I’ve been asked a bunch of times why attempt a film for no profit gain whatsoever, people frown when you do stuff like that and on top of that such a big franchise like Tomb Raider. I wanted to start by moulding a slightly different Lara, a more emotional Lara.

It was never a case of watching the other films or the videogames and trying not to be like that, I still wanted her to be Lara Croft its just I wanted her to be my Lara, I wanted to give her a soul, I wanted to give her fears and a heart, Angelina was awesome I don’t think they could’ve got anyone better for that Lara. I just always felt I never knew who she was, yes she was handy with two guns and could backflip her way out of a sticky spot, cock her eyebrow and wink and give the boys a twitch in their pants but who was she? Who was Lara Croft and sometimes if you don’t feel you know the character, when they get into a sticky spot or an action sequence you don’t root for them as much as you would if you really knew them, which is why I think character building is so important even in films with action elements. I mean I would never call Ascension an action piece by any means, it has some action in it but because of budget you have to know your limitations and really work with what you have and the one thing I knew I had was a great actress in the shape of Anna and the one thing that money can’t by and that is the words you write and the characters you create and the story you build around it, so I wanted to make sure that the script and the story was strong first and then concentrate on the flashy stuff after, the fun stuff.

I was a massive fan of the games and I knew after playing the first one that we were seeing a new pop culture iconic character that was going to be around forever in the tradition of any comic book hero or James Bond even, Lara Croft is going to be portrayed by different woman for many years to come. It’s not something that will ever die out. It may have its breaks like any franchise - Batman, Superman. She’ll always be around.

Anna Tyrie

The thing is that because she’s such a new character and the only person that has portrayed her properly in human form has been Angelina Jolie some people on the forums are having problems dealing with the fact that Anna doesn’t actually look like her but then what does Lara Croft look like? There’s only a rough design that make up the fundamentals of a Lara Croft, fit body, nice tits, kind of narrow facial structure long black or dark brown hair with bits hanging down and for that Anna fits the criteria Lara’s an animation. Its like saying Christian Bale doesn’t look like Bruce Wayne. I think as time goes on and she starts to make her stamp in Cinema a bit more people will understand that she doesn’t exist in a timeline and that other people will have to portray her at some point but as with anything, people don’t like change they fear it. Look how much crap Daniel Craig got for Bond, the papers were constantly on at him that he couldn’t fire a gun, he couldn’t play poker, he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t do that and then he pulls off one of the best Bond performances ever, who’s laughing now?

There wasn’t an actress that could do the stuff she did. Stood in 3 degrees of water for half an hour going under the water on various takes, fighting with one of the strongest men in the world and having him resting on top of her for twenty minutes, blasting a hummer through the Forest of Dean, getting into more cold water in the waterfall, fighting and rolling on solid stone with no mat, crawling through a hole in a cave that she could barely squeeze through and all of this for no money and over a six day grueling schedule, the girls a warrior and if people like her or not she’s done one hell of a job. If they think I put in the hours for this film, trust me she has put in more and I am certainly very lucky to have her. There could have been many times on the walkthrough of the locations or even on the day Anna could have said ‘I’m not doing that!’ or even on the day just physically being unable to do it because what I was asking of her was quite a lot most of the time but she thrives on challenges I envy her because she has no fear, well let me rephrase, everyone has fear its just some people invite it in and become it’s friend and find a way of overcoming it. Anna’s got this rare quality as an actor or a member of the crew I’d like to think she’ll be around us for a long time.

The Tomb Raider shoot was amazing! 8 guys, on location, with nothing but a prayer to help them get through each day and although each day was non stop crazy paced, hundred mile an hour shooting, everyone kept up and even had time to breathe now and again and although it may sound a bit corny a little family was born in the six days we were together (me and Nat sneaked in the abseiling shoot to surprise the rest of the crew two weeks before the premiere that made it seven days incase you’re wondering) and I look forward to working with each of them as soon as possible.