Post by Annie V on Dec 16, 2014 22:21:58 GMT
Submitted by-matineeidyll
Text version
MATT King had never been a romantic lead until Spirited came along with its kooky dead man role.
MATT King had a history of playing crazies (see Peep Show, Skins, Rocknrolla) and seemed an unlikely choice to be Claudia Karvan's love-to-end-all-others Henry Mallet in Spirited. Especially when she started the series married to Rodger Corser.
King is back for another season and spoke to Switched On about the special joy and pain of playing a dead man.
Switched On: Spirited is a great show - funny, clever, wonderful cast - but sometimes it's so sad.
Matt King: Definitely. Particularly by episode two there are several sad episodes but that's the really sad one, I think, when Suzy (Claudia Karvan) just can't see Henry. After the romance that was built up to in series one, they wanted to take it out somewhere else. They didn't want to just continue this romance that can happen, so they've just played with time and space and different worlds, and them not being able to see each other, and there are other ghosts. I think it's gone in a really interesting direction. They've exploded the world right out.
SO: And yet it still follows the form of a conventional romance; the what if two people who fall in love and can't be together for whatever reason. Henry being a ghost is just another obstacle, really.
MK: Absolutely. Any romantic story has to have an element of the two people unable to be together.
SO: Have you been a romantic lead in anything before?
MK: Never. Ever, ever, ever. I've done freaks and weirdos and drug-using musos - Henry's all of that as well - but I'm never ever the romantic lead. It's one of the main things that made me want to do this in the first place. It's a rare opportunity for me. It's usually the Rodger Corsers who get the lead role and get the gal.
SO: And you also get to sing. Henry was in a punk band before he died. Do you do your own singing?
MK: I do, yeah. I've recorded a couple of songs for this series. In series one I did three songs ... and I've recorded a couple of ballads for this series. I'm no singer but what you see is me.
There's three or four times where I kind of croon to people and cats in the series.
SO: Do you think there'll be a third season?
MK: I really, really hope so. I put my hand up and said I will definitely come back for another series. Jump at the chance ... I just love the job. It's my favourite job that I've done probably.
SO: You came to acting late.
MK: Yeah, I did. I dreamed of being an actor as a child, I used to just absolutely love being in school plays, dressing up, getting to be someone else. Then I kind of left school, ended up on building sites, labouring for years, then I became a chef.
I'd kind of forgotten all about it, but once I started to do stand-up, I started to see that was a good apprenticeship to learning the skills you needed as an actor, I think. It's a really good place to learn performance and losing inhibitions and being brave and all the things I think you need to be an actor. I don't think you need to go to drama school. I think you need to do stand-up.
Text version
MATT King had never been a romantic lead until Spirited came along with its kooky dead man role.
MATT King had a history of playing crazies (see Peep Show, Skins, Rocknrolla) and seemed an unlikely choice to be Claudia Karvan's love-to-end-all-others Henry Mallet in Spirited. Especially when she started the series married to Rodger Corser.
King is back for another season and spoke to Switched On about the special joy and pain of playing a dead man.
Switched On: Spirited is a great show - funny, clever, wonderful cast - but sometimes it's so sad.
Matt King: Definitely. Particularly by episode two there are several sad episodes but that's the really sad one, I think, when Suzy (Claudia Karvan) just can't see Henry. After the romance that was built up to in series one, they wanted to take it out somewhere else. They didn't want to just continue this romance that can happen, so they've just played with time and space and different worlds, and them not being able to see each other, and there are other ghosts. I think it's gone in a really interesting direction. They've exploded the world right out.
SO: And yet it still follows the form of a conventional romance; the what if two people who fall in love and can't be together for whatever reason. Henry being a ghost is just another obstacle, really.
MK: Absolutely. Any romantic story has to have an element of the two people unable to be together.
SO: Have you been a romantic lead in anything before?
MK: Never. Ever, ever, ever. I've done freaks and weirdos and drug-using musos - Henry's all of that as well - but I'm never ever the romantic lead. It's one of the main things that made me want to do this in the first place. It's a rare opportunity for me. It's usually the Rodger Corsers who get the lead role and get the gal.
SO: And you also get to sing. Henry was in a punk band before he died. Do you do your own singing?
MK: I do, yeah. I've recorded a couple of songs for this series. In series one I did three songs ... and I've recorded a couple of ballads for this series. I'm no singer but what you see is me.
There's three or four times where I kind of croon to people and cats in the series.
SO: Do you think there'll be a third season?
MK: I really, really hope so. I put my hand up and said I will definitely come back for another series. Jump at the chance ... I just love the job. It's my favourite job that I've done probably.
SO: You came to acting late.
MK: Yeah, I did. I dreamed of being an actor as a child, I used to just absolutely love being in school plays, dressing up, getting to be someone else. Then I kind of left school, ended up on building sites, labouring for years, then I became a chef.
I'd kind of forgotten all about it, but once I started to do stand-up, I started to see that was a good apprenticeship to learning the skills you needed as an actor, I think. It's a really good place to learn performance and losing inhibitions and being brave and all the things I think you need to be an actor. I don't think you need to go to drama school. I think you need to do stand-up.
