Did making "Kate & Leopold" cause any yearning to return to a simpler time?
Not for a second! The film is a fairy tale and it highlights some of the things that we've lost - some for good reason.
Which is presumably why your 18th century character finds Kate McKay so refreshing.
Yeah. There's the scene where Kate shouts "Yes!", and we always thought of that as one of those moments where Leopold begins to fall in love with her because he's seeing something he's never seen before. He loves her spirit, her freedom, and her ability to talk back and argue. This is something he's never experienced in a woman before.
If you could travel through time, which period would you choose to go to?
The future would be great. I would usually have said something in the past because I love history, but I have a little boy now so the future has obvious attractions for me to see where he's at and to see any possible future descendants.
You look very assured on horseback in the film. Do you ride?
Actually those scenes were particularly humiliating for me. Meg asked me one day if I could ride, and I said I was learning, which was my first mistake. The day we were supposed to shoot the scene with Meg on the horse as well, I came along and rode straight past her which was fine and as it should be. Then, the horse decided to put the brakes on, and I went straight over the top and landed on my arse which hurt like hell! But in the end Meg got on the horse with me, which was truly heroic.
Is it going to be tough going from the effortlessly mannered Leopold to Wolverine in "X-Men"?
Having a year in between the two roles helps. I'm going to the gym now to prepare, whereas on "Kate & Leopold" Meg got me into yoga. I told her that I thought aristocrats always seem to have this kind of elegant poise about them. She said that was how she felt after a yoga session so that helped me to play Leopold. Now I'm getting down to more Neanderthal efforts, sharpening the claws and getting ready for some slicing and dicing.
