Hugo Weaving

How he became the battle-worn soldier let loose in 1840s Ireland

1 Trained as a rifleman

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“We got to fire the guns of the day. The armourer taught us. Just trying to get used to ripping the paper off the cartridge, pouring the powder down the barrel, putting the ball in, tamping the whole thing down, putting the tamper back in the gun, then firing. And then repeating the whole thing, often while running. We spent a couple of days on that, then practised on set.”

2 relearned horse-riding

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“These characters were very good horsemen. I’d ridden before, but not for a while, so had lessons before I went to Ireland. We had to do some complicated manoeuvres. Just getting off a horse with a gun in its holster means you’ve got to swing your leg in a much wider arc — the gun’s sticking up on the side of the horse and you’re liable to smash it down on the gun and it’s really painful.”

3 researched The effects of war

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“My character is walking dead, really. He’s been so destroyed by his own war experiences, he’s suffering from PTSD. He did horrific things, and wears a lot of guilt and shame. So I did a lot of reading, based on first-hand accounts of men in war through the ages. I’m not going to kill people, that’s not what acting is. But I need to understand that experience.”