Jeri Jacquin
The History Channel has once again brought amazing story
telling and on December 6th you will experience a story of the
Knights Templar and the Holy Grail with KNIGHTFALL.
During the Middle Ages, the Knights Templar were an order of
men with one goal – the protection of a prized relic known as the Holy Grail.
An order of warrior monks, they will do what ever is required to carry out
their duty.
Landry (Tom Cullen) is such a warrior monk along with
Godfrey (Sam Hazeldine), Tancrede (Simon Merrells) and Gawain (Padraic
Delaney). After an attack on their stronghold, they are all forced to flee and
fifteen years later find themselves in Paris .
Now a friend to King Philip IV (Ed Stoppard), Queen Joan
(Olivia Ross) and Princess Isabella (Sabrina Bartlett), Landry visits much to
the hostility of William De Nogaret (Julian Ovenden). The brothers gather to
discuss how to do what is right by the all the people they vow to serve. That
brings discourse when Landry wants to know why they have not spoken of
returning to the Holy Land .
Godfrey leaves to handle business outside Paris and asks that Landry be in charge which
makes him instantly suspicious. Parsifal (Bobby Schofield) witnesses what
happens on the open road and is given a mission that will cost him dearly.
When a Jewish businessman kills another man in the square in
broad daylight, the King orders that the Jewish people must evacuate. What he
doesn’t know is that there are others within the palace walls that have more
frightening plans. In the chaos, there is a hint that the Holy Grail might be
closer than any of the Knights Templar could have hoped bringing Pope Boniface
VIII (Jim Carter) to their door.
With this news brings hope of a return to the Holy Land and the Holy Grail!
I had the opportunity to conference call with Tom Cullen,
the actor who marvelously portrays the role of Landry. Having spent my Sundays
with Downton Abbey I was drawn to see
Cullen’s performance in Knightfall and equally thrilled to
talk to him about it.
Jeri Jacquin: Hello Tom, thanks for talking with us today.
Tom Cullen: Thank you too.
JJ: Can you tell us about your experience filming Knightfall?
TC: This is the kind of project I’ve always dreamt of being
involved in ever since I was a little boy. I grew up in Wales and I
grew up next to a castle. That kind of history is really woven into the fabric
of my DNA like I think it is in many European’s DNA. When I was a kid, my dad
gave me this wooden sword and shield and I used to go up there with my mate and
we just used to run around pretending to be knights and warriors. I think that
the older we get the more baggage we carry and I know that I spent a lot of
time pining after that kind of innocence. This job really opened up the gateway
to accessing the kid again and it felt like every single day I had little Tom
next to me swinging a wooden sword around with his mates in a castle in Wales . That was
my favorite thing about the job; being able to have as much fun as I had while
filming this show and I loved it.
JJ: Besides your informal and very cool childhood training,
did you more intensive training?
TC: In drama school in the UK we do a lot of fight training.
I’d done a lot of sword training prior and I found that I had the propensity
for killing people, ironically. *laughs* I hadn't swung a sword in about eight
years, so it was all very new in many respects. The stunt team that we had was
led by an amazing Frenchman, Cédric Proust. He is a top stuntman and fight
choreographer. He really put us through it and we had a great swordsman named
Roman. The entire team wanted us to be at a very, very high level. So every day
on set they would drill us and I did about three months of physical training
beforehand to get myself and my body ready for the fighting portion of my
character and the series.
Working on Knightfall was a full-on experience because the
team wanted it to look authentic and real, and when you watch the fights they
are absolutely incredible. I'm so proud of all of the actors who've
participated in the battles because we've really done a great job and the stunt
guys have really trained us well and they're epic battles and muddy and
gruesome. And they feel very real, which I think is something I’m very proud
of.
There is an incredible battle sequence in the final episode
which is the biggest thing I've ever been involved in. We had like 400 guys on
a battlefield fighting for about two weeks. It's epic, amazing and the real
geeky nerd in me – because I am one – just can't believe that I’m in it. I’m
extremely proud of it.
JJ: How did you react to getting the role of Landry?
TC: I genuinely love to do stuff that is different from the
last thing that I did, and something that really scares me and something that
is new. Knightfall was truly a dream come true for me. It's something
that I've always dreamt of doing since I was a kid. I grew up on films like
ROBIN HOOD - Prince of Thieves and BRAVEHEART and those films had a huge
influence on me as a kid. When I read this script it was like my dreams were
coming true. It’s really amazing to be a part of a project like this one.
JJ: The Knights Templar and the Holy Grail are fairly known
because of documentaries, film and television. I have to say I’m also drawn to
that mysterious period of time. Did you research yourself?
TC: Yes. I wanted to know as much about the crusades and
about the politics at the time. Not just the politics in Europe or in the Middle East but also Mongolian politics because they had
a huge influence.
You just need to immerse yourself in the world and know
everything that these men would have known, understand every single and the
political permutation that is affected where they reach –where they are at this
point and what drives these men and women to do the things that they do. I
think that's something that you have to do.
You take history for granted and history should never be
taken for granted because it's essential for us furthering ourselves as a
society and as a culture, because the one thing that history teaches us is that
it's cyclical. So yes, I read a lot and we had a fantastic historian on set.
His name is Dan Jones. He’s just released an amazing book that you must read
called The Templars which is on the
New York Times Bestseller’s List; it’s brilliant. He was there on hand at all
times feeding into us and making sure that what we were portraying was as
accurate as possible.
So anything that would come up in the script that we didn't know,
we would use him as a source of knowledge and he would say, “Go and read this,
go and read that,” or just tell us because he he's a real fountain of
knowledge. That wasn't just the access that put me in the world of the Knights
Templar.
The costume design, the art direction, the production
design, makeup, etc. it was all so dense and real that you're feel like you’re
right in it as soon as you turn up on set. It's just all there for you, you
know, and you can really immerse yourself into the world.
The days we spent on set were amazing. We filmed on the
biggest sets in Europe at Barrandov Studios.
They built medieval Paris .
I've never seen anything quite like it and in the show I have to do this shot
where I'm riding down this nearly 200-meter long street that they built. There're
350 extras and each extra has a job, each extra has a name. It is a real world
and you just forget that the cameras are there because it's so extraordinary.
Our costume designer, Diana Cilliers, was amazing. I
remember the first time we did our screen test so they can see what it looks
like on camera with the makeup and the hair. I remember putting the costume on,
the chainmail and everything, and it weighed 50 pounds which was like an insane
amount of weight. I struggled to walk down the corridor to get to the studio to
do the screen test.
I was like, “Guys, why is the costume so heavy. How are we
supposed to move and fight in this?” The answer was that Diana tried out
lighter material such as plastics and other materials but they just didn't look
authentic. So they put us in the most authentic costume that they could and we
just had to deal with it. We got bigger and we got stronger, and so very
quickly we were able to run and jump, get on horses in the 50-pound costumes
and do everything that we needed to do to play our parts.
You can see the difference in way that the costumes move and
the way that your body moves in them. It's just authentic and I think it makes
for a very real experience when watching the show.
JJ: The relationship between Landry and Godfrey is such a
mystery. Can you tell me more about that?
TC: The relationship that Landry has with Godfrey runs
throughout the entire first season. In Episode 1, Godfrey is Landry's surrogate
father. Landry was an orphan and Godfrey essentially took him in and saved him
from this orphanage. Because of the promise Godfrey saw in him, Landry became a
Templar at the age of 11 which is very, very, very rare.
One of the Templar rules is that you must become a Templar
of your own volition because it's such a monastic lifestyle where you do things
like eat your food out of the same bowl as another man. There's no vanity and no
possessions. It's completely monastic so it's very rare for a young boy to join
the Templars like Landry did.
In Episode 1 there is a truth revealed to Landry about Godfrey
that he didn't know. Landry, like a classic hero that we all know as the
protagonist, he hunts and searches for the truth at all costs. He is like a
boar who gets physically beaten, emotionally beaten and he just gets back up by
himself and charges towards the truth.
