By Rory Reynolds
BILLY Connolly has revealed that he “hated” filming his latest blockbuster flick, Gulliver’s Travels.
The 67-year-old comedian has described his battle with green-screen technology for his role as the King of Lilliput, adding that his experience on-set was “rubbish”.
Connolly, who has also starred in Mrs Brown and the Last Samurai, said that he is reluctant to star in a special effects dominated film again.
The Big Yin was on the promotional drive for the £100million movie, when he revealed how much he disliked the experience.
He said: “Because Gulliver is a giant, you have to act looking up all the time, and the real actor is over there speaking in a microphone, and you’re going, ‘Jack this, Jack that’ – I hated it.
“Speaking to a wall with a mark on it. And you’re watching a fight between two giants and there’s nobody there and you’re going, ‘ooh.ahhh’.
Rubbish
“I thought this is terrible, this is rubbish.
“It was great fun off-stage, but I have that kind of movie-making.”
Connolly said he barely had any screen-time on stage with the rest of the cast, which includes Emily Blunt and Jack Black and would be reluctant to star in an effects-laden film again.
He added: “I’d never done a green-screen movie before or a movie with so much green-screen in it, so I didn’t know quite what to expect.
“It was very difficult, very hard work. I think it’ll look sensational, but I must say that kind of work doesn’t greatly appeal to me.”
The Glaswegian comedian is not the first Scots actor to struggle with the abstract method of acting in front of a green or blue screen.
Tedious
Ewan McGregor complained he found filming the special effects scenes in Star Wars series “difficult”and “tedious”.
The method, pioneered by George Lucas in the original Star Wars series, is now the staple of the blockbuster industry.
James Cameron’s Avatar was dominated by special effects and CGI, while most of the action scenes in the Harry Potter films make use of the advanced technology.
The £102million film adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels, which was filmed at Pinewood Studios, is to be released next Christmas.
Connolly is set to star as King Fergus in the upcoming Pixar movie The Bear and the Bow, alongside, Julie Walters, Reese Witherspoon and Emma Thompson.
