Actor Joel Fry doesn't think Emily Bronte's anti-hero Heathcliffe is such a bad boy and he's out to prove his theory in a new production at York Theatre Royal. He talks to STEVE PRATT about going to Bronte boot camp to get into the role.

HE first time the part of Emily Bronte's romantic hero Heathcliffe was offered to Joel Fry, he turned it down. Not particularly because he didn't want to play the role, but he was barely out of drama school and didn't want to commit to a sixmonth tour.

The second time the part was offered, he accepted it. He takes to the stage of York Theatre Royal as the orphan raised by a Yorkshire farmer who becomes the soulmate of Catherine Earnshaw, in Jane Thornton's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Fry, who grew up in Devon, knows that doing a Yorkshire accent in the region requires that he gets it just right. So he's using it away from the reheasal rooms. "I speak in the accent in shops and from people's reactions it feels like I'm gettIng it," he says.

He wasn't surprised to be approached to play Heathcliffe given that the character has a gypsy, darkskinned appearance which causes some resentment among the closeknit Yorkshire community.

"Being asked seemed to make sense. And it's a bit close to the bone because in Devon it was a bit racist,"

he says.

He'd heard of Wuthering Heights without knowing too much about the book. "It sounds like one of those Okay, Mr Darcy' things. It's rain and wind and moors and quite dark," he says.

"We went out to the place where it's meant to be based on. It was great. I freaked out and ran away, got really muddy."

He's stayed away from watching previous screen Heathcliffes, who've included Laurence Olivier, Timothy Dalton and Ralph Fiennes.

Fry's also not convinced that Heathcliffe is as much of a bad boy as he's often painted. "He doesn't seem evil to me, although he does some nasty things," he says.

"But I don't want to see any of the others because you might end up copying them."

Barely two years out of drama school - he went to Rada - and Fry has a variety of theatre, TV and film roles on his CV, from independent films to the obligatory guest role in Casualty.

"I have no complaints. I've done lots of different kinds of things, but I've not done a play in a while," he says.

The reason for his absence from stage is a movie. And a big movie at that - 10,000 BC, directed by Roland Emmerich who made The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day.

This one - set for cinema release early next year - is set in prehistoric times and was filmed in New Zealand (on the same locations as The Lord Of The Rings trilogy) and South Africa.

"That was six months work and really hard. We were filming topless in temperatures of minus eight.

People were dropping like flies," he says.

"We were getting up at four every morning, and it was freezing and we were covered in clay. All fond memories. I don't think I'll get a job as big as that again in terms of production budget."

He auditioned for the movie six months out of drama school. Before filming began, the actors were packed off to prehistoric boot camp to toughen them up.

"It was run by a military guy who did a lot of whistle blowing," he says.

"If anyone slacked, everyone else would have to get down and do press-ups."

He plays a character named Lu- Kibu, whom he describes as "the one who hates the main guy at the beginning and then ends up liking him".

Fry wouldn't like you to think that Wuthering Heights is easy compared to making a blockbuster movie. He even talks of going to Bronte boot camp to get into the right frame of Yorkshire mind.

"This is really hard, especially as I've not done any theatre for a year or so. But it's good, I'm enjoying it so far," he says.

* Wuthering Heights is at York Theatre Royal from June 2-23.

Tickets 01904-623568 or online at www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk