In the past you have done fantastic and fictional characters. What drives you to do this? Why did you make the choice to do this one?
To be honest, it was Matt - whether I'm the Batman or a ballerina, when he calls, I run!
Was it fun to play the role and what challenges where there?
The fun was in the fighting - I knew very little of it would be seen, but we did 8 weeks of sword and fight training. We could have shot a whole 90 mins of Azazel battles!
We all know that Azazel of the comics becomes Nightcrawler's father. Is this touched upon in the film?
Not yet, hope they get them together in the next one, love Alan.
When figuring out your role, did you look at Alan Cumming's performance to thread a DNA to your performance as his father?
Alan is a friend, we were at the RSC together. I think my boy turned out pretty good, mutants should be free to love who they choose, as long as it causes no harm!
How much focus will be put on the romance between Azazel and Mystique?
None. Unfortunately she only had eyes for Beast.
Is your character a mutant or a demon like in the comic books?
He's a mutant - looks like a demon, but he's pure mutant!
What the best bit about your character?
I have never had a tail before, can't beat having a tail. It's not in the movie, but you can smash anyone on the Xbox when you have two hands and a tail. It's also possible to make tea and play chess at the same time.
Having appeared in a good few of Matthew Vaughn movies, would it be fair to say you are his 'good luck charm'? And bearing that in mind, how has this role differed from your experience filming his other movies?
He has a great core of actors and crew, we all watch out for each other, and speak shorthand amongst ourselves. We watch Mat's back, no one f*cks with our governor! I'm not naturally very nomadic, so I love working with my friends.
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Now you play Azazel, a character who gets a few negative reviews in the comic book world, I wondered if you maybe read anything to keep to the character or if you brought something entirely new to the role to make him more likeable?
My natural hair color is red, so I'm used to dodgy reviews! It's hard to make a mark in these movies, there are so many characters, but I think the bits I've got come across pretty well!
I'm a big fan of your work, the shots of you in the First Class trailer looked awesome. Did you do any research and training for your character when you got the role of Azazel?
Thanks, mate! Nope, the make-up and fight training kind of took care of the character! Oh, and we made him Russian, just, well...it's the Cold War, and I'm a bit of an old lefty and it drives Mat mad!
How was the look for your character done in the movie? Was it all CGI? Or was it make-up?
Make-up 4 hours on, 30 mins off, tail CGI!!
If you could teleport anywhere... where would it be?
Right..... I seem to travel the world every week, I would LOVE to be able to teleport home to my wife every night and teleport to whatever country I'm in every morning!! I'm sooo lucky to work so much, (real secret is I'm cheap!) but I am kinda over flying long haul weekly!
X-Men: First Class is set to be released in the UK on June 1st and in the US on June 2nd.
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