Morfydd Clark | Starve Acre | Being drawn to the darkness & magic | Rings of Power Season 3?

Great to see you again. Likewise. First of all, address the elephant in the room. You get to stroke Matt Smith's hair and call it work. How much? How much fun is it getting the dysfunctional chemistry of this couple, right? Because the whole story revolves around them. Yeah. It really breaks my heart because I think that they both so want to be seen and understood, but they can't show themselves at all. So it was, it was the moments where they almost connected but didn't that we really wanted to focus on here. That's kind of where the tragedy really lay for me. And yeah, I was lucky to be very lucky to be doing with Matt because he just so wonderful actor and huge. And the feeling of the film is whilst it's held out in wide open, wonderful countryside, it's very claustrophobic in many places. So obviously you've both come off doing make a series and you're back on the stage next week. Yes. So where does this fit in your message and how you approach it? Yeah, I really love working with writer directors. I think that creates a really kind of specific type of kind of working relationship and, is an interesting question. I don't know how to quite answer it, but I will say that there's something very special that comes from doing an independent film with a writer director, because you have a lot of fluidity and freedom by the writer director being there, but also you are there's confines because it's an independent film. There's only a certain amount of time. And I think that mixture, that alchemy often creates something really exciting and also a lot of passion from everyone involved to make it work. And, and also the chemistry, talking about alchemy and chemistry. You were born in the land of the Norse gods. Are you brought up in the land of the Druids? Do you think roles, otherworldly roles like this, find you or do you go and find them? Interesting. I think, I think they have seemed to just kind of come to me, which I'm like, how funny I do. Because no. Oh, I don't know. But I feel so lucky to first will just be in the world of make believe as an actor. But to be in the world of magic, make believe is something that is super special to me. And I guess, yes, I just grew up reading folk stories, being obsessed with fairies and magic, loving the map and, and I guess it is shaped you more than I realized. Yeah. And also, you've got a feature. Three babies coming out once you've got Rings of Power, you've got this coming out, and then you're on stage next week. I hate to ask you to pick a favorite child. Oh, but what what's what's your love at this point, at this moment in time? Well, right now is Star Baker. I'm so excited to be like that. It's being seen and that we're kind of. We're here tonight with people in the cinema, but I think what's wonderful about being an actor is that you never know what you're going to be doing. And there's such even I'm doing a theater, I'm doing this is a film, obviously, but every film is so different to each other. Every theater project is so different to each other that, I don't know. You have to fall in love with everyone. Every job. I feel like this little baby of mine, I think I would add just quickly, rings of power. Yes. Looking forward to seeing the whole season to season three. Is any any discussion on set about whether you'd want to do that again? Yes. I think there's lots of more. Very excited about the thought of going back to Middle-Earth. Yeah, love it there. Fabulous. Well, thank you so much for speaking to us. Lovely to see you again. Ladies and gentlemen, you are watching. Hey, you guys. Yeah, you guys are you guys? I That's what they all say. You guys. Hey, guys. I. strengths and weaknesses, you to show that. God said he. Has access. Be. Left without a father. On the way to your father, please. Thank you. Robert. This way. Please. Go this way. Not your way. And the nicest voice inside. Coming how to that. Right. And then Daniel and one had to. Pull this off. Like. This. What's the. What's our. Noise level. not a horror fan as in conventional horror, but I love this is. It fits for my world. Somewhere in that triangle of Wicker Man and Midsommar. In that folk horror world. Yeah. And just saying to somebody is is whilst the whole premise is horror, horror, the whole story is about people, which is what I, which I, what I love first and foremost is that. Is that how you see it? Yeah, I think so. I'm just following the book, which, has those horror elements, but is still is a psychodrama. You know, it's about a relationship that, has to go through a very traumatic event. And sometimes, we need we need a bit of magic in order to deal with that. You know, that's what the book was saying. And so you can interpret that as horror, or you can interpret as something else. It's a bit more mysterious, you know, something like gothic horror saw dark fantasy. You know, it's not necessarily horror for me. I was just saying to Morpheus that, you know, she was she was born in Sweden, the land of the Viking, the land of the Norse gods. Grew up in the land of the Druids. You she bring that kind of otherworldliness with her? Yeah, yeah, it's in her bones and blood and, I just knew the very first time we spoke that she was right for, you know, the the way she was talking about her influences and folktales and in general. And she even understood it was, you know, that it was about nature getting its own back. You know, there's a sort of revenge element to it that she was connected with. So, yeah. And it came through in the performance set as well. You know, she was just, you know, the first take, it was just right. And she brought so much to it. And we spoke to aspect a little about Morpheus and Matt. But also you get a fabulous performance out of also something I never work with children, but he he really brings off his character. Yeah. How was that to work? Luckily off I just knew he again he was similarly he for some reason he just had the ability to deliver it in the first take, which was useful for us because sometimes he didn't quite understand the concept of having to do more than one take. So quite often I only had 1 or 2 takes of Arthur, but luckily it was good. And the level of detail in the film down to the cars and the decor and everything like that. How hard was that to pull together in this tiny farmhouse, apparently in the middle of