The Witcher director Marc Jobst, who directed several episodes of the first season, has shared his thoughts on Henry Cavill's departure from the Netflix show. The actor, who’s played Geralt of Rivia for three seasons, has hung up his sword as the monster hunter, ready to be replaced by Liam Hemsworth in The Witcher season 4.
Addressing Cavill’s exit, Jobst shared his perspective to Screen Rant. "Look, Henry has done three series, these are demanding shows to make, you know, they are huge," he said ahead of his work on the new anime adaptation One Piece. "Henry does every single beat of his stunts, he won't even allow a hand, if you're doing a close-up of a hand grabbing a sword, it has to be his hand.
"So, normally, what you do is you bring in a double, Henry will go off and shoot some other scene in which he's in somewhere else, and you get somebody else into the hand, so that you don't have to bother your number one. Henry won't do that, and as a result of that, the results are extraordinary. You're working with an incredible athlete, first and foremost, who works out hours before, and hours after, you've been shooting for 12 hours, and who cares deeply about the work that he does."
Jobst went on to mention some of the epic sequences Cavill played a big hand in, including the unforgettable Blaviken fight in the first season. The director says the actor was often working non-stop to make sure the stunts looked as perfect as possible.
"That's draining on your number one, so after three series, I feel, 'Okay, he's brought the show into being, and if he feels like he's done what he can, I trust him,'" the director adds. "That focus that he has, that desire to get it right, is a gift to work with because it elevates everybody to say, 'Good enough isn't good enough. It's got to be fantastic.'"
Cavill has yet to give a specific reason for his exit from the show, but there’s been a lot of speculation. However, his co-star Anya Chalotra shut down discussions that it was due to disagreements behind the scenes. Ahead of Hemsworth joining the show, his co-stars spoke to GamesRadar+ about how he’s been throwing himself into the part, while one of the producers said he looks "awesome" as Geralt.
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