UNITED KINGDOM: Fourteen-year-old super spy Alex Rider set to create box office storm in the summer with the release of 'Stormbreaker'

Filming of the 40 million U.S. dollar independent Samuelson production of Anthony Horowitz's novel 'Stormbreaker' has come to an end at the Pinewood Studios near London. Reuters Television caught up with the film's young star Alex Pettyfer and the production crew prior to the end of the principal photography. Based on Anthony Horowitz's novel of the same name, Stormbreaker follows the adventures of Alex Rider, a fourteen-year-old boy who inadvertently finds himself recruited to work for British intelligence agency MI6. Alex Ryder has become a hero to millions of children with eight million copies of Stormbreaker and its five successive Alex Ryder books been sold around the world. The popularity of 'Stormbreaker' and other Alex Rider books is based on the fact that the young boy is a reluctant spy, explained film director Geoffrey Sax. "He (Alex Rider) is dragged into it kicking and screaming. He has got a motive which is avenging his uncles death which drives him to do it (become a spy)," Sax said. "I think the thing that all children can relate to is that he (Alex Ryder) could be any one of them. He happens to be very good looking and he happens to be very good at marshal arts and every thing else, but he is an inspirational character and in my opinion that is what the appeal of the books have been," he added. Alex Pettyfer who plays the 14-year-old secret agent makes his feature film debut in 'Stormbreaker', cast ahead of 400 young hopefuls who also screen-tested for the lead role. Pettyfer finds himself mixing it up on-screen with the current crop of Hollywood's A-listers, going head to head with Mickey Rourke ("Sin City / Domino") as the secret agent's nemesis, Billionaire Darrius Sayle. Getting Rourke signed up for the UK production was the makings of film producer Marc Samuelson. "We had a sense that Mickey was back, not just 'Sin City' but from people that knew about him, meeting him, seeing the other things he was going for. He is an amazing looking man, he is a movie star, he has got that something extra, he has got real star charisma," said Samuelson. But Pettyfer is not ready to allow his famous co-star up-stage his feature film debut, preferring to seek inspiration from another Hollywood A-lister for his portrayal of Alex Ryder to a global audience. "I wanted to portray him as very vulnerable," Pettyfer said. "I think a lot of the characters today are very butch, very manly. I like what Tobey Maguire does with Spider-Man, very vulnerable and comes out of the blue when he puts that suit on and I thought I would play it a bit like that." Other cast members include Bill Nighy ('Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy') as MI6 spymaster and Sophie Okonedo ('Hotel Rwanda') as his assistant, Alicia Silverstone, Missi Pyle, Andy Serkis ('King Kong / Lord of the Rings'). Ewan McGregor stars as the Alex Rider's super spy uncle. Andy Serkis joined the Stormbreaker production just a few days before filming was wrapped to play Mr Grin, a cameo role playing Billionaire Darrius Sayle's man servant. As in his latest film King Kong, Serkis is not called upon to deliver any lines of dialogue. "Mr Grin doesn't speak, in mean he kind of mutters occasionally, Sirkis explained. "He has had this terribly severe accident with a knife throwing incident in a circus where he used to work. His speciality act was catching a knife between his teeth. Supposedly, so the story goes, his mum was sitting in the audience and put him off at the last minute and he mad a terrible error." With a string of successful UK television productions to his name, director Sax has taken on the responsibility of bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together, transforming the pages of the novel onto the silver screen. "The hardest thing for any director is still working on the dialogue, any dialogue and bringing that to life making that believable and that is the same for a 'On Golden Pond' to 'Titanic'," he said. Horowitz himself adapted the novel for the screen with Mark and Peter Samuelson, Steve Christian and Andreas Grosch producing the film. 'Stormbreaker' is expected for release in the summer of 2006.

ITN Source | November 10, 2005

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