I can't believe my luck, says Eragon star

The unknown star of the latest fantasy blockbuster has admitted he finds it "mind-blowing" to be able to call co-stars including John Malkovich and Jeremy Irons his friends.

Edward Speleers, 19, had only performed in school Shakespeare plays before he beat hundreds of young rivals to take the lead in Eragon.

Speaking after the UK premiere in Leicester Square yesterday, the British actor said: "My friends have all just finished their A-levels and are about to go on their gap years, and here I am acting in a film opposite some of my biggest childhood heroes."

He added: "I was appearing in Hamlet in my school play and I heard of this audition and knew I had to go for it.

"My father called me up and told me after the second round that I'd got the part. I didn't believe it then and sometimes I still don't believe it now."

Speleers, who grew up in Croydon and went to boarding school at Eastbourne College, stars as a 15-year-old farm boy who finds a dragon egg and embarks on an epic journey to save his home from an evil king.

The film, also starring fellow Britons Sienna Guillory and Robert Carlyle, is based on Christopher Paolini's bestselling debut fantasy novel.

Much of what appears on screen was added digitally after the shoot. "It was a very surreal experience making the film," he said. "For a lot of the time the dragon was basically an orange tennis ball."

Speleers' director Stefen Fangmeier said: "When I first saw him he was the third of 25 finalists and I knew he would be the one.

"I called up the casting director and I couldn't even remember his first name. I just said, 'That's Ed with the blond hair and piercing blue eyes.' He reminds me of the young Harrison Ford in Star Wars. He has a chiselled look and a determination. I'm sure he's going to be a star of the future."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in