Godfrey is pivotal in that circle of truth that Landry is
striving towards and it isn't a very easy journey for Landry to go on throughout
the first season. It's a very satisfying journey for the viewers. Every time
the scripts would come in there would be a new revelation and it would be a new
shock, a new turn and it was very cool to read and really fun to play. I hope
that the audience enjoys it as much as we enjoyed making it.
JJ: The Knights Templar have very strict religious views
that is talked about in detail in Knightfall, how do you reconcile
that with their mysterious history?
TC: The one thing that history will always do is prove
itself cyclical and that human beings have very short memories. We forget very
quickly what we've already been through and we tend to make the same mistakes. I
think it's really important to remind ourselves of those mistakes.
Of course Knightfall is a show that is about
the Templars and you'd be remiss to not talk about the holy wars; though the
show actually doesn't take place during that period of time, it takes place 15
years after the holy wars. The show is about the Templars being disbanded and
rounded up. That's essentially what the show would be over three or four
seasons.
The Templars were a very interesting group of men because
they were founded to protect pilgrims on the road and that was their purpose.
Not to fight wars but to protect people who were going to pray and they were
very respectful of all faiths. There is a very famous story of being held captive
in the Templar temple. They made space for them so that they could pray with
ease and they gave them their space because they respect faith.
I think the show touches on what faith is and how faith can
be manipulated to one's own needs and how faith is often used for political
games which is something that has nothing to do with religion. The Holy Grail
in our show is used as a pivot of power in which people circle around it and
use it in order to gain political favor.
That for me is really a very interesting world to live in.
It doesn't pit religion against religion but it talks about how religion can be
manipulated to man's want and need for power.
JJ: You have touched on just about every theme regarding the
Knights Templar. How do you think this will reach the viewers?
TC: I think what I'm very proud of in the show is that you
can kind of look at Knightfall objectively from the outside having not seen it and
say, “Oh, this is about guys swinging swords and that’s what the show is
about,” but the show is so much more than that. The show is about politics. We
have a lot of stuff that takes place in the French Court at the time, dissecting, and
breaking down the politics and the machinations of political interplay, which I
just love that kind of stuff.
It has a fantastic central spine through the show; an
amazing love story which I'm surprised at how strong and moving that story was
as we were filming it. It kind of grew into this thing that we had no idea it
would become. The show talks about revenge and betrayal, brotherhood, loyalty,
faith, humanity and mortality.
I truly believe the show has something for everybody. I
think that it is by no means a gendered show. I think that women would love it
as much as men will love it and that is something I'm really proud of too. It
has fantastic strong female characters. They are actually probably stronger
than all of the male characters and they're just as complex and rich as the
male counterparts, and it's very moving. I've watched the last episode three or
four times now and I've shed many tears every single time. It’s a great
rollercoaster.
JJ: Is there anything that makes you nervous about your role
in Knightfall?
TC: There's so much that scared me about this role. The size
of it and the responsibility of playing a lead in a show as big as this, it was
terrifying. Also just the physical and emotional commitment that was required
to make this show work. If I wasn't committed 100% to the show, it wouldn't
work. They really, really put me through it in the best way possible making
sure I became the best Landry I could be. That was a terrifying challenge and
terrifying to have to pull off.
I was learning new skills like horse riding and fighting. The
biggest thing that was terrifying for me was that – and this is something that
I've been dealing with my entire life – I was doing something that I love. I
read the script and I wanted it so badly because I thought it was so good. That
really terrifies me.
I'm much more comfortable in that way. I come from a poor
area of Wales
where I'm much more comfortable with rejection than not. What terrified me was
that I wanted to do it and doing something that you love and that you want is
often the scariest thing that you can do because if you fail at it, that’s a
big journey to go on.
JJ: Is there something in particular that drew you toward
the medieval era?
TC: I’ve always been obsessed with the medieval time period
because I think it’s a time that we can look back on and learn from. Actually
800 years isn’t that long ago and that this is the time really when the world
that we live in today was created and formulated. We’re still feeling the
repercussions of the actions and choices the people made in the medieval period
today.
