Duke special

IN THE four years since he last set sail in the realm of big-budget filmmaking, voyaging with the Pirates of the Caribbean to World’s End in 2007, Orlando Bloom has been adrift on quiet waters.

The 34-year-old Lord of the Rings star has since tackled his first-ever professional stage production; has appeared in a number of low-budget independent films; and has finally settled down, marrying his girlfriend and starting a family. Now, though, Bloom is back, and once again he’s riding the waves of swashbuckling adventure, taking up the role of the ill-famed Duke of Buckingham in director PWS Anderson’s 3D re-imagining of The Three Musketeers.

“It is great to be back,” begins Bloom, “especially in a role like this.” Ever since he broke through as the pointy-eared elf, Legolas, in The Fellowship of the Ring back in 2001, the English actor has invariably been cast in the role of whiter-than-white hero. “And I love that in Three Musketeers they didn’t ask me to play D’Artagnan,” he continues. “I’m not sure I would have wanted to play D’Artagnan. I wanted to play the bad guy.”