Jamie Campbell Bower Q&A

1 August 2011

Jamie Campbell Bower leads an all star cast in a new interpretation of King Arthur in hit TV series Camelot.

- So actually, you’re gonna be asked this all day, but what happened?

I did it on set. It’s uh, you know, the perils of the job, I suppose.

- What were you doing? Was it exciting?

It was. It’s all terribly exciting. It was, you know, an action sequence, and when you’re involved in such high risk and stuff, that involves such high intensity, uh, not only physical, but also mental stuff as well, uh, you put yourself on the line, and I unfortunately put myself on the line a bit too far.

- Did you fall off a horse or did someone hit you with a sword?

Oh, I just, I just fell over.[laughter]

- It wasn’t that exciting.

It wasn’t terr - it was exciting. It was exciting. It was during a, during a battle, and I just took a rough fall.

- Has it affected filming?

Not so bad, no, no not too much. I, I, I did it on, I did it on Tuesday, um, and uh, and so I’m back in work. Not this Monday, the next Monday.

- So how are you going to do on-set action stuff now? ‘Cause there’s a lot of that swashbuckling, waving swords around and stuff.

There is, there is, but we’ve managed to, to clear ourselves of that side of things because of the way we’ve been shooting.

We’ve just finished episode 10, and we’re going back to do episode 8, so episode 8 as it stood anyway, wasn’t as physically demanding as the rest of the show, well, as episode 9 and 10 were, so, it’s not too, it’s too rough. I’ll get up on a horse. For sure. But I’ll just try not to fall off the horse.

- So how much training did you have to do for all the physical stuff before you started this.

Um, we did about a month’s worth of what was called boot camp, which involved learning how to sword fight well, learning how to horse ride better, um, and just sort of getting fit and getting in shape and one thing I always saw for the character of Arthur anyway was that he, sort of, we meet him as a boy.

We don’t meet him as a king, we don’t meet him as this big burly man, so I always wanted to keep that shape of being thin, and then, um, you know, hopefully, if the series progresses and as the series progresses, you know then he’ll bulk up and he’ll become more masculine and more physically well built, but uh, it was about a month. About a month.

- And how tough was it?

It was tough, it was tough. I mean, but, you know, no pain no gain. Do you know what I mean? It’s, uh, you know, as actors we get to do things that are great, and we get to do things that no one else would really get to do.

We get to learn how to horse ride for free well, not for free, but, you know, we get to do all these amazing things, and we would go home at the end of the day and be really sore, but, you know, it’s a good sore, it’s not a bad sore.

- Who is the best sword fighter? I imagine it got competitive.

Uh, Philip Winchester who plays Leontes. He’s just got this amazing flair, and amazing style that he has. I like to call min, my style, 'the flail.'[laughter]

- A signature move.

Completely.

- And how are the cast bonding. There seems to be a great list of names involved.

Yeah, it’s interesting, I’ve never been involved in a job where that, where the cast have bonded so much, and in such a short spect of time as well, you know, we were over here to do that training, and, within three weeks it was like we were the best of friends. It’s crazy.

And um, but it’s great, you know, I mean, the last thing I’d want to do is have to go on set and pretend to like someone on camera that behind camera I hated. And I just don’t, it’s not like that. We all get along and we can all, you know, feel each other’s face and feel each other’s vibe which is fantastic.

- You and Tamsin go back [unintelligible] years, don’t you?

We do, we do. Tamsin and I sort of grew up in the same small town, uh, in the middle of, in the middle of Hampshire, uh, and we did, uh, local youth theatre together.

And we did 'Bugsy Malone' and I played Bugsy and she played Blousey. It was when we were about 12, and it’s crazy, it’s crazy. I’ve never worked with her before and it’s kind of weird.

- So is it totally weird that now you have to kiss her, and be in love with her.

You know, it’s not, I wouldn’t say it’s weird. Uh, it’s, you know, it’s work, I guess is what it is. And it’s not like I have to make out with Michelle McManus, or someone, you know, equally as…

- It’s not a hardship.

Yeah, it’s not hard to, sort of, pretend that she’s beautiful, because she is beautiful. Um. But uh, it’s easier, I think it actually makes it easier.