It’s also a period that is grimy and dirty and dangerous.
The line between life and death is so thin, it’s really interesting to learn
about. I think that’s a fantastic place to make a drama in. It’s a very rich
world since life and death was so next to each other and it’s world rich in
terms of human wants and needs.
Nowadays our lives are reasonably comfortable for certain
people, especially in America .
We typically don't have that kind of life and death threat every single day
where we are going to drop down with scurvy or have to go into battle.
Our choices aren’t as drastic but if you have a lifespan of
35 years, every choice you make is loaded. I think that the world of the
medieval period is one of very high octane and people making life and death
choices every single move. That for me is an exhilarating period of time to
make a drama in.
JJ: The costume designer Diana Cilliers has done some
amazing work. Can you talk about the garments and some of your favorites?
TC: Yes. Unfortunately, I only ever had one costume really
which is either with chain mail or without chain mail but most of the time with
chain mail. But Diana made it so that it was completely authentic even in terms
of the undergarment underneath the chain mail. We had a very, very thick heavy
muslin underneath like a linen dresser with leather underneath and the same on
our bottom half as well. The chain mail was real metal and so it gave that kind
of weight and movement to it.
The tunics were made in the same way that they would have
made the fabrics back at the time. Things like the crosses they spent a lot of
time discussing what cross to use. Templars used many different crosses
depending on where they were based, and later in the series, we meet another
group of Templars and they have a different cross than what you see me wearing.
Diana talked about how they would have died, the wreaths,
the crosses and how they would have stitched them and sewn them on, and how the
draper would have done it. They stitched in the same way that they would have
stitched then. They had a huge workshop at our studios, Barrandov Studios in Prague , with the most
incredible costume teams who worked tirelessly. I don't think people realized how
much work it took because I certainly didn't realize it.
When you have 400 extras on set, the costume team starts
work at 2 o'clock in the morning to start dressing all of these men and women
so that we're ready to start filming at 7:00 am. Then they wash all the
costumes and they go to bed at an insane hour and they do it in shifts. The
work that goes into making 400 beautiful costumes is unprecedented. In terms of
the court costumes, I was really jealous because their costumes were
incredible.
Queen Joan and Princess Isabella played by Olivia Ross and
Sabrina Bartlett, their costumes were inspired from real medieval images and
fabrics that they had used and they are just unbelievable. Like every time I
saw Olivia, she was in this new extraordinary costume that Diana fashioned and
created out of seemingly thin air in no time and they're just stunning works of
art really.
What is amazing is that the way they were made is the way
that they would have made them back then. Diana was really collaborative as
well. I think each of us wanted to have our own unique way in which we wore our
costume or we wore our belt or the color of our cross and so she allowed me to
choose the color of my cross and how I would have dyed it. All of that really
detailed history and information about The Templars is fascinating and we loved
going there and making it as authentic as possible.
JJ: Landry is such a complex character from childhood to
when we are introduced to him. How do you think becoming a Templar at the
tender age of 11 shaped him?
TC: I think that when we first meet Landry at the top of
Episode 1 he is 20. He is brash and young –he is a maverick, incredibly cocky
and is kind of emboldened by the fact that he has God on his side and he thinks
that he's invincible, which I think a lot of 20 year olds think, regardless of
whether they have God on their side or not. I know I certainly felt like that.
What we see at the top of Episode 1 is his entire life
flipped upside down when they lose Acre, the last Templar stronghold in the Holy Land and they lose the Holy Grail. We flash forward
15 years and when you've been brought up as a as a warrior, and that's all you
know, everything you know, it’s a tough reality to deal with. He's like a caged
animal, unable to fulfill what he thinks is his only purpose and duty which is
to fight.
When we meet him, he is this very, very complex, pulled
apart guy in Episode 1. He is battling with his humanity and he is secular yet
he is also still mentally devout. He is very loyal to his brothers, his family
yet he is lying to them. He is having an affair with a woman yet he is a monk.
He is the bravest, most fearless warrior yet he's starting to feel a sense of
his own mortality.
