IGN interviews Caleb Landry Jones

IGN interviews Caleb Landry Jones:

IGN: How did you get the role of Banshee?

Caleb Landry Jones: All I knew was that it was the X-Men. I thought, 'What the hell are they doing auditioning a redhead? OK, I'll do my best.' I got the part and it's been brilliant. I've never been overseas - I've never been to Europe - and so that's amazing by itself. To be on a movie with such magnitude as this one is just absolutely amazing. I'm getting a chance I've never had before in my life. I'm getting to fly, which I've always wanted to do. I'm playing a superhero, which I've always wanted to do. Don't look like Spider-Man, don't look like Batman, so it's fantastic that there's one that I do look like, kind of. 

IGN: Tell us about the character.

Jones: Well he's got a supersonic scream. He learns how to fly in this movie. He learns how to melt objects. In the beginning all he really knows is how to break things - car doors I'm guessing, things like that. And he's got selective hearing.

IGN: What does he do with his scream?

Jones: What's the technical way of saying it? I'm trying to think of Hank [McCoy]'s line when he explains it to me. He causes the sound waves... something about vibrations... I don't know the science behind it, but he can blow sh*t up and cause skulls to crack.

IGN: Do you get to do all that this in the movie?

Jones: Everything except the skull cracking. It's a PG-13!

IGN: How familiar were you with the X-Men when you got the role?

Jones: I'm much more familiar now that I've done some reading. I wasn't very familiar in the beginning - I wasn't allowed to watch it as a kid what with Wolverine saying 'Punk' and things like that. I couldn't watch the show. I was really into Batman, but not X-Men as such. Although now I've got a full booklet - it's like 500 or 800 pages of just Banshee comics.

IGN: Are you getting into the comics then?

Jones: Very much so, yeah. When I got it, it was scary actually. In the comics it seems like they reinvent him over and over again. The question was, which one to do. He always has an Irish accent, but in the movie he doesn't. How much to take from each reinvention, how much to put in, that was the question.  

IGN: Did you end up coming up with your own version?

Jones: Yeah. He's always pretty smart, it seems like. He's mostly good. The script definitely defines him more so than the comics do, because I've got to do what the script says. I try to add as much as possible. I know there's a love connection in the comics with Moira [MacTaggert - played by Rose Byrne in the movie], so I try to look at her just a little bit differently, you know, when I can. I know Mystique cuts my vocal chords later on - I don't know if they're going to do that in the movies, but therefore I make it a little bit so that if that does happen later on, for any of the fans watching, they can notice that. There's so much to take from the comics.

IGN: It's quite a change of pace from The Last Exorcism, too - did you want to try something vastly different?

Jones: Honestly, in my career it's something where I don't have a choice. I'll take whatever I get. But, yeah, I wanted to do something different and was very happy this was completely different. And hopefully after this it'll be something else completely different, too.

IGN: Do you get much action in the movie?

Jones: We'll see - it keeps changing. In the comics, someone would shout, 'Banshee!' He'd fly in and do something and then be gone for a little bit. And then 'Banshee!' He'd come back for a little bit, fly and scream at someone. There's not a whole lot of combat, I'd say. But every once in a while I'll come in and beat someone up.

IGN: Why bother when you can just scream at someone and have the same effect?

Jones: Yeah, from really far away. I could just be sitting in a little cave and scream from there.

IGN: Are you conscious that this could become a massive franchise and there will be more of them?

Jones: Yeah, it hasn't really dawned on me quite yet I don't think. Maybe, if I get on a Slurpee mug then it'll dawn on me.

IGN: And an action figure?

Jones: Now that hasn't dawned on me completely, but my mind is already racing. I'm ready to be an action figure. I'd love that very much. And all the redheaded kids will get to go out and feel loved and be able to buy a redheaded action figure.  

 http://ie.movies.ign.com/articles/116/1167782p1.html