'Spartacus: Blood and Sand': Q&A with John Hannah
Monday, May 16, 2011
2:33 AM
Category: 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand': Q and A with John Hannah , Spartacus , 0 Comments
Category: 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand': Q and A with John Hannah , Spartacus , 0 Comments
When Spartacus: Blood and Sand first hit our screens, it was clear we were dealing with a different kind of show! The series revels in gore, sex and drama and it became something of a cult hit. It's a while until new episodes will hit our screens, but if you need your gladiator fix in the meantime you'll be pleased to hear that the season one DVD is out on Monday! To celebrate, we called up cast member John Hannah to chat about the show, new Spartacus Liam McIntyre and those sex scenes! There are some season one spoilers but they're marked, so read on...
Obviously the DVD's coming out on Monday - for people who haven't seen Spartacus: Blood and Sand, tell us what it's about.
"It's a kind of epic soap structured around the facts of Spartacus that we know. There are little facts that we know, little bullet points along the way that we do know about Spartacus - the man, the myth. And what they've done is created a little imagined show about the world that he might have lived in and what he might have gone through on his journey."
What about your character Batiatus?
"I think he's great. I love him. In spite of everything in the world and the universe and the gods and the fates colliding and coming against him, he still manages to pick himself up and get a new plan and move forward. He's never overwhelmed by how crap everything is for him. I just love that about him."
But do you think he's a bit villainous?
"Yeah!"
Is that what you enjoyed about playing him - the evil side?
"I never saw it so much as evil personified in an objective way but more about how he responds to the things that happen to him. And he responds in a way that is acceptable, I think."
There are a lot of sex scenes in Spartacus - were you ever nervous about those?
"Yeah, it's always difficult approaching those. Difficult and sort of awkward. But at the same time you want it to be creative. You want it to have a reason and a purpose. I think in the second episode there's quite a famous scene - I think nobody will ever have seen anything like that before. But what it does, I think, is it tells you everything you need to know about the world that we live in, who these characters are, how they feel about the people that they're dealing with - the slaves, their wives, all of that. I just think it works a treat. I think it's absolutely great."
You mentioned being creative - I read that you had to keep coming up with more and more sexual positions because there is so much sex in the show. Is that true?
"We did! In the prequel [Spartacus: Gods of the Arena] there's an orgy scene, a sort of threesome scene I suppose. We were shooting this sequence, which was part of a montage a la Godfather, that was going in against some killings and what not. You're not making a porn movie, so it's not like that's what your aiming for. You have to make it continue to tell a story and at the same time do it in a way that's true to your character and stuff. So you do the obvious things that you would sort of do, and then you go, 'Well, what shall we do next? We've got another three minutes of scene to come up with here - what are we going to do next?'"
The sex and violence in Spartacus has caused a bit of controversy - what do you make of that?
"You know, it's not for everyone. Some people are offended by men wearing shorts on the golf course - go figure! If you don't like it, don't watch it. It's on late. Certainly, in terms of the DVD, no-one's going to accidentally come up and have to watch it not meaning to. And if they do, they're a bloody idiot. Your kids should certainly never be allowed to watch it at the moment, that goes without saying. Like anything, it's like, 'Use your brain!'"
Why do you think Spartacus has been such a hit?
"Because it's f**king awesome! I mean, it really is awesome. I think ultimately - to be serious, and this probably doesn't sound as exciting as anyone would think - but I think seriously it tells great stories. I think the sex and the violence are terrific. It's got a great stylish, pyrotechnic look about it. Obviously, it's brilliantly designed, it looks amazing. But I think people would get bored with that pretty quickly if there was no story to be told. So I think you've got to say, 'Well, it's got to be the story then, hasn't it?' I think the writing is really good. I think the writing is a bit underestimated. It comes in under the radar. You see the violence, you see the sex, it's all very flashy. [But] you watch one episode and by the time you get into the second episode I think you're going to be hooked on the story and what everybody's up to and all of that."
You mentioned the writing - the language in the show is quite unusual. Was it hard for you to get into that?
"It was hard to learn, for sure. Hard to learn, but actually great to say. I really loved it. Like I say, it was tricky. It did take a lot of work the night before to get through it, to learn it and to be able to learn it in a way that sounds like you're just saying it - you're just talking to your wife and talking about what you're going to be doing - rather than some kind of wooden, old, Shakespearean-type delivery. But I loved it. It really just lived in your mouth and flew off the screen, I think."
SPOILER QUESTION - You mentioned the prequel earlier - at the end of the first season of Spartacus Batiatus dies, so were you pleased to be able to go back for the prequel?
"I was always going to be coming back for some flashbacks. What happened when Andy [Whitfield] got ill [with non-Hodgkin lymphoma] was that they turned their flashbacks into its own little story, so that's why the prequel came out."
SPOILER QUESTION - Were you pleased to be able to return?
"Yeah. I was definitely sad to sort of leave it at that point [at the end of the first season]. It was a great part. I loved doing it, the people we were working with, the environment we were doing it in. It was great going back - it was a real bonus."
SPOILER QUESTION - You mentioned the original plan was for you to appear in flashbacks in the second season - is that still the case? Will we be seeing Batiatus again?
"No, because those flashbacks have been wrapped up with the prequel. So no, those stories have been told."
Was it interesting playing an earlier and different version of Batiatus in the prequel?
"Yeah. That was really fascinating to approach that and to wonder, 'Is evil made? Does it become evil?' It goes through all the theories of how your character might have developed, how it might have got to that point, what did you do earlier on etc. But ultimately once I got the scripts you do what actors do and that is you play what's on the page. So yeah, you can think about it a lot, but the bottom line is you get on screen and you play the scripts between the actors."
You worked with Jaime Murray a lot in the prequel - did you enjoy that?
"She was great. It was nice to have somebody British there! I sort of missed that the first time, so it was nice to have somebody there that sort of understood just that sense of British humour and culture. She was a good laugh, Jaime, she was good to work with."
What do you make of the new Spartacus Liam McIntyre, who's taking over from Andy Whitfield?
"He seems like a nice guy from what I've heard. He seems good, he looks great, he looks the part. I'm sure a lot of people put a lot of effort into finding somebody to fill Andy's leather pants. I'm sure he'll do a great job. It's great scripts and it's a dream to do so I'm sure he'll have a good time."
It will be tough to fill Andy's... well, Andy's pants!
"[Liam's] going to turn up and do his own thing and he'll do that. He's not some kid that doesn't know what he's doing. He'll do his own thing, he'll stay true to himself and to the script, and it'll be a good story. I think the audience are aware of what's happening so they'll understand that and they'll accept that within the environment."
Be a salesman - why should people buy the Spartacus DVD?
"Because there's nothing like it on television. It's a one off."
Even the style and the way it's filmed are unusual.
"It's classic. These guys - the technicians and stuff - they did the Lord of the Rings movies and everything so they're top quality film technicians. We filmed it in New Zealand and they were available because there wasn't another film happening, so it was a great bonus for the show that guys of that talent were available."
What else have you got coming up?
"Nothing! I'm unemployed. I'm looking for something that I can do after having done Spartacus! There's not much around."
Has it raised the bar for you?
"It has, yeah. Certainly having done that, it's not something that you then want to just go off and do some little procedural drama or whatever. It has raised the bar for what I'm going to do next, hence I'm still here waiting to find out!"
Spartacus: Blood and Sand is released on DVD on Monday, May 16.
Are you a Spartacus fan? Leave your comments below!
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