There’s a fair chance you haven’t heard of Rachel Hurd-Wood, given that, as she says in our interview, “This is my first movie, this is my first acting really I’ve ever done.” So for that reason, today we would like to introduce you to the young lady who plays Wendy – or, to be more precise, Wendy Moira Angela Darling – in P.J. Hogan’s adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

While filming Peter Pan and having to subsequently keep quiet about the secrets of this new version, she is nowadays most excited to talk about her remarkable experiences since she was cast.

IGNFF: Lucky you! You get to do all this traveling and talk about Peter Pan.

RACHEL HURD-WOOD: Yes, it’s fantastic!

IGNFF: Is this your first time in New York?

HURD-WOOD: Yes, we got into New York last night. It’s fantastic! I didn’t have time to really do very much last night. We arrived at the hotel and we got to see Jeremy [Sumpter] and his family, which was really, really good. And then today Jeremy and I have just come down to do a Nickelodeon interview.

IGNFF: Oh, great! A television interview. How’d it go?

HURD-WOOD: That was really, really fun. I was a bit nervous about it, but it was fun.

IGNFF: Phone interviews are easy, nothing to worry about.

HURD-WOOD: (Laughs) Yes. After this New York trip I’ll be going home, and then I will be going back to L.A. and things will get really hectic.

IGNFF: Well, maybe you’ll get to do some interviews in London, too?

HURD-WOOD: Yeah, I hope so! I’ve done a couple of phone interviews at home as well.

IGNFF: This is your first movie, Peter Pan – it must be so exciting for you.

HURD-WOOD: Definitely! This is my first movie, this is my first acting really I’ve ever done. So, it’s especially exciting.

IGNFF: For our readers, can you tell everyone a little bit about yourself? Where are you from? And how in the world did this whole Peter Pan adventure happen?

HURD-WOOD: I live in Surrey, but up until the age of eight I lived in London. And the way I heard about this Peter Pan film was there was an open-call audition that I’d heard about, or read about, and I just thought, ‘Oh, I’ll go along for the fun.’ Because I never dreamed in a million years I’d ever get it. And I’ve always liked drama; I’ve always found it really fun, like, I did go to drama club and things like that. But I never thought I’d get it. I just, when the film came out I wanted to be able to say, ‘Oh, yeah! I auditioned for that part!’

So I went along, and I got a recall, and I was just really, really happy. And then I kept getting recalls, so I kept going back to further auditions, and it was just completely mad.

IGNFF: What was the process? Introductions, photos then hopefully a call back?

HURD-WOOD: Yes. On the first one, I just basically told the casting lady about myself and she took photos and stuff. Then on the second one she gave me lines to rehearse for the next audition, so I rehearsed them and I just spoke them out. And then on the third one I was with Jason Isaacs, who plays Captain Hook. And I did an audition with him and I was really nervous about auditioning with him.

IGNFF: Must have been really cool to do a reading with Jason Isaacs.

HURD-WOOD: He is just one of the nicest people you’ve ever met. You can’t believe how down-to-earth he is. He’s doesn’t go about at all like a movie star. He’s amazingly professional and brilliant actor, and he’s just so natural.

IGNFF: And the awesome news… What did you think when you got the part?

HURD-WOOD: I just couldn’t believe it!

It was the first thing in the morning. Because by that point, by the third audition, I thought ‘I could have made it!’ So, they called my mom up. I was actually in bed; because it was early in the morning and I wasn’t going in to school that day because our school was closed.

IGNFF: She woke you up then?

HURD-WOOD: Basically, my mom came in and woke me and said, ‘They’ve made an offer!’ And I was totally, ugh… I was ecstatic! I couldn’t believe it! It was amazing!

IGNFF: And now you’ve traveled to Australia and elsewhere for this movie.

HURD-WOOD: It was brilliant! I loved Australia!

IGNFF: Had you ever been there before?

HURD-WOOD: Never. I had never been anywhere very exotic. All my friends had been to Florida and things like that in America. But basically the farthest I had ever been was Italy, which is not far at all.

IGNFF: Did your mom and dad get to come down to Australia with you? Or did any of your family get to come along, too?

HURD-WOOD: Yes, my parents came with me and my brother. It was my dad who took me out there originally; then my mother and my brother came and my dad left to go back to work, and he visited five or six times, which was really good; and he’d stay for a couple of weeks, then towards the end he just stayed for the rest of the time.

IGNFF: How long were you in Australia? How long did you work on the movie?

HURD-WOOD: The filming was eight months and I was there for eight months. There was a bit more which Jeremy and Jason were doing for postproduction things, and then they went to L.A. to do a little more filming. But I’d gone home by that point.

IGNFF: You also got to work with an acting coach? This being your first film. And that was in Los Angeles?