nowhere? It was tricky. Yeah. But we worked hard on it, and we had enough time in pre-production to sort all that stuff out. And, you know, the production designer and art director were incredible. We were watching a lot of, stuff together. I was on the Yorkshire Film Archives watching documentaries from the 70s and finding out lots of, like, little details and quirks of the time that we put into the film. And lastly, can't let you go without talking about the sound design, which is utterly fantastic. And in is a theme, the thread that runs how it seems to hold the whole thing together. How much input did you have to give, or did I just, you know, seemed to pick up on your idea and run with that straight away? No, we talked a lot. The sound has been bad. We were having meetings every week talking about how to how to get across the sense of this whistle in the wind, and then when exactly does that morph into the soundtrack? You know, so there was a close collaboration with, with Ben and Matthew Herbert, the composer. And for me, it was always about not judging the characters ever. Quite typically in horror, we sort the characters get judged with this loud, sort of obnoxious sound design and score as well. But for me, I wanted the audience to understand that they were being there, that a spell was being cast over them, that they were being drawn into a place where they should be. You know, there's a sense of fate or what we used to call weird in England. And so they've been drawn to a place that they're supposed to be, yet they don't really want to be there. And so it was important to get that across through the music works fantastically. It's a marvelous film. I really enjoyed it and could just be to the pleasure. Congratulations on the film. What is it like being out on. In the middle of nowhere, on what seems to be some fairly inclement weather with Matt Smith and this fantastic film? Yeah. It was, I mean, I love I love that when you're making a film, I love, I love when the weather really is part of the scene and it's part of your emotional life as a character. I mean, in the case of Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark you know, like, thank their characters, they go on such a huge emotional journey with grief and the weather just really kind of, I think of inform that and my character coming into that. You know, they the supporting characters, they sort of enter into the, to the world and, and and as it ends for some of them and, yeah, the weather just, just kind of adds that really, and made it kind of easier to act in a way. Yeah. There's a, there's one bit where it snows quite heavily and I'm thinking, yeah, the budget would not stretch to VFX. No, that's gotta be gone. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's real snow you're saying right there. Yeah. And where did your involvement start with this? How did you get to hear about this part and the story? Yeah, I so I worked, with Dan on his first film, Apostasy. And, so I got sent the script like, a slightly later on. I came a bit later on to the project. And yeah, when I read it, I loved, I loved the way it explored grief and folklore and spirituality again, which is probably a sort of running theme in Dan's work, I think. And yeah, just the way he kind of it kind of takes on this whole magical way that it kind of tells the story, the way these characters process their grief. And it doesn't paint bad guys or good guys in a simplistic way. All the complete, all the characters are very complex, and have, image steps to them. So how did you feel that, you know, you, you were working with them and Troy, you know, developing those characters? Yeah. I think what I find is what we've done is it's as you're on set doing the scenes, the script is really kind of like growing and still kind of breathing and stretching whatnot, you know? So, as you get there on the day, what you think it's going to be at the start of the day, it kind of maybe turns out to be something different. But, I think in with with Steven, my character, you know, his relationship with, with Matt is with Matt's character. Richard is, you know, it's to kind of men in the 70s and one of them is going through a grieving process, and the other one is kind of unable to really be there for him. And they're not really connecting with each other, and he's not really sharing anything other than his obsession about digging in this garden, digging in this, digging up this thing under the earth. And, and, I think it's kind of their stories specifically, I found that something quite interesting in that male kind of disconnection between two men. And obviously there's a massive disconnection with him and his, his wife and ultimately that kind of plays out. And it's interesting you say that the script was kind of leaving it living, breathing and morphing, because obviously that's one of the big themes of the film is the things that change. So where does this kind of sit for you? Because I was I was saying to Denis, it's for me. It's I'm not a horror fan, but I love this because it's not a horror film for horror for. Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a film for people who don't like horror. So it's weird to call it a horror film because it doesn't feel like that is much more psychological. And I think it's I think it's much more based in kind of folk stories and, and and and feelings and and what's. Yeah, it's not, it's not like a kind of jump out, you see kind of horror about it. But there are scary moments to it, obviously, but it kind of creeps up on you. It's more the emotional lives of the character that become on display, and you sort of see how that plays out and and you see how scary that is rather than kind of, you know, someone, an assassin going around killing people. And this is for me, it follows a similar vein to things like The Wicker Man on Midsommar. Yeah. I you think it's it's like, yeah, yeah, it's got that kind of, yeah, it's definitely got that, that Midsommar element to it is a great kind of reference in The Wicker Man as well. And I think, Dan, you know, I had, found a lot of like references in, in kind of 70s films and content that he kind of pumped into the film as well. So yeah, it's definitely got it's almost like a unique genre really, but definitely worth seeing for sure. Well, congratulations on your part in this fabulous film. It's great to speak to you, and I hope you have a great.