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LONDON — He's been a pirate and an elf prince, but now Orlando Bloom is stepping away from the swords and leaving the swashbuckling to others in "The Three Musketeers in 3D."
After playing the good guy in both the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Lord of the Rings" film series, the British actor is getting in touch with his nastier side for the latest big screen adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' historical novel.
He plays the cunning Duke of Buckingham, an English nobleman who likes to stir things up at the French court of King Louis.
This time, Bloom was pleased to let his co-stars — Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans playing Athos, Porthos and Aramis — take the glory.
"They're like the superheroes of their time and they get all the cool stuff and I get to totter around on a pair of heels, but it was exactly what I wanted to do," said Bloom.
Bloom is married to Miranda Kerr, has an 8-month-old son Flynn and claims his family is bit like the three Musketeers, whose motto is "one for all and all for one."
Paul W.S. Anderson's movie "The Three Musketeers in 3D" opens in the U.K. on Wednesday.
The Associated Press sat down with a cleanly shaven Bloom to find out how much fun he had being bad.
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AP: What did you enjoy most about being the Duke of Buckingham?
Bloom: The hair, a bit of (mus)'tache twizzling, the high heels and the bloomers. The whole nine yards.
AP: Not the lines as well?
Bloom: Yeah I had a couple of dastardly lines. It was quite fun.
AP: Did you really enjoy being kind of bad?
Bloom: Kind of bad is a good way of putting it. He's a bit of a bad boy. He's a rake, he's a rogue isn't he? He's a cad. And that was a lot of fun. ... this was just a romp. Stick your tongue in your cheek and go big or go home.
AP: How do you feel about watching yourself in 3D?
Bloom: I'm wondering if the pompadour quiff is going to take anyone's eye out. I thought it was a bit of a secret weapon, I should have had a sword in there.
AP: Is this the type of film you'd want to take your son to see?
Bloom: Yes, I think so. I mean he's eight months, so not yet perhaps. I'm not sure he'd appreciate it but he might — he'd marvel at the explosions and stuff.
AP: If you could form your own Musketeers ... who would you pick?
Bloom: There's a couple of my mates, since I was like 11 or 12, we were always called The Musketeers - Mark, Gibbo and Gibbo. We are the Musketeers, see. But I've also got a family now, that's a bit like The Three Musketeers.
