New interviews with Tom discussing Da Vinci's Demons seasons 1 and 2 have been shared online. The first is from Collider.com. Read it in full on the site.
Collider: How much fun is it to play Leonardo a Vinci?
TOM RILEY: It’s fun, particularly with where we get to take him this season. It’s a proper arc. He ends the season in a very different place from where he started.
When you shot that opening scene, and then go back in time six months, did you know how that was going to turn out?
RILEY: No, we didn’t know then how it would turn out. To be honest, we knew that was happening when we shot the end of last season. The minute we did that cliffhanger, we knew the first thing back would be Riorio and Da Vinci together, seemingly getting on. It was just great. David [Goyer] was so excited, and we were like, “Oh, my god, that’s amazing! We’d watch that!”
Was it fun to get to do more scenes with Blake Ritson, this season?
RILEY: Yeah. They’re flipsides of a coin, so it’s interesting. In Season 1, Riorio respected Da Vinci in a way that Da Vinci didn’t respect him back. He respects his mind and knows how useful he’ll be, whereas Da Vinci doesn’t want to be used and has nothing but contempt for what Riorio wants to do with the Book of Leaves. This season, he grows a grudging respect for who Riorio is and why he is the way he is. They have a joint purpose that they can only achieve together, so they have to get on.
What was it like to wear Riorio’s coat when you did the impression of him?
RILEY: I quite liked that coat, actually. There’s something about that costume. Da Vinci is very open, so to be suddenly buttoned up, and then jump off the side of a ship, it wasn’t easy. We did it down at Pinewood’s underwater studios. I did have to jump in. The plan was to shoot it three times in one day, but I got in and it was such heavy wool that they couldn’t dry it. We only got one take ‘cause it was so wet that we couldn’t do it again. It wasn’t easy.
The second, for Stack Net, is to promote the season 1 DVD release in New Zealand on 7th May. Again, read it in full on the site.
Sex, violence and nudity have become almost mandatory in historical series nowadays. Did you find this aspect exciting or daunting when you signed on?
Violence and sex were part and parcel of a visceral time that was defined by freedom of expression, art, lust and war. And to be honest, in my experience, sex tends to be easier with nudity. It’s never daunting when it’s earned within the story – and if you find getting naked in front of 30 strangers in a freezing cold car factory in Wales exciting, then you might be in the wrong job.
Why do you think British actors are favoured for historical/period productions?
The accent is a televisual convention for period dramas, and British actors thank the world for the employment that provides. There are actors in Budapest right now cursing the BBC for getting in there first when they could have changed the landscape of historical drama by just pipping them to the post and insisting that before 1900, everybody spoke in Hungarian!
Can you discuss your working relationship with showrunner David S.Goyer. and would you agree he’s turned Da Vinci into a ‘Renaissance superhero’?
We have more than a working relationship, we have a friendship, and I’m grateful the show came into my life because it means he did as well. As far as the second question is concerned, Da Vinci’s only superpower is his mind, and although it might seem otherwise at the beginning of season one, as this season and future ones progress, you’ll see that he will become acutely aware of the fact that he is not as invulnerable as some of the other heroes David has been responsible for bringing to the screen.
