Magic role bewitching - Richard Wilson Interview (Spoiler)
This article contains spoiler for Series 2. But I think the episode Mr. Wilson is talking about is not S2E01, but S2E02 or S2E03, they were shooting three episodes a time. It's easy to get mixed up.
Source: The Courier-Mail; 3 June 2009; by Geoff Shearer
RICHARD Wilson is looking over a script for Merlin. His eyebrows rise.
"Burnt at the stake," he gasps, "Oh gosh, that could be a bit uncomfortable."
After playing the insufferable Victor Meldrew in the classic series One Foot In The Grave for a decade, the British actor and theatre director admits he now looks for a little "comfort factor" in his work.
As Victor he did everything from being buried alive to finding a frozen cat in the freezer, but as the medieval apothecary Gaius in the successful Channel 10 series Merlin, he's facing some new surprises -- including being put in fiery peril in the first episode for series two.
"He's got a very nasty beginning in this series," Wilson tells The Courier-Mail from London. "This evil magician played by Charles Dance comes on the scene and tricks Uther into thinking that I've been practising magic -- so I nearly end up being burnt at the stake."
But filming the scene didn't end up as uncomfortable as first feared.
"It wasn't as it turned out, they were very kind to me. Unlike in the last episode of series one where there was a lot of work in freezing cold rain. But I try to look out for my comfort as I get older and older -- there's always a seat very close to wherever I am," he says with a laugh.
Wilson, who turns 73 on July 9, hardly has time to sit down though. After starting his professional stage career at age 29, he's been in work almost constantly since.
"Because I direct as well, having two hats is quite helpful of course in terms of continuity of work," says Wilson, who is associate director at the Royal Court in London and a visiting professor of drama at Glasgow University.
"So I've never, fortunately, had long, long spells of unemployment. So I'm very grateful for that. It is also very nice to be part of something new. One of the reasons I did Merlin was because there's not much being offered to older actors. I'm in a position where I don't really need the money that much to survive -- I do enjoy working still, so when Merlin came along it was very nice."
With Merlin now well into its second series, the work schedule is back to full-pace for Wilson. He was in Wales early last week for filming of interior shots at a Cardiff studio and is in France this week at the Pierrefonds castle in a forest northeast of Paris where most of the filming is done.
Although he's been to France many times in his life, Wilson admits he'd never seen Pierrefonds before the series began.
"I'd never heard of it. It is absolutely stunning. I mean the first time you see it, it is just astonishing," he enthuses, adding that many people think the castle is computer generated in the show. "A lot of the big ceremonial scenes are inside the castle. I know (the castle) has picked up its numbers considerably since we started filming there. There are a lot of British tourists and they were coming to France and when they saw Pierrefonds on the series they did a bit of a detour. The only problem is that where we are filming they still allow tourists in. So we have a few continuity problems. School children appearing up left."
Wilson is glad though when he has an episode with only a few scenes. "That gives me a few days off in Paris," he says. "Because we are in rural France the accommodation is not brilliant, so I head off to Paris quite frequently and spend my fees, by and large. I love Paris. It has some wonderful hotels and some extraordinary restaurants."
Wilson is appreciatively polite but self-effacing when we suggest his career is continuing to peak. Merlin has been a success in the UK and consistently draws audiences in the 1.3 million range nationally for Ten in Australia on Sunday evenings.
"It seems to me that there's not very much around like it and I'd never done a drama series like this before," he says.
"Production values are wonderful and the CGI stuff is very, very well done. The idea is that each episode of Merlin is like a little mini film in a way. That's what they aim for."
"Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is fun," Wilson says, "but tedious. If you see there's CGI in a scene you know it is going to take 10 times longer," he says. "I did one scene in the first series where I spoke to the dragon, which is a pretty tedious affair having to talk to a green piece of wall, holding a flaming flambeau! I don't know anything about CGI. I marvel at it. I've never directed anything with CGI. But Colin (Morgan) has to do much more of that as Merlin."
He says Morgan is a joy to work with -- "a very, very professional young actor".
Up next for Wilson is more theatre work. He returns to the stage as the sour steward Malvolio for a five-week run of Twelfth Night towards the end of this year at Stratford-upon-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company. And Wilson says he is looking forward to the "comfort" of being back on stage -- no CGI, no windy, cold castle walls and, especially, thankfully, no burning at the stake.
Note: According to BBC press release, S2E01's villian is Cedric (played Mackenzie Crook). Charles Dance's witchfinder is in another episode.
A photo-version of the article can be found at MerlinAustralia.