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@темы: Katie:videos, year:2011, tv-show:Labyrinth

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Merlin 4x05 - His Father's Son - promo

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Thanks to Merlin's Keep.

запись создана: 01.10.2011 в 21:05

@темы: pictures:promos, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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Something Wicked This Way Comes: Merlin’s Katie McGrath Talks Season 4

Tonight’s the night!
Merlin fans in the States will get to see Season 4 of the hit British fantasy series later this evening at 10PM EST on cable-channel Syfy. But before you settle down in front of the television, you should prepare yourself by reading our interview with the lovely Katie McGrath, who plays wicked sorceress, Morgana Pendragon. She’s hellbent on revenge and is not going to take it anymore.

When we chatted, she spoke about how much fun she’s had playing the character this year more than any other as well as what you can expect from the denizens of Camelot in season four. So without further ado, read on:

I know series four is over in the UK, but we are just getting ready to start it here. Do you find it difficult to remember details when every country has different air dates?

What’s quite nice is because we’re now four series in and everybody’s at a different point, you can talk about the second series and it’s like talking about it for the first time again because it’s been so long, it’s not as bad as you think it would be!What are we going to see from Morgana this season?

You’re going to see a badder, better, bolder Morgana! You know, she’s changed so much from the first season from this slighly spoiled opinionated princess to being this very scared young girl to season three where she played both sides and so in season four you finally see her in control of herself.

She’s in control of her magic, in control of her own storyline, she’s self-reliant, she’s confident – she’s all of those things that you would really want a woman to be. And yes, slightly maniacal and intent on world domination, but what girl isn’t?

[Laughs] Of course! And this season it seems as though you’re separated from the main cast most of the time. How has that been and do you think the isolation helps you play Morgana more effectively?

It’s helped in some ways because I’m so separate from the guys and everything and I don’t spend the day in, day out that Bradley, Colin and Angel do, it’s much easier when it comes to being nasty to them! [Laughs] So from that point of view it makes things easier but I do feel slightly isolated.

I see what a great time they’re having and I can feel a little bit distant to it but at the same time, you know, they’re still the same boys, it’s still been four years that we’ve worked together. You come in and it’s still ping pong tournaments and silly games on set.

It’s a great set to be on; we’ve had the same crew for four years pretty much and we’re all in the same boat as it’s a long shoot and long days but you’re in it with all your mates so it’s fantastic.

In some interviews from last season, you said that you couldn’t wait until you were sitting in a cave somewhere cackling over a cauldron. Is Morgana now who you’ve always pictured her to be? What’s been the best part of playing her this season?

She’s better than I ever pictured! You’re talking to the producers and they tell you they’ve got all these ideas and you know that since it’s based on a legend that she’s ultimately going to be sort of evil, but I love the way they take her and love that she’s so powerful; I love that she’s so confident – I love that she’s all the things I wish I was as a woman but I’m not and fail miserably!

She’s elegant and poised and intelligent and all the things that I’m so thankful they managed to get into one character and I’m very lucky and privileged to get to play her.

Were you interested in reading up on the Arthurian legends or was that something you didn’t really get into?

For Merlin, the sсript itself is so good and the character was so well-fleshed out in the scripts that the work that I did on Morgana was for my own interest than for playing the role because all I need to play her in Merlin was there on the page. The guys have done a really, really good job. She’s such a well-loved character and she’s a character that resonates with so many women, I thought it was important to have as much knowledge in order to intelligently talk about her.

There’s so many amazing stories that involve her – The Mists of Avalon is one you can name of hundreds and I think that she’s loved so much as a character that if I came on knowing nothing about her, I think I’d be insulting the people who did love her and take her to the heart.

While I didn’t need it for Merlin because she was so brilliantly written, I felt that I needed to do it in order to play such an important female archetypal character.

To that end, for all the ill will Morgana wishes on Arthur at the moment, she’s had different roles in the legend namely as a healer – the one who brings him to Avalon. Would you like to see her move in that direction next season?

I am holding on to the fact that this is the end for me; this is what I’m thinking, is that she’s like Anakin Skywalker. She starts out good, becomes Darth Vader but ultimately she saves the day. I am Darth Vader!

It’s all going to be fine because like you say, she’s ultimately going to be the hero. She saves Arthur’s life, she brings him to the Isle of the Blessed, heals his wounds and he’s waiting for a time when Britain needs him to rule again – all because of Morgana!

[Laughs] She’s the actual hero of the story…

She is totally the hero and she’s a bad ass hero! Plus I think she’s a better ruler than Arthur – she wouldn’t give it all up for a woman!

Uh huh, that’s true!

She makes the hard choices!

On that note, which episode was your favorite to film?

Episode nine with Lancelot – the scene where Lancelot is coming out of the — I know you haven’t seen it yet because it starts on January 6th for you guys. It’s this scene where he’s coming out of the water wearing essentially flesh colored boxers that were skintight…

[Laughs] Well….

I’m in full costume, it’s in France and it’s forty-two degrees [Celcius] and the entire crew have all decided to get into their boxer shorts and stand behind the camera in water because it’s the coolest place to be.

