Irons revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he wasn’t sure how he felt about having the scene in the film where Jared hits Wanderer (in Melanie’s body) when she is first brought to the caves. He talks about how he could have intentionally messed the scene up until they cut it from the film, but that when it came time to film it, he understood more fully why it was an important moment for his character.
“I was not looking forward to that scene,” Irons tells THR. “I didn’t know if I wanted it in the film and I didn’t know if I liked it in the book – I didn’t know if it was necessary.”
“If you don’t like a scene, you can keep f—ing it up,” he confesses. “I could have done that if I wanted to, but I didn’t because it worked.”
“Obviously I didn’t hit her, obviously I don’t endorse that kind of thing,” he says, “but we shot it quite early on and it was sort of a microcosmic example of Melanie and Jared’s struggle. There are feelings of loss, rage, pure sadness, happiness to see her but confusion – a whole bunch of shit… it became an illuminating scene.”
Plus, he notes, “I knew that if I really hated the way it was being shot, I could say to Andrew, ‘Listen, we’ve got a problem here.’”
The interview includes reactions from Niccol and Ronan (Wanderer/Melanie) to Irons’ revelation, as well as a reassurance that, while Ronan was 17 during much of the filming, she was 18 before they filmed any of the intimate scenes. He also talks a little about what it was like having her father on set while filming some of the scenes between himself and Ronan.
