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James Purefoy on Interlude in Prague: 'I’m happy to play nasty on screen​'

James Purefoy says actors have a responsibility to give honest depictions of vile characters — and not be swayed by their own “vanity”.

The British star, 52, plays villainous Baron Saloka in John Stephenson’s forthcoming film Interlude In Prague, co-starring Samantha Barks and Morfydd Clark.

It follows a young Mozart, played by Aneurin Barnard, as he spends a few turbulent months in Prague before writing Don Giovanni.

He befriends morally bankrupt aristocrat Saloka, who becomes a murderous sexual predator.

Purefoy, who starred as serial killer Joe Carroll in TV series The Following, described vanity as the “biggest stumbling block” for an actor.

Mask of evil: James Purefoy as villainous Baron Saloka in Interlude In Prague
Mask of evil: James Purefoy as villainous Baron Saloka in Interlude In Prague

“We’re all vain to a certain degree and not just actors. But we have a responsibility to try as hard as we can to push that vanity aside and be as brutally honest as we possibly can be.”

Purefoy added: “What’s really important is that you don’t shy away from the grotesqueness of that behaviour. I’ve seen actors who do that and I go, ‘That’s not honest, you’ve kept a little part there that makes you seem attractive.’

“And I didn’t do that, I don’t want to do that because I don’t believe it, I think it’s a lie,” he said.

He felt that a “particularly nasty” rape scene in the film was an opportunity to show what the “endgame” might be for abusers.

“I didn’t shy away from it,” he said. “I wanted to show it for what it really is, which is grotesque and terrifying and appalling — and that that behaviour is the endgame for the way those very strong powerful men abuse women on a daily basis in the workplace, for example. I think it is the logical conclusion of that.”

Purefoy added: “Baron Saloka is a serial abuser of women, he’s a man who is enormously powerful in his world. I wanted to explore what it’s like to be a man who is at the top of the tree in terms of status and abuse women because of that status. We live in the world right now where we’re seeing an awful lot of that.

“If you just simply hold a mirror up to nature, then the audience are able to see it for what it is, rather than the spin which we are endlessly given by those men.”

Interlude In Prague is in UK cinemas on May 25 and on DVD and Digital HD from May 29.

Carnaby International presents astonishing Mozart drama, Interlude in Prague, arriving in cinemas nationwide from 25th May.

For tickets to the red carpet premiere in London’s Leicester Square on 11th May, please visit www.bit.ly/iiprague and click on ‘Brian’s VIP’.