HURD-WOOD: Yes. I had already been there after the screen test, straight away after the screen test. I went to meet the producers and work with John Curly, the acting coach. And I did some acting classes with him, and that was really good.

IGNFF: Tell me about this fella P.J. Hogan, what’s with him?

HURD-WOOD: (Laughs) P.J., he’s a brilliant director.

IGNFF: Must have been really cool being able working with him.

HURD-WOOD: He just knows exactly how to direct and he’s brilliant working with children. I mean, he never lost his patience. And when he gave you directions, you knew exactly what he meant by them. So, it was really, really good working with him.

IGNFF: I can imagine that the sets must have been fantastic. They really look stupendous.

HURD-WOOD: Oh, especially the Neverland set! It was like being in a jungle. It was just incredible. Sometimes I actually got lost in it (laughs).

IGNFF: No, really?

HURD-WOOD: I did! (Laughs) There were all these huge trees, and then people would say, ‘Over here! Over here! I’m over here’ and I would just be like ‘I don’t know where to go!’

IGNFF: Lost Wendy there. Hey, talking about getting lost, you got work with the Lost Boys, didn’t you? Did you become one of the Lost Boys?

HURD-WOOD: Yes. They were all really great boys. They were all really good fun to work with.

At first I was lacking female company, you know, girls my age, and hanging out with Jeremy and stuff, which was of course brilliant. But I kind of missed having friends, which were female. And then Carson Gray, who plays Tiger Lily, came along, and we became really close friends. And we’d go swimming every day in the pool after work and it was just really, really good.

IGNFF: When you weren’t working on the movie, what did you all do that was fun?

HURD-WOOD: Jeremy wasn’t staying at our hotel, Magic Mountain; he was staying at a separate house. So, we didn’t get to see him as often off set. But basically we’d go swimming or go down to the beach, or sometimes we’d arrange outings. We did one to a wildlife sanctuary. We got to do some really cool stuff.

IGNFF: Can you tell me, what is it that you like about Wendy? What is it that makes Wendy interesting and fun?

HURD-WOOD: Well there are many layers to her character, I think, because she’s a girl just on the edge of being… you know, she’s still a child, but she then she’s suddenly been introduced to this grown-up way of thinking. But she doesn’t want to be a grown-up, she doesn’t want to grow-up herself. So, there are many layers. She’s very adventurous and outgoing, but then she can quite feminine, quite girly at times as well. So she’s quite a deep character, I think.

IGNFF: Wendy gets in her share of action, too. You got to do some sword fighting?

HURD-WOOD: Yes, I did. I didn’t get as much training time as I would have liked, because I was always really busy on set. And so there was barely ever any time for training, I mean, there was barely enough time for tutoring – that got priority. But yes, so I did do some training, which was really, really fun. But it could be quite tiring.

IGNFF: Now, you haven’t seen the completed movie as yet, but have you seen some of the flying scenes or the stunts you got to do?

HURD-WOOD: Well, P.J. didn’t allow us to look at the… you know, when they show it back at everyone every night, because he thought that if we saw it it might affect our performances. I totally agree with that. I think that was the right thing to do. So, I didn’t get to see too much of it, but what I did see, you know when Peter was looking over at his monitor, when I would sneak a look (laughs), when I saw what I looked like I was actually quite impressed with what I’d done, because I had no idea what I was doing (laughs) and so I was quite pleased.

IGNFF: Of all the things that you did on the movie, what was the most fun for you to film?

HURD-WOOD: The most fun to film? Well that would probably be bouncing down the clouds. That was really, really good fun.

IGNFF: Bouncing down the clouds?

HURD-WOOD: Bouncing down clouds; what were some of the flying scenes where I got to go up really high.

There was once when I had to do one with Jeremy and we both went up really high, and it was slightly scary because we both went up to the top of the soundstage (laughs). And it was really, really good fun!

IGNFF: You also did sort of a fly over London?

HURD-WOOD: Oh, yes, yes! We did that all in front of a blue screen, really.

IGNFF: Just for fun, let me ask you the opposite, what was the worst, most agonizing scene to do? If there was anything that could be agonizing about filming Peter Pan.

HURD-WOOD: (Laughs) Yes! There was. Well, I’m not going to give away the line, but there was one scene where I’m on the pirate ship and I was tied to the mast, and I had to say this line – and when you see the movie you’ll know exactly what I mean, I don’t want to give it away. And I’m yelling out this line, and I said it so many times. And I just had to do it again and again and again; many takes, shouting. It was really tiring. So, when I had to come in and do ADR – looping – I had to do tons of that line again. But you know, it was a good line, but it just a bit boring.

IGNFF: I’m sure it’ll come across effectively in the movie.

HURD-WOOD: Oh, I hope so. (Laughs)