Mad Men star Jared Harris has spoken out about playing iconic villain Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows.
The actor, who makes his Holmes debut in the upcoming sequel, reveals that he approached Moriarty not as a villain, but as a man who sees the world differently.
“I think that for me… [ Moriarty ]’s amoral,” he tells Collider . “He’s moved beyond the concept of there being a heaven and a hell and a God and a devil, and there being good and evil, he doesn’t believe in it.
“And if you don’t believe in that moral construct, then everyone is free to do whatever they want.”
Harris also heaped praise on his co-star Robert Downey Jr. “I experienced him as being an incredibly generous, very, very charming, incredibly accessible person,” he says.
“I genuinely, genuinely have a great deal of affection for him, and I admire his talents and his work.”
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows opens 16 December 2011.