Edward Speleers

Edward: (on his favourite actors) There are so many great actors, but I really have a lot of respect for Johnny Depp. I've seen a lot of movies with him in it and, even if it's a film that wasn't as successful as you thought it would be, I've never seen him put in a bad performance. My favorite actors from history have to be Steve McQueen and James Dean.

Edward Speleers: Portraying Eragon is about the learning curve, the coming of age and portraying this character who is in this stage between manhood and boyhood. He's in that no man's land, I guess. I had to portray that with the added pressure of becoming a dragon rider, which doesn't happen to many people. I tried to keep him nice and natural and the earthy character that he is and take him from being a vulnerable, wide-eyed character to becoming a heroic figure.

Edward Spellers: Jeremy Irons, oh, wow, he's one of the most amazing people I've ever met. He was my mentor on and off screen. He made me a better person and a better actor, I hope. He tried to develop certain skills in me and had lots of great advice and great things to say to me. He was just there for me the whole time. He was a solid guy.

Edward Speleers: I wasn't aware of the difficulty of the acting and it certainly would have put a lot of pressure on me, but I'm used to dealing with a lot of pressure. I just don't think about it.

Edward Speleers: I was telling everybody, 'I got the part! I got the part!' And then I realized that I had kept the audition a big secret, so nobody knew what I was talking about.

Edward Speleers: I haven't seen much, just a few things. With developing the dragon I was performing against an orange tennis ball most of the time which is fine, but tricky. Once I found a way of picturing Saphira and I've since spoken with Christopher Paolini and explained how I pictured Saphira myself to act with and he said that's exactly how I should imagine it.