strong.

Where she needs that from him where he–you know, they both need each other, and I don’t think being really in love with your husband makes you a weaker female character. If anything, I think it makes her seem stronger.

So, I didn’t want to downplay the love aspect, but also did want to make sure that she was very capable and defiant and intelligent.

Blogger: I was going to ask about input into the script. So, that kind of goes along with that. How much input did you guys have into each of your characters? I mean, obviously, you had a lot. Are there other things that you–?

Ms. Margot Robbie: –To be honest, it was–I mean, the–it was all pretty much there on the page. It’s a really good script. They’re fully formed characters. And the relationships, everything was really evident on the page. There wasn’t that much.

It was just kind of honing in on the aspects and a few further conversations and tweaks and things like that.

And when Christoph [Waltz] came onboard to play Captain Rom, obviously, he takes a very intellectual approach with these characters.

And out of that came the conversation of making Jane and Rom’s dynamic kind of like a chess game and very much an intellectual battlefield as opposed to a more physical one.

So, there was things like that kind of were accentuated. But, they were always present in the script.

And no, everyone involved was super–like, David was really down to talk and, like, collaborate and all that kind of stuff.

And Adam, the writer, like the same thing, he was always there, always willing to change things or write things.

But, it wasn’t one of those scripts where you were kind of like, oh, it’s not going to work unless we do–it was like, “This is all there. And now, we can build on it a little bit to–.”

Mr. Alexander Skarsgard: –Yes, there were no egos. Both the writer and the director were so collaborative. And if you had an idea, they were both genuinely excited about it, like, “All right. Let’s see if we can figure it out. Like, what would that look like? And how would that change things before and after the scene?”

But people that really enjoyed that process of–it’s not like, “Here’s a script. Just show up and say your lines.” They were really excited and wanted their actors to kind of be creative and come up with new ideas and stuff.

We also spoke with Director David Yates and he spoke about why he wanted to bring a fresh perspective of Tarzan to the big screen.

Mr. David Yates: Hey, nice to meet you all, by the way.

Blogger: Nice to meet you.

Mr. David Yates: David. Nice to meet you.

Blogger: What was the hardest part about bringing a new version of Tarzan to modern audiences today?

Mr. David Yates: Do you know, when I got the script, I thought I knew this character. I was reading lots and lots of scripts after Potter. So, you sent loads of things.

And Tarzan came across my desk. And I thought, “I know this character. I know this world.” When I was a kid growing up in the north of England, I saw those old Johnny Weissmuller films on the telly all the time.

And so, I didn’t read it actually. I actually said to my office, “Can you have a look at it?”

So, they read it over the weekend. And they said, “You’ve got to read this, David. It’s really, really fun.”

And so, I opened it on Monday morning. And it was immediately obvious it wasn’t going to be difficult at all because this wasn’t, “Me Tarzan, you Jane.”

It was about human being who had changed. He’d gone civilization. He’d gone to London. He’d become an English lord. He was living in a big stately home. And he sort of lost touch with his roots in Africa.

And then as I got into it more and more, what I really loved about it, I was reading lots of scripts. But, none of them had a beating heart. None of them felt exciting in a kind of romantic–I wasn’t reading anything that felt like it had a beating heart.

I was reading lots of cool stuff with lots of things blowing up, with lots of things that were kind of fun. But, I felt I’d seen it all before.

And even though it’s an old character, it felt very fresh to me.

So, immediately, I didn’t think it was going to be very difficult for an audience to go, “Well, I thought I knew it, but I don’t know this character.”

And there was the politics. It was the fun and the comedy. It was the romance. It was the big epic sweeping landscapes. It was all of those things that just felt–I haven’t seen this for a long time. You know, so, that made it feel fresh and different to me.

So, I fell in love with that as soon as I read it really.

Blogger: And all those big themes you just talked about, which did you–do you feel was the most important or the biggest challenge to convey, you know?

Mr. David Yates: The thing that really pulled me in was the fact that it was about two human beings that ultimately save each other. And I felt that was a very moving thing to have at the heart of it.

So, it was fundamentally about–Jane saves Tarzan at the beginning of the movie because she pulls him out of the jungle. She kind of civilizes him. She brings him back to England.

And she kind of saves him. And then the second half of the movie is really about him trying to save her.

But, without each other, they’re incomplete. You know, he’s kind of strong and connected to the environment and loves animals and has these extraordinary abilities. But, without him, he can’t really survive.

So, for me, it was about that relationship and making that resonate and feel moving and timeless, just finding chemistry between two actors that you really believe and that you want to stay with basically.

So, getting Alex and Margot was a big piece of the puzzle, to bring those two together.

So friends, if you are looking for an entertaining summer movie to take the family to, you don’t want to miss out on this epic story! My husband and I really enjoyed it and appreciated all the cool CGI effects.