I think it takes all of that sort of weirdness level away and that sort of strange factor away, ‘cause the last thing you want to do is sort of meet someone on the sat the day before you have to make out with them or have a love scene with them, ‘cause then it’s just sort of, 'Hi, nice to meet you, let’s uh, let’s get on with this, then, shall we?'

And we can talk about it and we can, you know, just make sure each of us are happy and each of us are okay with what we’re doing.

- Then after filming does it go straight back to being friends?

Completely. All giggles, all laughter, and uh, I’m hardly the sexiest man in the world, to put it mildly, so I’m uh, I’m a bit of a geek really, at heart, so after them I’m always giggling and tripping over things. As you can tell.[laughter]

- But you have to be the prettiest Arthur we’ve ever seen.

Awww that’s very nice, thank you, what about Clive Owen? He’s pretty good-looking.

- Tell me, in what other ways is this an Arthur that we’ve not seen before.

Mmm.. I think, as I said before I think what’s great about this story that we’re creating is that we meet this character when he’s a young boy in sort of, you know, mid-to-late teens and he develops throughout the show and we see that development through his eyes and the decisions he has to make and so on and so forth.

I don’t think that’s really been touched in cinema before and most of the people who have played Arthur before have been older and already sort of established and we don’t come into the show with that aloofness of him being the king and him going 'off with her head' and stuff like that, it’s much more about the intelligence and the thought process one has to make when you’re in a position of power like that.

- How’s it feel heading up a production as big and lavish as this?

F***ing terrifying.[laughter] I remember calling my mum like a week in 'I don’t know if I can do this.' 'I just, I don’t feel like I can be the leading man, I just don’t think' And she was like, 'Believe in yourself, do it, go with it.'

But, in saying that, this is an ensemble cast, and we all bounce off each other, and we’re all still, you know, throughout life, you’re always learning. And you’re always changing, and getting better. I hope.

So that’s a great thing. And I sort of, I ended up getting quite comfortable. ‘Cause before I was like, 'I can’t do this. Send me home. They’ve made a mistake. They can’t they’re joking.' And then, now I feel, now I just, now I feel like I can fit the role and I can fit the character, which is great.

- What do you think won you the audition?

Umm I don’t really that’s a very good question. I really don’t know. Uh..

- Not your swordsmanship, obviously.

Yeah, exactly. Um.. It was, I think above and beyond anything, sword-fighting, and all that swashbuckling stuff, there is an intelligence to this character, and I’m not saying I’m intelligent, but, what I am saying is that, you know, I believe in myself and as a person I’m quite a thinker. And I think that maybe they saw that in the character and they wanted something in that.

- You said you were kind of struggling with the idea of being a leading man to begin with Did anything that you saw when you were working with the Harry Potter lore or the Twilight" saga, is anything going to inform the way you’ve done it, or did you learn anything from that about being in something that’s gonna have that sort of level of appeal?

Um, I don’t think so. I think, from my experience of working in general, which isn’t, I think, the hardest thing to do in the world, is be nice. And to look after a cast, and to look after everyone’s interests.

And we do all look after each other, but, you know, as number one you have to be able to bring, you know, to voice things that people, that the cast feel in particular, and you have to be able to voice those to producers, you have to be able to voice those concerns or those worries or those questions, and bring them into a meeting.

And I’ve learned that, definitely, on this job, I wouldn’t say I’ve learned that on any job before because I’ve always sort of been supporting, um, and that’s actually been really key and really good for me, I think.

- And what about fans, because you must have got a certain, I mean teenage girl fans are an intense breed, so you must have got, uh, quite a few of those going from what you’ve been doing before. How do you learn to cope with that?

You know, for me it’s not too bad. I can walk down the street and be relatively normal. If I put myself in a position where there are gonna be a collection of more than twenty 14-year-old girls, I’m putting myself in a situation that probably isn’t the best place to be. But other than that it’s fine.

And I have been involved in a lot of things that have come along and already had an established fan base themselves and that’s great, um, whereas something like this, as it’s a new show, although there is obviously the King Arthur legend and so on and so forth, this isn’t really, no one really, I don’t think anyone’s really seen this or really connected with the story like they hopefully will do on this level, and then I hope that that will bring new fans and new interest in the story and in the actors and the characters themselves.

- And with 'The Tudors' just ending, do you think this is the perfect time for a really good historical drama?

I think so. I think so. Um, you know the more I, the more I look into it and the more I receive new scripts for other films or, sort of, treatments, or sort of, you know, look what’s going on out there, the more I see that there is sort of a swing to the medieval side of things, I mean you look at Bryan Singer’s Jack and the Giant Killer that he’s going into production with fairly soon and that again is based on the Arthurian time; it’s late Arthurian, but it’s still Arthurian.

And, you know, I don’t know whether this is the new sort of thing like Twilight has been, or was, you know, the vampire side of things, maybe this is now the time for medieval-based dramas and that sort of side of characters.

- And are you enjoying filming in Ardmore.

It’s great. It’s lovely.

- You get to know the local people?

Yeah, yeah, I mean we go down to the pub in break, occasionally. And, you know, Ireland itself offers some of the most amazing locations and some of the most fantastic vistas and, you know, stuff that people would travel to New Zealand for, when much closer is a landscape that’s just as beautiful and just as vast. Um, and that’s, that’s fantastic. And it’s only 50 minutes flight from London.

- So how many of the, I suppose what we would term the icons of the story have you come across yet, I mean, things like the round table, Excalibur Morgan Le Fay

Well, Morgan is played by Eva, and we encounter her and through the development of her character and through the development of Arthur and through the development of Merlin she finds out who this boy is and what relation to her he is, and we do encounter Excalibur in the first series.

- Do you have a [makes sound] moment?

I do, but, from Arthurian legend the sword in the stone moment is the sword of Mars.

- Not Excalibur.

Not Excalibur, and I think, what’s great about the show is we are, instead of retelling legend, what we’re doing is we trying to create, we create legend.

Whereby, it’s basically, it’s a lie, like, something happens, and then you go, it’s like, 'Oh, the fish, it was the fish was huge. It was at least this big.' When in fact it’s that big, and the story grows and grows and grows and I think that’s what, that’s what great about this show is we see the people the how, how these sort of things happen.

The round table, you’ll have to see. It’s, uh, it’s sort of a defining moment in an episode, in one of the last episodes, so uh, yeah.

- But was it quite cool, did you have a little moment when you held Excalibur and had somebody take quick phone pics you can send.

Yeah, exactly. For my facebook profile. Yeah, it’s a very very cool sword. But it’s fuckin’ heavy. It’s really heavy.

- Do you get to take it home?

Yeah, if I’m nice to the props people, maybe.

- You said you were a geek. Can you elaborate?

Yeah. Could I elaborate on being a geek. Yeah. I’m not very cool. I’m quite clumsy. Uh..

- Meaning that you’ve tried to be cool and failed.

Yeah. I think so. Sort of shunned from the cool crowd at school would probably be the correct thing to say. You know, I just, I kind of felt, I mean this is so self-absorbed, but I kind of felt like I never fitted in really, and I still feel like I never really fit in, in the world, I suppose, but that’s, you know, maybe one day I’ll find my place. I’m still young. We’ll see.

- So then was it hard then to be this kingly figure?

Uh, it was, yes, I’m not gonna lie, it was difficult, and there was a lot of days spent in front of the mirror, trying to look big and macho, and in the back of your mind is always the little going, 'what are you doing, idiot? Stop, stop, stop that, you know, come on, we know what you’re like.'

But you have to put those, you know, demons to rest, and you have to, you know, absorb yourself in this role.

- If tomorrow you became king, what’s the first thing you’d do?

Wow. If tomorrow I became king what’s the first thing I would do. Um… Free cheese.

- Maltesers?

Maltesers, yeah. Maltesers and free cheese.

- What’s Joseph Fiennes like, and is he your mentor in any way?

He is a wanker. Don’t talk to him. He’ll come in here, [unintelligible] about, probably kick a chair over and then leave. And that will be the extent of your interview, so, just roll with it. Um, the man is amazing.

He’s one of the finest, you know, actors that I think I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with, and work with on such a sort of tight basis and on a daily basis as well and really get to know, and um, and has he become my mentor? I uh, I wouldn’t say so... Don’t tell him this, ‘cause he doesn’t know, but I do watch him very very closely, and I think from every job I’ve done I’ve tried to steal a little bit from an actor I really admire.

And Joe’s someone I really admire, so I do watch him very intently. 'That was good. Maybe I can do that later.' But um, the relationship between Arthur and Merlin is sort of an Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker kind of thing.

And um, and yes at the beginning there’s this, there’s a lot of tension, it’s wrought, and then, you know, as the series progresses, Merlin and Arthur come to understand one another, and really, by the end of the show there’s a real mutual appreciation for each of their intelligence and each of their strengths and each of their weaknesses. Um, but I wouldn’t say that’s happened in the show, I don’t think Joe has any weaknesses.

- What’s been the single coolest moment in filming so far.

I got to climb a waterfall, and I got to do a very very very badass stunt, and it was just amazing. I’ve never, I’ve never had to do any wire work, really, before.

- Something... you fall and you’re on a wire.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean there was like, there was a flip involved and it was, it’s just, and on camera it looks amazing, and you can’t really see that it’s me, but I know it’s me. And all my mates know it’s me ‘cause I’ve told them. But uh, it’s, that was, that was really cool for me, all that sort of Tom Cruise-y kind of stuff.

- Where did you shoot that?

Bit at Palace Court. Bit at Palace Court and then we used a swimming pool.

- And then the one thing I note from the [unintelligible] here is that we don’t seem to have any mention of Lancelot yet, and in myth, doesn’t he end up, basically, shagging Guinevere, which is, he cuckolds you? [laughter]

Lancelot doesn’t appear yet in our story yet.

- Okay. But he might.

He may, possibly, yeah. Yeah. He doesn’t appear in the first season. And I think, we may see him. We will see him at some point.

- And how many have you go the story lines planned out for?

I think, you know, what we’re going to do is, we, there are storylines planned out and there are definite, sort of, options that we can go for, I think, you know, what the thing we’re going to do for the moment is see how the first series is received and see what the press is like from there and see if everyone likes it, and then maybe go ahead and go for the second series, and the third, and, you know, fourth and fifth. I might be here for twenty years.
[laughter]

- Did you have any kind of reluctance to bind to something that basically means that you could be here for a large amount of time, because your career’s doing so well in so many different directions, and this kind of ties you in to one person for a while, doesn’t it?

It does, but I think what’s great about television, it does offer you the opportunity to be able to go and do other things, um, and you know, with American television, you know, you can always, producers and directors, and everyone involved is always very willing to let you go and do other things and I don’t think I was reluctant at all to go into this. It was all a bit of a whirlwind really. I think I signed without really knowing. [laughter]

'Sign here,' I was like, 'Yeah, sure, sure. What are we doing? What is this?'

- Would you say you have good gut instincts of how something is, is it going to be perceived well? What’s your feeling on this?

I have instincts, but my instincts are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. For instance, the show, you saw, The Prisoner, I thought was fantastic and I thought was going to be huge and it wasn’t.

It didn’t do badly, but it didn’t do as well as I thought it was going to do, so you, so you can never be too sure.

It’s sort of... it’s like life, it’s right place, right time, and you’ll see, but we have made something that is very special. Whether or not, you know, people can connect to it and it blows up in our face is another thing entirely.

And I think people will connect to it. You know, it’s all about the characters. It’s all about who these people are.

But, you know, who expected, really, Twilight to be so big? Who expected Harry Potter to be as big as it was? There were loads of other books and novels, you know. Lives of Christopher Chant is another novel that came out the same time as Harry Potter, and that hasn’t done anything, so, you know, who knows?

- Why do you think the broader question, the Arthurian myth and the legend is so enduring, why do so many series keep coming back to it?

Um, I think behind every story that has been successful, um, throughout centuries, there has always been a, sort of, underlying love tale, and I think the Arthur-Guinevere love story behind it all is something that really draws people to the story back and forth, and people do, of course, people do like, you know, swashbuckling, and people do like swords and so on and so forth, but it’s, you know, it’s a, you know, working, working class hero kind of story, you know?

This guy, he’s never, you know, he’s never gonna get that sword from the stone, he’s never going to be able to do it, you know, he does it.

And it’s like, Yeah, badass, he’s [unintelligible]. Why not? And the Arthur and Guinevere story as well, is the same but different, it’s that Romeo and Juliet thing, it’s unrequited love, or, you know, love that’s not allowed to happen, and uh, yeah I think that really, I think that sells. I think that sells.

Camelot is out on DVD now.