How Henry Cavill turned PH fans’ dreams into reality

Henry Cavill at the fan meet

The recent fan meet for Netflix’s new fantasy drama series, “The Witcher,” wasn’t set to begin until 5 p.m. But as early as 12 noon, a line had already formed, snaking its way around the barricades enclosing the activity area at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay.

It was a standing event. And so, the more eager of revelers made sure to be at the venue before everyone else did, to secure strategic spots that would put them at an arm’s length away from British star Henry Cavill, who portrays Geralt of Rivia—the series’ brooding but altruistic beast hunter.

But as it turned out, the fans needed not jostle each other or resort to over-the-top antics just to catch the actor’s attention as he walked down the black carpet: Henry left no souvenir unsigned or selfie-seeker denied.

He arrived around early evening. And looking at how the fans cheered and screamed their faces off, you probably wouldn’t have known that some of them had been standing and waiting for close to six hours just to see Henry in the flesh.

The 36-year-old celebrity was indeed quite a presence in person, so much so that the host, actor-athlete Matteo Guidicelli, at one point, seemingly ran out of synonyms for “godly” and “macho man” to describe him. The ladies—and some men—gushed at how “hot” he was. “Marry me!” one of them shrieked.

But as physically imposing as he was, Henry was gracious, gentle even, with his fans—many of whom brought posters and collectible figurines. Others had copies of the books on which the series was based and the video games it spawned. He also didn’t mind signing mementos related to Superman—the role that turned him into a household name in 2013.

It took him about one-and-half hours to reach the stage from the entrance, because he was bent on reciprocating everyone’s efforts. He walked up to every single person in front him.

When the fans asked for selfies, he saw to it that the photos were nice and clear. Sometimes, he himself offered to take the photos. And he did all that with a gracious countenance, even when things got a bit hectic and the security had to ask the crowd to move back, because some of the posters and other trinkets were mere inches away from his face.

When at last he made it onstage, he was asked about his preparations for the role. “To be honest, I have been preparing for this all my life,” Henry said, prompting raucous cheers from the audience.

At a press conference earlier that day, Henry related that doing “The Witcher” was a “dream come true,” because it combines two of his childhood passions: reading fantasy novels and video gaming.

“My father would read to me before I could read, and they were always fantasy books. Every book I have picked up since—for the sake of reading for enjoyment in my free time—were mostly fantasy,” said Henry, whose introduction to the title was through the video games.

“I knew there was also a book series, but I assumed they were based on the games,” he added. “But little did I know that the books were written way before, and that it was actually the video games that were based on them. So, I picked up the books and immediately fell in love with them.”

Cavill signs souvenirs and autographs for his PH fans.

“The Witcher” saga is a brainchild by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, with the first book “The Last Wish,” released in 1993, and the eighth and most recent one, “Season of Storms” in 2013. The title was then adapted into comic books and, later on, into video games, which catapulted it to international recognition.

The story takes place in The Continent, 1500 years before The Conjunction of Spheres—a great cataclysm that led to a shift in the place’s population. Once inhabited by the Elder Races (elves, dwarves and gnomes), The Continent was overrun suddenly by Monsters (vampires, ghouls and graviers).

The most destructive of the new species, however, turned out to be the humans—the ascension of whom resulted in unrest and political divide in The Continent.

When Henry learned that Netflix was turning “The Witcher” into a television series, the fan in him kicked in. Before long, the actor was bugging his agents to get in touch with people from the streaming service.

“I wanted to see if I could get it, because it’s really very important to me,” said Henry, who admitted to calling up his agents every three days to check if there was any progress being made.

Soon, he found himself meeting with the showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, to talk about the project. Six weeks later, he got a call asking if he would like to audition. “I was on holiday at the time, so I canceled that and flew to New York to audition. And the rest is history,” he said.

Witchers are beast slayers who develop supernatural strength, endurance and abilities, as a result of the various experiments and mutations performed on them by the men of Kaer Morhen.

Geralt is one of the most vaunted and fearsome of such hunters.

“Aside from being incredibly fast, strong and having a longer life span than an average human, he can also cast basic spells. While they’re not as strong as those of sorcerers, they can be deadly once coupled with Geralt’s physical prowess,” he pointed out.

Though it’s widely believed that witchers are emotionless beings, Geralt is, in fact, fueled by a desire to protect the innocent and other beings he cares for, especially amid the escalating political turmoil. “His true secret power is his capacity to love and his belief in the world that it can, genuinely, be a better place,” Henry said. INQ