So the camera’s on me and all I can see are twenty fit guys in their boxers in the water with Santiago Cabrera crawling towards me with a cheeky smirk on his face because he kept trying to make me laugh! It’s something I will take to my dying day – a topless Santiago winking at me.

I was going to say, that’s probably not a bad day to be at work!

Oh I’m telling you I was living the dream for thousands of women – it was a good day.

I know that Nathaniel Parker is a new addition to the cast this year, do we see him interact with Morgana and can you tell us anything about the relationship between the two?

Agravaine has a darker side to him, you know that he’s Arthur’s uncle, he’s Ygraine’s brother. More and more as the season goes on that he blames Camelot, Uther and ultimately Arthur for his sister’s death and is bent on revenge. And how he goes about doing that? If you were bent on revenge against Camelot, who ya gonna to turn to? Who ya gonna call? He’s gonna call Morgana because she’s badass and has all the power.

And with Agravaine coming into the picture, we know that Uther is leaving it. Did you expect Morgana to react the way she did and is it hard not having Anthony Head around anymore?

It’s awful…I’m bereft! Nothing is the same without his giggle. Without the Tony Head giggle the Merlin set is not the same. We do have the Nathaniel Parker giggle but you know without Tony it is a lesser place I would say. But that’s only my own personal point of view. I think anything in the world is lesser without Giles from Buffy.

I think it was always going to be a difficult one when Uther you know, obviously for the story to move on, Uther would have to leave and whenever that does happen, it’s going to be a difficult point for Morgana because she’s torn. As much as she’s spent the last season and a half at odds with him, it’s still her father and it’s still the man that she believes is her father-figure. It’s always going to be difficult for her.

And I think while you do see that, I don’t think you’re going to see the full extent of that until season five; I think it’s something that’s probably going to be addressed at a later date.

Ok, interesting…

You know he’s such a huge part of her life and such a huge part of her motivation for everything that she’s doing that she’s going to eventually have to deal with it.

To build on that, we can understand Morgana’s feelings towards Merlin, Uther and Arthur. But we’ve seen glimpses of hatred towards Guinevere – will we see a confrontation between the two old friends?

You will, you will but you can’t tell this story in the way it’s going right now without coming to blows at some point. It’s a very important part of the whole story in season four is the relationship between the two of them and towards the end of the season you start to see the difficulties that are happening between Morgana and Guinevere even though Morgana is no longer within Camelot. She does interact with other characters and interacting with Guinevere becomes very important.

You get to do lots of the complicated Old English spells that were usually Colin’s domain in the past. How was that for you since you hadn’t really had to do that much before?

Oh God, they’re awful, they’re absolutely awful! There’s a very lovely girl who works very hard to make sure they’re very very accurate and then I butcher them. I know I butcher them. My command of proper English isn’t great so when you throw in a dead language, I’m pretty sure I murder it!

It’s very hard. They record them for me, they have them phonetic and I listen to Colin and he’s so wonderfully professional and brilliant at it — then I’m eighty takes down trying to get it right! It’s ridiculous.

Aww!

And the boys, bless them, the executive producers – rather than giving me less and shorter spells, they give me longer ones! And more of them. Colin gets little tiny words that he has to say and I get giant incantations. And I think they do it just to try me.

[Laughing] Do they try to do that because you’re still new at it and they figure “Oh, here’s the newbie, we’ll give her the most difficult stuff!”?

[Joking] I think they just relish in being mean to me about it! I think that they sit in the office in London and look at the dailies and looking at me effing and blinding after I keep making mistakes and laugh! I think they do it for comic value to be honest! It all works when it comes to the screen because through the power of editing, apparently it all seems fine. Trust me, it’s an arduous process to get me to say those spells.

Speaking of comedic value, have there been any pranks happening on set this year?

Pranks…any pranks…well, I’m on my own so if there’s any pranks I’m pretty sure its all the boys. I did do a – in episode twelve – a fight with Eoin that I watched and bless him, he spent a whole day doing stunt fighting before anybody knew he had mumps for the entire thing! He ended up having to go to the hospital for a day and a half later.

I’ve never seen a man not complain about being sick because he was really very ill but he was fantastic. He gave it his all to this massive physical fight but was deathly ill, bless his heart. So gotta give major props to Eoin for that because you know what a guy’s like with manflu!

Another question I had was if you could take a different role in creating Merlin (i.e. not in front of the camera) – what would you do? Direct? Write? Produce? CGI?

Assuming I had the talent to do? [Joking] I’d want to be executive producer because I want to be God! I want to be all-seeing, all-knowing Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. That would be what I want to do and then torture them by giving them massive old English spells and laugh at THEM when they get it wrong!

So you’d get revenge on them for doing that to you!

Exactly! I am Morgana – I am all about the revenge.

What would your ideal episode of Merlin be about?

I would want it to be about the story of the three sisters – I want Morgause, Vivian, you know, the High Priestess of the Old Religion – I’d love to do something with that and then maybe Mordred. Team Evil taking over.

That would be interesting and speaking of Mordred, with Asa’s success in Hugo, do you think he would come back to the show?

I would LOVE to see Asa again but I think he’ll be busy with Ender’s Game and whatnot. But I what I would like is to see Mordred possibly being a bit older and being on a more equal playing field with Morgana so rather than the maternal bond from before, I’d love to see sort of what it would be like if she had an equal that she respected like she obviously would Mordred.

And I don’t think you can tell the story of the Arthurian legends without Mordred so we’ll have to wait and see what might happen in season five.

In your off time, you worked with Madonna on W.E and you just finished filming Labyrinth. What were the differences you found between film and television? Did you like one more than the other?

Hmm. Well Labyrinth was a mini-series, two ninety-minute films, and it was very different. A shorter amount of time since it was ten weeks, six day weeks. Where on Merlin, you relax into it because it is so long you have eight months and it’s routine and you sort of, it’s fast in a different way. Because you’re at it for so long, there’s sort of a comfort to playing it for so long – an ease where and you can really sort of get into it.

Whereas with something like W.E. or Labyrinth, it’s an intense burst of a massive amount of concentration, whereas Merlin is sort of relaxed because you’ve been doing it for so long.

There’s been mention since San Diego Comic Con of a Merlin movie. Let’s say for some reason you couldn’t play the role of Morgana – who would you choose for that role?

I would choose first to be in the movie because I don’t think anybody else should be allowed to play my part! Because you know what? They’d probably better at it than me and then like four to five years of work would be made redundant by one other actress in one film and I don’t think I’d like that!

Agreed! I personally couldn’t see anyone else in the part and thanks for talking with us Katie!

Thanks so much, bye!

@темы: Katie:interviews, tv-show:Merlin, movie:W.E., tv-show:Labyrinth

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Merlin 4x01 - The Darkest Hour I - promo

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Thanks to Merlin's Keep.

запись создана: 17.09.2011 в 01:09

@темы: pictures:promos, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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Интервью Кейти и Колина)
Source.

Season of the Wizard
Merlin's back on the air, and Morgana's back in his hair.

We never really used to think of Merlin as any kind of sex-symbol back when Disney's The Sword in the Stone defined his public image, but Colin Morgan has changed all that, delivering a portrait of the magician as a young man. The revisionist mythology of Syfy's imported hit series Merlin begins anew starting Friday at 10 p.m., and bringing back with it the equally magical Morgana, played by Katie McGrath and now fully embracing her bad side. We caught up with both the sorcery simulators for a brief spell to discuss season four.

GeekChicDaily: Colin, when you see yourself in the old-man Merlin makeup, how does that inform your performance?

Colin Morgan: That's always a fun aspect. Sometimes I'll catch myself in the mirror, walking past and go oh my God, is that really me? It's fun; it changes your physicality. The amount of fun you can have with it as well is brilliant.

GCD: Katie, when the show began, were you hoping to yourself that you'd eventually get to play Morgana's turn to evil?

Katie McGrath: Absolutely. From my point of view I've got the best character on the show, though I'm sure everybody says that. From where she starts to where she ends up is so massively poles apart; it keeps it fresh every year. Being familiar with the legend, you know that she's going to become this great and all-powerful evil badass, and for me that's the bit I was waiting for every year. The producers would tell me we're going a bit slow, we're going to slow-burn it, and I'm sitting there going, "No, no, no! I want it to happen now!" So finally now in season four I feel like I've gotten to my true calling of being a proper b**ch. I think people like her more when she's bad. Her scenes are more solid.

GCD: Do the writers speak Irish? There are lots of little easter eggs for people who do, like the Dorocha, Callix, Samhain, etc...

KMG: Well, speaking as an Irish woman, we have an amazing wealth of fairy stories, and such a massive amount of fantasy as part of our heritage. I think the writers just borrow from a lot of Celtic myth, and I'm always very thrilled when it comes in. I'm like, "Yep, I know how to say that." I feel like representing my country.

GCD: Even though the show changes aspects of the story, the legend is well-known and has an end-point. Do you like knowing that? How does that affect how you approach it?

CM: Yeah, the legends are always there, but the writers and the producers of the show have always been very good about changing what they want to do. Because we're in a fantasy setting, we've got a lot of liberty as to what can be shown and how you show it, and that's always fascinating. You never know quite where they're going to go, but in terms of the end point it'll be interesting to see whether it'll be a very true telling of the legend or a very imaginative one.

KMG: They don't actually sell out the legend, they actually hold onto every part of the legend that's important. You still have Lancelot, the sword in the stone and all that - all these things they're going to show to you in a different way. I think that's what makes the show popular: even if you're very familiar with the legend, you can still watch it, enjoy it and be surprised by it. And if you know nothing about, you'll just enjoy it, so I think they've hit on the right mix. Everyone knows the story, so I know the end point, but I don't know how it's going to get there and I don't want to know too much about it.

GCD: Do you have any notion of how long the show will go? Like, will it cover the quest for the Holy Grail, the final battle with Mordred, Arthur throwing Excalibur back in the lake and all that?

