The Last Kingdom: Matthew Macfadyen Interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW MACFADYEN
Playing Lord Uhtred

What sort of a man is Lord Uhtred?
Lord Uhtred is a very hard man and not in the least bit sophisticated. He is however a leader, a father and a toughened warrior. Like a lot of lives lived in that time his was short, brutish and hard.

Was it important to you to convey the emotional side to your character despite those brutish times?
The emotion is always bubbling away beneath the narrative. Especially informing scenes with his son who eventually becomes Uhtred the Younger. He doesn’t show his son a lot of love, which as the story unfolds you see really shapes the younger Uhtred. They’re not robots or totally unfeeling but emotionally the lid is firmly screwed on.

What was the relationship like between Lord Uhtred and the young Uhtred?
The young Uhtred is rather insolent with his father that makes for a great dynamic. My character, Lord Uhtred, is pretty tough on his kid. He realises how hard life is so he’s tough on young Uhtred in order to make him strong.

What sort of world is it that Lord Uhtred inhabits?
I would imagine that his is a really hard life to live. There were very few comforts and they must have been a very hard and resilient people. I wouldn’t have lasted a second!

Were you prepared for the scenes with the hawk?
Unfortunately I missed the falconry class at drama school! The hawk was a bit testy and flighty. During one take I had to get off a horse, the hawk then had to land on my hand, I had to meet my wife, join my brother Aelfric and then walk up some stairs; all of this with the hawk plus a lot of dialogue! So you could say the hawk made things extra challenging at times.

How hard was it adapting to the costume and stunts?
You just have to get used to it all in a short space of time but that adds to the fun of it. If I’m asked what I did at work today I can say ‘well, I jumped off a horse, made friends with a hawk and waved my sword at somebody!’ That’s the great thing about being an actor, no two days are the same and you have to just jump into these worlds and hope for the best. You get to learn how to horse-ride and practice sword fighting. It’s great fun.

What has been your experience been of the filming process?
I’ve been really impressed and wish that I had longer with him on the show. We had a huge battle sequence, which on paper was always going to be an incredibly complicated sequence of events between the Vikings and the Saxons. Nick had planned it all out beautifully and with military precision so for us actors we just turned up and he had planned it all out into mini sequences. It made what we had to do very simple and clear and you have to let that be the director’s job. Nick’s style is extremely freeing and he likes the filming to be hand held. There’s not a great amount of lighting time on Nick’s sets and he tends to try and get it all in one big magic take. It feels very exciting to do that as an actor and oddly you don’t feel like there is a terrible pressure to get it right. I love that about working with Nick.

What sort of training did you receive for the stunts?
We had pretty rigorous training on horseback riding. I’ve shot a fair few battles over the last twenty years or so but this was incredibly exciting and on such an epic scale.

Was there ever a point when you felt completely immersed and a bit terrified?
The way we’re shooting this with Nick’s cinematography you are right in the middle of the moment. You really don’t have to use your imagination very much. At one point we had about one hundred extras, a lot of them brilliant stunt men so we were completely immersed in that world.

Was this a time period that you knew anything about?
This is not a period in History that I knew much about at all. I was slightly upset because the Vikings look a lot cooler than the Saxons. So much so that the other Saxon actors and I feel a bit hard done by. They’ve got cool hair with shaved sides and long sections with cool tattoos and a kind of Nordic chic and we’re just boring Saxons.

What do you and your fellow Saxons have to wear?
I model some moleskin breaches, some very high boots, leather tunic, an under tunic and a cloth outer tunic. In battle I wear chain mail. Luckily it’s baby chain mail, which means it’s fake and very lightweight. I have a hat that I wear which is slightly different from everyone else’s so I think that must have been to denote me as King, but other than the hat we all wear pretty much the same.

Does the story feel realistic?
With any period piece it’s very easy to slip into caricature. I think what’s wonderful about Nick Murphy’s style of direction is that he’s very keen to avoid anything like that. It feels very fresh and not at all like we are re-hashing another medieval blood and guts thriller.

What have you learnt about the Middle Ages that you didn’t know before?
I think probably all of it! But again that’s the lovely thing about being an actor you get to just dip your toe in. For me it really is just dipping my toe in as I’m only here for a short time, but it’s lovely to immerse oneself in a previously unfamiliar world.

What was your initial reaction to the script?
I think this script is brilliantly written and doesn’t fall into that stereotypical Saxons and Vikings theme. I thought it was really fresh, interesting and exciting packed with all manner of politics.

What was the advice to the cast on language and accents?
We were advised to be very free and naturalistic with the accent and not come with any preconceived ideas of how they would have spoken in our heads.

What has been the highlight for you?
The battle was quite something. It was a wonderful set piece. We were in this beautiful bit of the country just outside Budapest and the whole thing was just great fun.