:11:02
Quintessential American hero,
big Hollywood movie star,
:11:11
and recognised as an astronaut.
:11:13
And here we introduce Sir Ben Kingsley
as The Hood.
:11:20
What a blessing to have an actor of this quality
in a family picture.
:11:25
When he was offered the part,
he came to meet me.
:11:31
The big movie stars, they're offered a part
:11:33
based on a meeting
with the director or the producer.
:11:36
So he came into the room...
:11:39
He and Patrick Stewart,
who I've worked with on Star Trek,
:11:42
are good mates from the RSC
:11:44
and have a certain similarity in appearance,
I think you might agree.
:11:50
He said he'd been doing roles
that were so emotionally taxing
:11:58
that he was happy to take on a lighter tone -
again with the tone -
:12:04
that he was happy to come in and play The Hood
:12:08
because it was a family picture.
:12:10
But more importantly,
as he admitted to me later,
:12:13
his sons Edmund and Ferdinand
really encouraged him to play The Hood.
:12:19
The most aspirational moment
in the movie, we hope.
:12:22
"I wish that was me," is basically our theme.
:12:26
He wants to grow up and be a Thunderbird.
:12:28
Anyway, back to Sir Ben Kingsley.
He brought a certain gravitas to the entire picture
:12:33
and ending up having a ball
playing The Hood as you'll see.
:12:38
Anthony Edwards, best known
as Dr Greene from ER -
:12:43
sporting a really fine toupee, as you'll notice -
:12:49
was, again, so tired of
playing the character for eight seasons,
:12:56
who was massively depressed,
who had lost patients, who had died of cancer,