THE STAR - 'Stardust' gave him the space to grow - A fanciful tale with a big-name cast offered a test for Charlie Cox.
In "Stardust," the character Tristan Thorne finds himself in the fantastic realm of Stormhold, where he must protect a star, fallen from the sky in the form of a beautiful young woman, from all manner of dangers and pitfalls, including pirates, witches and ruthless princes.
Tristan is played by Charlie Cox, 24, who found himself plunged into a leading role as a romantic foil opposite Claire Danes and alongside such mega-wattage costars as Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer. Yet before he could set off on his magical journey of Hollywood enchantment, Cox faced what turned out to be perhaps the biggest challenge of the role -- simply winning the part.
Director, producer and co-writer Matthew Vaughn first saw Cox on an audition tape the actor had done for another project and didn't think he fit the part of Thorne. Vaughn, already having seen hundreds of actors for Tristan, eventually gave in to the casting director and agreed to meet Cox. As soon as the young actor entered the room Vaughn knew he'd found his Tristan.
Almost.
As so much of the story revolves around the burgeoning romance between Tristan, a shop boy yearning for a life of adventure, and Yvaine, the fallen star, Vaughn couldn't fully commit to Cox until he found his leading lady as well.
"The whole point was to find the couple," explained Cox. "Matthew's very serious about this. Chemistry on screen, you can't act it, it's got to just be there. So he said, 'I can't just cast one of you.' "
Vaughn knew he was asking a lot of Cox, putting him on the cusp of a big break while also potentially setting him up for a whole lot of nothing.
"I said to poor Charlie, 'You haven't got the part until I find Yvaine,' " recalled Vaughn, "because it's about having the right chemistry. I might find an Yvaine and suddenly you're not right. So I said, 'You're going to have to bear with me for a bit.' And so every time we auditioned the girl, they auditioned with Charlie."
"Stardust," based on the book by Neil Gaiman and co-written by Jane Goldman, has a very specific tone and feel, something like a pop-up storybook come to life. Along their way Tristan and Yvaine must fight off a witch who wants to cut out Yvaine's heart for everlasting life, a set of princes scheming after the jewel around her neck to ascend to the throne of Stormhold, and assorted other extraordinary perils. Grounding this all is the rather sweet, slightly screwball relationship that emerges between Tristan and Yvaine.