I think that’s why he kind of falls in love with this woman.
It’s not that he's doubting God or that he’s doubting the Templars or religion,
but that he's doubting himself. He is in a conflict, in a battle with himself,
which are the stories that I love to watch where your hero is so full of
contradiction and battle and personal complications. Throughout the first
season, we see him work through that and battle through that and try and find
out who he really is. It's an awesome journey for me to play and to take
viewers on.
JJ: Talking about more seasons, do you know where Landry and
the show will go?
TC: We love the show and we really hope that we can continue
making it for as long as possible because we're a real family and we're very,
very proud of it and we love making it. There’s also still a lot of the Templar
history that has yet to be told. We have an idea of where the show will go and
where it will take us. What actually happens is that while you're making a show
it becomes this dialogue that happens between the writers, the actors,
directors, the costume designers, the art director, the production designer,
makeup artists, etc. where you're constantly kind of feeding into this pot
which is the show.
It evolves and changes and moves in ways that you would
never expect it to. It's like a living organism but that surprises you. Though
we have an idea of where this is going, actually the truth is that we don't in
many respects. We have the structure of history and what actually happened
which we have to stay with but in terms of the characters, and their fuels and
wants and needs and how they navigate their way through that history is
something that we're constantly being surprised by with the characters. That's
a really exciting place to work with.
Especially as an actor, I don't want to know where the
character is going because in life I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow or
how it's going to pan out. And so I can only be in the present and I can only
make choices in the present, and so that's what you want your characters to do.
The writers actually withheld scripts from us and didn't tell us what was
happening later in this first season so that we could be surprised in the
moments whilst we were making the episode, which is a really fantastic and
authentic way to work.
Once we get the script we kind of talk about them and
collaborate on them. Dominic Minghella is an incredible show runner. He is a
force of nature and an amazing man and a brilliant writer, and he really values
the actors’ input. He is always very good at fielding ideas and whether he
takes them or not is up to him but it feels like a very collaborative process
where everybody is feeding into it and we all have ownership over the show and
that's really exciting.
JJ: I won’t deny that I am and always will be a huge Downton Abbey fan. How was it for you
getting together with a few of your DA costars?
TC: I was so happy to work with Jim Carter who plays Mr. Carson on Downton and
Julian Ovenden who plays Charles Blake on Downton Abbey, because they are just
unbelievable actors. And I think that the caliber that they have only reflects
so well on Knightfall, you know. The cast that we've assembled on Knightfall
is one of the best that I've ever worked with. They are really amazing actors
and amazing sponsors.
To have someone like Jim Carter who is a multiple Emmy
nominated actor and the fact that he was so excited and hungry to do our show,
I think is really a testament to the scripts of Knightfall. We hope that
everyone likes it as much as we do.
I can confidently say that the History Channel’s new series Knightfall
will be a series that will have viewers coming back for more. There is a
complexity to these characters that challenges their humanity and power against
the history of the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail and Kings of other country’s
involved in it all.
There is intrigue that tests loyalty and a brotherhood that
is going through pains of its own from inside their own house. Bringing it all
together with fantastic costuming and set design, Knightfall draws the
viewer in and takes us on an adventure through the medieval era.
Dan Jones is the New York Times best selling author who is
also responsible for Summer of Blood:
England’s First Revolution, Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty, The
Plantagenets and The Wars of the Roses
as well as The Templars: The Rise and
Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors.
There is plenty of time to learn all you can about Knightfall
and the History Channel has made it even easier. Go to http://www.history.com/shows/knightfall/pages/dan-jones-knights-templar
to see stories and videos including Pilgrims,
Warriors, Heretics: Who Were the Knights Templar?, The Templars’ Crusader
Origins, From Pilgrim Bodyguards to Master Warriors, How the Templars Made and
Lost a Fortune, How Religion and Greed Toppled the Templars, From Medieval
Myths to Modern Mystery and Were Crusader Knights Really Protecting the Cup of
Christ?
The History Channel brings more stellar successful series to
television with The Hunt for the Zodiac
Killer, The Curse of Oak
Island
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