Is that really Oliver Driver?

BY CHRIS SCHULZ

You've seen Oliver Driver as an angry skinhead in Snakeskin. You've heard him voicing all those Warehouse ads. And there he is greeting you every morning on TV3 morning news show Sunrise.

But you've never seen Driver like this.

As Mr Wilberforce in Under the Mountain, Driver is transformed into the evil leader of an underground race. He is covered in slime and tentacles, grunts in a deep voice and is intent on killing two young twins who hold the key to eliminating his species.

He provides a star turn in Under the Mountain, a film directed by Jonathan King which is playing in cinemas now, and Driver relished playing someone he describes as a "truly evil bad guy".

"That's one of the joys of being an actor. You get to be evil, you get to kill people and you don't have to go to jail," he told Stuff.co.nz.

"In my mind, he is one of the greatest villains this country has created. If there's one guy from New Zealand fiction you don't want to meet, it's Mr Wilberforce."

Driver, 35, remembers watching the cult 1981 television series based on the book as a teenager, and while he admits it's "appalling" to re-watch it now, it "scared the crap" out of him at the time.

"I lived in Takapuna, my friends lived near Lake Pupuke and I used to watch that show with my family. Mr Wilberforce was around, I was sure, and I was convinced there were tunnels (everywhere)."

But it wasn't an easy role for him to play. Driver had to endure early morning starts to undergo his transformation into Mr Wilberforce. His day would start around 2am as his prosthetic face was applied in five different stages, and he would then shoot for up to 16 hours.

He says the arduous nature of the role helped his character.

"There's a huge amount of prosthetic work and it's very isolating and it can make you quite depressed because you're trapped," he said.

"That's quite good for the character because (Mr Wilberforce) hates being in a human body and it's uncomfortable and horrible and it's an effort to stay human. It was (helpful) to be uncomfortable and feel horrible anyway.

"It's intense, but it's such a short period of time. You have to tell yourself that the film is going to exist forever and this uncomfortableness is only for today. You really have to get over it."

The original Mr Wilberforce, played by Bill Johnson, has a short cameo in the new film, but Driver said he tried to create a new version of the character.

"The original Mr Wilberforce was so good, and so scary. But this is a film for a new generation of kids. I really had to stop worrying about what people my age - who had grown up with the original Mr Wilberforce - would think about it.

"I'm never going to be a better Mr Wilberforce than what's built up in our heads, so I didn't try."

Under the Mountain is screening now.

Under the Mountain
Director: Jonathan King
Starring: Sam Neill, Oliver Driver, Sophie McBride, Tom Cameron, Matthew Chamberlain, Michaela Rooney
Trailer: Flicks.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News