BRITISH actor Gregg Sulkin has played Selena Gomez’s love interest in Wizards of Waverly Place, but now he’s up against some medieval magic in the Disney Channel’s latest movie, Avalon High. We caught up with Gregg to talk about chain mail, sword fighting and American football!

Tell us all about your new film, Avalon High. It’s not your usual Disney Channel film is it?

No, definitely not. It’s definitely more mature. It follows a girl called Allie Pennington who goes to a new school called Avalon High and she, basically, finds out that her and her classmates are reincarnations of the King Arthur story; you know King Arthur and his court? I play a guy called Will Wagner, the all-American quarterback. He’s the hero of the piece, the guy that everyone kind of looks up to. He meets Allie and a friendship begins to develop and there’s a nice big love triangle going on in the movie and a huge twist at the end. So the movie has a lot for, not just teenagers, but adults and families. It has sport, it has education, it has a blend of everything anyone could want in a movie, so I’m very proud to be a part of it.

Did you have to hit the history books to do a bit of research before the film?

I had to hit the gym to get in shape to be a quarterback! I had to hit the books a tiny bit regarding the history. I mean, I knew of the King Arthur story, so it was nice. I kind of learned a lot about the story from doing the movie, which was great.

You play the quarterback, but you’re used to playing English football. How was that?

I had to learn a whole new sport. It was weird! The ball is different, and it’s called football over there but I don’t get why they don’t just play it with their feet! I don’t know why they call it football. I definitely still prefer English football. It was great, though, with the pads and the helmets – they kind of make you feel really masculine and stuff but, you know, it was cool. It was a great experience for me to learn a brand new sport and shoot a movie in New Zealand, so I loved it.

Obviously there’s a medieval theme to the film. What was it like wearing chain mail?

It was quite heavy! We filmed all of the fighting scenes on the beach. It was this black sand beach, which was beautiful, but in New Zealand you get four seasons per day! So, we would be fighting in the sun one minute and fighting in the rain the next. It was pretty intense. We were rehearsing in our tracksuit bottoms and our T-shirts and then we did it for real on set and we had all this armour, so it was much harder than we thought. The chain mail was heavy and the armour was kind of stiff but, overall, we had fun and made it work. At the canteen we had to feed each other. You’d have someone below you feeding you through your helmet while you had this heavy chain mail and armour on. It was fun.

Did you have to learn lots of new skills for the role?

I had to learn horse riding, sword fighting and American football. Also, my main thing was developing my American accent. It was the first job I’d had where I had to have one and I didn’t know I had to have one until two days before shooting, so that was quite a challenge. I’ve always had a north London accent. But, as an actor, it’s really important to be versatile and I knew going over to America that there would be a time when I’d have to do an American accent, so I’m happy I did it. I also did a movie called Camilla Dickinson at the end of 2010 and I did an American accent then as well. It’s nice to be able to play an English person and an American.

Your character is the most popular boy in school. What were you like at school?

I wasn’t the most popular but I wasn’t unpopular. I mean, I had my select group of friends and I still have that same group of friends now. We’re all very close and supportive of one another. It’s actually the same in LA as well. There are five or six of us that will always look out for each other and that’s really nice.

What else is happening for you this year?

The fourth season of Wizards of Waverly Place comes to the UK this spring, so we’re shooting that season. There’s a lot of twists and turns for Alex and Mason’s relationship. This season’s more funny. It’s bigger and, you know, I’m happy that I actually play a character who brings drama to the show. The show is hilarious but it’s cool to play a werewolf and bring some fight scenes to the show. Also Camilla Dickinson’s coming out at the end of the year and then I’ve got the second Wizards of Waverly Place movie. I never expected to be this busy, so I’m very fortunate.

Catch Gregg in Avalon High and Wizards of Waverly Place only on the Disney Channel!