Theo James reveals naked time transport perils in ‘Time Travelers Wife’
Moving back and forth through time is a nasty business for reluctant voyager Henry Detamble (Theo James) in HBO’S “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”
Henry deals with a mysterious genetic condition that causes him to be repetitively and randomly ripped from his clothes and his present then transported to another time and place – naked and afraid.
It makes for a trying existence, and an even more complicated relationship with his wife Clare (Rose Leslie), who lives in standard linear time while encountering various versions of her true love at different ages.
The time-tested love story has played out in Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel and a critically panned 2009 movie (starring Eric Bana and Rachel Mcadams).
Yet quantum-leaping drawbacks are even more visceral in the six-part series, which kicked off Sunday (9 EDT/ PDT), in which Henry often vomits after arriving in a new time period.
“It’s just another way to make this uncomfortable and jarring. Time travel is a superpower, but it’s a horrible thing. It often makes Henry so unwell,” says executive producer and screenwriter Steven Moffat. “It takes a magical dramatic device like time travel and grounds it in something real.”
James (“Divergent”) breaks down the reality of Henry.
This Henry is even hunkier than the OG movie ‘Hulk’
Bana, star of the 2009 film version, starred as Bruce Banner in “The Incredible Hulk” a year earlier. He’s no slouch in the muscle department. But it’s even more clear that James’ Henry is transporting himself to the gym between time-travel shifts.
The ripped origins are explained in the book. Henry is a naked survivor who has to immediately find clothes and outrun cops, who always seem to be waiting wherever he lands.
“Henry is good at running, stealing and fighting. To be good at those things, you have to be in a certain shape,” says James, 37. “He’s described as a panther, in a state of readiness and fearful all the time.”
And the series shows a lot of Henry in various phases of his new (and nude) arrival. “Yeah, you see every inch of me,” James admits, with only slight exaggeration.
Yet James insists he didn’t go on a specific training regiment. “I just wanted him to look lean and mean,” he says, joking that his impressive physique is helped by special effects. “It’s all lighting and CGI.”
Yeah, Henry’s long hair is a wig
When James landed the part, he immediately grew his hair out to play the younger version of Henry. The look didn’t go down well with his wife, actress Ruth Kearney. “She hated it,” he says. “I looked ridiculous for months.”
However, James found out on his first day on set that his hair had to go. He plays multiple Henrys of differing ages, sometimes in the same scene. Frequent hairstyle switches were required to show the changes and avoid confusion.
So 28-year-old Henry rocked a wig, while the 37-year-old Henry featured his regular cut.
“The wig makes me look vaguely OK,” says James, “My long hair was much worse. I had my passport picture taken then with the hair and a mustache. The customs agent wanted to know if it was a mug shot. I looked criminal.”
Henry desperately needs clothes, unless he can’t be bothered
Most times, Henry’s arrival kicks off a desperate search for whatever clothes he can find. “He’s completely devoid of anything, and that’s dangerous,” says James.
That can also make for unusual scenes, especially when Henry drops into very public places, like the “bean” sculpture in Chicago’s tourist-filled Millennium Park.
“I kind of had to just grin and bear that,” he says. “In the beginning, you’re kind of chucking on robes and worrying about the in-between. But it’s such a part of the story that, by the end, you’re like, ‘Let’s just get on with it.’ ”