For Charlie Rowe, NEVERLAND Pans Out

If you’re like anyone else over thirty, you’ve probably wondered what it would be like to never grow up. To just stop getting older. (For some of us, it may have to do with a need for more sleep…)

In “Neverland” – the latest entry into J. M. Barrie’s mythology of fairies, pirates, and lost boys – Charlie Rowe gets to do just that. At least, on screen. He’s the new Peter Pan.

But it wasn’t a simple matter of just deciding he wanted to play the part, despite having worked with writer/director Nick Willing before. And to begin with, he wasn’t interested in the role of Peter, but thought he might play Fox, Peter’s best friend.

Willing, for his part, originally thought of Charlie for the part, but auditioned close to four hundred boys prior to casting the part, thinking he should probably work with someone new. But when Charlie read for the Fox part, Willing knew he had his Peter Pan.

Of course, when he got the part, he was very excited, just before reality set in:

“I would say extremely excited when I got the part. You know, danced around my house for ages. But I was hugely nervous of the fact that every single boy and girl around the world had grown up with this magical story and every boy has played with their wooden swords in the playground with their best friend being Peter Pan and Captain Hook. And so you know like Rhys, we both had huge boots to fill and I was very nervous about it.”

Rowe, of course, is not playing the Peter Pan with whom we’re all familiar. This is Peter before he’s the Pan. So there was a little latitude in Rowe’s approach, which included watching Nick Willing’s behavior during the production.  “Looking at Nick and being around Nick all the time, I realized that he was actually – he was this character Peter that he’d written about. So I just used to look at how he was behaving and just replicated it really.” Willing has said that he identifies with Peter Pan, so it’s no small surprise that his script would reflect that.

Rowe also looked to co-stars Rhys Ifans and Anna Friel, very much as Peter does with Hook. Going into the production, the boy actor found himself feeling a great deal of trepidation at having the lead part. But he also found himself surrounded by a lot of talented performers from whom he could learn.

“I felt that I went into doing the show as just a little kid really, a little child actor, and I think I’ve come out as an actor; or I’d like to think so anyway.”

In this prequel, Peter very much wants to be like James Hook. Wants to be Hook, and through the course of the story, gets drawn into Neverland and the appeal of never growing up. In the land of fairies and pirates and Indians, Peter finds his place. Peter wants to really live and be incredible, Rowe says, and he finds his chance to do that in Neverland.

Of course, the relationship between Peter and Hook goes terribly wrong, as these things tend to do – most likely over a woman – and there is the inevitable confrontation between the two former best friends. Rowe found himself doing a lot of stunts, wire work and swordplay.

The production uses a lot of green screen effects work, and much of that was shot in a warehouse. Rowe got to do what most of us have done as children: play pirates with swords. Only he got to do it on a bigger budget.

“I was just in complete heaven. I was jumping around with swords, sword fighting with Rhys and Anna Freil and I was just – I was – it was strange and obviously the flying was absolutely amazing being hauled up and down in this cold warehouse. It was spectacular although it does hurt. I really do not recommend it.”

The production team spent a long time in perfecting the flying movement, working on the pose for liftoff and the posture for flying. And all the while, Rowe has to make sure no one sees the pain he’s in from the harness. He credits Willing for getting him through the more grueling aspects of the work.

Co-star Friel was very impressed with Rowe’s work ethic: “He practiced that all the time at the end of a very, very, very long day of shooting. Sometimes 13 hours. He’d be there…in the harness. And the same with the whistle. I’ve never seen such a hard working young person.”

The whistle, of course, is the other thing for which Peter Pan is known. And Rowe plays quite a bit in the film. “And you know everyone thought it was great at first; the fact that I was learning it and I learned many, many songs but I think it became a nuisance by the end. You couldn’t get it off of me. I was always with my whistle just playing irritating music.”

As with any production, there are pros and cons, things that the actors love about the project, and things… well, not so much.

“I think my favorite aspect of it is the fact that you can just create magical things and mesmerizing and unforgettable creatures and worlds and just beautiful, beautiful things. But I suppose my least favorite is just the color green.”

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NEVERLAND, produced by Sky Movies, will air on Syfy December 4th and 5th 9/8c. Starring Charlie Rowe, Rhys Ifans, Anna Friel, and Bob Hoskins, with Keira Knightley as the voice of Tinkerbell.

[Official Show Site at Syfy]   [Official Site at Sky Movies]

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[Anna Friel is Neverland’s Bonny Lass]   [Nick Willing’s Neverland Fantasy]   [Rhys Ifans Gets Hooked by Neverland]