CM: I think they might explore those aspects. I mean, we've already explored a lot with Excalibur and Lancelot and the Lady of the Lake in the show already, so there's no reason why they can't. We've never been a traditional telling of the legend, so it'll be as interesting for me as for the audience.

KMG: I think the show will go on for as long as it's popular and the producers want to make it. If there's an audience, I don't see why it wouldn't keep going. The great thing about the Arthurian legend is that there are so many different parts to it. They haven't even explored all the stories of the knights, Gawain, the Holy Grail, Percival and all of those haven't been touched on. We haven't even probably done a third of what is out there. So as long as there's a desire for everybody to do it and a desire from the audience to watch it, I think it'll go on for as long as they can.

GCD: Were you surprised by how well the show has caught on in the U.S.?

CM: It is interesting, because Merlin's a very English kind of thing, so of course it's always amazing when something like that becomes popular elsewhere. But there's fan-bases for Arthurian legend all over the world; the thing that we've never quite seen before is the legend sent in a fantasy-focused genre, which opens up whole new doors. The fantasy genre seems to be really in at the moment and our show has slotted very well into that. The fan support in the U.S. has been phenomenal - Comic-Con was amazing. And we just play it by ear - we work for eight months a year on this show that just spider-webs all over the world. We're just thankful; we don't know what the key to it all is, but maybe you fans can figure it out.

KMG: I'm very touched by the way it's been taken into the hearts of so many countries. Your brain doesn't dream that big, where you make a little fantasy show in Wales, and then it's in 183 countries. Your mind doesn't go to that. I'm surprised in that I never thought I'd become an actress and I never thought I'd be on a TV show in England, let alone America. But I think the show's success is based on the fact that it is honest, good storytelling. It's good acting, good sets, good costumes. It's something we can all stand behind that's enjoyable, and from that point of view I'm not surprised that it's done so well in America; I'm just extremely pleased.

GCD: Colin, what was it like being on Doctor Who?

CM: That was one of my first acting jobs - I learned a lot from that. I hadn't really seen Doctor Who before - it wasn't really big in Ireland when I was growing up - but I read that sсript and automatically fell in love with it. I just felt very lucky to be involved, and I learned a lot from David Tennant, who's a phenomenal actor.

GCD: When Merlin moved in the U.S. from network TV to cable, did you notice anything different from your perspective, or was it just a distant, far-off thing with no immediate effect?

CM: We didn't really notice - I think we feel really sheltered over here because of the mileage; we never really fully know what goes on. Our focus is on filming the show and doing it, and what happens afterwards, I don't know a lot about. So all that we knew was that it was on NBC, and then it found its rightful home, I think, on Syfy. It seems to have grown in popularity, so it was a good move.

KMG: Ultimately it is a BBC show made for BBC, and that's their first audience because that's where it's shown first. But the difference that we did get when it moved to Syfy was that Syfy really got it as a show. They got what we were trying to do. Merlin isn't a mainstream thing in the States; it's a very English show, very British. They embraced that and it felt like they really understood it. I think it was lost before because nobody knew quite where to put it. But as soon as it was on Syfy, the network was just so supportive of it, and that really helped it find its feet in America.

GCD: When you prepare for characters that are so well-known and have been portrayed so many different ways, how do you do research for that? It would seem to be an overwhelming task.

CM: It is, and I certainly read the Arthurian legend in a lot of its forms, from Mallory and Tennyson to The Once and Future King. What it made me realize was that there's so many tellings and versions of the legend...but we've never quite seen the young Merlin before. And that gave me so much freedom and leeway. It's set in a medieval genre, but there's sort of a contemporary humor to it, so I didn't feel like I had to tie myself down to telling the legend. At the end of the day, I realized that it's my telling; it's my time to do my version of Merlin.

GCD: If you had magic powers, what would you use them for and why?

CM: Probably for teleportation, having spent a lot of time in airports recently. Keeping your shoes on and not having to stand in passport-control lines for four hours would be great.

GCD: Where do you hope to see your character go in future seasons?

CM: Well, I think we've passed Merlin the young boy now. The titles have been changed - John Hurt no longer calls me the young boy, but "the young man." I think that's a good progression - he is becoming a young man, he is maturing and he is stepping towards that future. I'd like to see him start to become that powerful wizard that we know from legend, once he gets out, once his magic is no longer secret.

GCD: If Morgana had five minutes alone with Guinevere, what would she do?

KMG: Slap her. [laughs] They'd probably sit in a room and try on crowns, and based on who looked better in the crown they'd decide who could be queen.

GCD: What are your next projects? Any movies in the works?

CM: I did a film two years ago which has just been released in the UK and Ireland and should be hitting the States sometime around March - it's called Parked. I did it in Ireland with Colm Meaney.

KMG: I just finished a miniseries called Labyrinth, produced by Ridley Scott. It had John Hurt in it as well, but I still haven't met him! The TV show has two parts to it - he's in the modern parts, I'm in the medieval parts, and we missed each other by a day. I finished that up on Tuesday. I also did Madonna's film W.E., which comes out in January. She's actually really good as a director - she has an amazing sense of detail. She's a real actor's director who really likes to talk about the range and the performance. Wallis Simpson as a character is really close to her heart, so she knew everything, as you'd imagine Madonna would about something she was passionate about. Then season 5 of Merlin starts shooting in March, so it's been all go.

GCD: So you've been doing a lot of period roles. Do you ever wish you could just play a character in shorts and a T-shirt?

KMG: God yeah! Give me an AK-47 and a pair of jeans, and gimme some aliens to fight. They're doing a Blade Runner prequel; I could do that. Let's just phone up Ridley and say, "Hey...c'mon, love...y'know? I could be a Replicant." I've worked for him once already; I should be already in there!


Season 4 of Merlin airs Fridays on Syfy at 10 p.m., beginning Friday, Jan. 6th

@темы: Katie:interviews, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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Интервью Кейти для Syfy

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Очень интересное интервью - немного о Мерлине, а также о книгах, музыке и сериалах, которые любит Кейти и марке, которую она отправила маме)
Источник.

Katie McGrath Discusses Bad Girl Morgana

Over the past three seasons of Merlin we have watched Morgana grow from sweet, loving BFF for Arthur, through betrayal and hurt, to evil sorceress. Katie McGrath made us feel all of those changes and it will be interesting to see how she will make us dislike her as Merlin and Arthur’s sworn enemy in season 4. It won’t be easy. Morgana is strong and vindictive – and dangerously beautiful. She can be your most intense friend or your worst nightmare. It will be interesting to see if Merlin can break through her armor this season as she becomes the kingdom’s biggest threat.
Katie spoke about Morgana in a recent interview with Syfy.

QUESTION:
The fourth season of MERLIN continues down a darker, more dramatic path. Do you feel the show is following a natural evolution?

KATIE MCGRATH:
The guys (co-creators Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy) have found a formula that works, and they’ve taken it to the next level with the fourth season. This is clearly their most ambitious. In four seasons, the characters have changed and grown, and the audience has grown with them. MERLIN still has all the great comedy and relationships that the audiences adore, but we’ve gotten more sinister and the show has gotten there in a very organic way. That was the path that was destined for us. Plus the show has gotten more filmic – it’s bigger in many ways than when we started, visually and in the storytelling. So our episodes are now more like 14 little cinematic films.

QUESTION:
Morgana is having dreams in Season Four that include visions of her future … as well as an aged, bearded Merlin. How does this affect her perspective of what she’s doing?

KATIE MCGRATH:
I think it breathes a fear in her of this character. Morgana doesn’t know that this vision is actually Merlin – she only knows the name Emrys and that he’s a very powerful person. Before the visions, Morgana didn’t believe she had anything to worry about, because she is so powerful herself. But these visions breed a fear and mistrust in her because she can’t fight what she doesn’t know. So her fear and paranoia of Emrys becomes a major part of the fourth season.

QUESTION:
Has Morgana’s appearance also made the transition to evil?

KATIE MCGRATH:
Morgana now kind of looks like a Goth Jessica Rabbit. She’s the character that really changes the most in the series because of where she starts and where she has to go – it’s a massive transformation. A year has passed since third season ended, and you can’t underestimate how that has changed her. Morgana has fully embraced her magical side now – she doesn’t have to play the dual role game anymore – and that is reflected inside and out.

QUESTION:
Morgana has also given up wielding swords for telekinetics, tossing knights 20 feet in the air. Obviously it’s an effect, but do those scenes still give you some playful thrill?

KATIE MCGRATH:
I love those scenes. Every time a woman gets to throw a man around the room, it’s good. To take a man like Tom Hopper, who is around six foot five, and toss him across the set with just the power of your mind – oh, that’s fun!

QUESTION:
Morgana is the villain, but she didn’t start that way – and the fans adored her. So how do you create some form of humanity or sympathy for such a wicked character?

KATIE MCGRATH:
It’s fairly easy for me because ultimately I believe in what she’s doing, and why she’s doing it. She’s been betrayed by her father, ostracized from her family, and she’s all alone. She’s been taken down this path and, now, in Season Four, she’s lost her sister. So she’s running on pure revenge. Pure adrenaline fueled by pure revenge. I do feel sorry for her. If you look at it from her perspective, she’s just desperately trying to get back something she lost. I think audiences will sympathize with that.

QUESTION:
Your fame has gone global, and there’s no greater testament to that fact than seeing the UK government recognize the series’ popularity with a set of postage stamps. What’s it like to find your face on a stamp?

KATIE MCGRATH:
Honestly, that is so cool. It’s actually a bit surreal. There’s an envelope that goes with the stamp, and I took the stamp, put it on the envelope, and mailed it to my mother. She now has it properly displayed – she was so happy and proud.

It’s funny because often those things – the stamps and toys and action figures, etc. – come out while we’re filming, and we’re so apart from things while on set that it all just kind of washes over you. But then when you see the reaction in the eyes of your family – to see how they react to the toys or stamps, or to be on stage at Comic-Con and see that little glint of joy in your brother’s eye – that’s when you realize how lucky you are and how special the job is that you’re doing.

QUESTION:
Have you learned anything about yourself from playing Morgana?

KATIE MCGRATH:
I guess I’ve learned that I love bringing out my inner bitch, because I play those roles so well. I certainly keep getting cast as these horrible, horrible women, so I must be underneath, right? (laughs) The wonderful thing about playing Morgana is that she’s so different from me that it’s very clear when I’m being Morgana and when I’m Katie. I don’t try to kill my siblings. (laughs) So there’s no confusion, no blurred lines. But I do keep getting these bad girl roles. The funny thing is that, honestly, I don’t think I’m believable as these aristocratic mean girls. But I do love playing them.

QUESTION:
You’ve done a number of projects – most notably MERLIN and the upcoming Labyrinth (again with John Hurt) – that take place during medieval times. Are you drawn to this time period? And if you could’ve picked an era to have lived, what would it be and why?

KATIE MCGRATH:
I think this period is drawn to me. Maybe people don’t see me as believable playing a person of today. I guess I’m just more realistic in a corset and funny hairstyles. (laughs) Still, if I could have picked an era to have lived, I think I would’ve loved to have been one of Louis XIV’s mistresses. They were so fantastic and aristocratic, and they had so much power. And he was such a renaissance man. I think I would’ve fit into that nicely.

QUESTION:
Can you watch MERLIN or any of your various projects and enjoy the shows and films as your fans do, or does your on-screen presence distract you?

KATIE MCGRATH:
I can’t watch most of my work. Once I come on screen, all I can think of is “What am I doing with my hands?” or “Why did I lean that way?” or “What’s that look on my face?” It’s too difficult to not focus on evaluating my acting. The great thing about MERLIN is that I can be quite separate. There are so many episodes where I’m not in many scenes – I think probably 75 percent of the season has scenes I wasn’t involved in filming. In that way, it’s all new to me. So I can sit down and thoroughly immerse myself in MERLIN.

QUESTION:
You’re known as a voracious reader. What are you reading now?

KATIE MCGRATH:
“The Lies of Locke Lamora” – genius! My brother got me the second book for Christmas, too. And “Jitterbug Perfume,” which was a present from my make-up artist on Labyrinth. She swears it’s epic, and I trust her. She was pretty epic herself.

QUESTION:
Do you have any appointment television shows?

KATIE MCGRATH:
The West Wing. God, I adore that show. And I have to watch Band of Brothers every time it’s on telly. It’s the most perfect 10 hours of viewing ever made.

QUESTION:
What’s the current favorite song or album on your iPod?

KATIE MCGRATH:
Future Islands, a great, epic, wonderful band. The new Florence and the Machine album. I love her, I want to be her. And Guns and Roses – there is never a time when GnR is not perfect.

Watch our own interview with Katie from Comic Con, 2010 here. And be sure to watch Merlin Jan. 6th, at 10/9c, on Syfy.

@темы: Katie:interviews, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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Интервью Кейти для Spinoff Online

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Source

Merlin's Katie McGrath Channels 'Goth Jessica Rabbit' as Morgana

Merlin returns to Syfy for a fourth season Jan. 6, and no one is more excited than Katie McGrath.
While the 26-year-old Irish actress has loved playing Princess Morgana for the past three seasons of the international hit series, she tells Spinoff Online she originally signed on for the role because she wanted to play the character as the “bad-ass” queen of Camelot, wreaking havoc on the lives of Merlin, Arthur, Gwen and anyone else who stands in her way. And that’s exactly where we are when the new season begins with the two-part episode “The Darkest Hour.”

McGrath also teases that she has more screen time with Colin Morgan, who plays the title character, and sheds some light on the darkness growing within Morgana.

Spinoff Online: Are you walking with a bit of a strut these days because you are the queen of Camelot?

Katie McGrath: You know, there’s that moment that you realize that you have a head that can wear a crown. And for every woman, that is an enlightening moment. You realize that you can no longer settle for mere mortals. You are a woman [laughs] with a crown. You are a woman with a tiara, and you need a man that is actually going to step up to that. So yes, absolutely it gives you a different swagger.

And I think it gives Morgana a different swagger, because now she has that confidence to rule. When you see her in Season 4, she is all about the confidence. She’s all about self-reliance. She’s all about driving herself forward. And she’s all about retaining that crown because it looks so damn good on her.

Not all Merlin fans may know this, but after studying to work in fashion journalism, you landed a job out of university working on the set of The Tudors as a wardrobe assistant. And it was there you were discovered and started acting. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on Morgana’s look in Season 4, and I was also wondering if you were actively involved in deciding some of her wardrobe decisions.

I wish I could take credit for Morgana’s look in Season 4 because I absolutely adore it. She is sort of a goth Jessica Rabbit. She’s not bad, she’s just drawn that way. She looks wonderful. But we have a fantastic costume designer and, with the producers Johnny [Capps] and Julian [Murphy], they came up with the look that they wanted. I pretty much walked on set and walked into the costume, so thank God I loved it as much as I did because I had to spend eight months in it. I think they got it exactly right. She is just perfect as this dark, malevolent, evil but slightly sexual presence, which I think Morgana needs to be in Merlin.

Did you originally sign on for the role of Morgana because you loved how she was portrayed in Season 1, or was it because you knew what lay ahead for the character?

I signed on 100 percent with the idea that she was going to be the bad girl. Every year, I was like, “Let’s get there, let’s get there.” So finally, Season 4 comes and I get to be bad-ass. I get to be controlling. I get to be confident. I get to be powerful. I get to be all the things a woman wants to be. And I get paid for it. I’m only sorry that it didn’t happen in the first season. I’m only sorry it took three years getting there. And she was wonderful in all of those other seasons to play, but I’ve never had so much fun with her as I have this year.

Season 4 opens with a two-part, Lord of the Rings-style epic fantasy battle. Morgana has enjoyed lots of great interpersonal character moments the last three seasons, but is it fun to have the character let loose on this scale?

It’s unbelievable. We started out as this little show in Cardiff with four people making this little thing that nobody knew about that was about magic. And for it now to be four seasons later and for BBC and everybody to put so much into it and show so much faith and build these huge-scale sets for us, you cast your mind back to the first day on set and see how far we’ve come you realize what an achievement it is. And just how hard everybody has worked. And how special it is to be a part of something like that. It’s a humbling moment but at the same time, it’s absolutely brilliant to be a queen with her own army.

Assuming she gets through this battle – and fictional history tells us she will – can you share any other teases for what’s ahead for Morgana in Season 4?

I think Season 4 is going to be directly continued into Season 5. And I think in order to talk about them, you have to talk about them together. We’re lucky. We’ve been commissioned for another season. It’s safe to say that in Season 4 you finally get to see the beginnings of the legend as you know it. You get to see how Arthur may become king. And how Guinevere may become queen. Merlin is going to become this all-powerful sorcerer. And that’s what’s great about Season 4 for, as well. You start to see her as this strong, magical presence that everybody knows that she is. And that she ultimately must be. That’s what you’re going to get in Season 4.

You mentioned Merlin and hinted at the storm that’s brewing between these two characters. Does Morgana get some extended screen time with Merlin in Season 4, and what’s your relationship with Colin [Morgan] off-camera?

I don’t like him at all. I keep rotten tomatoes in my dressing room and wait for him to walk by so I can pelt him in the face [laughs]. Actually, in Season 4, I have the most scenes with Colin than I think I ever have, which is wonderful because, to be honest, he makes me a better actor. He is so bloody good at what he does that you can’t come in with an off-day with Colin. You know you have to hit the ground running. You know you have to be better than you are on your best day because no matter how good you are, he’s going to be even better than you are. I’m lucky with Season 4 that there are quite a few scenes between Morgana and Merlin. And they are meaty scenes – we don’t do fluff between the two of us in Season 4.

Is there goodness left in Morgana, or has she gone completely to the dark side?

I think that there is still goodness there. Morgana is still the same Morgana from the first season. She’s not a completely different character. She’s an evolution of that character. She still has all those bits of goodness, they’re just buried so deep inside her because of what’s she’s gone through. She’s running on pure revenge right now. She’s so hurt and so damaged after discovering she has magic, discovering Uther’s her father and ultimately what happens between her and Morgause in the fourth season but she is still – underneath it all, and I hope you can still see it because we’ve tried to keep it in there – a sympathetic character. She still is the Morgana from the first season. She’s just on a different path.

You’ve played Henry VIII’s mistress (The Tudors), Princess Margaret (The Queen), Lady Thelma Furness (Madonna’s W.E.) and this holiday season, A Princess for Christmas. As an Irishwoman, what are your thoughts on playing these royals?

I’m such a tomboy. I’m the girl in a hoodie and a pair of boots, but I keep playing all these princesses. It’s so ridiculous, if you know me. I’m nothing like it. And my family constantly makes fun of me for it. I’m the least-regal person going, but for some reason, I keep getting the parts, so I’m not going to complain. It’s paying my mortgage and I adore it.

@темы: Katie:interviews, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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Фотография с сайта Dolbadarn Film Horses - Кейти со своим двойником))
Thanks to Merlin Network.

@темы: pictures:behind the scenes, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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A Princess For Christmas

[mistressvera]

Автор:PVera
Рейтин:G
От автора: первый арт с Кэти

@темы: pictures:fan creations

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Katie McGrath: Number 1 Nathan Fillion Fan

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Жутко отстаю с обновлениями, за что прошу прощения. Какие-то сейчас совсем ненормальные дни пошли.
SFX сделал подборку из всех интервью, где Кейти рассказывала о своей любви к Нейтану Филлиону)

@темы: Katie:videos, year:2011

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Звезды SFX рассказывают рождественскую сказочку) Кейти появляется на 1:07.

@темы: Katie:videos, year:2011

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Интервью Кейти для DigitalSpy

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UPD: + 2 видео - о W.E. и о Лабиринте.

О финале четвертого сезона Мерлина и о "Принцессе". Скорее всего спойлерно - я пропустила почти весь сезон, потому пока не видела само интервью.

запись создана: 20.12.2011 в 01:08

@темы: Katie:videos, tv-show:Merlin, movie:W.E., year:2011, movie:A Princess For Christmas, tv-show:Labyrinth

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Рождественское поздравление от Кейти)

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Thanks to Merlin Network (merlin-network.livejournal.com/).

@темы: Katie:videos, year:2011

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W.E. - Promo Documentary

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Хороший фильм о съемках W.E. Кейти хорошо видно только в одном моменте - в начале второго видео. Хотя мне показалось, что она появлялась еще несколько раз во время кусочков со съемок обеда.

@темы: Katie:videos, movie:W.E., year:2011

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Dale McCready

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Дейл МакКриди, Merlin's director of photography, не так давно опять обновил сайт и выложил фотографии со съемок 4-го сезона Мерлина.
Предыдущие посты с фотографиями МакКриди - 1, 2

@темы: pictures:behind the scenes, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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Merlin Season 4 - general promos

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Thanks to Merlin's Keep.

запись создана: 21.10.2011 в 23:12

@темы: pictures:promos, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011

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Katie McGrath at BFI W.E. Premiere

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Обновляется) Фотографий еще тонны три, все постепенно будут появляться вверху поста. Буду ставить разделители)
Thanks to Merlin Network, All About Madonna, Madonnarama, Merlin's Keep and brian barnard6 (via Merlin Network). Так же огромное спасибо sharonalee за пять фотографий без вотермарков.
УПД:
новые:

запись создана: 24.10.2011 в 00:46

@темы: pictures:events, movie:W.E., year:2011

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Интервью Кейти для Nuus24

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Кейти дала это интервью в ноябре в Кейптауне, во время съемок Лабиринта (перевод с африкаанс на английский - самого интервьюера, Marieke Snyman).
Спойлеров нет, но есть небольшой тизер, касающийся финала четвертого сезона Мерлина.
Thanks to Merlin Network.

Cape Town – The filming of the fourth season of the BBC TV-series Merlin is done and have already started showing in England. Meanwhile, Katie McGrath, better known as Lady Morgana, is in Cape Town busy working on another TV-series.

“I love South Africa. Everything’s got life here. All the water has got fish, all the trees have birds and for me, coming from Ireland, it is paradise,” says Katie.

“Everyone is so laid back here. I find it a lot like home, but it’s also completely different.”

About four years ago Katie started working on Merlin. She says it was her first job as an actress and that she had no idea that the series would be so successful.

“I was only too glad to have a job. I had no idea. But Angel Coulby who plays Gwen said she knew from the beginning that there was something special about the show,” she explains.

“So many stories have already been built around the legend of Arthur and Merlin and so many more can be told about it. The writers of the series come up with so many surprising things. The fourth series is going to end in a very surprising manner for Morgana.”

She still enjoys portraying the role of Morgana and wouldn’t want to switch to any of the other characters if she had the choice.

“Everyone is always asking that and it’s funny, because I don’t want to be any of the other characters. Morgana is so cool – she’s got magic, she’s evil, she’s royal (even if she can’t wear the crown.) So I’ll stick with her. I’m happy.”

It also helps that Morgana is not like her at all, says Katie.

“Morgana has a lot of confidence and she’s on her own and doesn’t need anybody. But sometimes it becomes difficult to play her.

“After a heavy day I’ll get home and wonder why I’m feeling so down and then I’ll remember it’s because I’ve been crying for 12 hours. And then I’ll realise it’s not my own feelings. I can differentiate between my feelings and Morgana’s feelings and that is important.”

Katie enjoys being part of the Merlin team because it doesn’t feel like work. The filming of the series happens over eight months and the actors and crew are all set. Therefore every year she works with the same people and they’ve become good friends.

“It’s almost like being in boarding school. On the one hand, it’s bad because it takes up eight months of your life and everything is just about Merlin, but on the other hand, I enjoy it because we all get along so well which is wonderful.

“It would have been awful if we didn’t get along. Merlin changed my life. I really enjoy my life at the moment. I think I won the lottery.”

Katie is in Cape Town at the moment working in Labyrinth, a TV-series based on the book with the same title by Kate Mosse.

“It’s about the Holy Grail and how Kate Mosse sees it. It’s nothing like the Da Vinci-version.

“It’s set in a medieval France and a modern France, two parallel universes from different eras about the search for the Holy Grail,” Katie explains.

“It’s quite exciting to be part of this. We’ll be in Cape Town for a few more weeks but I’m hoping to be home for Christmas.”

In January and February she’ll have some more time for herself and other projects but after that things are going to be hectic again.

Next year will be busy for Katie and the other Merlin-characters. They are going to start filming the fifth season by March and then they’ll be travelling between France and Wales where the filming takes place.

“I’m looking forward to it. It’s always nice to work with the Merlin-people."

@темы: Katie:interviews, tv-show:Merlin, year:2011, tv-show:Labyrinth