This amazing photo of Tom as da Vinci was shared by FOX TV UK on their Facebook Page. Da Vinci's Demons begins broadcast in the UK on Friday 19th April on FOX.
A really interesting new interview with Tom, obtained in Florence for AAP, reveals some of the challenges Tom faced having the lead role in Da Vinci's Demons. Read the interview in full on the website [NB Tom is not Irish].
Holding court in a Florence hotel suite, Tom Riley is without the beard he sports as the young, vital and charismatic Leonardo da Vinci in the new pay-TV series Da Vinci's Demons. However, his stylish attire and sharp wit leave no doubt the show found the right man to embody its central character...
...Riley admits that a leading role demands more of an actor than simply more screen time. It requires one to be both a team player and a team captain of sorts. "I'd done supporting parts opposite leading men in the past and I tried to watch the role of the lead and see how different people do it," he said. "That's something you don't necessarily take into account when you take a part like this one - you think you're just going to play the role and you then realise you not only have a responsibility to the man, to his history and to the overall show but to the cast and the crew as well. They're all looking to you, which I didn't see. "Having watched other actors, some who do it brilliantly and some who are terrible at it, I knew which one I wanted to be."...
...Riley is the one who has to convey da Vinci's unique genius to the show's audience. And he found a number of ways to express it, one of which is a restless physicality that suggests a mind that never stops spinning. "Yeah, that was exhausting," he laughed. "But it was really important that he never quite stop moving. It's very easy to be very still on camera, and it can be instantly engaging, but it wouldn't necessarily represent what was going on in his mind. "So I wanted him to be in a constant state of movement ... I tried to make it happen in quick movements of the fingers, a slight shifting of the feet. As a result, I'd be shattered at the end of the day. I slept like a baby all throughout the shoot."
Starz have uploaded an amazing clip from episode 2 to their official website. Sadly it isn't viewable outside the US.
