Amir Wilson and Dafne Keen Interview: His Dark Materials

it was funny just to have him stand there with a GoPro in front of his face and him holding like a polar bear head kind of just like shouting at you and following you um it's kind of a weird experience I think if um if aliens came to Earth and kind of saw what was going on they'd probably even turned back around I just talked to your producer Jane um who was kind of talking about how you know your characterism just you and your characters have gotten older as the show has gone on you know what's it been like for you to for you both to spend the last few years on this on the same show it's been great I mean you you come across and how did you build a family with these people that you you work with every day um in terms of like growing up I kind of like you don't feel like you've grown up until you like see photos and and you're like oh I do look a lot younger um I had a beard suddenly yeah I came back I guess in that sense but it's also like people are sending you like oh you me you've grown so much in between filming it's like I don't know I still feel like a mayor from however many years ago but it's um it's been cool to to kind of grow up in around these great people that we get to work with every day yeah I mean uh so last season you know will went through a lot with finding and then losing his father um where does that kind of leave him when you when you pick up season three he leaves him at the bottom of the bottom I mean he um he kind of goes through that two of the hardest things he loses he finds his father again as he said the news is his father again in order in the space of five minutes and then his father tells him he needs to take the knocks to Israel and then goes to tell Lara and Lara was gone as well so it's like he's lost two important people to him in all in one day and in season three we pick him up and he's on the hunt for Lyra he was kind of faced with the question of whether he fulfills his father's dreams or whether he goes and finds Lyra first and ultimately as we know he goes to find Lyra first um and he does and they obviously get taken on this crazy adventure um in and out many different worlds and universes um but it was just important for me to understand that this is a more grown-up version of the world that we had before and then Daphne you know Lara even from the trailer we can you know we get a glimpse of Roger and we see that she's kind of on a on a hunt for him um I don't know what you can what you can say but you know how is it to kind of have such so much of your story focus on that character again after season one it was so fun I mean I I love Lewin to bits I think he's one of the most talented people I've ever met he's brilliant brilliant human being as well so getting him back on site was a dream come true and there was it just made me really happy and I think that's a story that I really love telling I think I've said this earlier but I think this show tackles grief in a really realistic way is kind of not you don't just mention once the characters died and then you just don't mention it again it's kind of an ongoing thing as is grief and life and I think we got to we got to really investigate that that storyline and we got to kind of see how devastating it is for Roger to see that Lyra is moving on and that life does go on and that he his death doesn't stunt everyone else's life like the growth of everyone else's life and they just yeah and it's kind of coming to peace with that and I think it's it's really beautiful it's kind of heartbreaking at the same time it's heartwarming it's a beautiful friendship I I was honestly I was just really honored to get to be acting alongside Lauren again you mentioned grief but you know I think as the seasons have gone on you've both had to deal with a lot of like you know heavier heavier scenes and and conversations and stuff like that like how how has it been to kind of find yourself doing more and more of that as the series has gone on I really love those kinds of scenes I think like looking into yourself to find that kind of that darkness and that kind of sadness I think we can we can draw from certain experiences I guess is always really interesting as an actor um I think it can also be really tough because you're accessing emotions that aren't necessarily nice to access um yeah but it was it was as an actress it was really fun it was an honor to get to portray that honestly you're both wonderful in the show but you're also working with like some really incredible people um like James McAvoy Andrew Scott Ruth Wilson you know lin-manuel Miranda uh are there any things that you've you've picked up from them along the way oh 100 um I guess so it's now I guess don't take yourself too seriously I guess is one of them I think if you're able to play these great characters but also when the camera is off we chill and be able to have fun and kind of have normal conversations kind of like I think you're amazing you know I think Lynn's really good at that Lin's brilliant at kind of like making everyone happy is a rave the sunlight he's a wonderful human and having him when you're feeling like the Grim dark Dusty Land of the Dead having him around is just very very wonderful and acting alongside Ruth who also is kind of one of those people who snaps in and out of character incredibly well um getting to act with her was just such an honor and I think I've learned so much from her along the years from her hard work I don't think I've ever met anyone as hard working and as dedicated and as talented as she is and she's just utterly brilliant and just being in her presence is kind of like you kind of want to become a sponge and just absorb all of her knowledge and James is equally equally brilliant and just he just gives you so much to play with and he's just like he's one of those Really Brave actors but it's hard to come across he he gives it 100 which is always what you want from an actor but you don't always get if that makes sense definitely to the words out my mouth I feel like since day one has been doing scenes with a demon and Yorick and a lot of like really gone into the fantasy stuff and I feel like you've been ramping that up kind of throughout your whole journey on the show especially in this this upcoming season how has it been for you as an actor to kind of go more and more into that you know those types of scenes seeing scenes working with puppets and and all sorts I mean it's been fun I mean I remember a couple of weeks into my filming process in season three I had a scene with Joe tanberg he plays eurek bonason polar bear and um it's a really really cool scene is where they meet for the first time and they have a kind of little Face-Off and Joe is just brilliant Jose able to like switch um into that your voice like it's nothing I mean I kind of watched it first time when I was watching season one and kind of assumed that they'd like done it in post-production like visually implemented his voice and then I worked with him and it's like wow you're able to switch into this voice really really and truly um I don't think he's amazing for that he's also such a lovely guy as well but it was funny just to have him stand there with a GoPro in front of his face and him holding like a polar bear head kind of just like shouting at you and following you um it's kind of a weird experience I think if um if aliens came to Earth and kind of saw what was going on it probably to turn back around um and the puppeteers we work with and set are we're blessed to to welcome Sarah and Bobby um Brian Brian of course of course and all these people they are and Olivia it's so talented uh what they do um and they're able to especially have emotional scenes and stuff they're able to um to give you enough that you're able to feel like you can give a good performance back um just for any any sort of those those emergency to even just general conversation scenes um but doing that I have to get used to talking to thin air a bit which is fun but yeah it's all it is these guys are Pros so I have to get used to it wow yeah and since this is the final season uh real quick just you know what are you what are you both going to miss most about working on the show for sure like the crew we just had such a wonderful crew and definitely the crew yeah the crew the crew and just yeah all the people we met along the way um we've been lucky enough to work with the best of the best um of All Sorts across all boards um and it doing in doing that you kind of you learn so much about I've found myself writing so much about what goes on behind the camera and I found myself interested in what goes on behind the camera not just in front um found myself wanting to do more behind the camera um and it's uh I think when you're able to take away something like that from a job it's it's a blessing thank you so much for your time and uh congratulations on this season it's Instagram man

Channel: Screen Rant Plus

Views: 34,772

Keywords: Amir Wilson, Dafne Keen, his dark materials, season 3, interview, hbo max

Id: zyhw9GbjIhI

Length: 8min 49sec (529 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 18 2022