Actor Alexander Skarsgard was in Savannah, Georgia earlier this week for a special screening of his summer indie hit The Diary of a Teenage Girl during the Savannah Film Festival, but he also gave some details about the long-awaited Tarzan movie he’s making.
After the screening, the former True Blood star sat down for a Q&A with Variety’s Malina Saval, who asked if Skarsgard could talk about his upcoming projects. Easily the biggest one he has on the docket is Tarzan, which is directed by Harry Potter’s David Yates and co-stars Margot Robbie as Jane. It is currently scheduled for release on July 1, 2016, but little has been heard about the project.
In Savannah, Skarsgard revealed that the film features heavy use of CGI and the actors never actually went to Africa. But they still used two hangars, where jungles were recreated. All animals in the film will be CGI, too. “I would act with dancers in grey [costumes]!” he said.
Skarsgard also explained how this new film is a different twist on what we usually see in films based on Edgar Rice Burrough's novel. He said that the film will pick up with Tarzan already acclimated to life in civilization, but is now called back to Africa. “He fits in now, he doesn’t want to go back to the jungle,” Skarsgard explained, adding that he winds up seeing what the colonization of Africa has done.
Warner Bros. has yet to release any footage or photos from the film. It’s a big gamble for the studio, especially after Pan flopped at the box office recently.
Here’s a clip from Skarsgard’s appearance at the Savannah College of Art & Design: