LOTR series creator John D Payne, actors Markella Kavenagh and Megan Richards | Interview

hello and welcome this is myang shaker from midday newspaper with me is well Nori first of all and of course poy which is Marquel Megan and the creator of rings of power Mr JD pay uh you know what you just had lunch so I'm going to first ask you the most simple question which is the fact of you were cast on the show and you were the first person to be in the that is that correct is that true that you you the first one picked for the cast of of rings of power would that be correct not the very first no but early on definitely I think yeah I might have been the second I mean was it the very first you know it's been six years now it's really hard to remember it was super early it was it very early and did you guys become best friends with time because that was that is what you play and you're really cute on the show of course you guys become best friends and no not really well we're very close imagine no no we no that's the headline I was looking for anyway we're very close we very we got on very very well it's very fortunate to work and you're of course from Australia right Mar and where exactly you from Megan I'm from London and and both of you obviously have very different accents but they have to match when you're in a world which is while mythical but it has to be true to how you speak is that something you worked on like give yourselves a particular accent to speak in yeah I mean we worked with an incredible dialect coach um Le feston who really was kind of created these dialects and it's not one or the other it's based on a really it has a light Irish l um but it's a half foot English so we just worked on that and tried to make it make sure it sounded as consistent as possible globish that the whole world can understand I'm guessing and was it intermediating for you to be part of a show like this given how huge the show is in terms of the viewership in terms of the money that's been invested in in terms of where it's coming from it's it's pedigree right I mean yeah it was I mean I was I was just very excited um I wasn't hugely aware of talking's work before this show interesting you see that and so I this show has been my education and it's only sort of been while I've been on this show and been fortunate to keep working on the show and doing all of this press and meeting everyone and seeing how it resonates with people that's where my real understanding and depth of that understanding really sits I'm pretty sure you're still learning yeah absolutely oh my goodness that's the big thing right uh we talking always learning I mean what you were getting into is really a world that's going to look at something like this because I think the fans of tolkin whether it's two trilogies is not just fans I mean it's a cult it's almost a religion was that something that was intimidated to you as as a person who's who's walking to this and of course you're going to face that cult back at you is that something you're thinking about a lot I mean I take it all as an expression people's love for the work um and I love the work as well I come at it truly from a place of being a fan and I think the work speaks to people's Soul so yes it has that sort of spiritual element to it um and it's rare amongst uh you know uh modern properties I feel like um so no I think we get really excited the fact that F love this and you know it sets a bar high for what we're trying to achieve and we put our our heart mind and soul into into doing so every single day right because you're looking at like a$1 billion investment into five seasons this show um and and do you have the Hulk Arc in mind when you when you think about it when you start like so first of all those yeah you should you talk to Amazon they'll talk to you about the money but I mean um but yes we have a a 50 hour TV show that has been mapped out it's already been mapped out well and and it's sort of like if you're doing a road trip across the country you sort of know which cities you're going to hit along the way which national parks but there's also room for exploration you know when you find story lines you want to go a little deeper in um or uh you know things that might be a little a little shorter uh there's there's room to to kind improvise some as you go along right right is it true that you actually have the last scene with you ready for the final season already very much yeah we have something in for what we want to do yeah so that's that's what we mean by the map isn't it but when you're creating characters uh you're creating a world that also exists but also you have to bring in new elements what goes through um that process and not too many people have done that in cinema or screen history right um where would you pick from like would would there be elements of Shakespeare would there be elements of mythologies across the world is is that something like are are there in references you can think of Mr pay that sure I mean and there's references at different points there's the writing process there's also the design process the production process and the editing process so at each of those phases yes we look to all kind different but in terms of writing process and characters like the reason I'm asking you this is because for instance if you look were to look at mythologies I'm deeply I mean where I come from which is India has a very deep uh you know rich is that is that something you looked at ever at the rayana OR at the like yeah is there something in Indian mythology that you saw that could be that could fit into the characters you were creating are you aware I'm less familiar with with a lot of Indian mythology but certainly like you know northern European mythology and uh you know we'll often look to sort of what inspired toen as well um know he was deeply um sort of steeped in in the mythologies of of uh the ages and so sometimes we'll go back to those stories um and uh you know sort of look at what was that was inspiring him because that's really what we try to do we we take these tiny little cells that you he he did left us in in um the appendices and we'll try to grow them into these fully-fledged living beings um and you to do that some of it it's just becomes from our own life and experiencing creative point of view sometimes it comes from things we've read um but but yeah certainly all all the world's artistic cretions are are influential to us final question Mr P I mean you also worked I mean the dolin state had a lot to do with this project as well and you were also working with the grandson of JRR um what was his contribution like to to the process oh Simon's wonderful um he we're very fortunate to have him as a a consultant on the series um and we met with him early on when we were when they were first deciding on who was going to be the showrunner right um and uh then uh each season we will write a a a document that gives a summary of what we're planning on doing in more detail That season and we'll share it with the tolina state and they will give us back uh very thoughtful Reflections um and sometimes it'll say like you know in my grandfather's work uh there was uh this little corner of the legend Dar that I ALS thought could be more deeply explored have you guys thought about that uh you know sometimes they'll say what you're doing here feels it could be promising but maybe if you tweak it this way or that way um it could be better and so we welcome those and and uh really just value the contribution of the estate um both of that process and then throughout so we've been very fortunate to have a very close working relationship with them well we' just got started right literally like one season and then second season two episodes done uh well all the best and congratulations of course thank you very much for your time cheers subscribe to midday India get direct notifications on all our videos by clicking on the Bell icon