Continuing our string of interviews from the Vancouver studio where Lucifer is produced, today the spotlight falls on Lucifer himself: Tom Ellis (Rush, Merlin), who brings a devilish grin to the proceedings as the fallen angel in the show’s title.
Was it daunting to take on an iconic role like Lucifer and put your stamp on the rule?
Well first of all, I didn’t really think about that before. I got the script, and I thought “this is, one, very funny, and two, something I’d really love to do.” Because it was very different from a lot of the things out there. And then it’s sort of become a realization of mine since that everyone feels like they know this character. A little bit like Father Christmas of someone like that. So, it is funny, peoples’ intrigue about it. “Oh, you’re playing the Devil?” Everyone’s got their fixed kind of thing. My interpretation of it was [that] I wanted to use what we had in the original script, because it was so brilliantly written. The character, for me, was so brilliantly realized by Tom Kapinos, who originally wrote the pilot.
There were some Hank Moody tones in there. Tom writes brilliantly for those type of characters. For me, it just felt like a blueprint for this great character, taking from what I assumed the Devil to be. One thing I didn’t want to do is make him arch, because I think what really leapt out to me when I first read it, is it was fun. It was a fun take on using this character and putting in a different world. And therefore, the things and the problems and the puzzlements that they encounter.
That was my take on it. I just wanted it to be a fun take on it. He likes to have fun with people, and that was a huge selling point for me and a huge thing that I tapped into, really. I didn’t want to be Mr. Evil.
The notion that even Trixie likes Lucifer – does that reveal a lot about his character?
I think it does. There’s this fun dynamic that we play with it. Lucifer is repelled by children. He can’t get his head around children, which I like, because it has tones… not to get into some big theological discussion, but the whole thing about Jesus wanted to be able to be child-like and all that. I think it’s the ultimate innocence, and that’s what he can’t get his head around. So when someone gets him, of that age group, it’s puzzling, but it plays out very funnily.
Again, another thing that I find interesting and different about this, is that it may well be billed by people who haven’t seen it as a procedural cop drama with Lucifer teaming up with a detective, but it doesn’t play out like that, because he only gets involved in cases that he has some kind of selfish interest in. It’s about his experience of learning about humanity and learning about people and interaction, and emotions… all those things that he’s finding new and sometimes exciting and sometimes daunting. He uses his relationship with the detective in order to find that through the cases. So, it’s quite amusing, because he doesn’t really care about solving any of these crimes. It’s just about getting to a realization for him about something.
Want some video where Tom Ellis talks about more subjects, including comic book influences and some hints about what’s coming up? Check out video from our interview below:
